College football on Saturday night and we will see the Notre Dame Fighting Irish travel east to take on the Pittsburgh Panthers. The game will televised on ABC and has a start time of 8:00 pm (Eastern). Vegas odds have Notre Dame listed as 4 point favorites, while the total sits at 51.
Analysis: Back in the Top-25 thanks to a four-game win streak, the 24th- ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish look to stay there with a win in the Steel City tonight. Last weekend, the squad hosted Navy and was nearly upset by the Midshipmen before pulling out a 38-34 victory. The win was the 10th straight victory decided by a touchdown or less for Notre Dame. Tommy Rees is the one who sets the offense in motion with his 242.9 ypg and 22 TDs, against 8 INTs, while TJ Jones is his favorite target as he 48 grabs for 742 yards and seven scores. On the ground, George Atkinson (455 yards, three TDs) has been overtaken by Cam McDaniel (469 yards, three TDs), but neither is setting the world on fire right now. Defensively the Irish are not as stout as last year, but they do allow a respectable 370.8 ypg and 23 ppg on the year. In a series that dates back more than a century, Notre Dame owns a 47-20-1 advantage over the Panthers, thanks in part to a three-game win streak that continued last season with a 29-26 triple-overtime triumph.
As for the Panthers, they suffered a 21-10 loss to Georgia Tech on the road in ACC play last week and the defeat was the second in a row and the third in the last four outings for a program that is just 2-3 in conference play this year. Pittsburgh has found wins hard to come by and that's because the offense has been rather ordinary. Specifically, the rushing attack which is putting up only 122.5 ypg and that has the group ranked 104th in the country. Savage is converting 60.7 percent of his passes for 14 TDs and just seven picks, but still the unit as a whole has holes. Overall the offenses is 104th in total offense and 80th in scoring, putting up just 26.1 ppg. Defensively, the Panthers have been pretty solid overall, allowing just 366 ypg (34th) and 26.8 ppg (67th). Their biggest strength on this side of the ball is a pass defense that is ranked 18th in the nation, allowing just 202 ypg through the air.
Pick: Going with the Irish here for a pretty big play. Notre Dame's last 10 wins have all been by a TD or less, but that will not happen here. The Panther offense is pretty ordinary and non-inventive. Tom Savage is a decent QB, but makes too many mistakes and just doesn't have the kind of running game that can take the pressure off of him, especially vs a very tough front seven that the Irish have. On the other side of the ball we have a Notre dame offense that seems to get better by the week. Tommy Rees is a good QB and has limited his mistakes this year. This Irish ground game is also tough and the Panthers are 64th in the nation vs the run allowing 164 ypg. Notre Dame still has a BCS bowl game to play for and they remember how Pittsburgh took them to three OT's last year. Notre Dame will look to not let that happen again as they win this one by nearly 2 Tds.
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