Football: Defense stood up to Clausen, Notre Dame offense

Opening up the second quarter, Notre Dame faced a third-and-16 from its own 7-yard line with the… Opening up the second quarter, Notre Dame faced a third-and-16 from its own 7-yard line with the Pitt football team clinging to a 3-0 lead. With the Fighting Irish in a huddle, the big screen at Heinz Field showed various members of the Panther defensive line nodding along with Trick Daddy’s “Let’s Go,” which was playing throughout the stadium.

Clearly, the Panthers weren’t intimidated by Notre Dame, which features one of the nation’s top quarterbacks in junior Jimmy Clausen, arguably the best receiving duo in college football with Golden Tate and Michael Floyd and an offensive line compromised entirely of seniors.

“We’re not going to shy away from anybody,” defensive tackle Gus Mustakas said.

It showed in Pitt’s 27-22 victory Saturday night, as the Panther defense spent nearly as much time in the backfield as Clausen. The Panthers put pressure on the quarterback all night, allowing him to throw for just 283 yards. He came into the game averaging 308 passing yards a game this year.

“Sometimes good pressure from a pass rush can be better than a sack,” Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said. “You get interceptions and incomplete passes off of good pressure.”

The Panthers picked off one Clausen pass, a beautiful over-the-shoulder grab by freshman Jarred Holley, who hauled in the slightly overthrown pass while diving backward.

Occasionally, Pitt didn’t just get pressure on Clausen, but sacked him. The Panthers added to their nation-best 39 sacks with two more against the Irish. The three sacks are actually below Pitt’s 4.1-sacks-per-game average. The next highest teams, Oklahoma and Texas Tech, average 3.3 sacks per game.

“When going against a great quarterback, a smart quarterback, like [Clausen], you’re not going to get many sacks,” Mustakas said.

The two sacks are on par with what Notre Dame usually gives up. Coming into the game, the Irish gave up 19 sacks in their first nine games. Defensive end Jabaal Sheard said Notre Dame has one of the best offensive lines in the country, but the Panthers weren’t concerned going up against them, because Pitt “can match up against anybody. I don’t doubt us against any offensive line in the country.”

The pressure provided by the Pitt defensive line caused Clausen to throw on the run outside the pocket all night.

“Pitt’s defensive ends gave us a lot of pressure, which forced Jimmy Clausen to step up. He was under heat all game long,” Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis said. “We called four screens. It didn’t work for us because they were able to get their hands up and that took away from our effectiveness on offense.”

While the Panthers’ defense dominated the first three quarters, giving up just three points, Notre Dame picked things up in the fourth, scoring 19 points. Trailing 27-22 with less than three minutes left, the Irish got the ball back after a Pitt punt. Notre Dame’s two previous fourth-quarter drives resulted in touchdowns, and after completing his first three passes on this drive, it looked like Clausen was about to lead a late game-winning drive for the Irish.

Then-defensive end Greg Romeus got to Clausen two plays in a row. On the first, Romeus hit the Notre Dame quarterback as he was throwing, resulting in a pass that didn’t reach its intended target. On the next play, Romeus once again hit Clausen as he stepped up to throw and the Irish quarterback let go of the ball for what was called an incomplete pass. After a review, the referees called it a fumble, which was recovered by defensive end Myles Caragein at the Notre Dame 28-yard line to seal the victory.

“We’re the ones who control the game,” Romeus said.

Pitt is off this weekend, then travels to West Virginia on Nov. 27 before returning to Heinz Field to play Cincinnati Dec. 5. If the Panthers win that game, they will be Big East champions and head to a BCS Bowl game — their first since losing 35-7 in the 2004 Fiesta Bowl to Utah.

“There has been a lot of great things to happen to this football team the last two years, and nobody’s happy, nobody’s satisfied yet,” Wannstedt said.