Oh That Irish Luck; Notre Dame Still Undefeated

For three and a half quarters Saturday Notre Dame was beaten by the Pittsburgh Panthers.

The trouble for Pitt came in those final minutes and subsequent overtimes when the Irish defense stiffened and the offense suddenly remembered what they were doing.

The results were a 29-26 3OT thriller in South Bend ending with a Notre Dame comeback sparked by a phantom pass interference call.

The comeback was very impressive, no doubt, but the unsuccessful 4th down play that might have otherwise ended ND's chances should never have seen a flag.

My apologies for a lack of angles, but this is clearly the best one. Even the reverse view looked questionable but this one is just brutal. 

Everett Golson struggled much of the game until after head coach Brian Kelly briefly inserted Tommy Rees into the game.

Following an awful interception thrown by Rees, Golson returned with renewed vigor eventually scoring the winning touchdown on a QB sneak. I don't like playing musical chairs with your quarterbacks, but in this case Brian Kelly played that game quite well.

Golson took a step back from his coming out party against Oklahoma, but he's clearly still the only thing that makes the Irish offense go.

Rees is a wonderful safety blanket, but he shouldn't really see the field. This is Golson's team and even when he struggles he gives ND the best chance to win.

The Irish defense is a treat to watch when they're playing well, and even when Pitt was controlling the game, the defense never gave them much.

The Panthers' Ray Graham is a special back, so his 172 rushing yards are nothing to be overly concerned with. He does that to just about everyone.

The passing game for Pitt was pedestrian as well accounting for just 164 yards and a touchdown. When the game was on the line late, the Irish D put heavy pressure on Panther QB Tino Sunseri and he was rendered ineffective both in regulation and overtime.

Next up for Notre Dame is a rivalry clash with the miserable Boston College Eagles.

I get that it's a rival and emotions will be running high, but there are zero excuses for struggling in this game.

BC has a solid quarterback in Chase Rettig accounting for their No. 27 passing offense, but their rushing offense is No. 122, scoring is 98th and scoring defense is 87th.

Head coach Frank Spaziani has exactly three games before he is unceremoniously fired.

Unless the Irish hasten that process come Saturday, which is entirely possible.
 

More Than Meets The Eye

After perusing some Boston College message boards to get the BC fans take on the horrible public relations nightmare that is the ongoing saga between athletic director Gene DeFilippo and football coach Jeff Jagodzinski, my feelings on the matter have changed somewhat.

Initially I took this to be some kind of power play by the AD, simply trying to play hardball with their coach.

Apparently, the feeling in Chestnut Hill is that Jagodzinski really doesn't like the recruiting process and as a result isn't very good at it.

Recruiting rankings only mean so much, but a quick look at the current committed players across the ACC does seem to show Boston College laggging behind a bit.

One could surmise that if this is all true, that Jags is simply trying to get out of his current position and get back to the NFL in some capacity, even if it isn't as head coach of the New York Jets.

Rumors now have Eagles defensive coordinator Frank Spaziani being the man promoted from within instead of offensive coordinator Steve Logan should the Eagles go that route in replacing Jagodzinski. Of course the Turner Gill rumor mill has been fired up once again, but I really think he'll stay at Buffalo at least one more season. Boston College is a very unattractive job at this point and he can and will do better.