Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/204831
Game Preview: pittsburgh 31‑10, 38‑24 and 44‑38 deficits at No. 14 Pitt to record a 45‑44 triumph Dec. 5. The winning score came with 33 seconds left on a 29-yard touchdown pass. Cincinnati's Mardy Gilyard totaled 374 all-purpose yards, but all the attention after the game was on whether Kelly would accept the recently vacated Notre Dame head coaching position. Four days later, it was officially announced that Kelly was the new Fighting Irish head coach. • At Notre Dame in 2010, Kelly and the Irish held on for a 23-17 victory when a Pitt fourth-down pass with 1:07 remaining was broken up by cornerback Gary Gray deep in Pitt territory. • In 2011, Notre Dame trailed 12‑7 at Pitt when sophomore quarterback Tommy Rees completed all eight of his pass attempts during an 85-yard touchdown march that ended with a six-yard toss to junior tight end Tyler Eifert, plus a two-point conversion to Eifert, with 6:48 left. Pitt moved to the Notre Dame 40 on the next series before two Irish sacks halted the drive. • In the mother of all Notre DamePitt battles last Nov. 3, 8-0 Notre Dame's national title dreams were on the brink of collapse when the Panthers held a 20-6 lead entering the fourth quarter. Notre Dame finally knotted the score at 20 with 2:11 left on a five-yard touchdown pass from Everett Golson to Theo Riddick, followed by a scrambling Golson diving past the goal line for the two-point conversion to send the game into overtime. With a chance to seal the victory in the second overtime, Pitt's Kevin Harper missed a 33-yard field goal, and the Irish finally secured the 29-26 victory on Golson's one-yard sneak in the third overtime. That might be enough drama for Kelly in one series to last a coaching lifetime. However, even before Kelly's arrival, Notre Dame had its own white-knuckle meetings with Pitt in 2008 and 2009. In 2008, the clash went through four overtimes — the most ever in a Notre Dame game — before Pitt prevailed 36-33. In 2009, the final season under head coach Charlie Weis, the Irish staged a late rally before falling short, 27-22. Quick On The Draw One strength for Pitt earlier this year was its proclivity for fast starts. In the Sept. 2 opener against Florida State, the Panthers marched to a touchdown on the opening series for a 7-0 lead before losing 41-13. In its next game, versus head coach Bob Davie's New Mexico Lobos, Pitt grabbed a 21-3 first-quarter lead and scored touchdowns on six of its first nine series in the 49-27 win. In game three at Duke, the Panthers raced to a 20-7 first-quarter advantage and staved off the Blue Devils in a 5855 shootout win. A week later against Virginia, Pitt scored both of its touchdowns in the first quarter in a 14-3 conquest, a 180-degree turn from the previous week.