PASSING NOTES ON NOTRE DAME

OK – thanks to Hurricane Sandy, I was without power for a while and of course that led to trying to do work from a phone and then a make shift office for a while.  It hit the Philly area hard.  All of it put me behind and leads to a rather less than stellar (yea, like that is something different for this blog) preview.  Let’s get to it!

I am not going to mince words here….Notre Dame is for real this year.  After a big win AT Oklahoma, the Fighting Irish come in at number 3 in the BCS for Saturday’s 3:30 kickoff in South Bend, IN.  The defense ranks 2^nd in the country and their front seven are VERY good.  They are led by Heisman Trophy candidate (yes on defense) Manti Te’o.  He’s a linebacker and you will be seeing him a lot. 

On offense, the Irish love to run the ball.  Whether it is QB Sophomore Everett Golson, Senior RB Theo Riddick, Senior RB Cierre Wood, or even Sophomore RB George Atkinson III….Notre Dame goes against Brian Kelly’s reputation and runs the ball a lot.  They are 33^rd in the country in rushing.  With not a lot of time to put this preview together, I will make my main point here: THIS WORRIES ME!!!!  It worries me almost as much as the new Nor’Easter that may hit us next week (I’m not kidding…go look it up).  With Shane Gordon already out with a high ankle sprain and Dan Mason’s comeback story taking a bad turn with a season ending injury, Senior linebacker, Joe Trebitz will get his first career start.  Against a team  like Notre Dame, this spells trouble. 

The key for Pitt is for Tino Sunseri to take advantage of one of the few Irish weaknesses (and that is being picky) and that is the pass defense.  The Pitt defensive line and outside linebackers MUST play out of their minds and Trebitz just needs to play his game.  That may be a lot to ask, but Pitt has played Notre Dame tough lately.  I think they will hang tough early, but the Irish win this one, 31-10.

Look, I think it will be a tough game, so I leave Pitt fans with something fun: 

EDITOR'S NOTE: LATE LAST NIGHT, IT CAME OUT THAT RAY GRAHAM, LAFAYETTE PITTS, AND DEVIN STREET WILL BE HIT WITH SIMPLE ASSUALT CHARGES.  ALL THREE WILL PLAY ON SATURDAY AND DENY INVOLVEMENT IN THE INCIDENT.