PITTSBURGH \u2014 No. 9 Notre Dame bolstered its College Football Playoff resume with Saturday\u2019s 37-15 blowout win at No. 22 Pitt.<\/p>\n
The Irish (8-2) jumped out to an early 14-0 lead with a 56-yard, highlight-reel run by Heisman Trophy contender Jeremiyah Love and, moments later, a 49-yard interception return by Tae Johnson. Notre Dame cruised from there, nearly doubling Pitt\u2019s yardage.<\/p>\n
ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE\u2618\ufe0f<\/p>\n
THERE. HE. GOES. #GoIrish<\/a>\u2618\ufe0f | @JeremiyahLove<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/C2cSTYLo2N<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) November 15, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n The Panthers (7-3) lost for the first time since freshman Mason Heintschel became the team\u2019s starting quarterback, but remain in the ACC title race with two games to play. Our immediate takeaways:<\/p>\n Notre Dame makes its CFP defense with conviction<\/p>\n Considering the discourse around Notre Dame<\/a> during the past week, whether that was the \u201cjoin a conference\u201d crowd or those questioning the Irish\u2019s schedule, Saturday represented a chance to make a closing argument. And Notre Dame made its point going away, keeping Pitt at arm\u2019s length from the start, ultimately notching a comfortable Top 25 win on the road and improving its Playoff odds to 98 percent<\/a>.<\/p>\n With Notre Dame a heavy favorite to close with wins over Syracuse and Stanford, this represented a last chance to impress with people watching. ESPN\u2019s \u201cCollege GameDay\u201d set up outside Acrisure Stadium to hype what turned out to be a blowout staged by Notre Dame\u2019s defense. Heintschel never had a chance, hurried up by the Irish pass rush and finishing 16-of-33 for just 126 yards and one interception, which Johnson returned for the pick-6 midway through the first quarter.<\/p>\n Notre Dame and defensive coordinator Chris Ash have soundly answered early-season questions about their defense. Star Pitt running back Desmond Reid was a non-factor on the ground (five carries, 12 yards). The Panthers\u2019 offense was nothing more than a collection of Heintschel scrambles and a few Irish penalties.<\/p>\n Notre Dame finished with eight penalties for 84 yards, but it even overcame those, including when Leonard Moore was flagged for pass interference in the end zone during the third quarter. Facing first-and-goal from the 2-yard line, Pitt couldn\u2019t move the metaphorical pile. Heintschel\u2019s fourth-down completion came up inches short of the end zone, completing the Notre Dame stand.<\/p>\n The Panthers finished with just 219 yards, a season-best performance by the Irish defense. \u2014 Sampson<\/p>\n Malachi Fields gives the Irish a winner on the outside<\/p>\n It\u2019s not a hard read. Pitt\u2019s defense just had to create it for CJ Carr.<\/p>\n Twice on Saturday, the Panthers\u2019 defense jumped offside and the Irish quarterback read the situation, determined to take advantage of the gifted play. And both times, Carr lofted a pass to Virginia transfer Malachi Fields on the perimeter, letting the 6-foot-4, 222-pound receiver put that build to work. On the last play of the first quarter, that meant Fields climbing the ladder for a 35-yard catch at midfield. In the second quarter, that meant Fields boxing out a Panthers defensive back for a 25-yard touchdown.<\/p>\n HE DID IT AGAIN \ud83d\udc40\ud83e\udd2f<\/p>\n Malachi Fields=human highlight film #GoIrish<\/a>\u2618\ufe0f pic.twitter.com\/vzw0ERXBIg<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) November 15, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n This is what Notre Dame thought it could get from Fields when it invested in adding the potential pro to the roster last winter, but it thought it could get something similar from Clemson transfer Beaux Collins last year, too. That never quite materialized, as the Riley Leonard-to-Collins connection never quite clicked.<\/p>\n Carr-to-Fields has been another story.<\/p>\n From opening night at Miami, Fields has shown to be Carr\u2019s most trusted threat to throw a 50-50 ball, with Fields not afraid to get physical with defensive backs. He put up four catches for 97 yards last week against Navy and tacked on another seven catches for 99 yards and two scores against Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n Finally, Notre Dame has both a quarterback willing to take shots and a wide receiver capable of going to get them. For the Irish to make a run through the postseason, it can\u2019t just be Love and Jadarian Price barreling between tackles. The Irish have to bring more to the table. And Fields does. \u2014 Sampson<\/p>\n What this means for the ACC<\/p>\n Because Notre Dame remains independent in football, this result doesn\u2019t affect the ACC\u2019s standings or Pitt\u2019s conference title hopes. But it matters. Then-CFP selection committee chairperson Mack Rhoades<\/a> brought up the ACC\u2019s \u201clack of non-conference signature wins\u201d as a negative for the league this week. Pitt added a signature lopsided loss to the ledger.<\/p>\n Barring major chaos \u2014 starting with a Duke team with three nonconference losses winning out \u2014 the ACC\u2019s champion is a lock for the 12-team Playoff bracket. The path to getting a second ACC team in the field looks even harder now. Pitt\u2019s next two opponents, No. 16 Georgia Tech and No. 15 Miami, won\u2019t get the benefit of playing (and potentially beating) a ranked team because of the Panthers\u2019 stumble. Already at a disadvantage, the ACC needed a strong showing to help its overall case for, say, the hypothetical 10-2 Hurricanes getting the nod over a hypothetical 9-3 Texas or Oklahoma. Pitt did not help.<\/p>\n The Panthers still have only one ACC loss, so they remain in the conference championship picture despite their performance. The logjam of five teams with one ACC defeat will loosen later Saturday when Duke plays Virginia. \u2014\u00a0Baker<\/p>\n Irish draft prospects show out<\/p>\n It was another typical game for Love: more than 150 yards of total offense, over 6.0 yards per carry, a visit to the end zone and a handful of exciting runs on which he embarrassed a defender or two. And this latest effort came against a Pitt defense that entered Saturday ranked No. 3 in the country against the run.<\/p>\n But we have come to expect these types of performances because of Love\u2019s dynamic talent, which is why he was No. 5 on my recent NFL Draft board<\/a>.<\/p>\n In an interview with \u201cCollege GameDay,\u201d Love said he studies Detroit Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs, and it shows in his electric feet, easy acceleration and run balance to stay afloat through contact. There will be countless debates this spring about how early is too\u00a0early to draft a running back. It won\u2019t be the right move for every team, but someone in the top half of Round 1 is going to add the most explosive player in the draft.<\/p>\n Fields, meanwhile, debated whether to leave for the NFL after last season before transferring from Virginia to Notre Dame. His best quality is his catch radius, and he showed that against Pitt with multiple grabs outside his frame, including two of the most impressive catches you will see all season.<\/p>\n As a prospect, Fields is more of a build-up-speed athlete, and his route running needs continued maintenance, but his size and ball skills are his main selling points \u2014 those \u201cwow\u201d catches far outnumber his drops. Improved consistency down the stretch would help Fields\u2019 draft stock (and Notre Dame\u2019s Playoff prospects). \u2014 Dane Brugler<\/p>\n