Pat Narduzzi started the week talking about not caring whether Notre Dame blew out his Pitt Panthers. The Fighting Irish politely accommodated him on Saturday, taking a 14-0 lead in the first quarter and never really looking back. When the smoke cleared, Marcus Freeman and company logged yet another big win against another Top 25 team, 37-15.
That final score made the game look much closer than it was. Two of the softest roughing the passing penalties you'll ever see in the college game allowed Pitt an extra 30 yards on the game's final drive, and backup quarterback Eli Hostein hit a garbage-time touchdown that didn't even cover the spread. So what were the biggest takeaways from another impressive Notre Dame win?
Jeremiyah Love showed he's unstoppable when Notre Dame allows him to be
Earlier today, SlapTheSign made it clear that Jeremiyah Love could stake his claim on the Heisman if he were able to dominate an excellent rushing defense on Saturday. When he was allowed to do so, Love showed he's the best in the business, starting things off with a 56-yard touchdown run.
He finished with 23 yards for 147 yards and a TD while also catching 2 passes for 20 yards. Early in the fourth quarter, he'd actually single-handedly outgained Pitt. The odd thing is that it felt like he could have done more if offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock had given him the ball a bit more early on.
The Irish defense is back to where it was
Maybe the secret behind the Notre Dame defense was never Al Golden. After a rough start to the year that had some people bailing on new defensive coordinator Chris Ash after a few weeks, his unit is one of the best in the country again.
On Saturday, the defense made freshman phenom Mason Heintschel look like a youngster way over his head. He completed just 16 of 33 passes for 126 yards and an interception that was returned for a touchdown by Tae Johnson. He was also sacked 4 times but ND shut down the Panthers on the ground as well, allowing just 70 yards.
Coming into today, the Notre Dame defense had allowed just 21 points in the second half since the Texas A&M. They came very close to pitching another second-half shutout if not for the aforementioned soft roughing the passer calls (the other Pitt TD was a pick-six).
Notre Dame has to figure out a kicker situation by the playoffs
While things were mostly rosy for the Irish on Saturday, one unit continues to be a real issue. Notre Dame made all its extra points, but Erik Smidt missed his only field goal chance.
This isn't an issue while Notre Dame is blowing people out on the way to the playoffs. It has a chance of being a big problem in the College Football Playoffs.