Irish running game's the Pitts
By BRIAN KESSLER
Sports Editor
OAKLAND, Penn.
The four horsemen were in Pitt Stadium Saturday, but unfortunately for the Irish they weren't in the Notre Dame backfield.
They were policemen on horseback awaiting the inevitable onslaught by Pittsburgh fans following their 37-27 victory over Notre Dame.
The Irish, however, could have used Miller, Layden, Crowley and Stuhldreher in their depleted backfield. It sure would have beaten the combination of Julius Jones, Tony Fisher, Tom Lopienski and Joey Goodspeed.
"You need to be able to run the football to win in a game like this," Davie said. "And you need to be able to protect the football."
The Irish didn't do either.
They gained just 72 yards on 32 carries for a dismal 2.3 yards per carry and had three second-half turnovers.
"I don't know [what happened]. I have no clue," said Jones, who had just 10 yards on five carries. "Coming into the game, I thought we'd do a pretty good job, but we struggled today."
The Irish rushing attack didn't struggle the last time the two teams met. Notre Dame rushed for 317 yards en route to a 45-21 victory over the Panthers in '97. Autry Denson gained 128 yards, and Clement Stokes pitched in 109 to key the Irish win.
The ground game, however, was the key factor in the Irish loss this year.
"They were kind of stuffing us as far as running the ball," quarterback Jarious Jackson said. "We got into a rhythm later on as far as passing goes, but you can't throw the ball all day. You have to establish a running game sooner or later. They stopped us when it counted."
Tennessee's defense held the Notre Dame ground game at bay last weekend, allowing just 121 yards on 43 carries. The Volunteers, however, have some of the best athletes in the country and one of the best defenses to boot. Pittsburgh's defense boasts a defensive line averaging a measly 248 pounds and a linebacker corps weighing in a whopping 215 pounds per person. Still, the Irish were unable to run the football.
"They rank up there in the top of the Big East in rush defense," head coach Bob Davie said. "They put a lot of people up there at the line of scrimmage, but how committed were we to running the ball early? We need to look at what we're doing. Let's call it what it is. We do some good things, but at some points you have to lineup and say we're running the ball right now. "
The Irish weren't committed to running early in the game and resorted to passing the ball when Pitt went ahead 27-17 in the third quarter.
"It was hard early on," said Fisher, who led the Irish with 45 yards rushing on 12 carries. "I guess we were going to come out and establish more of a passing game, but in the second half Coach Davie said we were going to come out and play Notre Dame football and rush the ball. We were running the ball, but then we got behind and had to start passing so it was kind of tough for us."
When the Irish did rush the ball in the second half, they turned it over twice.
On their first offensive series, Fisher picked up 24 yards on three carries, only to see Jones fumble on the next play.
"They pretty much tried to strip it every time we got the ball," Jones said. "I relaxed for a play and they took it from me. I didn't have the ball as tight as I could have and they pulled it out. It's carelessness on my part."
Two series later, Fisher coughed it up on the second play of the drive. Both Irish fumbles led to Panther touchdowns.
"In the second half, [tearing the ball out is] what they kept doing to me and Julius," Fisher said. "It shouldn't have happened. I guess we should have held onto the ball tighter. At the moment we had two hands on the ball, but we were getting ganged up and they took it out of our hands and we turned it over."
All Sports Stories for Monday, November 15, 1999
