Smith Continues to Impress

by Bo Marchionte
@bomarchionte | College2Pro.com
Published November 15, 2025, 4:36 PM

PITTSBURGH, PA – This is what college Saturdays are supposed to feel like. The pageantry, the tradition, the electricity that rolls through a city when a ranked matchup comes to town. And on this crisp afternoon in Pittsburgh, with No. 9 Notre Dame in town to face No. 22 Pitt, that feeling hit immediately. College Gameday was parked outside. The crowd buzzed. It felt like the kind of stage the Panthers have worked to earn.

“We got to do a better job as coaches preparing,” Panthers head coach Pat Narduzzi said addressing the media after the game.

It’s been plenty I’ve witnessed him much more agitated after a loss like this but it felt at least to me he was extremely proud of the team and fans for coming together and supporting the Panthers.

“Apologize to the fans,” said Narduzzi. “I mean, that was a great showing, I walked out and saw GameDay, you know, a heck of a way to start for our Pitt fans, for the University of Pittsburgh, for the city of Pittsburgh and I appreciate everything. I wish I could have given more.”

And yet, for those who have watched this program long enough, it also felt like familiar ground. Pitt has been here countless times unassuming, underrated, stitching together a record good enough to climb the rankings and stir the idea that maybe this is a year they can hang with the nation’s power programs. But too often, when the level of competition sharpens, the illusion fades.

It didn’t take long for it to fade again.

Notre Dame controlled the game from the opening sequences, walking out of Pittsburgh with a convincing 37–9 win that revealed more than just a talent gap it revealed the limits of Pitt’s ceiling in the modern college football landscape.

“The game started fast,” said Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame’s head coach. “It wasn’t perfect, but it’s never perfect against a good opponent.”

By halftime, the numbers told a brutal story. Notre Dame led 21–3. Pitt had generated just 36 yards of offense prior to its final drive of the half, finishing with only 81. They were 0-for-7 on third down, 0-for-1 on fourth, committed a turnover, allowed three sacks, and produced a mere seven rushing yards. Freshman quarterback Mason Heintschel was pressured from the first snap with essentially no protection, and his ability to escape the pocket prevented the stat sheet from looking even worse. Several Notre Dame defensive backs broke early on his passes, resulting in multiple deflections as he scrambled simply to make plays possible.

“Their quarterback is a good player,” Freeman said postgame. “He was hard to bring down, and he made some really good football players miss and credit him for that ability to escape.”

The opening drives offered a brief glimmer of opportunity before it was quickly extinguished. A potential big play slipped through the hands of Pitt’s receivers on the first drive, followed by a massive hit by Notre Dame’s

“It’s a game of momentum, said Narduzzi. “You got to make those big plays.”

Adon Shuler on Cataurus “Blue” Hicks, setting up a fourth down that ended in a sack by Irish defensive end Joshua Burnham.

Notre Dame momentarily looked vulnerable, but they regrouped quickly. Even after missing a field goal on their first possession starting inside Pitt territory thanks to field position dominance the Irish defense adjusted, firing off back-to-back sacks on Pitt’s second drive and jumping routes with ease.

Narduzzi flipped through his notebook at the podium mentioning the fine field position the Fighting Irish were provided early on. 

From there, Notre Dame simply imposed their will.

Jeremiyah Love showed instantly why he is considered the best running back in college football. With patience, sharp vision, and a devastating spin move, he sliced through the Panthers defense on a touchdown run that made it 7–0 with 8:16 left in the first quarter. Minutes later, Heintschel’s pick-six a 49-yard return by Johnson pushed the gap to 14–0. The Heisman hopeful finished with 158 rushing yards on 23 carries with two catches (20 yards) for good measure.

Pitt wasn’t just trailing. They were drowning. And as the deficit grew from seven to fourteen to seventeen, it became clear that Notre Dame’s superiority had neutralized Pitt long before the final whistle. The Panthers’ only touchdown of the day came via interception; the offense never crossed the goal line.

What Saturday underscored is not new: Pitt under Narduzzi often climbs into the rankings only to slide once the schedule tightens. When the opponent shifts from solid programs to the sport’s elite, Pitt’s margin for error evaporates. And every time, it reopens the same conversation not about effort or coaching, but about the unavoidable structural realities of today’s game.

Because here is the truth: Pat Narduzzi consistently fields the best team possible within Pitt’s realm. He recruits well relative to the program’s resources. He develops players. He squeezes everything he can out of the roster. But in the NIL era, that realm has shifted dramatically. The divide between programs like Pitt and the true national powers continues to widen as collectives grow, budgets explode, and the recruiting arms race surges into territory the Panthers cannot realistically match.

Expecting Pitt to compete consistently with Notre Dame, Georgia, Ohio State, Texas, or any of college football’s financial juggernauts is no longer grounded in reality. The Panthers can pull the occasional upset. They can have their magical moments. But stacking up wins against the elite or sustaining that level of competitiveness over an entire season is simply out of reach in today’s climate.

Saturday didn’t expose a lack of effort. It exposed a lack of parity.

“But you know, proud of our football team,” said Narduzzi. “There’s no quit. These guys put together a fourth down stop (final minutes) and then we take the ball down and score a touchdown (as time expired).”

Narduzzi puts the best possible product on the field, but the truth is unavoidable: Pitt is competing in a sport increasingly defined by resources, brands, and spending power. Notre Dame has all three. Pitt has grit, tradition, and development admirable qualities, but no longer enough to consistently match the giants.

The 37–9 final score didn’t just separate two teams.

It separated two realities one competing for titles, the other battling ceilings no coaching staff, no scheme, no effort can fully breakthrough in this era.

And on this college Saturday, with all its energy and pageantry, that reality was impossible to ignore.

 

Photo Credit Frank Hyatt/College2Pro.com