Players of the Game From Notre Dame's Victory Over USF
Notre Dame improved to 2-0 with a dominant victory over the South Florida Bulls. The Fighting Irish dominated en route to a 52-0 win, which ties for the best of the Brian Kelly tenure.
When you blow out a team the way Notre Dame did there will be a number of player of the game candidates, but there were three that stood out above the rest.
OFFENSE — TE Tommy Tremble
Stats: 3 catches, 61 yards, 20.3 YPC / 1 carry, 4 yards
Runners Up: RB C’Bo Flemister, LT Liam Eichenberg
Tremble got the game started off right, ripping off a 24-yard gain on the first play from scrimmage. A few plays later, his seal block on a zone play opened up the cutback lane for running back Kyren Williams to convert a 3rd-and-3. Notre Dame reached the end zone just one play later.
That series was a precursor to how his entire performance would play out. Tremble was the big-play weapon in the lightly used pass game, and he was a force in the dominant Irish ground attack. Tremble’s 61 receiving yards not only led the Irish offense, they were also the highest output of his career. His 27-yard sideline catch on an under thrown ball was the highlight of the pass game.
What truly made Tremble’s performance so impressive was his play in the run game. He did a little bit of everything as a blocker in this game. Tremble made plays on the perimeter as a lead blocker, he made plays on the backside as an attached blocker and made crucial blocks at the point of attack. When Notre Dame ripped off a big run it seemed Tremble was involved somehow.
This was the kind of dominant all-around performance Notre Dame fans expected from Tremble this season, and he delivered.
DEFENSE — LB Jack Kiser
Stats: 8 tackles (7 solo), 2 tackles for loss, 1 quarterback hurry
Runners Up: CB Clarence Lewis, DE Isaiah Foskey
Kiser was put in a challenging position, going from third team early in the week to starting by the time we got to Saturday. The redshirt freshman responded with an impressive performance, leading the defense in tackles (8) and tackles for loss (2), both career highs. On top of his production, Kiser played a surprisingly good game from an assignment and execution standpoint.
Kiser played with confidence, making quick decisions and flying to the football. If anything he was a bit too aggressive, which resulted in him losing contain on a quarterback run and bootleg in the third quarter. Those kind of mistakes were rare, and for the most part he played disciplined football.
In Notre Dame’s season-opening win over Duke the Buck linebackers were inconsistent defending the cutback runs, but Kiser thrived in that department against the Bulls. He was effective shooting gaps both as a run defender and pass rusher, and his pass coverage was solid.
If he can put a repeat performance together against Wake Forest next weekend it will cause defensive coordinator Clark Lea to have a very difficult decision to make, but it’s the kind coaches love.
SPECIAL TEAMS — LB Osita Ekwonu
Stats: 2 tackles, one blocked punt
Runners Up: DE Jordan Botelho
Botelho would have been a good choice as well when you consider he scooped up a blocked punt for a touchdown and almost blocked two other punts. I’m going with Ekwonu, however, due to the fact he actually blocked the punt that Botelho scored on and due to his two tackles on kick coverage.
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