Irish Stifle Pitt for Eighth-Straight Victory

PITTSBURGH – The ninth-ranked University of Notre Dame football team (8-2) powered past No. 22 Pittsburgh (7-3) for a 37-15 statement victory in Acriscure Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Notre Dame’s defense continued to dominate, holding the Panthers to just 219 total yards while Jeremiyah Love carried on his stellar play with 147 rushing yards and a touchdown. 

The Irish defense piled up four sacks and pressured the Pitt quarterback 10 times in the game and broke up eight passes. The effort was led by Joshua Burnham’s two sacks, Jalen Sneed’s team-high six tackles and Tae Johnson’s interception return for a touchdown. 

Malachi Fields posted his best game in an Irish uniform, performing two spectacular catches and finishing with seven receptions for 99 yards and two touchdowns.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Pitt started with the ball after Notre Dame won the coin toss and deferred to the second half. The Panthers moved the ball across midfield with two big pass plays. Boubacar Traore and Jaiden Ausberry combined for a stop to make it third and long. A Pitt receiver came open over the middle briefly and looked to have the first down but Adon Shuler came up and delivered a huge clean hit to jar the bar loose. 

Pitt went for it on fourth down. Joshua Burnham beat his blocker and sacked the quarterback for a huge loss, giving the Irish the ball into Pitt territory. 

Notre Dame gained one first down, but a Pitt tackle-for-loss on a perimeter pass to Jeremiyah Love put the Irish behind the sticks. Erik Schmidt came on for a 46-yard field goal that he missed just to the right of the uprights. 

The Irish defense provided the offense another possession quickly. Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa cut down the runner for a gain of two, Burnham chased the quarterback out of bounds for a two-yard loss and another sack and Christian Gray played his position perfectly for a pass broken up on third down. Faison returned the punt 21 yards to put the Irish in solid field position. 

Love was handed the ball on the first play of the drive on a counter with wipe out blocks by Sullivan Absher and freshman tight end James Flanigan. Moving through the huge hole, Love then spun away from one defender and took off for a spectacular 56-yard touchdown run. 

Pitt broke out for a good kick return but Tae Johnson erased any home team momentum. On the first play, Johnson burst out of his safety position, intercepted a pass and returned it 48 yards for a touchdown. The Irish had made the score 14-0 in just about 10 seconds of game time.

Notre Dame’s defense continued to keep Pitt at bay on the next series. Jordan Bothelho stuffed a rusher then DaVonta Smith broke up a second down pass attempt. Shuler ended the drive with a sack on a perfectly executed blitz. The Irish offense could not move the ball, however, and punted the ball back to Pitt. 

The Irish defense continued to stifle the Panther offense. Johnson came up and made a tackle for loss after Pitt picked up one first down. Leonard Moore then sniffed out a short pass and made a tackle for no gain. On third down, Burnham was after the quarterback again, forcing him out of the pocket to scramble for just three yards. 

The Irish received the punt at the 20-yard line and a holding call, followed by tackle-for-loss buried Notre Dame with a third-and-17. Pitt’s defensive line jumped offsides and Carr took advantage, throwing deep for Malachi Fields. Fields jumped in the air, snagged the ball with one hand and cleanly came down with the pigskin for a sensational catch to end the first quarter. The 35-yard catch placed the ball at the 50-yard line.  

A game of big plays continued on the first play after the break, but this time it was the home team with the momentum changing play. Carr looked over the middle to Eli Raridon but never saw the Pitt safety, who stepped in front of Raridon and returned the interception 50 yards to the Irish 12-yard line. 

The Irish defense would not give in, however. A short Pitt run, a dropped pass then a third-down pressure by Traore kept the Panthers to a 24-yard field goal. 

The Irish answered with a long drive to the Pitt one-yard line but would come up empty on points. Raridon did most of the damage with five catches on the drive. The first was a 28-yard strike down the seam from Carr who perfectly placed the pass over a defender’s head. Raridon also earned a key first down by breaking two tackles and tip-toeing down the sidelines. On third-and-goal Raridon caught a flare pass and just missed hitting the pylon for the score. Carr looked to Raridon again on the next play but the pass was high and a 14-play, 74-yard drive ended with no change on the scoreboard. 

The defense would step up and earn another three and out. Bryce Young dropped into coverage on second down and broke up a pass. Bowen then shadowed the Pitt quarterback on third down and knocked down a pass attempt to force yet another punt. 

The Irish offense answered the call. Fields earned nine yards on a comeback route then Jadarian Price posted two first downs on a short rush and a draw play to move the ball to the Pitt 25-yard line. 

Pitt jumped offsides on the next play and Carr took advantage yet again. He looked immediately for Fields who leapt to make yet another highlight-reel catch at the pylon for a 25-yard scoring strike. Notre Dame entered halftime with a 21-3 lead. 

Price put the Irish in solid field position with a 43-yard kick return to start the second half. The Irish faced a fourth-and-two just inside Pitt territory and went for it, handing off to Love who broke a tackle in the backfield and out-ran the defense around the left side for a 22-yard run and his 10th career 100-yard rushing game. Pitt forced another third down but was whistled for defensive holding to give Notre Dame a first-and-goal at the nine-yard line. Moving to third down, Carr rolled right and found a wide open Fields for his second touchdown of the game on a seven-yard touchdown pass.

Pitt threatened on their next drive and came up just six inches short. The Panthers got into the red zone on a big play on fourth-and-six from the Notre Dame 37-yard line. Jordan Botelho stopped a shovel pass to bring up third down, then a dropped pass brought up fourth down. Leonard Moore was called for a marginal pass interference penalty to give Pitt the ball at the two-yard line but the Irish defense refused to let the Panthers score. 

The first play was a rush up the middle for no gain. Viliamu-Asa then chased a jet sweep out of bounds for a loss. Shuler followed with a blitz, along with much of the Irish defense, on third down to force a fourth-down attempt. Pitt threw to the left and on the initial call on the field was a touchdown. Talich was there to stop the runner just inches short of the goal line and after a replay review the Irish were given the ball at the six-inch line. 

A game of crazy play swings then kicked into overdrive. Notre Dame earned a first down before Carr, looking to hit a wide receiver screen, saw the Pitt linebacker jump the route and return it for 10 yards for the touchdown. Pitt decided to go for two and Shuler made them pay for the decision. He intercepted a pass deep in the end zone and returned it all the way back for two points to move the score to 30-9. 

Notre Dame’s offense was not done yet. Fields caught a first down on the final play of the third quarter, then Love ran for a first down and caught a swing pass to move the chains again. Raridon then took a pass on the run and behind a great block from Will Pauling carried the ball down to the 12-yard line. On third down, Love powered through to the five to make it fourth and goal. Carr then kept straight up the middle and scored easily behind a block by Love. The lead was now 37-9 for the Fighting Irish. 

With back ups playing much of the final 10 minutes of the game, Pittsburgh scored a meaningless touchdown on the game’s final play to represent the final score of 37-15.