I just found some of Walt’s actual quotes (at least as released by the Pitt Athletic Department) to help deal with the “confusion.” Here’s a doozy.

Are you concerned that the defense can’t pick up on offensive schemes?
“Notre Dame found out their problem over their first four games and we thought that we had improved offensively. Our problem was that we really didn’t know what our problems were as well as Notre Dame did. We thought that that wouldn’t be our problem. We know that they were good and we alerted the players as well as everybody else in this room. We knew that they were a good defensive team. When we play our game, we don’t turn the ball over. Our defensive saved us by stopping them deep in our territory near the end of the half. They scored on a dropped punt. A couple plays each way made it difficult.”

Emphasis added.

Soooooo … Pitt was outcoached, and outprepared in addition to being beaten off the lines. I feel better.