The Notre Dame Fighting Irish will attempt to keep their season record perfect, and their top 5 ranking secured, with the Pittsburgh Panthers traveling to South Bend via Michigan City. Either Pitt hates its players and has them staying at a horrible hotel, or they are rolling the dice at the Blue Chip Casino. Each week a theme develops for just about every college football team (unless you’re boring af Purdue). It’s one of the great things about this sport — the narrative changes so much week to week. For the Irish this week, it’s been a grab bag: High praise for beating Virginia Tech The “can Notre Dame make the playoffs” question Bogus rumors about Ian Book 2012 Pitt Tim Tebow See what I mean? The Irish step into a bye week after the Pitt game, so that means two weeks of storylines without a game being played. How much more interesting can it get? Before we actually GET to the bye week, Notre Dame absolutely has to take care of business against Pitt. We need storylines like: Ian Book completes 80% of his passes. completes 80% of his passes. Dexter Williams runs for 200 yards without the 4th quarter. runs for 200 yards without the 4th quarter. An APB is out for Tyler Newsome because no one saw him Saturday afternoon. because no one saw him Saturday afternoon. Pat Narduzzi has an epic emotional breakdown and removes clothing. You get the hint. The game thread is open below. I know many of us are on Twitter for most of the game, but I encourage you to vent and do other things that require more than 280 characters here.<doc-sep>The Notre Dame Fighting Irish will look to continue its perfect season against the Pittsburgh Panthers at 2:30 on Saturday in South Bend. There has been a common theme this week when it comes to the Irish, and it’s all about blowing Pitt out of the water. This season, instead of everyone picking five or six games with little to no explanation, the staff will pick the Notre Dame game AND one other team they have each chosen to follow this season, and will give predictions for that game as well. I highly encourage you (our loyal readers) to do the same. In the comments below, give your prediction for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish AND take another team to follow and predict. Maybe you watch the Colorado Buffalos on the side, or the Buffalo Bulls or the Memphis Tigers — whoever. Join in and expand your love of Notre Dame Football into college football as a whole. Here we go... Jessica Smetana Notre Dame 45 Pitt 17 Notre Dame has scored a ton of points in their last couple games against better teams than Pitt. Hopefully after this weeks debacle, the offense comes out swinging. Pitt can actually get in the end zone and will score a couple times in the 1st half and then fizzle out. (I HOPE) Clemson Tigers have a bye WEEEE Austin Gallagher Notre Dame 42, Pitt 14 Coming off a couple of huge wins - and entering midterm-week - this Irish team is in a prime position to look sluggish. I’m anticipating this to be a close first half and a relatively mistake-heavy game for Notre Dame, but Pitt is just awful in comparison to the Irish. The Panthers might hang around for a while, but by the end of the game it won’t eveb be close. Washington Huskies 30, Oregon Ducks 28 The Washington Huskies are hard to predict at this juncture, having looked very impressive and very underwhelming multiple times this season already. Oregon, on the other hand, has looked very solid outside of the Standard meltdown. This is a matchup of two well-coached and talented teams, but I’m going to give the slight edge to Washington. Many of these Huskies players have faced a top-level of competition before that gives them an intangible edge in a big-time matchup like this, and I expect them to pull out a victory in this one. Wes Sweigert Notre Dame 41, Pitt 14 Brian Kelly has passing marks on his mid-term report card for the first half of the regular season, and the Irish appear to have the offense finally figured out. I expect Notre Dame to start flexing their playoff resume muscle, with another 40+ point performance and a dismantling of a garbage Pitt team. Temple Owls 31, Navy Midshipmen 17 Navy just doesn’t have it this year, and will be lucky if they can even get bowl eligible the way things are trending. What’s worse, is now that they are in a conference, many teams have multiple years facing them and Temple is one such team who has shut down the option before. Lino Garcia Notre Dame 44, Pitt 14 Another nice win for the Irish last week. It’s clear to see the wide receivers have looked a lot better since Ian Book has taken over at quarterback. This Saturday, in the final day game at Notre Dame Stadium in 2018, I see Miles Boykin and Chase Claypool hauling in a pair of touchdowns each in a dominant victory for Notre Dame. Eastern Michigan Eagles 16 Toledo Rockets 18 The more I bring up how frustrating it is that the Eagles keep losing by one score, the more it happens. In what will be the game I’m most looking forward to that will be played in Washtenaw County, Michigan, I see the Eagles losing a battle of special teams. Shaq Vann will punch it for the Eagles with the game’s only touchdown, but the Rockets escape Rynearson with a victory. Jeff Czerniakowski Notre Dame 45, Pitt 27 I would expect a sluggish start after a huge win last week. Once halftime hits and the Irish refocus, I expect a beatdown of a lesser opponent. A late, meaningless touchdown covers the 21 point spread for Pittsburgh. Toledo Rockets 40, Eastern Michigan Eagles 38 Shootout! The Rocket defense can’t stop anyone and the offense can’t be stopped. This game is a toss up to me but I’ll take my chances picking Toledo on the road in Ypsilanti. Martin Sweigert Notre Dame 49, Pitt 23 Pittsburgh has pushed Notre Dame into some epic OT-flavored games in the past. This year, it’s just not in the cards for the Panthers. Book and Williams Co. stock is rising each week, and Pitt is 99th in the country in scoring defense. Oh, and their quarterback’s name is Kenny Pickett. C’mon, people. His name is literally “can he pick it”! Texas Longhorns 24, Baylor Bears 21 Touche, Texas. I’ll shut up for a week, and you do whatever you