Both teams have had two weeks to prepare. Both teams had difficult road games. That’s about where the similarities end. Pitt is 3-1 coming off a bye week after beating Texas A&M. ND is 1-3 after a bye and an ugly loss to Purdue.

It will be interesting to see what Walt Harris has planned to do against ND on both sides of the ball. Defensively, Pitt has to worry more about the pass than the run, because ND has shown no ability to generate yardage on the ground. This may be a bit trickier than I would like because Pitt only has game tapes of the Domers’ new QB from his debut against Purdue. He’s now had two weeks to work more on his timing and running the 1st team offense for ND. It just makes me a little nervous because the Pitt secondary has been suspect, in part because the Defensive line hasn’t generated much pressure on the QB this season. (Will this be the game where Herriot comes out of his funk?)

I’m actually a little concerned about the offense for Pitt against ND. The way people bandy about the term “offensive genius” with Walt Harris, the title “defensive genius is applied to ND head coach, Tyrone Willingham. How he schemes against Pitt’s offense might be an unpleasant surprise.

Strangely enough, the thing that has most Irish fans talking is what will be happening off the field. This game will be on ESPN at 6pm on Saturday. In the booth, providing color will be their deposed head coach Bob Davie. Though, all sides claim there is no problem, you can bet the Domers will be scrutinizing his every utterance — a difficult and painful experience considering how bad a color commentator he is, I had to suffer through it while watching the Wisconsin-Penn State game last weekend (but I digress) — for the dreaded bias.

After watching the Purdue-ND game a couple weeks ago, I think the Irish will give Pitt more of a battle than the oddsmakers are giving. Twelve points is a lot considering how desperate the Irish are for a win; and Pitt’s last two games against ND where the offense just imploded. Notre Dame’s defense didn’t look that bad against Purdue. It was solid against the run, and seems like an athletic secondary. Purdue actually exploited the Irish underneath by using their Tight End a lot. Something I have been begging Pitt to do considering the talent at the position for Pitt.

I like Pitt to win, but I’m not sure about covering. A surprisingly low scoring affair for Pitt — Pitt 27 ND 19.