Nov 7 | Pittsburgh

[irishfan]

Losing 17-13 at halftime at Syracuse. Need Pitt to get it together.

 

[dang227]

Spoke with a coaching friend of mine who is close to Narduzzi and he said that Connors is running and they are trying to have him ready for the ND game.

 

[irishfan]

Spoke with a coaching friend of mine who is close to Narduzzi and he said that Connors is running and they are trying to have him ready for the ND game.

Oh god that's not good. Is that possible? Didn't he tear his MCL?

 

[irishfan]

Oh god that's not good. Is that possible? Didn't he tear his MCL?

Ahead of schedule after surgery, Pitt RB James Conner is thinking about an early return | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Just saw this from a few weeks ago so you may have some good info there.

 

[Ultimate Penn St. Hater]

They better pull this one out

 

[NDgradstudent]

Pitt cannot get a drive going to save their lives...yikes. Taking stupid penalties too.

 

[KPENN]

Oh my goodness

 

[TheSunIsRising]

Thought that PItt should have been called for Illegal Player downfield...their linemen released from the LOS

 

[irishfan]

Huge 23-20 win for us. They're not very good I honestly think Temple is better ha.

 

[CanadalovesND]

Spoke with a coaching friend of mine who is close to Narduzzi and he said that Connors is running and they are trying to have him ready for the ND game.

Conner tore his MCL in the season opener. That gives him a two-month recovery and rehab to be able to play.

Two months...

Ya, no. You're friend is a bad salesman.

 

[Goldedommer44]

I am looking for 2 or 3 tickets to this game. If anyone has any please PM me, thanks

 

[kmoose]

Steelhead hit it on the head. Every year people say "Pitt sucks, we'll crush them." It doesn't really happen. Look at our meetings over the last several years:

2014: No game
2013: Pitt 28 - ND 21
2012: ND 29 - Pitt 26 OT
2011: ND 15 - Pitt 12
2010: ND 23 - Pitt 17
2009: Pitt 27 - ND 22
2008: Pitt 36 - ND 33 OT
2007: No game, but it would have been a loss
2006: No game
2005: ND 42 - Pitt 21
2004: Pitt 41 - ND 38
2003: ND 20 - Pitt 14
2002: ND 14 - Pitt 6

Among all those meetings, only once was the score a win for us with more than a touchdown advantage, 2005. That '05 game was the exception, not the rule. That game was an offensive explosion that put the Shark and Brady on the map, in conjunction with other big playmakers like Stovall and McKnight, Pitt had no idea what was coming. History says this game will be close, whether Pitt sucks or not. I sincerely hope we stop a mudhole in them, but these guys unfortunately play their asses off when we face them (Or they play pretty well, we play like crap, and/or the refs give them some help. Some combination there).

That was Weis' first game, also. And many people overreacted and cheered about how ND "was back", after one game.

 

[NDgradstudent]

That was Weis' first game, also. And many people overreacted and cheered about how ND "was back", after one game.

We need to pound some teams on the road -all the other cool kids are doing it!- and Temple and Pitt would be good candidates.

 

[texbender]

Sweep thru PA with a couple of sound victories, and grab some recruits while you are at it.
Pitt always seems to play their best vs us, but ND will prevail.

 

[sportallyr]

We need Pitt to beat UNC next week in a showdown of 6-1 teams (assuming NC hangs on today to beat UVA...they are up 13 with 8 min left). Pitt would certainly be ranked and would probably be top 20. To beat two top 20 teams in a row on the road would really, really help our strength of schedule.

 

[ACamp1900]

Pitt always plays us tough for sure, but if this Irish team has indeed taken the next step they need big wins over the next month tho... With that said all I know of Pitt this year is their record, has anyone actually watch enough of them to give anything other the standard bs Irish fan breakdown of, 'Pitt sucks, we'll crush them..."??

 

[irishfan]

Wondering if this will be a day game. It's a stacked weekend on 11/7.

FSU/Clemson
Bama/LSU
TCU/OK State

 

[BGIF]

All but one game decided by 8 points or less.

All but one game decided by 8 points or less.

Pitt always plays us tough for sure, but if this Irish team has indeed taken the next step they need big wins over the next month tho... With that said all I know of Pitt this year is their record, has anyone actually watch enough of them to give anything other the standard bs Irish fan breakdown of, 'Pitt sucks, we'll crush them..."??

Pitt beat Div 1aa Youngstown St by 8 points.

Then beat an almost Div 1aa Akron by a couple of TDs

Had a tough 3 point loss to a good Iowa team.

