Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1540994
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM NOV. 8, 2025 47 OPPONENT ON DECK: PITTSBURGH Date: Nov. 15, 2025 Site (Capacity): Acrisure Stadium (68,400) Kickoff: TBA All-time series: Notre Dame leads 51-21-1 Last meeting: Notre Dame 58, Pitt 7 (Oct. 28, 2023, at South Bend) 2025 Record To Date: 7-2 (5-1 ACC) Pitt head coach: Pat Narduzzi (79-58 at Pitt and overall, 11th year) Season summary: Four weeks after a two-game losing streak and a quarterback swap, a Pitt foot- ball-centric podcast felt emboldened enough to produce and give away hoodies touting a Panthers player for college football's top individual honor. "Heintschel for Heisman." That isn't realistic, but given the way freshman quarterback Mason Heintschel has played during a five-game winning streak heading into a Nov. 15 clash with Notre Dame, what is realistic is Pitt's College Football Playoff chatter. The Panthers were one of five one-loss teams in the ACC standings after Week 10, with Virginia the lone unbeaten in league play. Following Pitt's Nov. 15 non-league game at home with the Irish, the Panthers take on Georgia Tech and Miami in the final two league contests — a tough fin- ish, but one that would get Pitt into the ACC title game tiebreaker, at the very least, with a sweep of those two. And that's Pitt's only viable avenue into the Col- lege Football Playoff, as ACC champ, not getting fished out of the at-large pool. Pro Football Focus isn't that impressed with Heintschel or the man he replaced, former Ala- bama transfer Eli Holstein. Their season-long film grades are almost identical and both below PFF's default rating of 60. Where the Panthers are most dangerous is on defense. Heading into its road test at Stanford, Pitt ranked 13th in rush defense, 27th in total defense, 25th in third-down defense, 40th in sacks and sixth in tackles for loss. Twelve different players had at least 1 sack. The Panthers' weakness on defense is defending the pass (77th). On offense, it's running the ball (110th) and protecting either quarterback (121st in sacks allowed). They're sloppy on offense when it comes to taking care of the football, as well (101st in turnovers lost). Yet Pitt might be the best and most compre- hensively good team at special teams on the Irish schedule. And one thing you can bank on, Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi, at some point during game week, carping about Notre Dame not being a full- time member of the ACC. — Eric Hansen On Deck Freshman quarterback Mason Heintschel has played well during Pitt's five-game winning streak heading into its Nov. 15 clash with Notre Dame. PHOTO COURTESY PITTSBURGH ATHLETICS 2025 PITTSBURGH SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Time (ET)/Result Aug. 30 Duquesne W, 61-9 Sept. 6 Central Michigan W, 45-17 Sept. 13 at West Virginia L, 31-24 (OT) Sept. 27 Louisville L, 34-27 Oct. 4 Boston College W, 48-7 Oct. 11 at Florida State W, 34-31 Oct. 18 at Syracuse W, 30-13 Oct. 25 NC State W, 53-34 Nov. 1 at Stanford W, 35-20 Nov. 15 Notre Dame TBA Nov. 22 at Georgia Tech TBA Nov. 29 Miami TBA OFFENSE Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. QB 6 Mason Heintschel 6-2 215 Fr. 10 Eli Holstein 6-4 225 R-So. RB 0 Desmond Reid 5-8 175 Sr. or 8 Juelz Goff 5-9 195 R-Fr. or 25 Ja'Kyrian Turner 5-9 180 Fr. WR 2 Kenny Johnson 6-1 205 Jr. 23 Zion Fowler-El 6-0 190 R-So. or 17 Tony Kinsler 5-11 170 Fr. WR 5 Raphael Williams Jr. 5-10 165 R-Sr. 80 Bryce Yates 6-0 180 Fr. or 16 Jesse Anderson 6-0 180 R-So. WR 3 Cataurus Hicks 5-10 175 R-So. or 7 Deuce Spann 6-4 210 Sr.+ TE 87 Jake Overman 6-4 240 Sr.+ or 82 Malachi Thomas 6-4 240 So. or 88 Justin Holmes 6-3 245 Sr. LT 78 Jeff Persi 6-8 315 Sr.+ 53 Kendall Stanley 6-5 295 R-Jr. LG 71 Ryan Carretta 6-5 305 R-So. 77 Jackson Brown 6-6 310 R-Jr. C 56 Lyndon Cooper 6-2 315 R-Sr. 72 Isaiah Montgomery 6-4 305 R-Jr. RG 55 BJ Williams 6-4 320 Jr. 67 Tai Ray 6-6 325 R-So. or 68 Torian Chesterc 6-4 325 Fr. RT 70 Ryan Baer 6-7 325 R-Jr. 51 Jiavani Cooley 6-4 295 R-Fr. DEFENSE Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. DE 10 Blaine Spires 6-3 250 Sr.+ or 56 Jaeden Moore 6-4 240 R-So. DT 95 Francis Brewu 6-1 280 So. or 2 Isaiah Neal 6-2 265 R-So. DT 55 Sean Fitzsimmons 6-3 295 R-Jr. or 11 Nick James 6-2 280 R-Jr. DE 44 Jimmy Scott 6-3 260 R-Jr. 39 Maverick Gracio 6-4 245 R-So. Star 9 Kyle Louis 6-1 220 R-Jr. 24 Cameron Lindsey 6-0 210 R-Fr. Mike 0 Braylan Lovelace 6-2 220 Jr. 31 Nick Lapi 6-2 215 R-Sr. Money 3 Rasheem Biles 6-1 220 Jr. 31 Nick Lapi 6-2 215 R-Sr. or 24 Cameron Lindsey 6-0 210 R-Fr. SS 12 Cruce Brookins 6-2 195 R-So. 14 Josh Guerrier 5-10 175 Fr. FS 7 Javon Mcintyre 6-1 195 R-Sr.* 23 Kavir Bains-Marquez 5-10 175 Sr.+ CB 8 Tamon Lynum 6-2 190 Sr.+ or 28 Shawn Lee Jr. 5-10 180 Fr. CB 15 Rashad Battle 6-3 195 Sr.+ 21 Shadarian Harrison 6-1 190 R-So.* PITTSBURGH PANTHERS TWO-DEEP DEPTH CHART Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. PK 93 Trey Butkowski 6-0 170 Fr. 94 Sam Carpenter 5-11 195 R-So. KO 94 Sam Carpenter 5-11 195 R-So. 93 Trey Butkowski 6-0 170 Fr. P 91 Caleb Junko 6-1 205 R-Sr. 92 Kaemon Tijerina 6-0 220 Fr. H 91 Caleb Junko 6-1 205 R-Sr. 92 Kaemon Tijerina 6-0 220 Fr. Pos. No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. LS 47 Nilay Upadhyayula 5-11 225 R-Sr. 48 Nico Crawford 6-2 225 R-Jr. PR 0 Desmond Reid 5-8 175 Sr. or 2 Kenny Johnson 6-1 205 Jr. KR 2 Kenny Johnson 6-1 205 Jr. 7 Deuce Spann 6-4 210 Sr.+ or 3 Cataurus Hicks 5-10 175 R-So. + Super senior SPECIAL TEAMS