The standouts for Notre Dame from its 35-17 victory at Louisville.
OFFENSE
RB Tony Jones Jr. - 15 carries, 112 yards, 7.5 YPC, 1 TD
Senior Tony Jones Jr. got the start for the Irish as part of a two-back offense, and the veteran back had a strong season-opening performance. Jones led the ground attack with 110 yards on just 15 carries, going 7.3 yards per attempt.
Jones displayed patience when it was needed, but when holes opened up he was decisive and ran with authority. The senior made plays between the tackles and on perimeter runs, but the veteran also thrived in the pass game. His blitz pickup in the third quarter gave quarterback Ian Book time to hit sophomore tight end Tommy Tremble for a touchdown up the seam.
Jones now has five career games with at least 10 carries, and in those contests he's averaged 13 carries, 77.6 yards and 6.0 yards per carry.
Runners Up: WR Chase Claypool, RT Robert Hainsey
DEFENSE
S Alohi Gilman - 10 tackles, 0.5 TFL's, 1 forced fumble, 1 fumble recovery
It was a sloppy night for the Irish defense, but senior safety Alohi Gilman was impactful on the back end of the defense. He was beat for a third-down crossing route, but outside of that he was good in coverage and played the alleys quite well in the run game.
Gilman spent a lot of time in the box against the Louisville ground game, and he made good decisions, played the quarterback runs well and his second quarter strip of quarterback Jawon Pass deep in Louisville territory was a major momentum changer for the Irish.
While most of the defense struggled with contain, when Gilman was asked to play the quarterback he shut things down.
Runners Up: DE Daelin Hayes, DE Khalid Kareem, DT Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa
SPECIAL TEAMS
P Jay Bramblett - 6 punts, 39.3 average, 2 inside the 20-yard line.
We didn’t see Jay Bramblett get any booming punts, with the freshman averaging just 39.3 yards on his six boots. But Louisville did not gain a single return yard on those six punts, due mainly to his ability to place the ball and get a lot of hangtime, which allowed his coverage units to get down and cover.
That is big when you consider that Louisville ranked 8th nationally in punt return average last season and returned standout return man Rodjay Burns.
Runner Up: PK Jonathan Doerer
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