Virtually cementing their place as a top-10 team and knocking yet another opponent out of Playoff contention, the No. 9 Notre Dame Fighting Irish dominated the then-No. 22 Pitt Panthers.
After the game, and a few below-the-belt calls by Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi, Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman had little to nothing to say to Narduzzi, quickly shaking his hand and almost immediately heading in the other direction.
In the post-game press conference, Freeman gave the perfect reasoning behind the brief exchange.
"I wanted to go celebrate," Freeman said. "But here's what I'll say. I'll answer it this way. To each their own, you know what I mean?"
Marcus Freeman had every right to swerve Pat Narduzzi
As the game came down to the last few seconds, the Fighting Irish had undeniably cemented their win, earning a 37-9 lead over the Panthers. With six seconds left (yes, literally 0:06 on the clock), Narduzzi felt compelled to call a timeout to score a touchdown on Notre Dame's backups.
Throughout the week leading up to the game, Narduzzi repeatedly said the Irish weren't deserving of their ranking and that the game didn't actually matter. Well, it sure looked like it mattered to him when he felt the need to score a throw-away touchdown.
Pat Narduzzi went from “this game doesn’t matter” to emptying the tank and trying to score at the end when it’s clearly over. What a joke. And don’t get me started on those horrible roughing-the-passer calls. All and all great dominating win. You can’t change that! #GoIrish
— Jonas Gray (@JonasLGray) November 15, 2025
At the end of the day, Freeman got the last laugh (and the win) after swerving Narduzzi's attempt to seemingly chat him up on Saturday afternoon.
When Notre Dame fans saw their head coach literally turn the other cheek, they erupted with joy and laughter, saying it was exactly what Narduzzi deserved after this week-long performance.
Marcus Freeman brushing off Narduzzi is awesome stuff and hilarious.
— Caleb Conrad (@CalebConrad23) November 15, 2025
Narduzzi was an absolute clown all week prior to the game and tries to act like nothing happened. https://t.co/ua6TzN2i8r
With the win, the Fighting Irish improved to 8-2 overall, and the Panthers dropped to 7-3, with one loss against a conference opponent in ACC play. When the third College Football Playoff rankings come out on Tuesday, it should come as no surprise if Notre Dame climbs the ranks and Pitt drops out of the top 25.
Over the last two games of the season, Notre Dame has to face the Syracuse Orange and Stanford Cardinal, two unranked teams that are both in the ACC as well.