I got back late this evening from visiting family. I was able to see a good chunk of the 4th quarter and spent the all the overtimes away from family in the downstairs bar at the restaurant. Unbelievable.
My big regret from the screwed up schedule of being out-of-town. I couldn’t record College GameDay Final. I really wanted to see Holtz have to take crap from Mark May.
Since I’m tired and it’s late, I’ll keep the recap stuff on the brief side. I agree with Coach Wannstedt about this.
“I really can’t describe the heart that our football team has,” Wannstedt said. “We have been behind several times this year and fought our way back, but never against a quality football team like this, on the road against a full house. We’ve got wonderful kids. They never came unglued, as many adverse things that happened in the game, nobody ever folded.”
Pitt kept fighting back and it was a tremendous effort in the second half. That said, I can’t agree with him on going this far.
“All the legends are made in games like this,” Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said. “Big games, national TV games against great traditional teams like this. The great thing about this win is, the entire team will be recognized and remembered for this for the next 25 years because of the overtime and everything. It’s not just an individual. The entire team can share in it.”
Let’s not get carried away. This will not go down as a legendary win for Pitt, even as it gives Pitt it’s 10th win in South Bend.
This is a decent ND team, but it’s not like the Irish have shown a lot of heart in games this year.
“Right now, I’m not worrying about closing out the game; I’m worried about the psyche of the team,” Irish coach Charlie Weis said.
Yet there is a pattern developing, with the Irish’s inability to close out games against vulnerable opponents.
Against North Carolina three weeks earlier, the Irish had a 17-6 second-quarter lead, only to lose after being outscored by the Tar Heels 20-7 in the second half.
And in that game UNC was without their starting QB and had lost their best player in the first quarter. And that wasn’t the only time this year.
After opening up a 21-point first half lead on Michigan, the Irish gave up ten consecutive points, did not score in the third quarter and allowed Michigan to come within eleven twice, before a late score put the game out of reach.
After scoring 21 straight points on Purdue, the Irish gave up a touchdown and allowed Purdue to climb back within seven before they self-destructed.
After opening up a 21 point lead to Stanford, the Irish give up two scores to the Cardinal in the second half and narrowly hang on to win 28-21, failing to score in the fourth quarter.
Yes, believe it or not, Notre Dame seems to have trouble with that “Suuuuppper-genius” on offense, Charlie Weis going a little too conservative in the second half of games. To say nothing of a growing chorus of second guessing of Weis with more than a little bite:
Notre Dame had a chance to win in regulation, driving to midfield. Faced with a fourth-and-1, the Irish decided to go for it and called a pass because they thought Pittsburgh would blitz. The Panthers didn’t, leaving Clausen scrambling and turning the ball over on downs.
The play left Weis, who when he first arrived in South Bend said he’d have a “schematic advantage†in playcalling, decidedly schematically disadvantaged.
“They win the chalkboard on that one,†Weis said.
Then after Notre Dame trotted Walker out one too many times, Pittsburgh also won the game.
Yeah, they kept having to go back to their kicker, Brandon Walker. He struggled to start the season (1-8), but had been solid of late. When he nailed that 48-yarder, before missing the 38-yarder, he had saved the game for them.
This seems quite familiar.
What this loss pointed out for Irish fans is that progress here still isn’t linear.
We still don’t know what’s coming from week-to-week. We still wonder if or when they will beat a good team this year. Time is running out. Only Boston College and Southern Cal fit the good category.
What I believe is this: Notre Dame should be better than it is.
This is just what it feels like.
Weis, as he is prone to do, will break down every phase of the game and analyze it in a way that makes it seem like the sum of the parts wasn’t all that bad.
The Irish played well in the first half, not so well in the third quarter, when they ran just 11 plays and got just one first down.
These themes are becoming redundant after losses.
Yes, they are better than last year but still not as good as they should be this year.
This is the problem that Weis has to figure out quickly before it’s too late.
The difference between Pitt and ND. Pitt has shown more fight this year.
Pat Bostick started scary, but finished stronger. He did enough. As did the defense.
Jonathan Baldwin’s catch after 2 overthrows to tie the game didn’t surprise the anyone as to the play.
Dave Wannstedt said there are no secrets about what Pitt tries to do when it throws.
“That’s about the extent of our passing game,” Wannstedt said.
McNeil wasn’t surprised by the call. He was just disappointed with the result.
