Pitt and Notre Dame have hooked up in some classic contests throughout history.
Saturday wasn’t one of those days.
The Pitt offense struggled from the get go and the Panthers’ defense allowed too many big plays as Notre Dame quarterback DeShone Kizer threw for five touchdowns and ran for another as No. 8 Notre Dame had their way with Pitt 42-30.
“We are never happy after a loss,” said Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi. “I don’t know what the record of the three teams we lost to this year, but Notre Dame may be the best. The kids continued to fight to the end, but we left a lot of plays on the field. Too many opportunities we just missed. We have to finish plays.”
The Irish struck quickly with a three-play drive when Kizer hit Will Fuller with a 47-yard touchdown pass as the Pitt defense once again came out of the blocks slowly.
The Panthers tightened up a bit defensively and the offense got on the board late in the first quarter with a 22-yard Chris Blewitt field goal, but Pitt stalled in the red zone, which has been a problem of late and couldn’t take advantage of a first-and-goal situation.
That would be pretty much it from the Panthers offense though as quarterback Nate Peterman struggled in a big way. Peterman struggled early on, completing only 3-of-18 first half pass attempts for 44 yards and a red-zone interception.
While Peterman wasn’t very good, his receiving core didn’t do him any favors, dropping plenty of passes on the day.
“He can’t do it all by himself,” said Narduzzi. “We have to have guys out there making catches.”
The Fighting Irish added a second-quarter touchdown when Kizer hit Torii Hunter Jr. with a 12-yard touchdown pass to make it 14-3.
Notre Dame allowed Pitt to hang in there, but the Panthers didn’t take advantage.
A big sequence came late in the first half when the Panthers forced a ND punt with just under three minutes left. Pitt couldn’t move the ball and went three-and-out, giving the ball back to the Fighting Irish with just under two minutes remaining.
Kizer and Fuller made the Panthers pay, connecting on a 46-yard TD to send the game into half at 21-3.
The sophomore signal caller had a very good afternoon, completing 19-of-25 passes for 262 yards and five touchdowns. He also added a touchdown on the ground in the fourth quarter. Kiser’s five TD passes are the most by Irish QB since Tommy Rees against Air Force two years ago.
Fuller caught seven passes for 152 yards and three touchdowns and abused Pitt corner Avonte Maddox, who for some reason was left one-on-one all afternoon with one of the best receivers in the country.
”We just lost our leverage,” said Narduzzi. “He’s a good player. When you can’t stop the run they are going to hit you deep. If we keep a safety back then they are going to run it on us and you are going to ask why we didn’t have extra bodies in the box. Its pick your poison. They only let us play with 11 although I would like to have 12.”
Meanwhile, Pitt’s top receiver Tyler Boyd was limited to just three receptions for 84 yards. One of those was a 51-yard touchdown which came long after the game was decided.
The Panthers best weapon of the afternoon turned out to be defensive back Jordan Whitehead, who made his first appearance on the offensive side of the ball.
Whitehead rushed four times for 27 yards and scored on runs of 10 and three yards in the third quarter. He also led the Panthers with 11 tackles.
”It felt good scoring my first touchdown,” said Whitehead. “We have had that in, but just haven’t used it. I knew earlier in the week I would be on offense so I was ready. It’s like I was in high school again playing both ways.”
Unfortunately for Pitt, those runs were sandwiched in between another touchdown catch by Fuller, which kept ND in front comfortably.
Pitt got as close as 28-17 late in the third quarter, but the Fighting Irish put the game out of reach in the fourth with a touchdown pass from Kiser to Josh Adams and a short TD run from Kizer to make it 42-17 Notre Dame.
The Panthers, now losers of two straight, will look to bounce back next week when they travel to Duke.
“No loss is ok, whether the team you’re playing is ranked or not” said Peterman. “We just need to stay positive. We expect to win every game. We want to be elite. We want to be the team that is up there in the rankings, so this one hurts. We just weren’t good enough today. We have to be better.
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