Winners and losers from Notre Dame’s dominant road victory over the Pitt Panthers as the CFB Playoff picture becomes clearer

Several Notre Dame standouts turned in impressive performances against Pitt, and others, left a lot to be desired.

Ryan Roberts — National College Football Writer
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Notre Dame football went on the road this past weekend and managed to put together a dominant performance against the Pitt Panthers, coming out with a 37 to 15 victory, and the game was even more lopsided than that final score. Pat Narduzzi’s Pitt squad was ranked inside of the Top 25 going into the weekend, so it ended up being a really nice win for head coach Marcus Freeman and the Fighting Irish. 

As is always the case, there were several Notre Dame players and position groups that were extremely impressive during the outing. There were, however, others that didn’t play nearly as well. Here are the winners and losers from the Irish victory over Pitt, including several storylines that are becoming routine at this point. 

Winners

Jeremiyah Love’s Heisman candidacy 

Love turned in another impressive performance for the Irish offense. He managed to rush for 147 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries, an average of 6.4 yards per carry. On the season, Love has now rushed for 1,135 yards and 14 touchdowns, also hauling in another 26 receptions for 274 yards and three more scores. Love is stacking quality performances in the biggest part of the season. If he continues, there is a good chance we see the 6-0, 214-pound playmaker in New York City as a Heisman Trophy finalist. 

The Notre Dame defense 

It was a disastrous start to the season for the Notre Dame defense, but they have been stacking some great performances over the last several weeks. The secondary frustrated the Pitt passing attack, allowing the Panthers to complete just 19 of 39 passes for 149 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions, which was only 3.8 yards per attempt. That lone touchdown pass also came on the last play of the game for some context. The Irish unit also swarmed against the Panther run game, allowing only 70 yards on 25 carries, a mere 2.8 yards per carry. 

Chris Ash 

After three games into the season, the Chris Ash hire looked like a complete disaster. Over the last seven games, however, the Irish defense is allowing just 10.1 points per game as a unit. Coach Freeman has quickly reasserted his imprint into the defensive philosophy, and you need to give Ash credit for assimilating and changing. The defense is playing fast and confidently right now. 

Malachi Fields stacking games 

After a quiet three-game stretch, Fields has been tremendous during the last two games. He had arguably his most efficient game against the Panthers, hauling in seven receptions for 99 yards and two touchdowns. When the 6-4, 222-pound pass catcher is confident and making contested catches down the field, the Notre Dame passing offense functions so much better. Fields is key for this Irish team to make a run. 

Losers

Notre Dame’s run blocking… again. 

This has become an issue over the last couple of contests for the Notre Dame run game, becoming very big play centric, but to a fault. Love once again broke off a long touchdown with a sick spin move that will certainly be on his highlight reel. Outside of his 56-yard touchdown, the Irish rushed for 119 yards on 35 carries. That is just 3.4 yards per carry, which… isn’t ideal, especially with Pitt only recording one sack. 

Field goal kicking… also again. 

There’s being hopeful, and then there is being realistic. This kicking game is just a disaster for Notre Dame right now. Freshman kicker Erik Schmidt made all five of his extra points, but also missed his lone field goal attempt, and very badly. I don’t know how any Irish fan can have confidence that Notre Dame is going to make a big kick in a key moment. There doesn’t appear to be a fix in sight. 

Passing game balance 

The pass game for Notre Dame was very inconsistent behind the talented right arm of CJ Carr. As is typically the case, Carr made some big plays during the game, but also made a couple of really bad decisions. On top of Fields’ big day, tight end Eli Raridon also had his best performance in weeks. Of the 21 completions for Carr, 13 of them were made by that duo for 166 yards and two touchdowns. The rest of the pass catchers hauled in just eight receptions for 46 yards, and 20 of those yards went to Love. Jordan Faison, Will Pauling, and KK Smith all had very quiet days with a combined five receptions for 19 yards. 

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