Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1541365
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM NOV. 22, 2025 25 MALACHI FIELDS ELEVATES THE NOTRE DAME OFFENSE Jeremiyah Love is no stranger to stand‑ ing in front of reporters and being asked to answer a question about how he managed the miraculous. And, sure enough, that's what happened when he stepped up to the postgame press conference microphone shortly after Notre Dame's 37‑15 victory over Pitt at Acrisure Stadium. Jeremiyah, how'd you so precisely pull off a spin move it sat a Pitt player down on his fanny and looked like it was gen‑ erated by Artificial Intelligence before sprinting to the end zone to finish off a 56‑yard touchdown? We could put his answer here or we could move on to what he had to say about one of his teammates' must‑see plays instead. We're going to do the lat‑ ter. It's probably what Love would want us to do anyway, judging by the way he described what he saw. What we all saw. What we'll all see many more times for eternity. The catch Notre Dame wide receiver Malachi Fields made over the middle on third‑and‑15, hauling in the football with his left hand and snapping it back toward his torso so he could punishingly pinch it with his right, all while seemingly floating through the gray Pittsburgh sky, wasn't just a "you gotta see it to believe it snag." It was a "you gotta see it 10 times and that still won't be enough to be im‑ mersed in all of its glory" snag. "I don't even think Malachi thought he was going to catch that ball," Love said. "It was a crazy catch. I love to see stuff like that. I love to see guys make spectacular plays." Notre Dame head coach Marcus Free‑ man just loves to see guys make plays, period. Especially in crucial situations. In this instance, Notre Dame was be‑ hind the chains on third down and in danger of giving the ball back over to Pitt at the end of the first quarter. In‑ stead, Fields did the unthinkable and flipped field position with a 35‑yard gain only he could manage. Not even Love. Freeman was insistent Notre Dame went to the transfer portal to get a player of Fields' build — 6‑4, 222 pounds — and play‑making style for moments like those. "He made some huge, contested catches," Freeman said. "We got them to jump offsides a couple times. We're able to throw it up for the 50/50 ball. With him, a 100/0 ball, right?" That's a 100 percent chance of Fields coming down with the ball and a 0 per‑ cent chance of the defensive back doing so, for those deciphering football lingo at home. And that's what we mean by Fields' playmaking style; he's by far the best wide receiver on the Notre Dame roster when it comes to redshirt fresh‑ man quarterback CJ Carr putting some air under the ball and giving his guy the opportunity to run under it and go get it. That's the way Fields scored his first touchdown of the game. He scored his second out of the slot on a well‑exe‑ cuted (and legal) rub route concept on third‑and‑goal. So it's not just the downfield element that Fields adds to the Notre Dame offense; he can beat a defense in a multitude of ways. He finished with season highs in catches (7), receiving yards (99) and re‑ ceiving touchdowns (2). If that's who he is the rest of the way for Notre Dame, in addition to Love being the unstoppable force he is, this Irish offense is one no other College Football Playoff‑caliber teams want to face. And yes, it is who Freeman thinks he'll be. "That's what we expect of him," Free‑ man said. "He's a big‑time receiver that usually makes those plays, and it was good to see him make them today." — Tyler Horka IRISH SAFETIES PUT ON A SHOW Adon Shuler set the tone. The redshirt sophomore safety and team captain, as well as a catalyst for Notre Dame's defensive turnaround since mid‑September, saw Pitt redshirt PITTSBURGH GAME NOTES BY TYLER HORKA AND JACK SOBLE Fields burned the Panthers for season highs in catches (7), receiving yards (99) and receiving touch- downs (2). PHOTO BY FRANK HYATT