Beat a losing record Va Tech by 4 points.

Beat UVA by 3

Beat GT by 3 on the road.

Beat a losing record SYR* by 3.


SYR* lost to UVA last week by 6.


Pitt could win all their remaining games, ND is probably the only team they'd be underdog, by about 10 pts. They could also lose most of them as the spread will be only a FG or so in most of them.

 

[ickythump1225]

Pitt is Pitt and will play us hard and close. I've already made peace with the fact that this game is going to give me a heart attack.

 

[dang227]

Conner tore his MCL in the season opener. That gives him a two-month recovery and rehab to be able to play.

Two months...

Ya, no. You're friend is a bad salesman.

I didn't know it was an ACL. He told me Connors has already been running. What a sack of shit. If I knew it was an ACL I would have called him out. I thought it was an ankle.

 

[Bogtrotter07]

Pitt is a different team this year. Part of it is their head coach. Part of it is the coaching turnover of the last decade.

But part of it is their play this year.

• Pitt has not demonstrated offensive or defensive explosive playmaking.
• Pitt speed seems to be at a recent low.
• Pitt does not seem to be as strong in the trenches as they have been, which makes sense; they are young.

This is truly an exploitable game for ND. We will see if they take advantage of it. As strong of a defense as Patrick Narduzzi put together at MSU, and as much of a defensive 'genius' he is roundly dubbed, Kelly, Denbrock, and whomever at ND was able to exploit that routinely in the MSU series. Remember that the only loss by ND was a first year, time expired fake field goal, and that Charley Molner was the offensive coordinator at ND, and we all know how that went for the current Idaho wide receiver coach!

 

[CTIDANDREW]

Pitt is a different team this year. Part of it is their head coach. Part of it is the coaching turnover of the last decade.

But part of it is their play this year.

• 
  [*]Pitt has not demonstrated offensive or defensive explosive playmaking.
• Pitt speed seems to be at a recent low.
• Pitt does not seem to be as strong in the trenches as they have been, which makes sense; they are young.

This is truly an exploitable game for ND. We will see if they take advantage of it. As strong of a defense as Patrick Narduzzi put together at MSU, and as much of a defensive 'genius' he is roundly dubbed, Kelly, Denbrock, and whomever at ND was able to exploit that routinely in the MSU series. Remember that the only loss by ND was a first year, time expired fake field goal, and that Charley Molner was the offensive coordinator at ND, and we all know how that went for the current Idaho wide receiver coach!

Tyler Boyd may be a first round draft pick, he will be a very hard test for KeiVarae.

 

[Black Irish]

The only reason this should be a WTF game is all of us Irish fans saying "WTF? I had no idea we'd be up 4 TDs at halftime and the second team would be getting all the reps by now." It's time for ND to shake the Pitt monkey off their back by burying them.

 

[tko]

Over/Under on Pitt trick plays for TD's, 4?

 

[Bogtrotter07]

Tyler Boyd may be a first round draft pick, he will be a very hard test for KeiVarae.

Agreed! As was Adoree!

 

[rtrn2glory]

The next two weeks will say a lot on if the Irish are the real deal. Hope we can stay sharp and get it done

 

[Buster Bluth]

The next two weeks will say a lot on if the Irish are the real deal.

Unfortunately I think that will have to wait until Stanford in an all-or-nothing match up.

Temple and Pittsburgh are both frauds in my opinion.

 

[rtrn2glory]

Unfortunately I think that will have to wait until Stanford in an all-or-nothing match up.

Temple and Pittsburgh are both frauds in my opinion.

That's what I'm thinking though... Both "big" games according to rankings so convincing wins where we play well could hold a lot of weight to the playoff committee

 

[ickythump1225]

Unfortunately I think that will have to wait until Stanford in an all-or-nothing match up.

Temple and Pittsburgh are both frauds in my opinion.

To echo the thoughts of the poster above me...that doesn't really matter. In fact it's better to play "frauds" who have 0 or 1 losses and are ranked than to play a team like USC every week. The SEC has been doing this for years, beating highly ranked frauds and it has paid enormous dividends for them. If we can get in on that action so much the better.

 

[EifertPower]

Unfortunately I think that will have to wait until Stanford in an all-or-nothing match up.

Temple and Pittsburgh are both frauds in my opinion.

I don't think Pitt beats UNC next week. And while I think Stanford is a strong team I highly doubt they go into our game with only 1 loss.

I think Temple is pretty solid and expect we'll have our hands full with them next week.