Back to .500

It wasn't pretty but they'll take it. The Irish got back to .500 today with a 15-12 win in Pittsburgh. Notre Dame did not play its best game but did enough to squeak by the Panthers on the strength of a late touchdown drive. Irish Quarterback Tommy Rees struggled most of the afternoon but was a perfect 8-8 passing on the go ahead drive. Tyler Eifert caught five passes on the drive including the touchdown and two point conversion.

Notre Dame struggled on offence all day as Pitt took away star wideout Michael Floyd. Rees struggled to find other recievers until the final drive in which he found Theo Riddick on three occasions as well as Eifert five times. The Irish were held in check most of the game and were void of big plays with the exception of a Jonas Gray 79 yard TD run in the 2nd quarter.

The Irish defence continued its strong play this season. Notre Dame's defence held Pittsburgh to 268 yards of total offence. The Irish also managed to limit the Panthers vaunted rushing attack to 2.7 yards per carry and sack Pitt quarterback Tino Sonseri on five occasions. Pittsburgh only scored one TD on the Irish defence which came on a drive prolonged by a roughing the kicker penalty and aided by a pass interference penalty against Gary Gray.

Notre Dame was lucky to escape Hienz Field with a win on Saturday. The Irish turned the ball over two times against Pitt which brings their season total to a FBS worst 15 and also commited eight penalties for 85 yards. Notre Dame can't afford to shoot themselves in the foot down the road against teams like Stanford and USC.

Next up for the Irish a battle at in state rival Purdue in primetime.