Notre Dame vs. Pittsburgh Week 4 Preview: 4 Reasons Irish Will Beat Panthers

Notre Dame has limped into the 2011 season, but the Irish will get healthy in Week 4 against the Pittsburgh Panthers.

Against its first three opponents, Notre Dame faced an uphill battle. Whether it was self-created (South Florida), single-handed (Michigan), or rank-inflated (Michigan State), the Irish faced a tough road in each game. Against Pittsburgh, things will get much easier.

Though Notre Dame must travel to Pittsburgh to face the Panthers, the Irish are clearly the better team. Bodog.com has the Irish as a seven-point favorite, but I’ll be surprised if Notre Dame doesn’t win by double-digits.

Coming into the game, the Irish have four irrefutable advantages over the Panthers.

Aaron Lynch

Coming into this season, there was no question that Aaron Lynch had the size, strength and talent to dominate at the college level—the only question was how long it would take for the 6’6”, 265-pound freshman to adjust to the college game.

I think we have an answer.  

Lynch was absolutely unblockable last week against Michigan State. He throttled the Michigan State offensive line, recording a sack and a forced fumble while laying an afternoon-long beatdown on Spartan quarterback Kirk Cousins. By the time the second half rolled around, the MSU blockers were forced to resort to holding Lynch on nearly every play.

It may be a bit presumptuous to say that the Pittsburgh Panthers have no chance of stopping Lynch, but based on what Lynch showed against Michigan State, it’s tough to make a sensible argument to the contrary.

Lynch will be dominant once again in Week 4.

Cierre Wood

Plenty of headlines have featured the Irish over the past three weeks, yet too few of them have featured Cierre Wood. With the possible exceptions of Michael Floyd and Robert Blanton, Wood has been Notre Dame’s best player.

Through the first three games of the season, Wood has averaged over five yards per touch, racked up 100 total yards per game and reached the end zone four times.

Tommy Rees and the rest of the Irish offense have been up and down; Cierre Wood has been consistently excellent. He carried the offense through the first half against Michigan State, breaking off a couple of big early runs and scoring twice.

Against Pittsburgh, Wood’s production will continue.

The Irish offensive line will continue to control the line of scrimmage, and Wood will continue to patiently pick his way through defenders, as he has all season. Pittsburgh has been solid against the run thus far, but the Panthers' defense hasn’t faced a runner like Wood.

In Week 4, Wood will make it back-to-back weeks of 100+ rushing yards and an Irish victory.

The Notre Dame Run Defense

So far this season, Pittsburgh has made its living on the ground. Though new coach Todd Graham established his reputation at the helm of a wide open spread attack at Tulsa, he’s realized what he has in running back Ray Graham, and he’s ridden Graham to a 2-1 record this season. The Panthers have run the ball more than they’ve passed it—a rare feat in today’s pass-driven environment.

Unfortunately, it’s a recipe for disaster against Notre Dame.

Notre Dame has faced excellent (and stylistically diverse) running attacks each of its games this season. On each occasion, the Irish run defense has been up to the challenge. Through three games, Notre Dame has allowed just 2.96 yards per carry and surrendered only one rushing touchdown.

Manti Te’o and company have shut down every running back they’ve faced this season, and Ray Graham will be no exception.

Though the Pittsburgh spread attack bears little resemblance to Michigan State’s two-back system, both offenses are rooted in the running game. Establishing a successful ground attack is essential if the Panthers are to have any success on offense.

As Michigan State learned on Saturday, that won’t happen against Notre Dame.

The Pittsburgh Pass Defense

The Pittsburgh pass defense is remarkably inept. The Panthers have allowed an average of nearly 337 passing yards per game in 2011. That mark ranks 119th out of the 120 teams in the FBS.

Only UNLV has been worse against the pass, yet the Runnin’ Rebels’ struggles are understandable. All of the teams UNLV has faced (Wisconsin, Washington State and Hawaii) boast excellent passing offenses. Wisconsin and Washington State both rank in the nation's top 10 in passing efficiency.

Pittsburgh’s struggles are far more difficult to comprehend. The two FBS teams that the Panthers have faced—Buffalo and Iowa—both rank outside of the top 35 in passing efficiency. In its other game, Pittsburgh was torched for 334 yards and three touchdowns through the air—by Maine.

This season has been a struggle at times for Tommy Rees. It’s about to get a lot easier.

The Panthers’ toothless pass rush will do little to bother the Irish quarterback and their cement-shoed defensive backs will have no answers for Michael Floyd and the rest of the Notre Dame receivers.

Rees will put up gaudy numbers in leading the Irish to a Week 4 win.