SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) – Auburn and Notre Dame are the only teams with two victories over top 10 opponents this season.

But while the undefeated and third-ranked Tigers are thinking about a national championship, the 24th-ranked Fighting Irish (6-3) are thinking about what might have been.

Coach Tyrone Willingham knows this season could have been much better for the Irish.

“Some people have said if you take 10 plays out of our season we could be sitting at worst right now at 8-1,” he said.

Willingham and many Irish players agree with that. Notre Dame is left thinking about missed opportunities in a 20-17 loss to Brigham Young and a last-minute 24-23 loss to Boston College.

“It’s frustrating, and it’s hard not to look back on it,” tight end Anthony Fasano said. “But you can’t. We just have to learn from those mistakes that we had against Boston College and BYU and try to eliminate them.”

Some Notre Dame players say the mistake the Irish made in those losses was not having the same attitude as in victories against then-No. 8 Michigan and then-No. 9 Tennessee.

“Looking back in hindsight, it’s a little disappointing that we lost those games and didn’t quite have the intensity that we did in some other ones,” defensive end Kyle Budinscak said.

He said it’s hard to explain why the intensity was missing, other than to say it’s difficult to play at top intensity week after week.

Both the BYU loss and the BC defeat came the week before Notre Dame’s wins over Top 10 teams – which could make this week’s game against Pittsburgh (5-3) even more risky. Notre Dame’s next opponent after the Panthers is top-ranked Southern California.

Willingham knows the Irish must avoid overlooking the Panthers, especially following the win over Tennessee.

“When you have success, it can be just as detrimental as failure. You have to guard against those things and you have to have a certain level of maturity,” he said.

AP-ES-11-09-04 1618EST