Football: Panthers trail Notre Dame 17-3 at halftime

The Pitt football team is trailing Notre Dame 17-3 at halftime, but the score doesn’t quite… The Pitt football team is trailing Notre Dame 17-3 at halftime, but the score doesn’t quite indicate how the game has been going.

The Panthers have been moving the ball effectively on offense, driving it inside the red zone three times but only coming away with three points after a missed Dan Hutchins field goal and a botched snap on another field goal attempt.

Pitt quarterback Tino Sunseri is having his best game of the season through the first half, completing 18 of 25 passes for 156 yards and an interception, but the pick was the result of a receiver slipping.

Sunseri’s counterpart, Irish quarterback Dayne Crist, is having an impressive afternoon as well. He is 13-17 for 135 yards and a touchdown, and at one point completed 11 straight passes.

After Pitt got on the board first, the Notre Dame spread and no-huddle offense started to pick the Panthers apart.

Crist completed a one-yard touchdown pass to Michael Floyd to make it 7-3 before running it in himself for a 10-yard touchdown with 8:25 left in the first half.

The Pitt defense bent but didn’t break on the Irish’s last drive of the half, holding them to a 32-yard field goal.