Nov 15 | Pitt

[notredamermotherpray4us]

When will they announce the game time?

 

[Dale]

Narduzzi has the run defense humming….

 

[thekid33]

This game worries me to no end. We need to show up ready for a fight from the opening kick.

 

[sixstar]

Pitt defense looks scary - best run D that we will have faced by far.

Miami held ND to 93 yards rushing and 3.3 ypc.
NCS held ND to 143 yards and 3.7 ypc.
BC held ND to 159 yards rushing and 5.5 ypc. those numbers plummet to 65 yards rushing and 2.3 ypc without Love's run.

spooky.

 

[DONTH8]

Boise, NC State, and Boston College all used the same defensive blueprint against us: stack the box, play man on the perimeter, and dare Carr to beat them over the top. So far, our response has been to take deep shots on early downs, which too often leads to second and long, third and long, and an inconsistent run game. USC, of course, took a completely different defensive approach, and we all saw how that worked out for them.

Now, Pitt’s defense is basically built for that first strategy. They live in the “stop the run, play man, force the quarterback to make tight window throws” world. It’s exactly the kind of scheme that’s given this offense trouble.

I trust Denbrock and company will have the right answers dialed up (quick man beaters like slants, drags, and crossers) to get Carr comfortable and stay ahead of the chains. If Carr keeps taking the bait and throwing deep just because he sees one on ones, we’ll stay stuck in neutral. Hopefully, the staff and Carr have learned from those earlier games and make the right adjustments early.

We should handle Pitt. But if we can’t exploit this defense and move the ball efficiently, we don’t deserve playoff talk yet.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

I don't like this game at all even more after the sloppy BC performance. I know it was a road game coming off of a bye week, but they really need to strap it up for Navy and then be locked in for Pitt. They're playing very well right now.

 

[Dale]

The Mina Kimes - Jason Brown debate on Twitter is basically the Pitt game. Narduzzi is gonna play close to the LOS Press Quarters coverage.

 

[arrowryan]

Wow

 

[Dale]

I always assume Pitt to be a Noon game.

 

[stlnd01]

Yuck. Hate noon road games, and not just because they screw up my Saturdays. Give me a loud night time crowd any time. I'm a lot more worried about our guys coming out flat than I am about them being somehow intimidated.

 

[RipWheeler]

Pitt has built its stats primarily on teams that are on life support. NCSt is probably its best win and they still gave up 34.

Hollywood Smothers rushed 8 times for 86 yards.

 

[FOTY977]

Yuck. Hate noon road games, and not just because they screw up my Saturdays. Give me a loud night time crowd any time. I'm a lot more worried about our guys coming out flat than I am about them being somehow intimidated.

They handled it just fine at Arky. They know the stakes, I don’t see kickoff time impacting the effort or composure of either team.

 

[Bane]

Pitt is good and can definitely beat us if we play like we did against BC. That's good though, a good test to get us ready for the postseason. I think the boys will come out ready to pound Pitt. I completely expect Narduzzi to stick his foot in his mouth more than once in the week leading up to the game to get Freeman juiced. The guy just can't help himself as he has ND Derangement Syndrome.

 

[pumpdog20]

I'm going to guess we won't use time to prepare for Pitt, to prepare for Navy, like we did for BC.

The boys will be ready.

 

[tko]

Mike Denbrock

 

[BoredIrish]

Wow

I hope its not Osweiler again.

The commentary against BC was so bad it made me miss Garrett.

 

[2013Irish]

Wow

Prefer this to a night game. Less time for the crowd to get liqqed.

 

[sixstar]

Pitt has built its stats primarily on teams that are on life support. NCSt is probably its best win and they still gave up 34.

Hollywood Smothers rushed 8 times for 86 yards.

Pitt is undefeated since the new QB took over.
Hollywood busted a 65 yarder. He was held to 3 ypc on the other 7 carries.
Their offense outperformed ND's offense against both similar opponents (NCS, BC) (both yards and points)
Their defense outperformed ND's against BC (both yards and points)

They are TO-prone. We will need to win the TO battle.