“I knew it was coming,” he said. “I just got a little too high on him and he made the catch.”
As usual, though, with a big Pitt win. It’s LeSean McCoy, LeSean McCoy, LeSean McCoy.
S is for Shady. LeSean McCoy earns the Mandom Award for the week: 32 carries, 169 yards and 1 TD. Most importantly: zero fumbles. McCoy does not have a problem fumbling the ball, but we mention it just to drive home the importance of not turning the ball over in a defensive-minded four-overtime game on the road. The Wannstache appreciates the attention to detail.
Pitt is -9 in turnovers this year. They only “won” the turnover battle against Syracuse. Otherwise it was even with Buffalo, and “lost” in the other 6 games.
Also did anybody notice during the game how 23 gave our cheerleader the game ball when he caught a pass out of bounds? That really pissed me off. I ust to have a lot of resepct and admiration for Notre Dame but since Weis is their head coach they have turned into a buch of ass holes. Their players remind me of the New England Patriots in thier celebration anticts and reactions. Im glad we beat them on may reasons because I really dont like a lot of the players their or fat ass hole Weis!
To me this is a little pay back form 3 seasons ago when they beat us here. What a great win, and Im looking forward to the U of L game. Lets Go Pitt!
Lets Go Pitt!
My one and only complaint is Aaron Berry, he has to be pulled off the field. He is consistenyl beat and behind the play. He may be a good guy but he doesnt deserve to be out there.
4 conference games left for Pitt to “PROVE IT”.
Mark May gave Dr. Lou a little crap while he was giving Shady a helmet sticker. Lou didn’t even respond (the whiny little nazi comparing bitch). But as the camera was panning out at the end of another episode of College Gameday Final, Mark clearly patted the Pitt helmet and winked at the camera — as if to say, thatta boy, Pitt.
And despite all the ire that May raises around here, I prefer his openess about rooting for his alma mater over Kirk Herbstreit’s pretending that it doesn’t exist. Opposing fans will always accuse Mark and Kirk of being biased anyway. So why try to hide it?
Holtz and Corso are merely cartoon characters at this point. Get them and that stuttering idiot Howard out of there and put Mark and Kirk on the big show.
Totally agree…I was screaming at the TV all the while knowing the NBC(Notre Dame Broadcasting Company) announcers weren’t going to say a word. It was a bad throw and a terrible situation to throw a pick, but holding should have been called!
Otherwise…great win…great team effort Hat Tip to Bostick for hangin’ in there!
You’re right about Holtz being a little bitch. How does anyone keep their job when comparing someone to Hitler saying that he was a good leader?! I hope MayDay had the time of his life with him off camera.
ltl,
Berry can’t cover receivers to save his life. But I’ll give him credit that he can make tackles, especially in the open field. I wish he could be responsible for covering TEs and RBs coming out into the flat. Thatcher can’t cover 1 on 1 either, he needs to play center field.
From what I hear, Cross “doesn’t get it” when it comes to the offense. But hell, why can’t he be brought in as the motion guy in the wildcat. He’s fast and quick enough. Halfback pass? Throw back to him? He can probably make a block which is something Stull and Bostick refuse to do. God I miss the days when Palko would run people over.
But as I said before, one of the most appealing things about this team is that they dont quit. I think except for navy, they’ve had to come from behind late to win every game. Thats shows a lot of character and I think thats also something that DW doesnt get credit for.
This team badly needs to kick someones ass at home to restore the good home field vibes.
Also, can we recognize Andrew Taglianetti for a second? He was responsible for a punt block and a big tackle on kickoff. But most importantly, he shot out of a cannon and made a tremendous tackle on big 3rd down screen pass late in the game that stopped the Irish short of a first down.
Finally, it was good to see Fields playing a lot more at a nickel/olb type position, I think he will be having more of an impact at that spot as he becomes more confidence with his assignments.
Berry was at least partially responsible for a defense that held Clausen to a 9-for-21 (42.9%), 98-yard, 1-TD second half.
Tate led the way with four second-half catches for 51 yards, but 31 of them came on one play. His other receptions gained 9, 6 and 5 yards respectively. His touchdown catch – the six-yard reception – came over Ricky Gary, not Aaron Berry.
Floyd had three catches for 19 yards, but that was going to happen as the corners were taking away the deep ball and he was working that out route pretty much all day. Armando Allen had one catch for seven yards and Kyle Rudolph had the other catch for 21 yards, and I believe that reception came across the middle against a deep zone.
