Notre Dame handled the 22nd-ranked Pittsburgh Panthers this afternoon 37-15 on their way their 8th win of the season. From the jump, this game was all Irish. In back to back plays, running back Jeremiyah Love ripped off a 56-yard touchdown run on the first play of their second offensive drive of the game. On Pitt's ensuing offensive drive, safety Tae Johnson picked off Panthers quarterback Mason Heintschel and returned it for a touchdown.
The offense started out in great field position on their first possession of the game but were unable to capitalize. Love caught swing route that put them behind the sticks which led to a field goal attempt. To the dismay of many, myself included, the Notre Dame special teams unit added another missed field goal to their total on the season. Fortunately, the defense remained strong and continued to shut down the Pitt offense until their final drive of the first half.
Like we've seen in many weeks, the offense moved the ball with ease, but finished remained an issue. After the missed field goal, Carr threw an interception to safety Kavir Bains-Marquez; Bains returned the interception to inside of the 10-yard line but the defense held them to a field goal. Notre Dame proceeded to go on a 14 play 74-yard drive but failed to put points on the board after failing on 4th and goal from inside the 1-yard line.
After another stop by the Notre Dame defense, the offense drove down the field and capped it off with a 25-yard touchdown pass to Malachi Fields. That was the second play of the game where Pitt jumped offsides and Carr took a shot to Fields. The first throw resulted in a spectacular one-handed catch over the middle of the field. The second resulted in Notre Dame's final offensive touchdown of the first half. The Irish ended the first half with a 21-3 lead, 280 total yards of offense and held Pitt's offense to 81 total yards.
The second half started out well for the Irish offensively. Running back Jadarian Price had a solid kick return to open the half and the offense capped it off with another touchdown pass to Fields. The short yardage passing game has come on the last two weeks down in the red zone. It's not a finished product quite yet, but it's coming along at the right time. The defense picked up where they left off in the first half and continued to hold the Panthers out of the end zone in the third quarter.
The end of the third quarter was extremely chaotic. The defense held Pitt out of the end zone after two stops on fourth and goal; the first fourth and goal attempt drew a defensive pass interference call on Leonard Moore. The defense then stiffened, once again, and stopped Pitt on a 4th and goal on the half-yard line. On Notre Dame's next offensive possession, Carr threw a pick six on a predictable third and medium screen pass. Thankfully, the defense returned the Panther's two-point attempt for a score of their own. Safety Adon Shuler picked off Heintschel and returned it over 100-yards for two points for the Irish.
Notre Dame punched their first drive of the fourth quarter into the end zone to extended their lead to 37-9 with about 10 minutes left in the contest. The front four of the defensive line really stepped up today. The defense finished with 4.0 sacks on the afternoon but they should have had significantly more; Heintschel escaped multiple sacks. The Irish closed out the game strong and kept Pitt's offense out of the end zone until the final play of the game against the back-ups. Notre Dame advanced to 8-2 on the season and host the Syracuse Orange next Saturday for Senior Day inside of Notre Dame Stadium.
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