DAILY DOMER: SUNDAY, NOV. 2

A forensic analysis of the Notre Dame loss to Pittsburgh:

--Notre Dame scored the go-ahead touchdown with less than six minutes remaining on a fade route to Golden Tate. During the ensuing TV timeout, Jon Bon Jovi decided it was time to bonzo outta there (he has some experience with beating traffic out of sold-out arenas, after all). As he walked past the student section, he saluted them with a tip of the marching band hat he'd been given at halftime. The students threw a wall of adulation back his way.

Then Notre Dame allowed the game-tying touchdown. And failed to make a single key play down the stretch. Jon, Jon: never say goodbye. Never say goodbye.

(During the game, by the way, my brother, who was born not 15 miles from where Bon Jovi was born and is just one year older, texted me the order: "Pull his wig off!")

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I happened to be watching right guard Chris Stewart as he was trotting onto the field for Notre Dame's first offensive possession of overtime. The 340-pounder just fell to the turf and had to leave the game. From what I saw, it seemed as if his right knee buckled a bit. As if he might have hyper-extended it. Don't know exactly what happened yet--Charlie didn't either--but it didn't seem like a cramp. It seemed like a knee.

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Bon Jovi may have left early, but props to the Notre Dame marching band for the most courageous performance in the teeth of extenuating circumstances I've seen since the Faber College marching band found themselves bunched up against one another in an alley.

During the first overtime, about four sprinklers went on in in the north end zone (the action on the field was taking place on the south end). They sent fountains of water skyward for about a full two minutes, and one spray headed right toward the tuba section seated behind the north end zone. The band never stopped playing, though. If anyone is compiling a Great Moments in Marching Band History tome, this incident needs to be included.

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The Golden Tate circus catch highlight reel just keeps getting longer. Yesterday's effort was his best yet, a 47-yarder on a Go route in which either of two Pitt defensive backs who touched the ball first should have intercepted it. Neither did, though, and when the second, Dom DeCicco, batted the ball into the air, Tate caught it without ever breaking stride. He was falling, though.

Just as impressive was the 31-yard grab that he made on Notre Dame's go-ahead TD drive in the 4th quarter. Tate caught a slant-in, then stopped on a dime and reversed field toward the outside, leaving the Pitt defender looking for his undergarments. And that is why it's somewhat criminal that someone so uniquely talented only touched the ball once during all four overtimes.

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The Irish entered the game leading the nation in kickoff return coverage despite being only one of two schools in the top 20 that had yet to record a touchback. Then again, you could make the argument that the Irish hold opponents to shorter returns precisely because they never do outkick their coverage on kickoffs. After all, the stat is based not on where the return team ends up beginning its drive (which, when you think about it, is far more pertinent in determining how effective your kickoff coverage team is as a whole) but on how many yards the ball is returned.

Anyway, the Irish finally recorded a touchback yesterday, with the benefit of a wobbly, corkscrew kick that rolled the final 12 yards into the endzone.

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Michael Floyd: 10 catches for 100 yards and 2 TDs. That gives him 41 catches on the season, shattering the freshman record of 32 set last season by Duval Kamara (who has 13 catches this season in a reduced role thanks to Floyd's and Tate's emergence). Floyd's seven TDs lead the Irish as well.

 By comparison, Jeff Samardzija, who holds every meaningful Irish career receiving record, had a total of 24 catches and zero touchdowns after two seasons.

Let's give a conservative estimate, that Floyd catches a total of 20 balls in Notre Dame's last four games (below his season average of 5.12 per game). That would give him 61 catches on the season (I'll ignore bowl stats for now...probably prudent, don't you think?). That total would put Floyd, a true freshman, in sixth place on the school's single-season receptions list:

1) Jeff Samardzija, 78, 2006 (senior year).............. QB: Brady Quinn

2) (Tie) Samardzija, 77, 2005 (junior)......................QB: Quinn

         Tom Gatewood, 77, 1970 (junior year)...........QB: Joe Theismann

4) Maurice Stovall, 69, 2005 (senior year)...............QB: Quinn

5) Rhema McKnight, 67, 2006 (senior year).............QB: Quinn

Obviously, Floyd is way ahead of the curve. The only question is whether he'll remain all four years. Talent-wise, there's no need.

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 Is it just me, or are Notre Dame's defensive players better open-field runners than all of their offensive counterparts save Golden Tate? Raeshon McNeil had a pretty 43-yard run (and yes, fumble) after his interception yesterday, which is second only to the 47-yarder Robert Blanton had verus Stanford. And up-back Harrison Smith is averaging 29 yards per carry on a pair of punt fakes this year.

Sure, it's easier to run the ball in the chaos of an INT (against offensive players), but the aforementioned four plays all went for more yardage than the longest run from scrimmage this season of ND's three leading tailbacks. The longest from that trio is Armando Allen's 21-yarder.

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Sure, safeties David Bruton and Kyle McCarthy deserve credit for yet another monster effort on Saturday. Bruton finished with 16 tackles and McCarthy 15 in the loss to Pitt (all stats totals abetted, obviously, by four overtime periods). The pair are both averaging more than nine tackles per game and are both in the top 25 nationally in tackles.

What's good for their self-esteem, though, is bad for the Irish. Of the nation's top 25 tacklers, six are DBs. The four others play for New Mexico State (103rd in scoring defense), Louisiana Tech (62nd in that category), Kent State (97th) and San Diego State (111th; by the way, only Idaho has scored fewer points on the Aztecs this season than the Irish did).

The Irish are much higher on that list--38th--and would be even higher were it not for the four overtimes yesterday. Still, it's a sign that too many plays are getting past the first line of defense when your two safeties are by far your leading tacklers. 

Finally, Notre Dame is the only school with two players in the Top 25 in that category.

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Brandon Walker: four field goals in the first seven games. Four field goals versus Pitt. The sophomore is now a respectable 10-15 on the season. And if the Irish offense cannot score a touchdown on four consecutive drives that begin at the opponents' 25, then you certainly cannot hold Walker accountable.

2nd-and-goal at the 3 in the first overtime. How badly do the Irish wish they were back at that moment? Three plays to gain three yards. If the "pound 'em" offense were ever going to make an appearance, that would have been the place.

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I understand that Jimmy Clausen doesn't want to be sacked, but once he turns the corner on a scramble, isn't it better to just run upfield out of bounds and gain even one yard than to throw it into the boosters' seating area? Still don't understand that one.

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LeSean McCoy: The best offensive player Notre Dame has faced this season.     

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