want. Matt Greene Notre Dame 38, Pitt 20 I predict a slow start, as there has to be some form of frustration every time that the Irish play Pitt. I could see Pitt taking a 13-7 or even a 20-17 lead some time in the first half. And then, the Irish turn on the jets. The Irish will not cover (another slight frustration to add to the mix), but the team wins handily. Pitt will want to play up, but the home game and the way better overall talent give the Irish the strong advantage here. Ia Book continues to show dominance, and the defensive line continues to get a lot of pressure. Same things we have seen in the last 3 games. Ball State Cardinals 31, Central Michigan Chippewas 27 Yeah, The Chips are driving the struggle bus this season. I’m hoping for some reverse psychology here. Ball State played the Irish tough, but clearly were over-matched. Here, the Chips just don’t have the team to beat even other teams in the MAC. The struggle continues.<doc-sep>Pitt faces Notre Dame today in what’s expected to be a pretty difficult game. The Irish look like national championship contenders and, while the Panthers scored a nice win at home against Syracuse last weekend, this is going to be a much stiffer test for them. The Panthers are big underdogs here and justifiably so. Game time is at 2:30 p.m. and you can catch it on NBC. Join us here to comment live during the contest.<doc-sep>Last weekend, I picked up another game on everyone as I was the only one to take the Panthers to win over Syracuse. So is anyone bold enough to pick Pitt here in a tough matchup against Notre Dame? Not exactly. This one just looks too tough for the Panthers from our vantage point. Pitt might able to surprise and keep things a little closer than expected but we’re not calling for a victory this weekend. How about you? Below are the official picks and season standings. Anson (5-1) - Notre Dame JD (4-2) - Notre Dame Jordan (3-3) - Notre Dame Matt (3-3) - Notre Dame Stephen (3-3) - Notre Dame Corey (2-4) - Notre Dame Mike (2-4) - Notre Dame<doc-sep>
BLACKSBURG, VA - OCTOBER 6: Wide receiver Miles Boykin #81 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish celebrates his touchdown reception against the Virginia Tech Hokies in the second half at Lane Stadium on October 6, 2018 in Blacksburg, Virginia. (Photo by Michael Shroyer/Getty Images) Our writers chime in on how they think the Notre Dame football game against Pitt will shake out. Your Notre Dame football team is 6-0 in 2018 and currently ranked No. 5 in both major polls. As they stare down a bye week next weekend, everything seems to be going right for the Irish as they prepare to make a final push for the College Football Playoff. Before then, however, they’ll host the feisty Pitt Panthers. Here’s how the Slap the Sign staff has that game playing out. Carlee North Mid-term week and a big road win last Saturday normally aren’t a great combo for the Irish, especially when the Irish are huge favorites the following Saturday. They are a 21-point favorite as it stands right now. The dreaded “let down” game could be on the horizon. Take a breath. That won’t be happening this weekend against the Panthers. I have tons of confidence in the Irish defense for obvious reasons and I just don’t see Pitt scoring more than 20 points. I hope to see some young linebackers in the second half getting some playing time against a run-first Pittsburgh team. Offensively, Ian Book will struggle mentally a little early on — which I shouldn’t have to explain the reasoning why — but he pushes through and gets back to what he does best: gets the ball to his playmakers. Irish win 38-16 heading into the bye week at 7-0. Connor McJunkin This team is clicking right now and riding the momentum of back-to-back huge primetime wins. Some might see this as a trap game, and it has the setup to be one. Playing a mediocre team at 2:30 in the afternoon before your bye week doesn’t have the same feel of a 8:00 matchup vs. VT in Blacksburg. Fortunately this team understands the opportunity that’s in front of them and will be ready to roll vs a struggling Pittsburgh team. Maybe they hang around for the first quarter, but not much longer after that. Irish win big 48-21. Jack Leniart I understand why some may be hesitant approaching this game, given where it falls on the schedule and Pittsburgh’s track record of upsetting or scaring top-10 opponents. However, this Pittsburgh team is not very good. I can see the game being close due to some Notre Dame struggles early on, but the Irish should be able to pull away and win comfortably in the second half of this game. Notre Dame 45, Pittsburgh 13. Nathan Erbach Call this bold. Call this homerism. Call it a great, reasonable prediction. Call it whatever you want. The fact of the matter is, this Pitt team is not very good, and this Notre Dame team is one of the nation’s best. With Book under center and Williams behind him, this offense has a different feel. The Irish run up the score and finally give outside fans what they want — continued dominance and winning decisively in a game that screams “letdown.” I would say Book will account for six touchdowns, but he will be in a ball cap by the middle of the third quarter. Notre Dame 52, Pitt 17. Paul Walsh It was not long ago in 2012 that the Panthers gave an undefeated Notre Dame team quite the scare in South Bend. Knowing this, the Irish won’t take anything for granted on Saturday. They will get out to big lead early and keep it for the duration of the game. Ian Book and Dexter Williams stay hot, and the defense plays well again. The Pitt running backs will break out for a few big plays, but nothing Notre Dame can’t handle. Irish win 49-17 Sonny Martinez Aside from defensive lineman Rashad Weaver, there is literally nothing about this Pitt defense that scares me. Kenny Pickett was talked about as the reason Pitt could upset Penn State, and we saw how that ended. His touchdown-to-interception ratio of 6-to-5 isn’t great. Qadree Ollison is a good player; but against the Notre Dame defensive line, I don’t see how he has very much success. The Pitt defense isn’t great, they give up a ton of points and this game should be no different.