Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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GAME PREVIEW: PITTSBURGH ON PAPER BY DAN MURPHY Chryst seemed like a perfect fit for a football pro- gram that traditionally likes to puts its offense in the hands of a workhorse running back. Chryst inherited a team unnaturally squeezed into a spread attack and is still in the rebuilding process when it comes to the power running game. Senior Ray Graham rushed for 513 yards in his Former Wisconsin offensive coordinator Paul PITTSBURGH RUNNING GAME VS. NOTRE DAME RUN DEFENSE first seven games despite starting the season at less than full strength after a knee injury last November. Freshman Rushel Shell became a regular contributor in October, splitting the lead role with Graham while averaging 4.8 yards per carry. Graham and Shell have picked their way to daylight behind a less than stellar offensive line. Notre Dame's front seven has been a solar eclipse during the first two months of the season. The Irish allowed 106.71 yards rushing per opponent in their first seven games, which put them 15th nationally in that category. Linebackers Manti Te'o, Dan Fox and Carlo Calabrese combined for 131 tackles in seven games and are well suited to stuff the Panthers this week. Advantage: Notre Dame plete season as a starting quarterback for Pittsburgh. He completed 71 percent of his passes in his first two games against Notre Dame for a total of 437 yards. Sunseri's top target this year is redshirt junior Devin Street. The 6-4 receiver has the size and speed to be a deep threat. He made 44 catches and scored three times in the first seven games of the year. Fifth- year senior Mike Shanahan (6-5, 225) is another tall Fifth-year senior Tino Sunseri is in his third com- PITTSBURGH PASSING GAME VS. NOTRE DAME PASS DEFENSE Redshirt junior wide receiver Devin Street has emerged as the Panthers' top pass catcher, post- ing 44 receptions for 555 yards and three touch- downs through seven games. weapon, and he averages 18.2 yards per reception. Notre Dame's defense sacked Sunseri five times in PHOTO COURTESY OF PITT ATHLETICS 2011. This year he has been taken down 2.7 times per game, which puts the Panthers at 96th in the country in sacks allowed. Midseason All-American Stephon Tuitt should have a good opportunity to add to his team-high 8.5 sacks. The Irish secondary started to show some of its youth in recent weeks, including a gaffe against BYU that resulted in the first defensive touchdown sur-