Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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ON PAPER REVISITED PITTSBURGH RUNNING GAME BY LOU SOMOGYI gest runs of the season against Notre Dame — 55 and 48 yards — which set up two Pitt field goals. Other- wise the Fighting Irish defense did well to limit Gra- ham, who has made remarkable strides after tearing his ACL last year, to 69 yards on his other 22 attempts. Notre Dame has had better days this year against VS. NOTRE DAME RUN DEFENSE Senior running back Ray Graham had the two lon- the run, but Pitt's running attack was stifled in the fourth quarter and three overtimes when Graham's eight carries netted 21 yards. Advantage: Even PITTSBURGH PASSING GAME plosive Oklahoma receiving corps, Notre Dame kept everything in front of it for all but one play, a 43-yard strike over the middle to freshman tight end J.P. Holtz. Otherwise, Pitt's 18 completions averaged a meager 6.7 yards. Senior 6-5 wideout Mike Shanahan entered the VS. NOTRE DAME PASS DEFENSE Similar to the previous week against a more ex- contest averaging a robust 17.1 yards on his 37 catches, but he managed just 9.5 on his four grabs against the Irish. Junior Devin Street was averaging six catches for 87 yards per contest, but versus the Irish he finished with just three for 35. Add in five sacks and eight quarterback hurries, and the advantage goes to defensive coordinator Bob Diaco's crew. Advantage: Notre Dame NOTRE DAME RUNNING GAME ries for 85 yards) and Cierre Wood (13 carries for 70 yards) combined for another productive perfor- mance, especially on the outside zone or sprint-draw plays, the difference was sophomore quarterback Everett Golson's 74 yards, many of them from an empty backfield or improvising off scrambles. VS. PITTSBURGH RUN DEFENSE Although the senior duo of Theo Riddick (22 car- Despite having a long run negated by a holding penalty, senior running back Cierre Wood (13 car- ries for 70 yards) helped the Irish amass 231 yards on the ground. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA third quarter and first 16 of the fourth, neither Rid- dick nor Wood touched the ball— and during that stretch, mainly in empty sets, Golson rushed the ball five times for 63 yards. His running dimension has become extremely crucial to the offense — in the last four games he played he finished with 51, 41, 64 and 74 yards rushing. In his first four games, Golson totaled minus-11 yards on the ground. Advantage: Notre Dame On Notre Dame's final three offensive plays of the