Notre Dame Routs Pitt, 42-30

The final score was closer than the game really was. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish, ACC members in all sports except football, brought their 5-star talent to Pittsburgh yesterday and cruised to a 42-30 victory over Pitt on the gridiron.

The domination started on Notre Dame’s very first series. Freshman Irish QB DeShone Kizer threw a quick screen pass to senior tailback C.J. Prosise for 19 yards. Then, Prosise ran for 9 yards before Kizer went to the air and connected with junior WR Will Fuller for 47 yards for the lightning quick TD. Notre Dame led Pitt 7-0 in 1 minute and 11 seconds of action.

Both teams then traded punts before Pitt went back to work on offense.

Panther junior superstar WR Tyler Boyd ran for 37 yards and was spelled by redshirt freshman running back Qadree Ollison with runs of 5 and 4 yards. Pitt junior QB Nate Peterman then straight up the middle for 26 yards before Boyd added another 3 yard run of his own. The drive stalled from there and Pitt settled for 22 yard field from junior placekicker Chris Blewitt. Notre Dame 7 Pitt 3.

Notre Dame answered right back.

Prosise tote the rock for 2 and 11 yards before senior Pitt cornerback Lafayette Pitts sacked Kizer for a loss of 7 yards and caused a fumble, which the Fighting Irish recovered. It was one of three Irish fumbles on the day that Pitt caused and Notre Dame recovered.

Kizer, though, went back to the air and connected with Prosise for 10 yards and Fuller for 10 more yards. After an incompletion, a 5 yard Irish penalty and a loss of 1 yard, Kizer reconnected with Fuller for 15 yards.

Kizer picked up an additional yard and capped the drive by throwing a strike to Irish junior WR Torii Hunter Jr., the son of Torii Hunter of the Minnesota Twins, for a 12 yard TD. Notre Dame led Pitt 14-3.

The teams traded punts and Pitt drove the ball to the Irish redzone. That’s when Peterman underthrew a pass and was intercepted by Irish safety Matthias Farley at the 1 yard line.

Despite another trade of punts, Notre Dame had one more score left in the tank before half.

It started when true freshman Irish tailback Josh Adams ran for an easy 24 yards and then Kizer threw a 46 yard TD pass to Fuller to break the game wide open. Notre Dame led Pitt 21-3 at half.

The Panthers tried to make a game of it in the second half.

Peterman started the 3rd quarter with a 2 yard run and then threw a bomb to Pitt junior WR Dontez Ford that was declared incomplete but clearly looked otherwise.

Peterman still managed to find Panther senior TE J.P. Holtz for 21 yards which was followed up by runs from Ollison for 4 yards and Boyd for 2 yards.

Despite the earlier bad call, Peterman connected again with Ford for 37 yards before Pitt safety turned slot back true freshman Jordan Whitehead ran untouched for a 10 yard TD score. Notre Dame 21 Pitt 10.

The Fighting Irish decided to answer back on the ground.

Kizer ran for 6 yards before Adams took over with runs of 23, 4 and 8 yards. Kizer went up top again to Hunter for 19 yards. After an incomplete pass, Adams tacked on an additional yard before Kizer threw the easy 14 yard TD pass to Fuller. Notre Dame 28 Pitt 10.

Fuller finished the day with 7 catches for 152 yards and 3 TDs. Kizer went 19 for 26 for 262 yards and shredded the Pitt secondary with 5 TD passes. Meanwhile, Adams added 20 carries for 147 yards.

Pitt wasn’t done yet however.

After Ollison started the series with a 1 yard run, Peterman added a 20 yard run of his own. Pitt then tried a little trickery as Boyd attempted to pass to Panther junior WR Zach Challingsworth.

Peterman then found Boyd for 24 yards before running for 10 yards and handing it off to Ollison who lost a yard.

Peterman then threw a strike to Holtz for 10 yards to the Notre Dame 7 yard line. Ollison carried twice for 2 yards each before Whitehead sealed the drive with a 3 yard inside TD run. Notre Dame 28 Pitt 17.

The scoring bonanza for Notre Dame though continued.

Despite a Blewitt on-sides kick that nearly succeeded, the Irish lost a yard when Kizer connected with Adams.

Adams then ran for 4 yards before Kizer found Notre Dame redshirt senior WR Amir Carlisle for 13 yards. Kizer was then sacked by Pitt redshirt junior DE Juan Price for a loss of 6 yards.

It was 2nd and long and yet Kizer still managed to connect with Irish junior WR Corey Robinson for 12 yards. Kizer then went back to Hunter for 6 yards before Adams tacked on a 5 yard run.

Kizer capped the drive with a 12 yard pass completion to Carlisle and a quick 5 yard TD toss to Adams. Notre Dame 35 Pitt 17.

Pitt punted again on its next offensive series when Irish put the final nail in the coffin.

The Irish lost 3 yards initially when Kizer connected with Notre Dame senior WR Chris Brown but then Adams made it back up with a 12 yard run.

Fuller grabbed another Kizer pass for 12 yards before Adams tacked on runs of 8 and 6 yards.

Kizer went back to the air to Carlisle for 6 yards before Irish freshman tailback Dexter Williams added a 3 yard run. Adams ran two more times for 7 and 9 yards that set up Kizer to cap the drive with a 2 yard TD run. Notre Dame 42 Pitt 17, the rout was on.

Pitt had one last gasp on offense.

Peterman found Ford for 21 yards before Ollison added a 4 yard run. That’s when the Irish secondary left Tyler Boyd wide open as he waltzed into the end zone on the receiving end of 51 yard TD strike from Peterman. Notre Dame 42 Pitt 24.

In the process, Boyd became Pitt’s all-time leader with 3,097 receiving yards that broke former Panther Antonio Bryant’s roughly 15 year record of 3,061 yards. Boyd also owns the Pitt career receptions record with 229 catches and still counting.

Pitt would add one more score in mop-up duty when Irish freshman backup QB Brandon Wimbush was sacked by Pitt junior Matt Galambos for a loss of 12 yards. The sack caused a fumble which was scooped up by Price, who scampered untouched into the endzone with a 32 yard defensive Panther TD.

The Irish salted the game soonafter and cruised to the 42-30 victory over Pitt.

Notes: Notre Dame improved its record to 8-1 on the season and remains the #5 team in the country and in the college playoff rankings released earlier this past week.

Pitt, meantime, dropped to 6-3 overall and remains 4-1 in the ACC.

Next up: Pitt at Duke, 12pm Noon EST next Sat 11/14 on the ACC Network.

Pitt is 10-9 all-time vs Duke and had a 4 game winning streak against the Blue Devils before dropping a 51-48 shootout last season.