There was a buzz around Pittsburgh this week surrounding the No. 22 Pitt Panthers’ game against the No. 9 Notre Dame Fighting Irish. ESPN’s College GameDay was in town as was the ACC Network’s ACC Huddle.
However, the Panthers (7-3, 5-2 ACC) could not ride the momentum of that buzz and were defeated by Notre Dame, 37-15, Saturday, at Acrisure Stadium. Notre Dame (8-2) dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, especially on defense.
Pitt QB Mason Heintschel was running for his life all game long as the Irish finished with 4 sacks in the game. Head coach Pat Narduzzi gave credit to the Notre Dame defensive line for disrupting the Pitt offense.
“Obviously, they put a lot of pressure on the quarterback,” Narduzzi said after the game. “They’re talented up front. When you put yourself in 3rd down and long, we knew we were going to get a lot of fronts and stunts and picks.”
The Notre Dame defense held Pitt to 0-13 on 3rd downs and 2-5 on 4th downs. The Panthers had 7 first downs all game. Safety Tae Johnson led the way for Notre Dame’s defense. The redshirt freshman finished the game with 5 tackles and a pick six.
Offensively, RB Jeremiyah Love was the star for the Irish. The 6-foot, 214-pound junior rushed for 147 yards and 1 TD. His 56-yard TD was a highlight reel run as Love got to the Pitt secondary, hit a spin move and raced to the endzone.
QB CJ Carr threw for 212 yards and 2 TDs, but also 2 INTs. Carr also added a rushing TD for the Irish. WR Malachi Fields made what some are saying was the catch of the year.
With Pitt jumping offside, the Irish had a free play. Carr floated a pass down the middle of the field, and Fields leaped into the air in front of a Pitt DB and hauled the pass in with one hand.
The turning point in the game came within a 17-second span. When Pitt gave up the big 56-yard TD run to Love, the Panthers’ offense took the ensuing kickoff out to their own 44-yard line. On the first play, Heintschel threw the pick-six to Johnson.
After the game, Heintschel explained what he saw on the interception. “They blitzed from that side,” Heintschel said, “and we had a stick concept over there. Their linebacker flew out and made a nice play. I thought he was going to fly out to the flat. And their safety rolled down and made a nice play.”
The Irish return home next Saturday to host the Syracuse Orange. That game is slated for a 3:30 p.m. ET kickoff on NBC/Peacock. With the win, Notre Dame keeps its playoff hopes alive.
Pitt travels to Atlanta next Saturday to take on No. 16 Georgia Tech. The loss today for Pitt, while not an ACC game, ends the Panthers’ chances of getting an at-large bid in the CFP.
Pitt still has everything to play for in front of them. But some serious issues have been exposed. Narduzzi and the Panthers must clean up those issues if they are going to beat Georgia Tech next Saturday.
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