SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WNDU) – Ninth-ranked Notre Dame is looking to extend its seven-game winning streak against No. 22 Pittsburgh on Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a look at our WNDU 16 News Now GAMEDAY team\u2019s keys to the game, players to watch and game picks.<\/p>\n
KEYS TO THE GAME<\/p>\n
Jackson Neill: Run blocking<\/p>\n
The Irish obviously have two great backs. But Pitt has the nation\u2019s third-best rushing defense, only allowing about 81 rushing yards per game.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not worried about Jeremiyah Love or Jadarian Price since they always show up. Instead, Notre Dame\u2019s offensive line will need to be solid. <\/p>\n
With injuries, there\u2019s been different starting combos up front with Joe Otting at center and Sullivan Absher at guard. This is a game where regardless of any one player\u2019s experience they will need to be working as a cohesive unit.<\/p>\n
Sabrina Hoover: Passing offense<\/p>\n
This offense needs to continue to put up big numbers and find success through the air against a talented Panther defense.<\/p>\n
I have faith Jeremiyah Love will have success here in this game.. But what we saw from CJ Carr last week against Navy needs to continue in a game like this. Carr was able to connect downfield to guys like Malachi Fields, Will Pauling, even KK Smith. <\/p>\n
That level of explosiveness from Carr needs to continue today because it\u2019s getting to the time of the year where Notre Dame needs to show they can get a big win \u2014 a statement win against a talented team on the road.<\/p>\n
PLAYERS TO WATCH<\/p>\n
Jackson Neill: Jordan Faison (Wide Receiver)<\/p>\n
We just touched on how good Pitt\u2019s rushing defense is. Meanwhile, the Panthers have the 10th-best passing defense in the conference, allowing over 237 yards through the air.<\/p>\n
Notre Dame will throw the ball. And while I expect all of the receivers to have a big day, I\u2019m going with Jordan Faison. <\/p>\n
He\u2019s only been over 100 yards once so far this season back vs Purdue. This will be his second game over 100 yards.<\/p>\n
Sabrina Hoover: Christian Gray (Cornerback)<\/p>\n
Christian Gray is now off the injury report after missing the past two games.<\/p>\n
This is going to be a huge test for the Notre Dame defense. They are going from playing a team like Navy who runs the triple option to a team like Pitt who has success through the air and has put up quite a few points in their last few games.<\/p>\n
So, Notre Dame will need a big game from guys like Gray.<\/p>\n
GAME PICKS<\/p>\n
Jackson Neill: Notre Dame 31, Pittsburgh 21<\/p>\n
Sabrina Hoover: Notre Dame 45, Pittsburgh 21<\/p>\n
Chris Zorich: Notre Dame 28, Pittsburgh 7<\/p>\n
Copyright 2025 WNDU. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WNDU) – Ninth-ranked Notre Dame is looking to extend its seven-game winning streak against No.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35077,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[21916,19776,21912,19775,21915,21910,3746,6734,21918,3398,73,75,74,21911,21913,21917,21914,19774],"class_list":{"0":"post-35076","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh","8":"tag-christian-gray","9":"tag-fighting-irish","10":"tag-game-picks","11":"tag-irish","12":"tag-jordan-faison","13":"tag-keys-to-the-game","14":"tag-notre-dame","15":"tag-panthers","16":"tag-passing-offense","17":"tag-pitt","18":"tag-pittsburgh","19":"tag-pittsburgh-headlines","20":"tag-pittsburgh-news","21":"tag-players-to-watch","22":"tag-predictions","23":"tag-run-blocking","24":"tag-scores","25":"tag-wndu"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35076\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}