Pat Narduzzi had to know that if Pitt lost to Notre Dame on a big stage Saturday, his comments earlier in the week about the stakes of the game would be unearthed and scrutinized again.

The No. 23 Panthers did indeed fall, 37-15, to ninth-ranked Notre Dame, hanging around but still suffering a lopsided loss to the nationally-contending Fighting Irish.

Whatever critiques Narduzzi deserves for stating on Monday that the contest wasn’t a “must-win” for the Panthers due to its non-bearing in the ACC standings and Pitt’s pursuit of a league title game appearance, the point Pitt’s 11th-year coach was trying to make deserves consideration.

“The first thing I thought when I heard him say that was, ‘Well, you know what — he’s not wrong,’” ESPN’s Rece Davis, host of “College GameDay” said in Pittsburgh Friday ahead of the game. “He’s technically not wrong in terms of the big playoff picture.”

Narduzzi to his credit explained himself Thursday and asserted postgame Saturday that “they’re all must-wins.”

Despite the deflating loss to the Irish, which snapped a five-game winning streak, Pitt (7-3, 5-1 ACC) remains right in the hunt to push for the championship as one of four teams (along with No. 14 Georgia Tech, No. 20 Virginia and SMU) with only one league loss.

Inside the Panthers’ locker room, players and coaches hope to shake off the defeat and begin focusing on two more critical opportunities at hand: Saturday at the Yellow Jackets, followed by the regular-season finale Nov. 29 at home vs. No. 15 Miami.

With that in mind, Pitt is determined not to let losing to Notre Dame snowball.

“It won’t. Absolutely not,” quarterback Mason Heintschel said. “Everybody in the locker room knows that everything’s still ahead of us. We’re frustrated from this game, but we’re going to learn from this, too. It’s a great learning point for this team.

“Sometimes you get a little kick in the mouth to get back on track. We’re going to bounce back. We’re going to have a great week of practice and be ready for Georgia Tech.”

With two games to play, there is the unavoidable possibility that Pitt could drop its final two games of the season and finish 7-5 like a year ago.

Memories of a 7-0 start and 0-6 finish still exist at Pitt, which returned plenty of players from the 2024 squad determined to put together a full season, closing on a strong note.

As the Panthers lick their wounds, getting back on track Monday morning at practice will be the first step toward working to make the 2025 campaign one to remember.

“We ain’t hitting no wall,” linebacker Rasheem Biles said. “There’s still everything right in front of us. We know that. We’ll bounce back, have a great week of practice and prepare for Georgia Tech.”

Against Notre Dame, Pitt’s defense fought valiantly, generating some stops and turnovers, but was overpowered. Meanwhile, the offense had its worst performance of the year, amassing just 219 yards and failing to score a touchdown until time expired in regulation.

Biles returned to the lineup after three weeks out but the Panthers lost tailback Desmond Reid to injury while kicker Trey Butkowski didn’t play due to illness.

Pitt will aim to flush its loss to Notre Dame and re-focus on the upcoming task at hand.

With their preseason goal of appearing in the ACC title game still achievable, Narduzzi looks to get his program into the proper mindset, with much preparation to dive into.

“That’s my job as a head coach to make sure we don’t let it snowball into anything,” Narduzzi said. “We’ve got a great Georgia Tech team now. We’ve got another top 25 team coming up this week, and that’s where our focus goes. We’ve got to get ready to play down in Atlanta and I’m excited. Our kids will be excited. This will not snowball into anything.”

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