There were several narratives coming into Notre Dame’s game against the Pitt Panthers, but none of it really mattered when the clock hit 00:00 inside Acrisure Stadium, because the thing that most of us expected to happen — happened. Notre Dame pounded Pitt for a SCORE win to move to 8-2 on the season.
The Irish got off to a weird start. After stopping Pitt on a 4th down play on the game’sopening drive, the Irish offense only managed to put together a short drive and were forced to attempt a 46 yard
field goal which Eric Schmidt pushed wide right. So, the Notre Dame defense came back out onto the field and they forced a 3 and out and a punt from Pitt.
On Notre Dame’s first play of the drive, Jeremiyah Love takes it 56 yards to the house to put the Irish up 7-0.
On Pitt’s next offensive play when they got the ball back, Mason Heintschel threw an interception to Irish safety, Tae Johnson, and he returned it 49 yards for a score.
14 points in 10 seconds.
Notre Dame’s offense struggled a bit after all of that. CJ Carr threw an interception that ultimately led to a cowardly Pitt field goal to make it 14-3. Notre Dame’s next offensive drive stalled out on a 4th and goal incompletion on the 4 yard line, but the irish defense was a stingy group on Saturday and Pitt could never get anything going.
The Irish got one more score before halftime, which was a 25 yard touchdown pass from Carr to Malachi Fields to make it 21-3 at the half. Jeremiyah Love had 87 yards rushing at the half, while Pitt only had 81 yards overall.
The Irish kept applying pressure in the second half. Price took the opening kick to about midfield, and then Notre Dame finished the short drive with another CJ Carr to Malachi Fields touchdown pass. Pitt took their next possession down to the 1/2 yard line before faiking to score on 4th down, but Carr threw his second interception of the day and it was to Rasheem Biles who returned it for a touchdown. The Panthers tried for the 2 point play — but Adon Shuler intercepted it in the endzone and returned it all the way for the defensive 2 point play to make the game 30-9.
The Irish got one more touchdown on their next possession after a shirt Irish drive found CJ Carr running behind Jeremiyah Love for a rushing touchdown.
Pitt scored a touchdown with no time left in the game after calling a timeout, and celebrated like they won. Pathetic.
Notre Dame’s defense was the real star of the day. They had double digit quatrterback hurries, 4 sacks, and an interception before Pitt sat Heintschel for Eli Holstein. Jeremiyah Love had 147 yards rushing and a touchdown on 23 carries and added another 20 yards receiving. Malachi Fields was one yard short of 100 — but had those two touchdowns.