So out of 21 second-half throws that Clausen made, the defensive backs got beat deep once. Maybe part of it was Bennett’s scheme and I’m not sure which defensive back each throw was attacking. But those are pretty good second-half numbers considering the offense they were up against. ND isn’t exactly Texas Tech, but they’re a good, balanced offense led by a quarterback who can certainly make some nice throws.
Berry has struggled, but we do have to credit him with one of the biggest plays of the game. He broke up the 3rd down pass in the last overtime. I really think his issue right now is some confidence. We have all seen him perform before, but right now he looks flat out shaky. I think last week and the punt fumbles really shook the guys confidence. Hopefully that play will help him get it back. Confidence is so important at that position. Whether you are good or not, you have to believe your great.
Pitt could very easily not win a game rest of the way – or they could not lose any. With how they have played under Dave, NOTHING can be taken for granted….
Uconn also will be tough with their running game.
We have been shaky at home.. but I hope we keep it together.
Hail to Pitt.
Lets have a strong week of practice. Stay Healthy and build on this momentum.
There is a huge difference between being outmatched and simply not coming into a game focused and ready to play (coaches included). This Pitt team is young, but has a good deal of talent and certainly haven’t been outmatched in any game they’ve played to this point. Not showing up in the Bowling Green game is what cost them, and a combination of bad luck (losing Stull) and a horrendous defensive game plan against Rutgers is what caused the two losses. This team has not been “outmatched” yet this season and I don’t think there is anyone on the schedule who is more talented, maybe with the exception of WVU. But if this team shows up for the remaining games and plays with the fire and heart that they showed in the second half of the ND game, the sky is the limit…especially with a healthy Bill Stull.
Joshua my friend you can continue to down play this win all you want but the fact of the matter is it was a great win so why not enjoy it alittle!
By the way, talk to any of the players who played for Harris and compare what they have to say about him with what Wanny’s players have to say about him. The biggest difference is respect. Wannstedt has it from his team and Harris didn’t. Read LeSean McCoy’s comments in the paper, he flat out said “We go out an play for him(Wannstedt). We play for ourselves, but more for him.” And that is the biggest difference between Harris and Wannstedt so far.
Mr Yoshi – DW’s run faster comment, as strange as it sounded at the time, was right on the mark and he explained it clearly the next day in the media. PITT was full of slow, lumbering players at the time, and DW needed to have quicker and faster players if they wanted to win consistently. Which is what he has recruited, and which is what we have now. It’s apparent in our line play on both sides of the ball (compare our DEs now to what we had in 2005, and the body shapes of our OL) and at the skill positions. All you have to do is look at our WVU game last season to see that we finally had the speed to match up against what was perhaps the fastest and best offense in college.
Both Stull and Bostick don’t hesitate to block. Stull has consistently made good plays when McCoy has had the ball, and Bostick made a couple downfield blocks against ND last week. One in particular got McCoy and extra 5-7 yards.
We won’t see another starting QB until 2010 when Sunseri and Bostick will fight it out – and even then my money’s on Bostick as being a senior as opposed to a rsSO.
Stull has gotten better, but getting better isn’t good enough. There’s so much talent around him to exploit (Baldwin, Collins, Porter, Byham) and Pitt isn’t getting nearly the production from those guys that they should. Everbody’s always commenting about “how he does what the coaches want” and how he “manages a game.” What a load of crap…..
Let’s get a kid in here who can throw the damn ball. The fact that they’d have to bring in Kevan Smith for long pass plays demonstrates just how ridiculous a situation they’ve created.
College football is a pretty wide-open game these days. You generally have to put up 4 or 5 TDs against decent opposition to win and Pitt has the weapons around McCoy to do that, but not with “game managers” like Stull and Bostick in the pocket.
Finally, MrYoshi, I’m not gay, but I can tell you’re a f’n homophobe. Snap out of it, fast. Maybe that’s why the yinzers hated Walt, because he had a f’n lisp? You tellin me that yinzers hated Walt because they all hate TEH GAYS (even is he weren’t)?!! F**k you.
Only recruiting talent can’t win every game. That statement above tells me all I need to know about the typical yinzer.
Oh, and FYI, watch recruiting for next season fall off a cliff.
