Notre Dame (2-2) at Pittsburgh (2-2) played 9/24/11 (PT1/2)

     I have previously covered a game that Notre Dame has played in (being Notre Dame at Michigan) where Michigan came back to beat Notre Dame in the final seconds of the game. Notre Dame went on to win their next game in week three against Michigan State in an upset victory. Now onto week 4.

     Both teams came into the game with mediocre records, Notre Dame at 1 win, 2 losses and Pittsburgh at 2 wins, 1 loss. The broadcast team kept reminding the audience that Notre Dame needed to win this game to keep their morale up and keep them off the brink of total defeat. I couldn't agree more.
    The first quarter started off very bland with barely any forced turnovers, both teams just couldn't seem to get down the field to get some points on the board. Finally, with two minutes left in the quarter Pittsburgh kicker put 3 points on the board with a 45 yard field goal. Notre Dame answered back almost immediately. Two minutes into the quarter Notre Dame halfback Jonas Gray rushed for 79 of his total 84 yards for seven points, putting Notre Dame up. Five minutes later Pittsburgh fought their way down field to conclude in a 23 yard field goal by Harper. This made the score 7-6 in favor of Notre Dame. The rest of the quarter was quiet, with no points being scored.
     After the half, the game seemed to ease back into its theme of quiet plays and unrelenting drives down the field, until Pittsburgh finally took their offense to the end zone for seven with a pass from Quarterback Tino Sunseri to receiver Hubie Graham. This put Pittsburgh up 12-7 and gave them the lead for the first time since the end of the first quarter. As the picture shows, Pittsburgh spectators believed they had a really good chance of taking the game and they had a good time with the lead.
That is until the fourth quarter began. With 6 minutes in the game a pass from Notre Dame quarterback Tommy Rees to Tyler Eifert, and then the same for the two point conversion to put Notre Dame up by 3, Pittsburgh could still tie it up with a field goal and force the game into overtime. Pittsburgh never got into prime field position to kick the field goal.
Notre Dame quarterback Tommy Rees went 24 completions with 41 attempts with 216 passing yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception. Pittsburgh quarterback Tino Sunseri went 22 completions for 30 attempts with 165 yards and 1 touchdown.