Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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22 NOV. 22, 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED TURNING POINT Pitt looked like an offense ready to roll to start the game against No. 9 Notre Dame. The No. 22 Panthers picked up 36 yards on their first three plays to open the game in Pitts- burgh's Acrisure Stadium. Then Pitt wide receiver Raphael "Poppi" Wil- liams Jr. ran open for what should have been another big play, but he dropped a pass from quarterback Mason Heintschel with Irish red- shirt sophomore safety Adon Shuler trailing him. The Panthers started to fall apart from there. Shuler provided a big hit on wide receiver Cataurus Hicks on a third-and-9 that turned what could have been a conversion into a pass broken up. Then redshirt junior defensive end Joshua Burnham sacked Heintschel for a 16- yard loss on an early fourth-down attempt by Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi. The sequence foreshadowed a long day ahead of the Panthers offense. Pitt managed to accumulate just 219 total yards of offense, and 54 of those yards came on the final drive that produced Pitt's only offensive touchdown of the day as time expired. STATS OF THE GAME Notre Dame rushed for 175 yards against Pittsburgh, which set a new season high against the Panthers, who previously gave up 174 yards in a 31-24 overtime loss to West Virginia. Three Notre Dame players combined for 4 sacks against Pitt: Burnham (2), Shuler (1) and redshirt senior defensive tackle Jason Onye (1). Notre Dame's defense was credited with 8 passes broken up. Sophomore defensive end Bryce Young and junior safety Luke Talich each broke up a pair of passes. The Irish punted just once against Pitt, and redshirt senior James Rendell punted it 36 yards to pin Pitt to its own 8-yard line. ELI RARIDON'S IMPORTANCE Redshirt senior wide receiver Malachi Fields made the flashy plays for Notre Dame's passing game, but senior tight end Eli Raridon played an equally important role in what the Irish were trying to do through the air. Redshirt freshman quarterback CJ Carr tar- geted Fields and Raridon 10 times each. Fields came away with game highs in receptions (7), receiving yards (99) and receiving touchdowns (2), but Raridon earned his production. He caught 6 passes for 67 yards and 46 of those yards came after catches. Four of his receptions gained first downs for the Irish. Notre Dame used freshman tight end James Flanigan in two-tight-end sets with Raridon at times during the game. With Flanigan playing as an attached tight end, Raridon was able to move around quite a bit to fit coverage advan- tages in favor of Notre Dame. THREE OBSERVATIONS BY TYLER JAMES WR MALACHI FIELDS Not only did the redshirt senior wideout have a catch of the year candidate for leaping over the middle and extending his left arm over his head in a way only he and a very few number of others on earth can for a 35-yard out-of-this-world reception on third-and-15, but he also had a set season highs with 7 catches for 99 yards and 2 touchdowns. Fields hadn't scored twice in a game in a Notre Dame uniform until he played Pitt. He only did it two times in four seasons at Virginia, too. In many ways, this was a career day for Notre Dame's big boundary receiver. RB JEREMIYAH LOVE The junior standout opened the scoring with a 56-yard touchdown that came with one of the crispest spin moves you'll see in college football this season. It was so perfectly executed it looked like even a video game character couldn't have pulled it off as cleanly as he did in real life. Notre Dame's Heisman Trophy candidate running back went into the game third in the FBS in yards from scrimmage per game with 138.0, and he came out of it having upped that average with a 167-yard showing versus the Panthers. Strike the pose, Mr. Love. You've once again enhanced your case for taking home some hardware. S ADON SHULER The redshirt sophomore had a few of his patented "shot out of a cannon" moments early in the game. Those tend to be tone setters for his squad; when other members of the Notre Dame defense see one of their team captains getting after it and leaving it all out on the field, then they follow suit. Shuler had a sack and broke up a pass, but the highlight of his day was a 100-yard interception returned for two points on a conversion try for Pitt. Not too long before then, Shuler momentarily left the game after getting banged up on a play. He stuck it out, got back out there and was rewarded for it. Tough. GAME BALLS BY TYLER HORKA Redshirt sophomore safety Adon Shuler notched a sack and also returned an interception more than 100 yards to give the Irish two points on a two-point conversion try for the Panthers. PHOTO BY FRANK HYATT