Notre Dame Football: Defense Key in Close Win over Pittsburgh

Once again, Notre Dame lined up with more talent than their opponent. Once again, Notre Dame committed turnovers and made mistakes, only this time, the Irish escaped with a win. 

The difference? The bend-but-don't-break defense of the Irish.

Notre Dame held Pittsburgh to twelve points and just 268 yards. More importantly, they held the Panthers to a 23-yard field goal when Pitt had a first-and-goal from the ND 11, and a third-and-1 from the two-yard line. 

A touchdown on that drive would have made all the difference in the game.

As a result, ND only needed two successful drives to win the game. The first was hardly a "drive," but was instead an impressive 79-yard run by Jonas Gray, his first of the season. 

The other was a more traditional drive, and was impressive. Taking over at their own 15 with 11:28 left, Tommy Rees led the Irish on a 12-play, 85-yard touchdown drive and added the two-point conversion to boot. After that, the defense was able to hold the Panthers.

Credit should be given to Notre Dame for getting other players involved. 

They came out with the intent of getting the ball to Michael Floyd, but Floyd only finished with four catches and 27 yards. Instead, there was a more balanced ND offense, with Cierre Wood rushing for 94 yards, the aforementioned Gray rushing for 84, and Tyler Eifert catching eight passes for 75 yards, including the game-winning touchdown.

If Notre Dame wants to be successful heading forward, they need to use the weapons they have who are not named Michael Floyd. 

The running game, with Wood featured, is a great start.

The Irish also did something today against Pitt that they didn't do the first three games: overcome a negative turnover ratio (0-2 today).  This is another thing that has to be improved upon if they want to think about beating the likes of USC or Stanford. 

All-in-all, the Irish should be happy with this ugly win in Pittsburgh.