Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs Pittsburgh Panthers Box Score on Nov 09, 2013

Pittsburgh 28, No. 25 Notre Dame 21: Tom Savage threw for 243 yards and two touchdowns while James Conner added a pair of short scores as the host Panthers ended their three-game losing streak against the Fighting Irish.

Devin Street finished with 76 yards and caught both of Savage’s scoring passes while freshman Tyler Boyd led Pittsburgh (5-4) with eight catches and 85 yards. The Panthers avenged last season’s triple-overtime loss at South Bend and snapped the Fighting Irish’s 10-game winning streak in contests decided by a touchdown or less.

Tommy Rees was 18-of-38 for 318 yards with two touchdowns but threw two critical interceptions for Notre Dame (7-3), which saw its four-game winning streak halted. One of Rees’ scoring tosses went to TJ Jones, who had six catches for 149 yards and scored for the seventh straight contest.

After Rees connected with Jones on an 80-yard strike to put Notre Dame in front 21-14, Savage only needed three plays to tie the game when Street broke a tackle near midfield and raced 63 yards for a touchdown.

Rees was intercepted on his next two drives, the latter of which Ray Vinopal returned 40 yards to the Notre Dame 5 and Conner converted into a 5-yard TD run two plays later. Pittsburgh forced the Fighting Irish to punt on their next possession and stopped them on fourth-and-11 on their final attempt to tie the game with 2:26 remaining.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Notre Dame DT Stephon Tuitt was ejected for targeting in the first half, dealing another blow to a defensive line that lost two players to season-ending injuries earlier in the year and saw two more players hurt during last week’s win over Navy. … Pittsburgh DB Trenton Coles was diagnosed with a concussion following a third-quarter hit by a teammate and did not return. … Saturday’s result marked the ninth time in 10 meetings the winner of this contest prevailed by a single-digit margin.