Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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GAME PREVIEW: PITTSBURGH body of work and preparing for the grand regular-season finale at USC. Because of the success experienced during the first two months of the season, Kelly believes it should be easier for the Irish to thrive in No- vember. "I've always felt like your team keeps its edge in November when they enjoy being around each other," he said. "… Teams in November have a distinct advantage if they're enjoying the process." With a BCS bid there for the taking, Notre Dame will be expected to con- tinue its improvement this month. has been Pitt's identity recently with premier backs such as LeSean McCoy (2007-08), Dion Lewis (2009-10) and Ray Graham (2011-12). McCoy became a second-round NFL A hard-nosed power running attack RUNNING (BACK) TO GLORY? who as a freshman in 2009 romped for 1,799 yards, including 152 in 21 at- tempts during a 27-22 victory against Notre Dame. Lewis also entered the NFL draft after his second season with Pitt. In the aforementioned Pitt victory draft pick after accumulating 1,328 and 1,403 yards in his two seasons with the Panthers. Succeeding him was Dion Lewis, over Notre Dame in 2009, then-fresh- man Graham's three carries totaled 57 yards, and last year he was among the nation's rushing leaders until tearing his ACL in October. In the 15-12 loss to Notre Dame, he appeared headed for a 95-yard scoring jaunt in the first half before Irish out- side linebacker Prince Shembo hustled to bring him down near midfield. Complementing the recovered Gra- ham in the backfield this year is one of the nation's top running back recruits in 2012, Rushel Shell, the all-time lead- ing rusher in Pennsylvania who also set a national record with 39 consecu- tive 100-yard rushing outputs. It's the type of backfield tandem first-year head coach Paul Chryst was used to producing at Wisconsin as the Badgers' offensive coordinator from 2005-11. A Rose Bowl participant each of the past two seasons, Wisconsin nearly had three 1,000-yard rushers in James White (1,052), John Clay (1,012) and Montee Ball (996) in 2010. And while Chryst is undertaking a rebuilding project, Pitt demonstrated in a 35-17 victory against Virginia Tech how dangerous it can be on the prover- bial " any given day." After opening the season with a 31- 17 loss at home to Youngstown State and then getting whipped at Cincin- nati 34-10, Pitt responded by end- ing Virginia Tech's 13-game winning streak in true road contests with the convincing victory. Shell rushed for 157 yards, while Graham totaled 94 yards and two touchdowns and added a third score on an 18-yard reception. Such rushing numbers against Notre Dame's vaunted front seven are un- likely, especially because Pitt's offen- sive line also has been reconstructing while adjusting to a new staff. Nevertheless, Pitt's ground-game ex- plosion against Virginia Tech demon-