Game Thread | Pitt at No. 14 Notre Dame

Pitt (2-5) at No. 14 Notre Dame (6-2) 

Notre Dame Stadium | 3:30 PM ET | NBC | Line: Notre Dame -20.5| O/U: 45.5

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Five Players To Watch

Notre Dame WR Jayden Thomas
Is Thomas close to 100%? Notre Dame's offense needs him to be because he's much more than the most experienced receiver playing for them. His presence in the running game and his ability to give Sam Hartman another consistent option on 3rd down other than Mitchell Evans could be huge in getting the offense headed back in the right direction.

Pitt RB C'Bo Flemister
The former Notre Dame back has moved up to RB1 for Pitt and rushed for over 100-yards against Wake Forest last week. He has not gotten much help from a banged up offensive line, but Flemister runs hard and has been a bright spot for their offense. 

Notre Dame DT Howard Cross III
The interior of Pitt's offensive line has been bad this season and that's not great when they have to face Cross and Rylie Mills. They've been one of the best defensive tackle duos in the country this fall and Cross could have another monster game against an overmatched interior O-line.

Pitt LB Shayne Simon
Yes, another former Notre Dame player starts for Pitt on defense. Simon has found a good fit in Pat Narduzzi's scheme and is active as a blitzer. He'll be heavily involved in their 3rd down package.

Notre Dame S Xavier Watts
What can Watts do for an encore after having one of the best games ever from a Notre Dame defender? It might be too much to expect him to have a similar type of day, but there is no doubt he'll make some plays and could add another interception. He's currently tied for fourth in the country in that category.

Quotes of the Week

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman:
”The reality is you have to not only change your signals, but also mix up who is live and who isn’t. I feel we’ve done a good job and that goes back to my time as a coordinator. When I first became a coordinator here at Notre Dame, I was doing the signals. I did that at Cincinnati. When I got here, you realize how often you’re on TV and you have to change up who is signaling and who is live and have a good system. 

“We do a lot of self-scouting in terms of how often someone is live, what signals are we using, do we have multiple signals to give the same call to the offense or defense. It changes often. It changes not only the signals, but who is live and what they’re signaling.” 

Notre Dame offensive coordinator Gerad Parker:
”Yeah, I feel like you have to identify them. We’ve identified more of who we are and then some tendencies you don’t want and we can flip. Those you wouldn’t say out loud, but there’s some things we need to break that we’ve done, per run formation or per run/pass, those things that you always want to make sure of and check, but then too you check on what we do well. Where are we most efficient in our run and pass? We feel like we’ve done that. I feel like the game plan as we put it together and start adding this week, we’ve done that.” 

Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden:
“There are certain things in-house that we have to improve. I think that would be one of them. So, third down is one of those deals where like two [third] downs a game makes a big difference mathematically. So, we’ve got to start winning a couple of more [third] downs a game.”  

Notre Dame WR Rico Flores Jr:
“It takes a long time, not just in practice. You have to take your time outside practice too. Watch film, watch the DBs, watch how they play. I feel like that’s where my next level coming in is just keep watching film, be even more fundamental with film. It’s more of a mental game at this level at this point of the season; it’s way more than just the physical aspect. I mean physical is (important) because it’s a long season, but it’s the mental part of what you know he’s going to do or what you have a feeling (there’s) a high percentage of him doing. So therefore you can make a quick decision. Because everything I just told you is like this, so you have to mentally train yourself for that.

Notre Dame OL Joe Alt:
”Every game, you've got to look at the film and you've got to look at where you're going to get better at. I think for us, we came to that game with an edge. I think the offensive line, we had an edge on our shoulder, chip on our shoulder, that we have to perform better, and I think we did that. I think that started all back on Monday reviewing the film that week. Going through the preparation, I think we just had a different mindset about it, and I think it allowed us to play a lot better, a lot more confident. 

“Going forward, the confidence is always gonna come from the preparation and having that edge and building that edge. So I think for us, we just got to know what that taste feels like and build that confidence through the preparation we do each and every week and have that as you go into the games.”

Notre Dame DL Howard Cross III:
“Just keep going and have fun. That’s my biggest thing. Even now with the pressure and everything that’s going on, naturally I start to be like, ‘Oh man. Can I keep doing this? Can I keep this up?’ I know I can keep it up, but it’s just the fact of me telling myself, because I overthink everything. My dad makes sure I’m still in the mindset. I’m still that dude. I just have to keep it up. I can’t lose focus.” 

Notre Dame DE Nana Osafo-Mensah:
“Personally one of my friends, C’Bo Flemister, he used to be here and he seems like the starting running back over there. I know C’Bo is a guy who does not care who is in front of him. He’s going to do what he has to do to make sure he can get to where he wants to go if that’s in the end zone if that’s in the flat if that’s down the A gap, he’s going to hit it. I’ve been telling guys we got to stay ready. We got to stay hard-nosed because it’s going to be a fight.” 

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