Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM OCT. 11, 2025 9 UNDER THE DOME Pitt Reaps Reward Of Post-Navy Reset By Eric Hansen Pittsburgh is hardly the second-best team left on the Notre Dame football schedule in 2025, and may not even finish the year with a win- ning record. But the Panthers have some weird mojo in their corner that makes them the team — be- yond Southern Cal Oct. 18 — the next-most likely to pull an upset of the Irish and send them to the Pop-Tarts Bowl. History, though, is not on Pitt's side. Head coach Pat Narduzzi is 0-4 versus the Irish while at Pitt, and he lost his last three matchups with Notre Dame as Michigan State's defensive coordinator before that. But schedule sequencing does align for Narduzzi. What Pitt has going for it more than anything is schematic culture shock. Former Irish defensive coordinator Al Golden spoke of it last winter when reflecting on the tough ask of defending triple-option one week and then having to completely reboot for a conventional offense. Last November that was Army/Southern Cal. This November it's Navy/Pitt. Heading into last week's games, Navy had the nation's No. 1 rush offense and the No. 128 pass offense. Pitt was the flip side of that — No. 18 pass offense and No. 122 rush offense among all FBS teams. There are some other areas where Pitt matches up well, too. The Panthers have the best run defense (seventh) on the Irish schedule and are an elite pass- rush and penetration team (sixth, sacks; first, tackles for loss). They also have a bye the week before the Notre Dame clash, and the game is at their place. Maybe not a recipe for Pitt success, but it should be enough to get the Irish players' attention. Trap Is Set For NC State Game By Jack Soble My No. 1 takeaway from this exercise is that Notre Dame will be favored by double digits in every non- Southern Cal matchup for the rest of the season. Let's roll through the remaining opponents aside from the Trojans and Eric's pick, Pitt, in no particular order. Stanford? Not a chance. Boston College? Lost to Stanford. Syracuse? Former Notre Dame quarter- back Steve Angeli is out for the season, and the Irish don't lose on Senior Day. Navy? I thought about this one and I have some concerns about Notre Dame's ability to defend the option, but the Midshipmen won't be able to get stops. North Carolina State? I don't think they'll beat the Irish either, but the week before Southern Cal has "trap game" written all over it. Looking at the Wolfpack's schedule, they did beat Virginia, which beat Florida State. Yay? Unfortunately, they also lost to at home to Virginia Tech, who fired their head coach two games prior. Statistically, North Carolina State is a middle-of-the-pack (no pun intended) team, if not slightly below, in both scoring offense (88th) and scoring defense (71st). The Wolfpack's pass rush is even more anemic than Notre Dame's, ranking 109th in sacks per game. They also do not defend the run well, rank- ing 113th in opponent yards per carry. A returning starter at quarterback in CJ Bailey and a prolific running back in Hollywood Smothers make for an intriguing offense, but the Wolfpack shouldn't challenge the Irish. Neither should any team on the remaining schedule, apart from Southern Cal. That makes this an exercise in determining which game is most likely to result in a letdown performance, and in that case, the winner is North Carolina State. Point ✦ Counterpoint: BESIDES SOUTHERN CAL, WHICH TEAM HAS THE BEST CHANCE TO BEAT NOTRE DAME? It was a clash of former Notre Dame All-Ameri- cans Friday night, Sept. 26, in Chicago — well, at least their allegiances were clashing. Former Irish nose guard Chris Zorich, a member of the 1988 Irish national championship team, was in the stands, rooting for Brother Rice and his god- son and 2027 Irish recruiting target, Brayden Parks. On the opposing sideline was former Irish stand- out safety Tom Zbikowski. Saint Patrick High first- year coach Tom Zbikowski, that is. Brother Rice notched a 56-14 win and now has a 5-0 record. Blue & Gold Illustrated caught up with Zorich re- cently on the "Third & Gold" Podcast. Here are five questions and five answers from that interaction: BGI: Irish head coach Marcus Freeman was doing an interview with WNDU recently in which he was asked if he could add any Notre Dame player from the past to the current roster, who would it be? And the first words out of his mouth were Chris Zorich. What you were thinking when you heard that? Zorich: "It was freaking awesome, right? For Coach Freeman to acknowledge the way I played 30-plus years ago, is in itself just an amazing feat. And then also, you have to look around at the guys who are on that team, right? "We were a bunch of knuckleheads. We were kind of this new crew mixed with this old crew. And Coach [Lou] Holtz was able to kind of put us together to have success." BGI: If we could put the 20-year-old version of Chris Zorich on the field with this team, what would you want to bring to the table with this team? Zorich: "Really the only thing I'd have to offer, and this is what Marcus talked about, was that kind of toughness. And that kind of 'never say die' attitude, which meant that I'd have to be the first person on the ball regardless if it's a downfield or if it's a sack. "I wouldn't help a lot of people up. And if I walked past somebody and they didn't like me and they bumped into me, then probably a fight is going to happen. Which many times I got kicked out of practice because of that." BGI: What are your impressions of Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr? Zorich: "I'm happy that he's kind of coming into his own. I was not a big fan of Marcus bringing in transfer portal [quarterbacks]. As a traditional- ist — I can say that, now that I'm over 50 — you kind of value having someone grow within your program and having that culture." BGI: How involved are you in Notre Dame's recruitment of your godson, Brayden Parks? Zorich: "I've been criticized as the godfather of not wanting to force him to come to Notre Dame. And my comment to everybody is, 'If I didn't force my daughter to go to a certain college, why am I going to force my godson to do it?' "Would I love to see him wearing the blue and gold? Absolutely. I will share my experiences with him to allow him to make the best decision for him." BGI: You got to visit with Coach Holtz at the Texas A&M game Sept. 13. What was that like for you? Zorich: "It's so interesting as an 18-, 19-year-old kid in his meetings, I really didn't pay attention to everything he said, nor did a lot of us. And that was a mistake, because you look at what we've kind of experienced when we leave. "It's so important. And a lot of those things that were instilled in us, although we weren't really paying attention at the time." — Eric Hansen Five Questions With … FORMER NOTRE DAME ALL-AMERICAN CHRIS ZORICH When asked if he could add any Notre Dame player from the past to the current roster, head coach Marcus Freeman picked Zorich. FILE PHOTO