Notre Dame Players of the Game From The Win Over Navy

Notre Dame (7-1) won its sixth straight game with an impressive win over No. 24 Navy (6-1). It was a dominant performance for Notre Dame, who enters its second bye week playing arguably its best football of the season. It was a dominant performance from start to finish for the Irish, who went into half with a 31-7 lead and outscored Nav 20-7 in the second half.

When you dominate a team as much as Notre Dame did the Midshipmen there will be plenty of players with an argument to be the player of the game. But there was one offensive player and one defensive player that stood out the most to me, and it was for their production and the charge they provided their units.

Here are my players of the game from the win over Navy.

OFFENSE - Riley Leonard, QB

Stats : 13-21, 178 passing yards, 2 TD / 83 rushing yards, 1 TD
Runner Up : RB Jeremiyah Love

Running back Jeremiyah Love was outstanding in the win, racking up 102 rushing yards, scoring twice and making plays as a blocker. As good as he was, however, there is no doubt that quarterback Riley Leonard was the biggest standout for the Irish offense. It started right away for Leonard, who showed calm in the pocket on the opening drive as the Irish set the tone with a 75-yard touchdown drive. His 42-yard completion to Jaden Greathouse on 3rd-and-6 sparked the offense on that drive. He threw a third-down touchdown to Kris Mitchell on drive two to put the Irish up 14-0.

That would be a theme for Leonard, who went 4-6 for 73 yards on third-down, and also added a 24-yard run to convert another third down. His ability to pick Navy apart as a passer fueled the offense, but as is always the case his legs were also impactful. On multiple occasions Leonard used his legs to avoid pressure and either take off running or to manipulate the pocket in order to get a throw off.

Leonard was also an outstanding decision making, both with his initial reads and also finding ways to make plays when the defense took away his initial read. For example, on two occasions Leonard rightly pulled the ball from the back on a RPO read, but on two of those particular plays the defensive back jumped the RPO route. Instead of forcing the ball or panicking, Leonard didn't force the ball and he immediately got up field for positive yards.

Leonard finished the game with 178 passing yards and 83 rushing yards (261 total yards) to go with three touchdowns despite playing just one series in the second half of the blowout win.

DEFENSE - Jack Kiser, LB

Stats : 9 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 fumble recovery
Runners Up : DE Josh Burnham, LB Jaylen Sneed, DE Junior Tuihalamaka, S Adon Shuler

Notre Dame's defense did what was needed against Navy, and there were several players who could make an argument for the player of the game. I'd also argue that there were players who were more impactful than Jack Kiser , but he is still my pick for player of the game. Kiser was essential to Notre Dame's success in the win over Navy from both a production and leadership standpoint.

Kiser tied for the team lead with 9 total tackles and also tied for the team lead with 5 solo tackles. Kiser also had a tackle for loss and recovered a fumble on a punt. The veteran linebacker was all over the field as a tackler, and he racked up his numbers on just 38 snaps as part of the linebacker rotation. He was stout playing downhill and his sideline range was impressive in the win.

Kiser also played a key role in getting the defense in proper alignment when he was in the game. Notre Dame gave up a few big plays, but by and large they limited those big play opportunities and Kiser (and Drayk Bowen ) played a vital role in that from the standpoint of making sure everyone knew where to line up and what the calls where, especially when Navy moved pre-snap.

SPECIAL TEAMS - Luke Talich, Loghan Thomas

Runner Up : P James Rendell

I'm going with sophomore Luke Talich and freshman Loghan Thomas because they were both tone setters on kick coverage. Talich made a great open field stop on the first Notre Dame kick off of the game, which pinned Navy at its own 11-yard line. Thomas had two big stops on kick offs as well, although one was negated because he was offsides, which was problematic. But when you watch Talich and Thomas on the coverage units their length, speed and energy running down the field was a big key to Notre Dame shutting down the Navy return game, which eventually led them to just fair catching the football.

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