University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Pittsburgh Football Drops 20-14 Decision to Notre Dame
10/11/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
Pittsburgh Football Drops 20-14 Decision to Notre Dame
10/11/2003
PITTSBURGH- Julius Jones rushed for a Notre Dame school-record 262 yards and scored two touchdowns en route to a 20-14 victory over Pittsburgh Saturday night in front of a sellout crowd of 66,241 at Heinz Field. The loss drops the Panthers to 3-2 on the season.
Early on in the first quarter, William ?Tutu? Ferguson fumbled Notre Dame?s first punt of the game at the Irish 34-yard line. Just two plays later, on a third-and-one for Notre Dame, Jones broke out of the line and ran 25 yards into the end zone to give the Irish a 7-0 lead.
After a slow start to the game, the Panthers offense would awaken towards the end of the quarter. Larry Fitzgerald caught a 23-yard touchdown pass from Rod Rutherford as time expired in the first quarter. The touchdown for Fitzgerald marked the 11th straight game he has recorded a touchdown reception. Fitzgerald is now two games away from the NCAA record of 13 straight games with a touchdown. On the drive, Fitzgerald had two catches for 38 yards and had 5 catches for 79 yards and two scores in the game.
In the second quarter, Ferguson avenged for his fumble on an earlier punt by returning a Notre Dame punt 71 yards to the Irish?s four-yard line. Two plays later, Rutherford threw a four-yard fade pass to Fitzgerald in the end zone for their second touchdown hookup of the game. Rutherford ended the day with 167 yards on 12-of-30 passing and two touchdowns.
Notre Dame was quick to respond to the Panthers score as Jones busted through a hole and ran 49 yards into the end zone to tie the game at 14-14. The run was Jones? longest of his career.
Towards the end of the quarter, turnovers haunted Pittsburgh once again. With 57 seconds left in the first half, Rutherford fumbled the ball on Pitt?s eight-yard line and Notre Dame recovered. From there D.J. Fitzpatrick would kick a 19-yard field goal to give the Irish a 17-14 halftime lead.
After David Abdul missed a 39-yard field goal to try and tie the game in the third quarter, Jones broke another long run of 39 yards to set up another field goal by Fitzpatrick, this time from 34 yards away to give Notre Dame a 20-14 lead.
On the Panthers? next possession, Rutherford was forced to burn Pittsburgh?s final time out of the game with four and a half minutes remaining in the third quarter. From then on, Notre Dame decided to try and run out the clock.
The Panthers defense bore down and made a stop on a fourth-and-one for the Irish but when the Panther offense took over, it was unable to move the ball downfield.
With a little over nine minutes remaining in the game, Notre Dame took over on offense at its own 12-yard line. Jones and Ryan Grant proceeded to run the ball a combined 14 times, and with no timeouts, the Panthers could not stop the clock and the Irish were able to hold on for the 20-14 victory.
Pittsburgh (3-2) travels next Saturday to take on Rutgers (3-3). Kickoff is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.
PITTSBURGH-NOTRE DAME GAME NOTES
October 11, 2003
GAME NOTES
Tonight?s attendance of 66,421 is the second-largest crowd (66,731 on Nov. 30, 2002 vs. WVU) at Heinz Field and the fifth-largest home crowd all-time.
Pittsburgh 1-1 in the red zone (TD pass)
Notre Dame 1-2 in the red zone (FG)
QB Rod Rutherford
With his 23-yard touchdown pass to Larry Fitzgerald in the first quarter, Rutherford now has 40 career TD passes at Pittsburgh.
WR Larry Fitzgerald
23-yard touchdown in the first quarter extended his school-record streak of games with a touchdown reception to 11.
Fitzgerald caught two touchdown passes in a game for the seventh time in his career.
RB Jawan Walker
Second career start at tailback
31-yard run in the second quarter was a career-long
DEFENSE
Shawntae Spencer?s third quarter INT was his first of the season and seventh of his career.
Thomas Smith registered his first sack of the season in the third quarter.
SPECIALISTS
William Ferguson?s 71-yard punt return in the second quarter is a career-long and a Heinz Field record.
