Notre Dame beats Pittsburgh Panthers - 2nd Straight Win!

Although Pitt aren't a Top 25 ranked team (Either are ND ATM) they came into the game win a 2-1 record and the sole loss last week came after after a 21 point 4th quarter capitulation against Iowa.

The Pitt defence pushed Notre Dame around for 3 quarters and would have them scoreless if not for RB Jonas Gray scoring his career touchdown ripping off a 79 yard run down the sideline in the 2nd quarter.

The last quarter started with a 12-7 lead for the Panthers but QB Tommy Rees had other ideas. Relatively ineffectual for 3 quarters he started to find his rhythm culminating with an extremely impressive 8 for 8 record on the game winning drive including 4 to WR Tyler Eifert including the score. Rees finished with average numbers of 24 for 41 for 216 yard and a touchdown and interception. ND offence continued it's turnover conundrum with another 2 for the game. Record holder WR Michael Floyd was held to 4 receptions but the running game more than picked up the slack.

RB Cierre Wood kept the offence rumbling with 96 yards from 23 carries and Jonas Gray had 84 yards from 3 carries including his long touchdown run.

Pitt QB Tino Suneri was very accurate but occasionally held onto the ball to long going down for 5 sacks including 2 on the final drive ending any hopes of a Pitt come from behind win. Suneri went 22 from 30 but couldn't find any targets down throwing for only 165 yards and the longest being only 18 yards.

In the end ND did enough to resurrect their season taking their record to 2-2 with an important game against Purdue next week. The 2-2 record is all the more impressive when you look at the 2 losses. The 1st loss was an upset to Florida State by 3 points and the 2nd was to #22 ranked Michigan Wolverines in a shock last minute score in a game the Fighting Irish should have won!

Until then hail to the Grayman!

Notre Dame beats Michigan State Spartans

Notre Dame have taken until the 3rd round to notch up their first victory and it was an upset 31 - 13 win over the #15 Michigan State Spartans.

After the shock loss to the Michigan Wolverines in the last seconds last weeks loss, not many pundits would have given the Fighting Irish a chance against heavily favoured Michigan State in South Bend.

Notre Dame took ascendancy in the first quarter scoring 2 touchdowns to a field goal and never looked back after that.

The Notre Dame defence gave up 329 yards in the air but the Spartans could only get in the endzone once with 2 more field goals. And although the offence wasn't potent in raw yardage they were efficient and uncharacteristically held onto the ball with the sole turnover being an interception.

QB Tommy Rees was methodical in leading the offence for 3 touchdowns, 2 on the ground to Cierre Wood and 1 in the air to TJ Jones. Wood and RB Jonas ray wore down the defence running for a combined 138 yards off 26 carries for a healthy 5.3 average. Michael Floyd caught 6 passes for 84 yards and was always a threat. Tommy Rees only threw for 161 yards but that was all that was needed in the 31 to 13 win. His completion 61.5% ensured that there were more than enough long drives to keep the Spartans offence off the field.

The special team also held up their share of the bargain including a 89 yard kick off return by George Atkinson III. And possibly the most impressive stat was the 29 yards net rushing from 23 attempts.

Notre Dame play Pittsburgh at Pittsburgh next week with hopes of squaring the ledger with a 2-2 record.

Until then hail to the Bend!