What they’re saying about Notre Dame’s 35-17 victory over Pitt
Notre Dame looked impressive on Saturday afternoon in a 37-15 beatdown of Pitt on the road with a final score that flatters the Panthers. Irish receiver Malachi Fields had his best game in a Notre Dame uniform, catching 7 of his 10 targets for 99 yards with 2 touchdowns.
In this article, we’ll take a look around at what the media is saying about the Fighting Irish’s win against the Panthers, including Blue & Gold’s Mike Singer and Eric Hansen giving their instant reaction to the game in a YouTube live show. You can watch the replay of the show in the video player above.
Tyler James, Blue & Gold: Big Notre Dame plays inflict pain on Pitt in 37-15 victory
PITTSBURGH — Even the good moments for No. 22 Pitt in Saturday’s 37-15 loss to No. 9 Notre Dame led to bad moments for the Panthers.
What appeared to be Pitt’s first touchdown of the game didn’t stand upon replay when officials ruled wide receiver Raphael Williams Jr.’s diving touchdown came after his knee forced him down inside the 1-yard line. The yellow seats in Pitt’s student section started to empty following the replay ruling.
Those who left Acrisure Stadium, the shared home of the Panthers and the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers, missed Pitt’s actual first touchdown five plays later. Pitt linebacker Rasheem Biles picked off Notre Dame redshirt quarterback CJ Carr and returned it for a 10-yard touchdown.
But even then, disaster followed for Pitt. Notre Dame redshirt sophomore safety Adon Shuler intercepted a two-point conversion attempt and returned it 100 yards to give the Irish (8-2) a 30-9 lead. More student section seats in the north end zone of Acrisure Stadium emptied.
Repeatedly, Notre Dame’s superior athletes came up with big plays to prevent Pitt (7-3) from making the game competitive. Junior running back Jeremiyah Love ripped off a magnificent 56-yard touchdown run to open the scoring for Notre Dame. A brilliant spin move allowed Love to avoid safety Kavir Bains-Marquez and run away from the rest of the Pitt defenders.
Love finished with 23 carries for 147 yards and 1 touchdown on a day the Irish collectively totaled 198 yards and 2 touchdowns on 36 carries. ND rushed for 4.9 yards per carry against a Pitt team that led the nation in fewest yards per carry allowed entering the game at 2.39.
Jack Soble, Blue & Gold: Why Notre Dame vs. Pitt was over before it began
At the edge of the Acrisure Stadium visitors’ tunnel, Aamil Wagner delivered the line that would define Notre Dame’s 37-15 win over Pitt.
“These motherf—— don’t respect us!” Wagner shouted. “These motherf—— don’t respect you!”
Wagner said that during his pregame speech to his offensive line brethren, but the redshirt junior right tackle’s words represented the way Notre Dame felt about Saturday’s game. More specifically, the way it felt about Saturday’s opponent. When you heard that, you kind of knew what was about to happen to the Panthers.
Seconds later, Wagner screamed the order of the day:
“Don’t wait to run through a motherf——‘s face!”
On Monday, as you undoubtedly know, Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi was asked whether he believed the Panthers’ matchup with the Irish was a must-win game. He said it was “absolutely not,” because it did not affect Pitt’s chances to win the ACC. He added that Notre Dame “can put 100 up on us as long as we win the next two after that.”
Chris Low, On3: Must-win mentality suits Notre Dame just fine as Irish streak toward another playoff appearance
PITTSBURGH – It might not have been a must-win game for Pittsburgh.
And, no, the final score wasn’t 110-10 (Pat Narduzzi’s words, not mine), nor were there any “A.I.” claims as Urban Meyer suggested when seeing Narduzzi’s puzzling comments from earlier in the week.
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By The Numbers
Stats from win vs. Pitt
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But when it comes to a must-win mentality, Notre Dame has cornered the market on that plight each of the past two seasons, the latest a 37-15 win over No. 22 Pittsburgh on Saturday at Acrisure Stadium.
The Irish, No. 9 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings, won their eighth straight game after starting the season 0-2 and took their biggest step yet toward a second straight trip to the playoff.
“We’re really just getting started with playing Notre Dame football,” said Jeremiyah Love, the Fighting Irish’s football version of the Human Highlight Reel.
Indeed, it was about this time a year ago that the Irish — stung by a Week 2 loss to Northern Illinois — shifted into overdrive and stayed in overdrive all the way to the national championship game before losing to Ohio State. It was a week earlier last year, but the Irish played away against a nationally ranked team, Army, and won convincingly, 49-14, at Yankee Stadium. The defense was dominant. Notre Dame built a big lead early. There were explosive plays all over the place, and Love was spectacular.
Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman
Opening statement from postgame press conference:
“Yeah, man, obviously a satisfying win over a really good opponent. I was proud of the way our guys prepared, handled the excitement around this game and the hype and College GameDay being here. They handled it the right way by using their energy to work, and they prepared the right way and went out and started from the beginning. Started fast.
“It wasn’t perfect, but it’s never perfect against a good opponent. And so we’re going to celebrate it tonight, enjoy this, and then we’ll get ready for this next opportunity tomorrow for senior day back at home.”
Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi
Opening statement from postgame press conference:
“I don’t think we played our best game today against a really good Notre Dame football team. But it starts with me. We’ve got to do a better job as coaches preparing. We didn’t convert enough third downs. We didn’t get enough stops on defense. They ran the ball on us, which they’ve done all year. They didn’t run it for 306 yards. So we held them probably to their average or less. But we didn’t get enough stops.
“It starts with me. And every coach on down, and we’ve got to make more plays. But I’m proud of our football team. We don’t quit at the end. There’s no quit. These guys get a fourth down stop. Then we take the ball down and score a touchdown. There’s no quit in our football team.
“We’ve got a lot of season ahead. We’ll get locked in and get ready for Georgia Tech on the road.”