SOUTH BEND, Ind, — The Notre Dame football team may have finally made some traction in solving their protracted punting issues on Saturday.
The rub?
The 17th-ranked Irish had more cracks at getting it right against Miami (Ohio) than ND head coach Marcus Freeman may have liked. Which means picking out an offensive player of the game to award a game ball to, following the 28-3 Notre Dame victory, didn’t exactly have a glut of candidates.
But Inside ND Sports is committed to handing out one on each side of the ball anyway after each Irish victory, and is doing so again after this one.
For the record, Australian import punter James Rendell kicked four times for a season-best 47.3 average.
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Offense: Riley Leonard, Quarterback
After missing some open receivers early, losing a fumble at the end of a long run and getting booed by the Notre Dame Stadium crowd, Irish quarterback Riley Leonard finished strong to earn offensive honors.
His 50-yard run on fourth-and-1 with 5:39 left in the game put a nice bow on a day that included a game-high 143 rushing yards on 12 carries, the first TD pass in a Notre Dame uniform for the Duke transfer and 154 passing yards and a season-best 128.9 pass-efficiency rating against the RedHawks (0-3).
Junior backup Steve Angeli came in to mop up with 4:05 left.
Leonard showed improvement in the deep passing game with his TD pass play to Beaux Collins covering 38 yards and coaxed several pass-interference penalties on some other downfield opportunities.
Collins, a Clemson transfer, was ND’s most impactful receiver in the game, with four catches for 60 yards.
Defense: Boubacar Traore, Vyper End
The sophomore dedicated the balance of his season to teammate and grad senior Jordan Botelho last Saturday after the starting vyper suffered a season-ending knee injury against Purdue.
Against, Miami (Ohio), Traore did a pretty good impersonation of whom Pro Football Focus had graded out as ND’s top defender among the Irish regulars. In his first college start, Traore had a Botelho-like five tackles, including two sacks, with a QB hurry and a forced fumble.
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