Notre Dame rallies to defeat Pittsburgh

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

Pittsburgh spent 45 minutes knocking Notre Dame quarterback Tommy Rees around.

The sophomore needed less than five minutes to knock the Panthers out.

Rees shrugged off a miserable start to hit tight end Tyler Eifert on a 6-yard touchdown pass with less than 7 minutes to go and lift Notre Dame to a 15-12 win on Saturday at Heinz Field.

The score and subsequent two-point conversion — also to Eifert — capped 4:40 of perfection from Rees as the Irish (2-2) won their second straight.

Rees went 8-for-8 on the game-winning drive, remaining patient even as the Panthers (2-2) bottled up Notre Dame wide receiver Michael Floyd.

Did Rees want to go deep to his favorite target? Sure. Yet he reined in his inner swashbuckler and ignored the beating he took over the first three quarters to play with the kind of poise that has earned him the starting job and his teammates’ respect.

“You’ve just got to make the right decisions,” Rees said. “We did some good things getting the ball underneath and just kind of chipping away at their defense.”

Rees finished 24 of 41 for 216 yards with a touchdown and an interception and running back Jonas Gray scored on a 79-yard touchdown run for Notre Dame, which overcame eight penalties and two costly turnovers.

It wasn’t pretty. Then again, it beats the alternative for a team that already has a couple of aesthetically pleasing losses — from a statistical standpoint anyway — under their belt.

“Yeah there’s some frustration when you’re not putting points on the board,” Eifert said. “But at the same time you’ve got to keep grinding ... our defense stepped up big and our offense scored just enough points.”

Pitt quarterback Tino Sunseri threw for 165 yards and a score but was sacked twice on his final drive to snuff out a late rally as the program’s eventful week ended with a thud.

The Panthers were hoping to give coach Todd Graham his first signature win.