Pittsburgh’s best chance to pick up a win at home Saturday night against Notre Dame may have been to keep it as low scoring as possible. So far, so good for the Panthers. Notre Dame leads Pittsburgh 14-7 at the half.
Tommy Rees threw a touchdown pass to DaVaris Daniels midway through the first quarter, the only score of the opening quarter. Pittsburgh evened things up in the second quarter, but not before a bit of controversy. Notre Dame defensive lineman Stephon Tuitt was ejected for leading with his helmet on a hit to Pitt quarterback Tom Savage. Video review, as mandated by the targeting rule in college football, upheld the ejection to help soften the defensive line for the Irish.That helped Pittsburgh continue their best drive of the night early on as the Panthers continued on a 10-play drive covering 71 yards. Savage completed a short touchdown pass to Devin Street to finish off the drive and tie the game up.
Notre Dame then fumbled on a third down and long play for a big gain on the next possession, but Pittsburgh was held to a three-and-out. Rees quickly put the Irish back in scoring position when he completed a 38-yard pass to Ben Koyack down to the one-yard line and two plays later TJ Jones found room to get in to the end zone for the 14-7 lead.