The Notre Dame football team has one more very big game in the regular season before it can hit cruise control. Their journey to Pitt has turned into a clash of Top 25 teams and the last test before the Fighting Irish finish off their slate against some real cupcakes.
There was more drama added to the whole situation when Panthers coach Pat Narduzzi made some rather interesting comments, where he said he didn't really care if his team was blown out. His logic was that since the Irish were not an ACC team, Pitt could lose badly and still make the playoffs as long as they won their last two conference games.
While Narduzzi eventually tried to walk that back and say he was trying to take the pressure off his players, no one really understands exactly what he thought he was doing with his speech. Now, if Pitt does get blown out, it's a safe bet people will point to the head coach's comments as a kind of "go ahead and destroy us" to Notre Dame.
Notre Dame vs. Pitt final odds
The Irish are not favored by 100, but they're pretty heavy favorites considering they're on the road against a Top 25 team. Marcus Freeman and company are currently -12.5 according to FanDuel Sportsbook.
The total points are set at 54.5, which means that both Notre Dame and Pitt might find the endzone plenty of times this weekend. If the Panthers want to win, they're going to have to find a way to score a bunch in the first half, because no one does it in the second half against Chris Ash.
Notre Dame football vs Pitt Panthers prediction
The Irish come into this game knowing that not only do they need to win, but they need to do it impressively. They will get that done.
Notre Dame football wins 35-20 over Pitt.