Notre Dame Football: 7 Potential Pitfalls Against Pitt

After righting the ship and winning going away against No. 15 Michigan State, the Irish travel to Pittsburgh to take on the Panthers at Heinz Field.

As with the first three contests, the Irish will be favored. On paper, Notre Dame out-matches the Panthers at nearly every position. Similar to Michigan State, the Irish should win going away.

But as the first three weeks prove (along with Notre Dame's 1-2 record), you do actually have to play the game to determine who the winner will be.

On the year, Pittsburgh has played Buffalo, FCS Maine, and Iowa. The Panthers struggled to beat Maine, allowing 334 yards through the air, holding on 35-29. They pulled clear of Buffalo 35-16, but allowed 127 yards rushing and 276 yards passing in defeating the Bulls.

Against their only BCS level competition thus far, Pittsburgh fell to the Iowa Hawkeyes 31-27, allowing 399 yards passing.

Comparatively, the Irish have faced much stiffer competition in No. 18 South Florida, Michigan and Michigan State, outplaying each but twice succumbing to self inflicted wounds.

Here are seven ways that Notre Dame could again stumble and find themselves wondering what went wrong.

1. Turnovers

Plain and simple turnovers kill.

Thirteen in three games is simply too much to over come.

Giving the ball away 4.5 times a game will make it difficult to beat anyone, no matter how superior you appear "on paper."

Quarterback Tommy Rees has to do a better job of care-taking the pigskin, as he owns seven of the Irish turn-overs on five interceptions and two fumbles. Running backs only account for a pair of give-aways. Dayne Crist is responsible for one, and three on kick returns.

Take care of the ball and win the game. Saturday, it may honestly be that simple!

2. Coaching

A year ago, Todd Graham marched his Tulsa Golden Hurricane into South Bend and stunned the Irish.

The win came partly because Tulsa did everything right, and Brian Kelly's Irish did not.

This year, Todd Graham and his Pittsburgh Panthers await the incoming Irish.

A physically superior team has to jump out early and keep the pressure on. Notre Dame can't fall behind and cannot come out of the locker room flat. Already marked as a mistake prone team, the Irish have to be ready and have to start fast.

Todd Graham proved a year ago that he can beat you with an inferior squad.

If the Panthers are more prepared for the game than the Irish, he could easily do it again.

3. Pressure Tino Sunseri Early and Often

Panthers junior quarterback Tino Sunseri is a mobile accurate passer who can gash you.

He has also proven to be best once he finds a rhythm and is prone to mistakes.

Sunseri has completed 60 of 96 throws (62.5 percent) for 658 yards and three touchdowns in three starts.

He has also been sacked 12 times and has been picked four times.

The Panthers line is not what the Irish faced last week in Michigan State, and if Brian Kelly is smart, he has Aaron Lynch at the right defensive end often with one mission: Get to the QB.

If allowed time, Sunseri is good enough to pick you apart. If you don't maintain outside containment, he will also run on you.

4. Stop Ray Graham

One man accounts for almost half of Pittsburgh's total offense.

Junior running back Ray Graham has carried 79 times for 419 yards and six touchdowns. He also has 13 receptions for another 86 yards, adding to 505 total in three games.

The rest of the Panthers team has managed 706 yards. Graham's six touchdowns do represent half of the Panthers' scores.

Behind Graham in rushing is Senior Zach Brown, who has 10 carries for 32 yards and one touchdown.

The Pittsburgh offense is based on Graham's running, stopping him and making the offense one-dimensional will result in an easy afternoon for Notre Dame.

Allowing him space will allow him to have a game similar to the opener this year, when he carried 29 times for 201 yards and three touchdowns.

If Pittsburgh's stat line looks like Michigan State's in the run column a week ago (29 yards on 23 attempts), the game could be a blow out.

4. Find Balance on Offense

As much as Brian Kelly hates to admit it, controlling the clock is important in college football.

He seems to have learned from his experiences last year when a pass-happy Irish team suffered a 4-5 start before becoming balanced and reeling off four straight to end the year.

In year two of the Brian Kelly era, the Irish are slightly more air-based, throwing 114 times to 94 runs.

Keeping with that trend and seeing Junior running back Cierre Wood add to his tremendous start would also help ensure Irish victory.

Controlling the clock will also help keep Pittsburgh from getting their ground game going and prevent exposure of the young and thin defensive secondary depth.

6. Special Teams

Pretty self explanitory.

Gain yardage on kick-off and punt returns.

Don't fumble the ball.

Make your field goal attempts.

Punt for more than 30 yards all day.

If the game is close, special teams play is usually the deciding factor.

Last week, Notre Dame was 1-1 on field goal attempts, returned a kick for a touchdown and was average at covering its own kicks.

Another fumbled punt return is troublesome, as it was the second "answer" to the returner question, who muffed it? Theo Riddick has already been removed after a costly punt return fumble in the opener; now, John Goodman proves that he is not the man for the job (he actually has managed to run backwards on all the returns he did not fair catch).

Give George Atkinson III a chance. He's proven he's fast and as a true freshman; maybe he's hungry for playing time.

7. Show Up and Finish!

Last week's win over Michigan State is the closest Notre Dame has come to completing a game.

Still, Sparty had the ball on the Notre Dame 5-yard line, threatening to make it a one score game with four minutes left after being handled all day by the Irish.

Notre Dame went to the fourth quarter holding a 24-7 lead on Michigan, then proceeded to surrender four touchdowns and about a bizillion yards in the final frame.

In the opener, Notre Dame sleep walked through the first half and waited until they trailed 16-0 before bothering to score a point...and didn't fully seem to play with urgency until they trailed 23-7.

In all but one or two games remaining this year, the only thing truly standing between Notre Dame and a victory is Notre Dame. Show up prepared, play hard and finish.