Ian Book and the Notre Dame offense struggled mightily for 40 minutes before scoring two touchdowns to catch and pass the upset-minded Pittsburgh Panthers by 19-14 on Saturday. After finally taking their first lead with under six minutes left in the contest, the Irish had to rely on another great defensive stand led by Khalid Kareem and Julian Okwara to put the game on ice and move to 7-0 on the season. Book hit Miles Boykin with his best throw of the day, a 35-yard strike on a deep post, for the winning points.

The hosts were off kilter from the beginning, and much of the credit goes to Pat Narduzzi and the Pitt coaching staff. The Irish could not find room to run and the Panthers jammed the short passing lanes to frustrate Book and get his feet moving in the pocket. This strategy resulted in two interceptions deep in Pittsburgh territory to stop Notre Dame scoring chances. The Panther defense also turned two other first half opportunities into Justin Yoon field goals, thus preserving a 7-6 halftime advantage.

The Irish should have been unscathed in the first half, but Nicco Fertitta jumped offsides with Pitt in punt formation on its opening series. The resultant first down fueled a 17-play scoring march and a 7-0 early lead. Things deteriorated after the break when Maurice Ffrench took the second half kickoff down the sideline for a 99-yard score. Book followed with his second interception and Irish fans began to squirm in their new, wider seats.

Panther kicker Alex Kessman missed a chance to stretch the lead moments later by missing from 47 yards with five minutes left in the third period. Notre Dame scored its first touchdown of the day on its next drive, as Book hit Chase Claypool from 16 yards out. A short pass for a two point conversion fell incomplete, and the Irish trailed by 14-12 as the game moved to the final stanza.

Quarterback Kenny Pickett drove his team down the field and into the red zone before running out of steam. Incredibly, Kessmna missed again, this time from 36 yards, with 12:06 on the clock. The teams exchanged punts before Book got the Irish moving again. His last two passes were to Boykin, covering 48 yards of real estate and claiming the lead with 5:43 remaining.

Pittsburgh’s last two series ended in disaster. On the first, a fake punt failed miserably as Notre Dame was not fooled. The Irish should have run out the clock at that point, but Coach Brian Kelly opted for a pass on a fourth and one play that blew up when the intended receiver was bumped off his route and Book had to eat the ball. Kelly was seen lecturing Book on the sideline after the play, but the call was ridiculous and the result was not Book’s fault.

This was effectively a turnover and gave the Panthers another shot in good field position with two minutes left. Fortunately, Kareem was having none of this. He sacked Pickett for 14 yards on first down, and Okwara joined him to harass Pickett into three consecutive incompletions and and an illegal forward pass penalty to turn the ball over to Notre Dame for Victory Formation.

The Irish were overdue for a subpar performance, but this Panther team did not figure to provide enough opposition to pull off the upset. Narduzzi’s defensive plan was nearly flawless, however, and exposed both Book’s inexperience and the lack of power along Notre Dame’s offensive line. Pitt also tried to control the clock with considerable success, particularly in the first half. The game moved at light speed, and the referees helped keep thinngs moving by turning a blind eye to countless holding infractions by both teams.

Let’s review the answers to the pregame questions.

Can the Irish limit Pitt’s running game to 150 yards? Yes, Pitt was held to 116 yards on the ground and only 242 overall.

Will Notre Dame’s secondary allow Pickett to dink and dunk his way down the field? Pickett had a few successes to keep drives alive and even completed an improbably push-pass for 16 yards to set up a field goal try, but in the end he was held in check.

Can the Irish conjure another inspired performance after a grueling first half of the season? Inspired is not the word I would use to describe that performance. If we’re going to talk about a grueling first half, the opening 30 minutes of this game were like nails on a chalkboard.

Will Dexter Williams be able to shoulder the load again as the only healthy running back? It was nice to see Tony Jones back on the field, but neither he nor Williams had any room to run. The team managed only 79 total yards rushing, many of them on desperate broken play scrambles by Book.

Can the Irish special teams keep the Panther return men in check? No, which explains why a majority of Irish fans don’t understand why Brian Polian has a job on the coaching staff.

Will Book figure out how to complete a long pass or two? After a few more misfires, Book was rewarded with a defensive pass interference call and a touchdown on his final two deep balls.

Can the Irish win comfortably while resting key players? Nah. That’s what we were expecting them to do.

Finally, a richly deserved bye week has arrived for the Notre Dame players. The team faces several road trips in the second half, starting with a visit to my home town to play Navy in San Diego on October 27. The margaritas will be flowing and hopefully the points will be as well.