Instant Reaction: God Likes Us (Notre Dame v. Pitt)

Notre Dame almost (spelled:  “should have”) been out Notre Dame’d tonight.  There was not much pretty about this game.  Tonight (spelled:  “today”) was supposed to be the beginning of a series of three games that Notre Dame was heavily favored in and won.  Instead, the Irish played down to their opponent and let some big plays nearly doom them.  Yes, this was a “game of destiny” for Notre Dame.  They should have lost.  This is the type of game that makes every analyst and every fan of another team root against us.  And yet, the Irish remain undefeated.  Perhaps we should just get off our pulpits and embrace the notion of “team of destiny.”  As a starter, let’s take a look at the normal stats:

Team:	ND:	Pitt:
First Downs:	34	13
Third Down Conversions:	10/20 = 50%	1/14 = 7%
Fourth Down Conversions:	1/1	0/1
Passing Yards:	291	164
Rushing Yards:	231	144
Total Yards:	522	308
Penalties:	6 – 46 yards	7 – 45 yards
Time of Possession:	35:23	24:37

If you looked at these numbers, I think most would agree that Notre Dame won the game…and by a large margin.  The superficial stats just do not give this game justice.  There are a couple of other categories to look at:

Team:	ND:	Pitt:
Turnovers:	3	0
Red Zone Attempts:	8	5
Red Zone Touchdowns:	3	2
Red Zone Field Goals:	3	2
Red Zone Scoring Percentgae:	75%	80%
Red Zone TD Percentage:	38%	40%

The fourth quarter and overtime mattered a lot to these numbers.  Notre Dame somehow overcame both a fourth quarter turnover and overtime turnover in the red zone to win this game.  What these metrics also show on the page is what all of us who watched this game live saw:  Pitt should have won.  Despite everything good that Notre Dame did, they consistently failed in some of the most important categories.  What’s shocking is the anomaly that this game provides.  Advanced metrics would suggest that Notre Dame both deserved to win this game easily (they were better from an efficiency standpoint), and they deserved to lose this game just as much (they were HORRIBLE in the most important sub-categories). 

I suppose “that’s why they play the games.”  This game embodied all of the drama that sports hope to encompass.  For my health, I pray they don’t continue this way.