As a recent PITT grad, and lifelong fan,Im speaking for the rest of the PITT base, why dont you find another school to cheer for? Or are you just confused who to root for since your probley a bandwagon rider, who loves our basketball team because their good, and not PITT! You probley are confused and which way to flop for the football team!
As for his asking us to “watch recruiting fall off a cliff” I guess we’ll see, but my money is on Josh being way off (yet again). Wannstedt’s players love playing for him, recruits are certainly perceptive to this. Prospective recruits also love Wanny’s/Pitt’s connections with the NFL/Steelers. Finally, if this team continues to pull off big wins like (WVU, USF, ND)recruits are going to want to be a part of resurrecting/restoring the program at Pittsburgh.
Let’s also get one thing straight: Nobody here is claiming that Wannstedt is the best coach in teh country. He needs to start blowing out teams like BGSU and Rutgers when Pitt has superior talent. There is however, something to be said for beating the last several ranked teams we have played and getting the kids to come out and play with tremendous heart like they did last weekend.
Harris was beginning to lose the team on the way out the door. That makes it difficult to recruit and nearly impossible to win. It was time for a change.
As for Dixon, I don’t know of anybody calling for his head. The job he did last season with a team that lost 2 of it starters very early on was certainly impressive. The guy knows what he’s doing and I think the fans have recognized as much.
Take a seat Josh.
I don’t know Mr.Yoshi, but I’m pretty sure the lisp comment was a joke meant to poke fun at Harris just as one might mock Wannstache’s yinzer accent. I don’t think it was a “homophobic” remark by any means. That, “Oh Enlightened and Duke Educated One”, was something that you twisted and concocted to further demonstrate your distaste for Pittbsburghers/Western Pennsylvanians.
Your comments are probably offensive to more than a few people on this message board. Calling people hillbillies and tossing out F bombs makes you look like schmuck who doesn’t know what you’re talking about. You bring nothing to the table.
And yes, those are some of the “NFL Connections” that I am referring to. And yes, its true, Harris would have also been the beneficiary of using the same facilities as the Steelers. Wannstedt was around the league for years, however, and I think you are diminishing the fact that he has several relationships with coaches and people in the positions who make personnel decisions with NFL franchises. You really can’t argue that those relationships can potentially come into play when you’re trying to get kids who played for you a look in an NFL training camp somewhere.
And again, still not sure why you are wasting your time posting nonsense filled garbage that makes you look like a complete moron on this blog when you obviously aren’t really a fan of Pitt/Pittsburgh.
You may have gone to Duke, but you’re a dope.
Please don’t stop posting though, your lack of a point (other than you hate Pittsburgh and DW) is really funny.
I’m looking forward to an intellegent response that will make all Duke grads proud to be associated with you.
Fire away…….
…. Priceless!
Josh, I’ve spoken to my old neighborhood friends in _______ (Sewickley Heights, Fox Chapel, Shadyside) and have asked them to make your life miserable enough that you’ll move out of ______ (Sewickley Heights, Fox Chapel, Shadyside) as soon as possible.
But, before you leave may I invite you out to lunch at the _______ (Duquesne Club, Rolling Rock Club, Pittsburgh Golf Club) so that I may show how inclusive I am of our ‘different’ friends.
“Managing the game” — does that mean scoring 17 against Bowling Green, 27 against Buffalo and 21 against Iowa? Needing your all-world RB to take over the game to squeeze out a win against an average ND team? Not blowing Syracuse out of the Carrier dome by 25?
Why can’t we expect more of Pitt’s QBs? Why do we have to be satisfied with “game managers”? Why can’t they be more than average?
Considering the talent Pitt has, they should get in the end zone 2 or 3 times more a game and it’s not Cavanaugh’s offensive philosophy that’s holding them back. (Stull’s throwing 30+ times a game.)
I’m not even going to mention Bostick. The Smith substitution at ND tells us all we need to know about what the coaches think of his skills. I’m talking about Stull not being able to get Baldwin, Porter, Turner, Byham, and Collins the ball in situations where they can excel.
I guess what you mean by “game managing” is not being able to make any big plays. Not being able to scramble and buy a little time so somebody can get open, or not being able to hit a guy in stride 40 yds down the field. Not being able to throw the ball on a rope to the sideline on 3rd down to keep the offense on the field.
When you start defining your field leader by what they can’t do……
Pitt has talent at WR, talent at RB, talent at TE and no talent at the most important position on the field.
