Thus accelerates the national title talk for Notre Dame. They lived dangerously (BYU, Stanford) for much of the year, but eventually the wear and tear of the nation’s strongest schedule got to them. Call this a let-down from the huge win over the Oklahoma Sooners. Call it a trap game before a big rivalry tilt with Boston College. And call it an almost loss to a team that fell to Youngstown St earlier, which would hurt tremendously in the computer rankings.
Pittsburgh quarterback Tino Sunseri is very surprisingly the best quarterback the Fighting Irish will face this year, until Matt Barkley at USC. Sunseri had a very efficient day, completing a high percentage of his passes. Until late in the 4th quarter and the three overtimes.And Ray Graham, who is moving his way up the Pitt career rushing list, had the biggest day, running wild for 150 plus yards against one of the nation’s best defenses.
“We made uncharacteristically some mistakes turning the football over obviously twice in the end zone. Last year that would have been a loss for us. But our team kept fighting, kept playing,” said coach Brian Kelly.
“I told them that they have to understand that everybody they play against will play their absolute best. Next week BC will play out of their minds against us and Wake Forest will. And they can’t just highlight certain teams on their schedule, because they will play their very best. I think that’s a lesson learned for our football team,” he continued.
Notre Dame was hurt by an early Tommy Rees interception and placekicker Kyle Brindza, who missed both a makeable field goal and an extra point. But the play that turned the tide of the game most was an Everett Golson interception in the end zone inside the five minute mark when trailing 20-12. Or so it seemed. Cierre Wood fumbled in the end zone to give the game away. Or so it looked. Until Pitt kicker Kevin Harper choked by missing an easy field goal. ND out gained their opponent by 2 bills plus; but lost the turnover battle -3. They won anyway.
“I think I did a good job of being with the team down the stretch. Coming out today, I know we came out a little flat. As far as me personally, I missed a couple of reads that I should have had. Instead of putting three points on the board, we put six.
But I felt like down the stretch we came together, and I felt like I did a great job in the end,” Golson said.
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net, an official Google News site generating millions of unique visitors. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Chicago Tribune.com, Walter Football.com, Yardbarker, and Fox Sports
A Fulbright scholar and MBA, Banks has appeared on live radio all over the world; and he’s a member of the Football Writers Association of America, U.S. Basketball Writers Association, and Society of Professional Journalists. The President of the United States follows him on Twitter (@Paul_M_BanksTSB) You should too