Pittsburgh Panthers
Pittsburgh Panthers Saturday night in Heinz Field the match-up between the Pitt Panthers and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish may be a little shorter on hype then some would have expected before last weekend, but it won't be short on intensity from the players.

Notre Dame's spot in the Top 25 is gone after a surprising loss to Navy last weekend, and with that likely went its hopes of a trip to a BCS game.

NCAA odds makers like the 12th ranked Panthers as a home favorite in this one. The Vegas line is sitting at, Pittsburgh -6 with the total in the game set at 58.5.

Pittsburgh is in great shape to control their own destiny and statistically this game does not mean that much to the Panthers, but don't think for on minute that Dave Wannstedt's group won't be ready to play against the Irish.

At
8-1, they are out of the BCS National Championship hunt but at 5-0 in the conference and undefeated Cincinnati still on the schedule they can win the Big East and go to a BCS bowl.

Pittsburgh is finally clicking under sixth year coach Dave Wannstedt. The Panthers will need their running game to continue to roll against Notre Dame. Freshman Dion Lewis has over 200 carries for more than 1,100 yards so far in 2009.

For the Irish, their success rides on the shoulders of quarterback Jimmy Clausen and whether or not their defense can stop the run. It's pretty clear that Clausen should be able to have some success against the Panthers defense. However, if they can't stop the run, they won't have a chance.

Take the Panthers and give the 6 points. Notre Dame is over-rated and just not as good as Pitt. The line should be more like 15.