Notre Dame vs. Pittsburgh: What We Learned About the Fighting Irish

At the end of the day, all that matters is winning. It doesn't matter how you do it, as long as you win.

Notre Dame certainly found a way to win today against Pittsburgh.

It was quite an ugly game, but there is much to be discussed.

The first thing we learned about Notre Dame is that the defense can and will be relied upon.

For the second week in a row, Bob Diaco's bunch was able to shut down the opposition. Time and time again the defense came up with key stops following turnovers committed by the offense.

They limited Pittsburgh to 268 yards, 165 of which came from quarterback Tino Sunseri.

Aside from Sunseri, versatile running back Ray Graham was kept quiet as he accumulated only 89 yards rushing on 21 carries. 

The defensive gameplan worked to perfection, and it certainly showed on Saturday.

While the defense had an excellent game, the offense did not.

Tommy Rees struggled from the start and finished the day 24 of 41 for 216 yards along with one score and an interception.

He still has a long way to go before he can be considered a good quarterback.

If he can avoid turnovers, the offense will be clicking in do time.

However, there's one issue to be resolved before that will happen.

That issue is the over reliance on Michael Floyd. The other play-makers in the offense need to become involved, and that is up to the coaching staff to make that happen.

All in all, the Irish got the win today.

Let's hope they can keep it rolling.