Notre Dame vs. Pitt: Score, Highlights and Twitter Reaction

Will Fuller caught three touchdown passes Saturday afternoon as No. 5 Notre Dame (8-1) continued to build its College Football Playoff case with a 42-30 road victory over Pittsburgh (6-3, 4-1).

DeShone Kizer sparked an efficient Fighting Irish offensive attack by throwing for 262 yards and tallying six total touchdowns. Though it's not a major resume-building victory, it was much-needed, with the team already suffering one loss earlier in the campaign to Clemson.

Here's the quarter-by-quarter scoring recap from Saturday's clash:

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Total
Fighting Irish	7	14	7	14	42
Panthers	3	0	14	13	30

Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly felt coming into the game that Pitt represented a tougher test than it may have looked to be on paper—not only due to the Panthers' aggressive, physical brand of football, but also because it was a road game at a time his team isn't totally used to, as noted by Irish247.

"Again, I think more than anything else, our guys know what's in front of them. It's a noon start, which is a little bit different for us," Kelly said. "So we'll have to make some appropriate changes in our schedule. But we certainly believe that there won't be any excuses for the kind of play that we'll need against a very good Pitt team."

His group seemingly heeded that warning.

The Irish got on the scoreboard just over a minute into the contest courtesy of a three-play, 75-yard drive against the nation's 26th-ranked defense.

After C.J. Prosise ate up 28 quick yards on the first two plays, Kizer found Fuller open downfield for a 47-yard touchdown. It's exactly the type of start Kelly and Co. were hoping for to shake off any concerns about the early start.

ESPN College Football highlighted the lightning-quick scoring play:

The Panthers added a Chris Blewitt field goal late in the opening 15 minutes, but the Irish responded with a terrific second quarter.

A 10-play drive ended with Kizer finding Torii Hunter Jr. for a 12-yard touchdown. Then, after a key interception at the goal line by Matthias Farley with Pittsburgh driving, Notre Dame was able to stretch the lead to 18 in the first half.

Once again, it was Kizer finding Fuller over the top of the defense for a touchdown from 46 yards out. It was more contested than the first time, but the junior wideout made a nice play to secure the grab for his second score.

Bleacher Report's Bryan Fischer discussed Pitt's mistake:

There was firm consensus on that point, as illustrated by Tom Fornelli of CBS Sports:

"

Will Fuller ran away from Adoree Jackson in the open field, yet teams don’t always put safeties over the top of him.

— Tom Fornelli (@TomFornelli) November 7, 2015"

The only downside to the first half for Notre Dame was Prosise being forced to exit due to injury. Pete Sampson of Irish Illustrated provided an update:

Fuller's third TD catch of the day was sandwiched by a pair of rushing touchdowns by Pitt's Jordan Whitehead, each of which cut the Notre Dame lead to 11 in the third.

Pitt Football spotlighted a unique stat combo for the freshman, who also plays defensive back:

The Panthers could never get any closer, however. The Irish opened the fourth with two more touchdowns—Kizer to Josh Adams and a Kizer run—to pull away.

Notre Dame Football celebrated the triumph:

CSN Chicago's Notre Dame Talk passed along a note about the Irish's winning margin:

"

FINAL: #NotreDame 42, Pitt 30. Largest margin of victory in ND-Pitt series in a decade.

— Notre Dame Talk (@CSN_NotreDame) November 7, 2015"

Notre Dame now faces extremely winnable meetings with Wake Forest and Boston College. If the Irish fail to win either of those games, their playoff hopes would vanish. Should they survive, the marquee matchup awaits in the finale, as they will square off with No. 11 Stanford.

Pittsburgh put up a better fight in the second half but simply had too much ground to make up against a contending Notre Dame squad. The Panthers return to action next week with another difficult test, this one on the road against ACC rival Duke. They need a win to stay firmly in the Coastal Division mix.

Postgame Reaction

ESPN provided comments from Kelly after the win:

Brian Batko of Panther Lair passed along reaction from Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi, who praised the Fighting Irish:

Notre Dame didn't play a perfect game, especially on the defensive side of the ball. So there are definitely some things to clean up in practice over the next week. That said, the Irish got the victory, and that's the most important thing at this stage of the season.