This past season Notre Dame lost a game it had no business losing to Pitt thanks in large part to a great game from Panther running back LeSean McCoy. Luckily for the Irish McCoy will not be a factor when they travel to Pittsburgh next fall because the Pittsburgh Post Gazzette is reporting that the talented back will declare for the NFL Draft tomorrow.
Losing McCoy is a major blow to Pitt and suddenly makes that game look like a much more favorable matchup for the Irish. McCoy ran for 169 yards on 32 carries for Pitt against Notre Dame last fall with most of his damage being done in the second half as Pitt erased a 14 point half time deficit.
Pitt’s top returning back in terms of yards gained in 2008 will be Kevin Collier. Collier ran for 25 yards on 4 carries throughout the entire season.
With McCoy, Pitt would have been one of the tougher games on the schedule next year. Without him, the Pitt game should be a very winnable game for Notre Dame.
Kid is a good runner. I am hoping the Arizona Cardinals out here can scoop him up. But by actually making the playoffs and winning games, we pretty much screwed this one up.
Though I’m not so sad to see this talented young man leave the ncaa for a bright future in the NFL, I don’t think he was the reason we lost to Pitt.
I’d say that burden falls upon CW’s shoulders because of his terrible game plan. Especially the end of game plan.
The Pitt game was ND’s to win and we gave it away. IMHO
I’m sure more “Sponge Bob” teams will put us up there with all the paper tigers like Ohio State.