Given the pedigree of Notre Dame football and Pitt’s own history of playing the Fighting Irish dating to 1930, Saturday’s showdown between the teams was not one requiring any manufactured hype.

By nature of Pitt and Notre Dame being in the hunt for College Football Playoff berths, with the Panthers also chasing an ACC title, excitement for Saturday’s game at Acrisure Stadium has grown organically over the course of the season.

Add in a primetime ABC broadcast, College GameDay choosing Pittsburgh as its host city for the week as well as a likely sellout crowd and the stage has been fittingly set.

Coach Pat Narduzzi is confident his 24th-ranked Panthers (7-2, 5-1 ACC) are ready to meet the moment.

“What gives me confidence is what we’ve done in our games so far this season,” Narduzzi said. “We’ve got nine games of who this team is. … You talk about the stage — you could play this game at 7 a.m. over in the fieldhouse on campus, you could play at CMU, you could play in the parking lot out here – it doesn’t matter what time, it doesn’t matter who we’re playing against. Our guys are coming to play, period.”

Both Pitt and No. 10 Notre Dame (7-2) navigated low ebbs earlier in the year.

Marcus Freeman’s squad, which lost in the national championship game a year ago, brushed off tough losses in Week 1 and 2 to then-No. 10 Miami and No. 16 Texas A&M, dropping its first two games by a combined four points.

But since then, it’s been nothing but smooth sailing, as Notre Dame will arrive in Pittsburgh winner of seven straight.

As for Pitt, losing in the Backyard Brawl to what’s turned out to be a subpar West Virginia team, followed by blowing a 17-0 lead against Louisville the next week, threatened to cast a shadow on the Panthers’ aspirations.

However, both Narduzzi and Freeman have managed to rally their troops, with Pitt also riding a lengthy win streak of five games dating to Oct. 4.

“I feel like nobody beat us this year,” Narduzzi said. “We beat ourselves, so as long as we take care of business and keep our focus as we’ve talked about here, we’re going to have a chance to win a football game.

“I think we’ve got a really good football team, too. (Notre Dame) lost the first couple, but coach Freeman did a heck of a job bouncing back. They played some good people, and that’s why they play the games.”

Narduzzi did push back on the magnitude of Saturday’s game from the Panthers’ perspective.

Specifically, he noted the fact that this win or loss won’t count in the ACC league standings for Pitt.

Does Narduzzi believe Saturday is a must-win game for Pitt?

“Absolutely not,” he said. “It is not an ACC game. … They can put 100 up on us as long as we win the next two after that. Again, our focus is on Notre Dame and getting as many wins as we can, one at a time.”

To his point, beating the Irish won’t get Pitt any closer to the ACC title game, with the Panthers still not controlling their own destiny despite an encouraging weekend of results around the league.

With Pitt resting up on a bye, league leader Virginia, Louisville and Duke — all teams Pitt is either chasing or would benefit from their dropping ACC games before the end of the regular season — lost.

That widens Pitt’s path to Charlotte, N.C., for the championship game Dec. 6, but the Panthers still have to take care of business against No. 17 Georgia Tech and No. 18 Miami after Notre Dame leaves town.

However, the ACC standings, league tiebreakers and happenings across the conference aren’t Pitt’s focus at the moment.

Notre Dame has Pitt’s full attention and Narduzzi is under no illusions as to the challenge that awaits his players.

“They’ve got an incredible team,” Narduzzi said. “I’ve said this before. We’ve faced some really good teams and some better than others, but this is by far the most athletic, the best team across the board in all phases (and at) every position that we’ll face.

“It’s America’s team. It’s the All-American team, period. They got the best players from all of America. Our guys will have their work cut out for them. It will not be easy at noon on Saturday.”

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