PITTSBURGH -- The last brand-new Notre Dame coach to enjoy a debut like Charlie Weis' was Ara Parseghian. Weis can only hope the rest of his Fighting Irish career resembles the Ara era.
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Brady Quinn ran Weis' Patriots-perfect offense like a college version of Tom Brady, leading touchdown drives on five of underdog Notre Dame's first six possessions Saturday night under its new coach in a 42-21 rout of No. 23 Pitt that was over by halftime.
The anticipated matchup of two former NFL coaches turned college head coaches -- Weis, the former New England offensive wizard, vs. Pitt's Dave Wannstedt, a one-time defensive coordinator and the former coach of the Bears and Dolphins -- was as big as mismatch as the final score.
Pitt's defense, resembling the unit that allowed nearly 420 yards per game even while going 8-4 last season, had no answer for the Weis-designed five-receiver sets, screen passes to running backs, a manhandling offensive line and throws to big tight ends isolated against small cornerbacks.
"Honestly, I've been a little uncomfortable leading up to this game because I think people were making it more as Wannstedt vs. Weis than Notre Dame vs. Pitt. I'm the happiest for our players," said Weis, who inherited a team that lost its final three last season. "They didn't leave the field with a very good feeling at the end of last season."
Just as Parseghian did in 1964, Weis won his opener on the road against a quality team that had beaten the Irish the year before. In 1964, Parseghian's Irish beat Wisconsin 31-7 en route to a 9-1 season that followed a 2-7 year. Notre Dame lost to Pitt 41-38 last year, starting the Irish on the losing streak that led to former coach Tyrone Willingham's firing.
What a difference a new coach makes. Except for one interception, Quinn couldn't have run the Irish offense much better while going 18-of-27 for 233 yards and two touchdowns, one to running back Darius Walker for 51 yards on a screen pass for Notre Dame's first score and another to Jeff Samardzija for 19 yards.
Notre Dame outgained Pitt 502-323, helped by a 275-103 edge in rushing -- one created by an experienced line that overwhelmed Pitt's 4-3 defense.
"They blocked us, there's no mystery in that," Wannstedt said. "I didn't do a good enough job of getting these guys ready -- they must have been reading the newspapers too much and that's my fault. We've got to get better -- if you can't stop the run, you've got no chance to win no matter the level and we've got to get that done. We wanted to blitz them, but we could never get them to third down."
Walker, coming off a strong freshman season in which he rushed for 821 yards, carried 20 times for 100 yards and a 2-yard touchdown that started Notre Dame's decisive 28-point second quarter that made it 35-13 at halftime. A fumbled kickoff by Pitt's Marcus Furman was turned into Samardzija's touchdown led to two Irish touchdowns in 56 seconds.
"I thought we blocked exceptionally well," Samardzija said. "We hurt them with screen passes and every time we had three or four guys leading the way."
The Panthers certainly didn't expect all this, not with 18 starters back from the first team to win at Notre Dame in 19 seasons and most of its famous alumni -- Tony Dorsett, Dan Marino, Mike Ditka -- gathered to celebrate Wannstedt's return as head coach.
With a Top 25 ranking, a schedule filled with winnable games and polished playmaker Tyler Palko at quarterback, Pitt expected a big start to an excellent season. Instead, it was a huge letdown, with a sold-out Heinz Field half-empty before the end of the third quarter.
Wannstedt, who replaced Walt Harris following five consecutive bowl seasons, is the first Pitt coach to lose his debut since Mike Gottfried's team fell to Maryland 13-10 in 1986. The most recent comparable loss by a debuting Pitt coach was Carl DePasqua's 42-8 defeat to UCLA in 1969.
"I was disappointed how our guys responded, and that's my responsibility," Wannstedt said. "We didn't respond the way you need to come back and win the game."
For Weis, the game was strikingly familiar to his last visit to Heinz Field nine months ago, when -- after losing to the Steelers convincingly during the season -- his Patriots offense manhandled Pittsburgh's defense in a 41-27 win that wasn't that close.
This one wasn't either, even though Pitt opened early leads of 7-0 and 10-7 in probably the Panthers' most awaited and ballyhooed season opener since new coach Foge Fazio's 1982 team, led by Marino, edged North Carolina 7-6 in their opener.
Palko (17-of-30, 181 yards, one TD, one interception) didn't play nearly as well as he did in becoming the first player to throw five touchdown passes against Notre Dame, partly because the Irish had the ball so often and scored most of the time they did.
"We had a lot of expectations, so it was disappointing," Palko said. "We just got our tails kicked. Now, we can face it one of two ways -- we can run away and hide or face it like a man."
Down 35-13 at the half, the Panthers didn't even get the ball until midway through the third quarter following a 20-play Irish drive that ended with Rashon Powers-Neal's third scoring run of the night, none longer than 9 yards. The Irish overcame a third-and-25 during the drive.
Notre Dame beat Pitt for the 12th time in 14 meetings and the sixth time in the last seven games in Pittsburgh. The Irish also were underdogs when they won there two years ago.