 

[rtrn2glory]

The Mina Kimes - Jason Brown debate on Twitter is basically the Pitt game. Narduzzi is gonna play close to the LOS Press Quarters coverage.

He tries that every single time we play him. He will not deviate from his Michigan St days. I believe we cooked him trying it in 13 and it worked in 18 for most of the game and then we cooked his ass in '20 during the COVID year and two years ago.

I'm hoping for any result minus the 18 game.

 

[RipWheeler]

Pitt is undefeated since the new QB took over.
Hollywood busted a 65 yarder. He was held to 3 ypc on the other 7 carries.
Their offense outperformed ND's offense against both similar opponents (NCS, BC) (both yards and points)
Their defense outperformed ND's against BC (both yards and points)

They are TO-prone. We will need to win the TO battle.

Agree with all of this. However, if ND is a playoff team like we think they are, then they should handle Pitt.

 

[Jiggafini19Deux]

Pitt is undefeated since the new QB took over.
Hollywood busted a 65 yarder. He was held to 3 ypc on the other 7 carries.
Their offense outperformed ND's offense against both similar opponents (NCS, BC) (both yards and points)
Their defense outperformed ND's against BC (both yards and points)

They are TO-prone. We will need to win the TO battle.

Exactly.

Again, Pitt is going to have a bye and get ND at home with ND coming off of a service academy game. Service academies are pain in the ass games as it is, but history has shown that the game you play AFTER a service academy can prove to be equal or more problematic.

This game has really been bugging me for a few weeks now. It's almost here and quite honestly, after that BC game, I'm actually a tad concerned about Navy now too.

 

[Dale]

ND finishes with:

- rivalry night game
- actually good team
- senior day
- last game of the season

If they were gonna come out flat for a game, it was going to be BC, a bad team, not real rival post bye and USC. I didn’t really seen anything Saturday besides the kickers to make me think something has changed or weakened in this team.

 

[PutuporShutup]

ND finishes with:

- rivalry night game
- actually good team
- senior day
- last game of the season

If they were gonna come out flat for a game, it was going to be BC, a bad team, not real rival post bye and USC. I didn’t really seen anything Saturday besides the kickers to make me think something has changed or weakened in this team.

I agree with this, but I was hoping/expecting to see better short yardage run blocking and schemes. When we wanted to run it and BC knew we would run it, they were blowing it up. There's still far too many DL over and over almost un touched hitting our RBs at or behind LOS.

 

[calvegas04]

Terrible kick off time

 

[CTIDANDREW]

Wow

I think this is a net positive for ND in the sense that the eyes of the country will be on this game in the noon slate.
I’m not sure who the big noon kickoff game will be, but all the other meaningful matchups look like they will be 330 or 8pm at this time.

Hopefully we put on a show, and impressive the committee.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

I agree with this, but I was hoping/expecting to see better short yardage run blocking and schemes. When we wanted to run it and BC knew we would run it, they were blowing it up. There's still far too many DL over and over almost un touched hitting our RBs at or behind LOS.

Sure, Jan.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Terrible kick off time

Why?

 

[calvegas04]

Why?

Nothing like a sleepy trap game

 

[HouseofPain]

I’m gonna stay the obvious: do you really think OSU, GA, Texas A&M or even Alabama would lose an ounce of sleep, fretting about the mighty Pitt? The answer is absolutely not. Playoff caliber teams bury teams like Pitt. The fact that so many of the fan base is wringing their hands over this team just tells me you truly don’t believe ND belongs in the playoffs.

 

[Dale]

I’m gonna stay the obvious: do you really think OSU, GA, Texas A&M or even Alabama would lose an ounce of sleep, fretting about the mighty Pitt? The answer is absolutely not. Playoff caliber teams bury teams like Pitt. The fact that so many of the fan base is wringing their hands over this team just tells me you truly don’t believe ND belongs in the playoffs.

I don’t think they fret about Pitt. But they do lose sleep over teams like Tennessee and Florida or aren’t really any better in reality