The game against Pitt on Saturday may have created a few too many heart palpitations, but Notre Dame won, and then it gained a big-time recruit afterward.

On Saturday, the Fighting Irish landed a major commitment from four-star cornerback Isaiah Rutherford. The 6-foot, 175-pound physical dynamo from Jesuit High School (Carmichael, Calif.) made his decision official after Notre Dame’s win against Pitt … even though his official visit to the campus came at the season’s outset, under the lights for the Irish’s tight victory against Michigan.

“When I got the offer, that was my dad’s dream school,” Rutherford told 247Sports. “He said, ‘Oh Zay! That’s big time!’

“He was sort of living it through me, so he was super happy about (the offer).”

That clearly played a role in Rutherford’s commitment to Notre Dame, though the decision to head from California to a school in Indiana had a lot more in it. He also holds offers from Cal (his father’s alma mater), Colorado, Oregon, USC, Oklahoma and Tennessee. Why Notre Dame?

It was apparently just the right fit, thanks in part to very persistent coaches.

“I released a Top 4 and I felt like Notre Dame should’ve been in there because they’ve been in contact,” Rutherford previously told 247Sports. “That was a mistake on my part. I should’ve had them in there. I talked to them about taking a visit and they were excited about having me up there. So, I scheduled one.”

That visit was the Michigan game, and the rest is apparently history.