College football Week 8: Penn State among 5 teams on upset alert

College football upset alert No. 2: Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Rank: 3 | Opponent: Pittsburgh Panthers | Saturday, Oct. 24, 3:30 p.m. ET

One of the big questions with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish coming into the year was their defense, simply because they lost so many key pieces from a great unit a season ago. Amid their 4-0 start to the year, that has been proven to be an unfounded concern. The Notre Dame defense is top-notch and is going to keep them in most games they play.

What has been a bit more surprising is how uninspiring Ian Book and the offense have been. That was never more evident than last week against Louisville. The Irish picked up the win to stay unbeaten but the fact that they managed only 12 points against a Cardinals defense that had been giving out points to opponents like Halloween candy to trick-or-treaters should raise some eyebrows.

That’s especially true with a trip to Pittsburgh next on the schedule. The Panthers have an extremely stout and opportune defense that, though it hasn’t been pitching shutouts, is more than capable of controlling games. Putting them up against an offense that is struggling to find consistency outside of a handful of explosive plays is not a good recipe for said offense.

The big question for Pitt is whether or not they can score consistently enough against this Notre Dame defense, which makes the health of quarterback Kenny Pickett all the more important for Saturday’s matchup. But just on the strength of the Panthers defense in this matchup, the Irish could be in trouble on the road.