Harris impressed with Notre Dame’s upset win

Despite losing four games this season, not once have head coach Walt Harris’ Panthers lost two… Despite losing four games this season, not once have head coach Walt Harris’ Panthers lost two in a row. They’ll try to continue in this way Saturday, when they travel to South Bend, Ind., to take on the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.

Coming off a heartbreaking loss to Syracuse on Saturday, the Panthers (5-3 overall, 3-2 Big East) will need to tighten up their defense and special teams to be successful against the Irish (6-3).

“We had a hard-fought football game at Syracuse. We had our chances to win the game,” Harris said Monday at his weekly press conference. “This week we get to play Notre Dame, one of the most storied programs in America.”

The Panthers have not won at Notre Dame Stadium since 1986, and they’ve lost their last six games in South Bend. The Irish have won the last three meetings in the series, including last year’s upset victory over the Panthers at Heinz Field. Making it even tougher for the Panthers to end the skid will be a confident Irish team that has won three of its last four, including a huge road upset of Tennessee this past Saturday.

“I think they had a rough game against BYU, that they probably didn’t play like they have played the rest of their games,” Harris said. “They’ve had some good success. They obviously won a big game on the road last week against Tennessee. That’s not an easy place to play.”

On the offensive side of the ball, Pitt’s passing attack continued to pace an offense that racked up 23 first downs and more than 440 yards of total offense. Tyler Palko threw the ball 42 times for 342 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions.

Erik Gill, Greg Lee and Joe DelSardo each had touchdown catches for the Panthers. However, the Panther running game stalled, needing 39 rushing attempts to gain just 101 yards. Harris insists the answer isn’t in just one phase of the attack.

“It’s a combination of things. I am sure that we could call better plays,” Harris said. “We think we are calling plays that we feel like we can execute. Sometimes we don’t quite block them well, our back doesn’t run quite as hard or he doesn’t quite make the read, things that make it difficult to be consistent.”

Against the Orange, it was the defense, particularly the run defense that really let the Panthers down. The Orange rushed 52 times for 268 yards, and had 100-yard rushing efforts from both Walter Reyes and Damien Rhodes.

The Irish also feature a potent rushing attack, which is averaging more than 120 yards per game, and is paced by Darius Walker, who is averaging close to four yards per rush and more than 70 yards per game. Harris said the Panthers will pay extra attention to tightening up their run defense for the Irish.

“We are tying to improve our plan; we are trying to improve our players,” Harris said. “I think we were a little soft at certain positions that made it hard for everybody else.”

This two-game stretch for the Panthers features two big games for the program. A win against Notre Dame on national television can do wonders for recruiting. And Palko said that almost winning these games is not enough for the Panthers.

“We are getting better and moving forward; we aren’t taking steps backward,” Palko said. “We need to start winning big football games here. We are getting close, but close isn’t good enough for me, and I know it’s not good enough for a lot of people on this football team. We are going to get there, believe me; we are going to get there. When I say something, I am going to come through with it. We are going to get there, and I really believe that.”