The Notre Dame Fighting Irish have taken down the Pittsburgh Panthers today at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania by a score of 42-30. The Irish move to 8-1 on the season and 3-1 on the road this season, with the win. With the loss the Panthers fall to 6-3 and 2-2 on the season. The Irish beat up on the Panthers all game long, even putting in backup Brandon Wimbush for a period of time.
The Irish got on the board first when after two successful run plays by CJ Prosise, Kizer threw it deep to Will Fuller for the 47 yard touchdown to put the Irish up 7-0 very quickly into the game. Then after two punts, Pitt got the ball back and lead all the way down field when at Chris Blewitt, didn’t blow it and nailed a 22 yard field goal with 2:48 left in the first quarter to make it a 7-3 game. The very next Notre Dame drive Deshone Kizer led the team on a very lengthy drive but found Torii Hunter Jr to end the drive with a 12 yard touchdown to put the Irish up 14-3. A few drives later Pitt QB Nathan Peterman lead them down the field before his pass was picked off in the endzone by Keivare Russell.
After two more punts Deshone Kizer led the Irish to the 46 before hitting Will Fuller or the 46 yard td to put the Irish up 21-3. The 2nd half the scoring really started as the damn opened on the first possession of the half when Jordan Whitehead ran it in from 10 yards out to make it a 21-10 game. The next ND drive, Deshone Kizer hit Will Fuller for a 10 yard td to make it a 28-10 ballgame. The next drive for Pitt, Jordan Whitehead ran it in for his 2nd TD of the day to make it a 28-17 game. The very next ND drive the scoring continued as pitched it to Josh Adams who ran it in for the 5 yard score to make it a 35-17 game. The next Pitt drive was a punt. The next ND drive with 5:47 left in the game Deshone Kizer decided to run one in with his feet to make it a 42-17 game. The next drive with 4:44 left the Panthers QB Nathan Peterman aired it out to Tyler Boyd for the 51 yard score to make it a 42-34 game. The last scoring drive came on the next drive when Brandon Wimbush the Notre Dame third string QB came in and was sacked and in the process the ball slipped out and was jumped on by Ejuan Price who ran it back 35 yards for the touchdown to make it 42-30.
Deshone Kizer had 5 throwing touchdowns today, and 1 rushing touchdown. Will Fuller had 3 touchdowns on the day. For the first time since the 41-31 win over USC in week 7 Kizer had zero interceptions on the day. Pitt running back Jordan Whitehead was the only player for Pitt with more than one touchdown in this game.
With the win the Fighting Irish will undoubtedly move up in all of rankings, especially entering the college football playoff as the number five team in the initial poll last week and number four Alabama playing number two LSU tonight. In the 2nd quarter of this one Notre Dame running back CJ Prosise went to the locker room with what Brian Kelly called a “shoulder/neck/upper body” injury and that he will be day to day according to Matt Fortuna.
The Fighting Irish go home to South Bend next weekend to face off against the Demon Deacons of Wake Forest trying to improve to 9-1 on the season. Pitt goes to Durham, North Carolina next weekend for an ACC matchup against the Duke Blue Devils looking to improve to 7-3 on the season.