Notre Dame renews their historic rivalry with Pitt. As the Fighting Irish travel to Pittsburgh to take on the Panthers. The Pitt Panthers are 3-3 on the season and 2-3 in conference play. The Fighting Irish are unbeaten with a 4-0 record overall and a 3-0 conference record. Matchup wise the Fighting Irish hold a current two game winning streak against the Panthers and leads the series 48 wins to 21 wins against Pitt. This will be the 71st meeting between the two schools.
About the Panthers:
Notable non-football alumni include: Gene Kelly (Actor) Vladimir K. Zworykin (Inventor) and John Irving (Writer). Football alums include: Mike Ditka, Dan Marino, Mark May, Tony Dorset, and Larry Fitzgerald.
Pittsburgh’s bright spot is the offense. The Panther offense has shown this season that it can score often. The offense is lead by quarterback Kenny Pickett. He missed last game due to an ankle injury. He has eight touchdowns and three interceptions with 1389 passing yards. He could be a game time decision for the Panthers. Vincent Davis leads the rushing attack for the Panthers with 235 yards and 3 touchdowns. The receiver to watch out for is Jordan Addison who has 444 yards and three touchdowns.
Pitt will rely heavily on its passing attack. As is evident from the leading rusher who is only at 235 yards on the year. The high powered offense of the Panthers averages 390 total yards a game. 283 passing and 107 rushing a game for an average of 29 points. A wrench could be thrown in Pitts game plan as mentioned above with Kenny Pickett potentially missing the game against the Irish. Which would be a big blow to the Pitt Offense.
The Pitt defense gives up 18 points a game. The Panther defense also gives up 272 yards of total offense. Sirvocea Dennis leads the Pitt defense with 35 total tackles 21 solo and 14 assists and 2 sacks he will be a nightmare for the Irish offense if left unchecked. The Panthers are the most complete team the Fighting Irish will face up to this point in the season. It’s also important to note that Pitt is number one in the country for rushing defense. It will be interesting to see how the o-line responds.
About the Irish:
The Fighting Irish look to continue their winning ways as they are undefeated coming into the matchup against the Pitt Panthers. The Irish limp into the game against the Panthers coming off a narrow 12-7 victory over the Louisville Cardinals the week prior.
Ian Book, Kyrin Williams and Chris Tyree look to get the Fighting Irish offense going in a big way. Ian Book has 713 passing yards for three touchdowns and one interception. Kyrin Williams continues to be a dominant runner. He is averaging 121 yards a game he has already amassed 486 yards on the season. Javon McKinley leads the Irish with 121 receiving yards. Look for Michael Mayer to also make a splash against Pitt.
Notre Dames defense will look to shutdown the air attack of the Panthers. The Fighting Irish Defense only gives 193 passing yards a game while Pitt on the flip side averages 238. Notre Dame also only gives up 11 points a game and ironically comes in at 11th in the nation for overall defense. Total yards per game average comes out to 300 even. The average rushing yards a game the Irish give up is 107. Notre Dame’s defense will look to continue to bully their opponents.
In Conclusion:
The Fighting Irish will face their best opponent yet in the Pitt Panthers. To add to the challenge the Irish will be on the road for the first time all season due to Covid. The Irish should have played Wake Forest as their first road game but that game was canceled and moved to December 12th. Notre Dame must get it’s passing game going against Pitt. The Panther defense thrives against the running game. This has been a concern all season for the Irish. What will they do when they face a team that could potentially stop their dominate running attack?
With that being said the Fighting Irish should have no problem against Pitt. The Fighting Irish win 42-10 both George and Ben picked that score. As the offense gets its legs back underneath it and the Irish roll on and move to 5-0 and 4-0 in conference play. Go Irish Beat Pitt! ☘🏈🌩
The game can be heard here