Players Of The Game: Notre Dame 45, Stanford 24
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Things certainly didn’t start out well, but in the end No. 16 Notre Dame earned a convincing 45-24 road victory over Stanford. After falling behind 17-7, the Irish settled in and started to dominate in all three phases of the game.
Here are the top standouts from the victory.
OFFENSE
WR Braden Lenzy — 2 catches, 48 yards / 4 carries 48 yards
Lenzy’s game started off like the rest of his teammates, as the talented sophomore dropped the first pass that was thrown his direction. After that drop, however, Lenzy emerged as a top player for the Irish offense.
The next time he got a touch, Lenzy converted a 1st-and-15 with a 16-yard gain on a jet sweep. Unlike most of his big plays this season, Lenzy didn’t make this play with his speed. He had to make an early cut, and then used his quickness and ability to make people miss to pick up the first down. On the next play, Lenzy got over top of the defense for what should have been a huge gain — if not a touchdown — had the pass been on target.
Lenzy made another big play in the third quarter. With Notre Dame backed up at its own 7-yard line, Lenzy worked across the field and found an open spot in the defense before hauling in an on-the-move throw from quarterback Ian Book. Lenzy then picked up an extra 17 yards after the catch with his speed. Notre Dame went from backed up to midfield thanks to Lenzy’s speed. The drive finished with a touchdown that made it a 28-17 game.
He helped ice the game, converting a 4th-and-2 with a 5-yard gain on a reverse, and then getting the ball down to the Cardinal 1-yard line with a 24-yard pick up on a jet sweep. Lenzy showed off good vision and his elite speed on the run.
He finished the game with a team-high 96 yards of offense, and his impact went beyond his own production. Stanford was quite aware of Lenzy when he was in the game, and Notre Dame was able to use that to its advantage. Its first touchdown of the game was a 16-yard screen pass to Jones, but it was set up by a reverse fake to Lenzy that drew the defense away from the screen. Earlier in the drive the Stanford defense played deep to Lenzy’s side, which opened up Jones on a check down throw that picked up 24 yards.
Runners Up: QB Ian Book, WR Chase Claypool
DEFENSE
LB Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah — 9 tackles (6 solo), 1 pass break up
Owusu-Koramoah continued his outstanding November with another top-notch performance for the Irish defense. The junior did a little bit of everything for Notre Dame. He was asked to play in space, to line up in the box at times, to handle man coverage, to play in zone and his lone pass break up came off a blitz.
Stanford gave Owusu-Koramoah and the rest of the linebackers some problems early with quick throws against the zone coverages. Notre Dame made some adjustments, and Owusu-Koramaoh started to make his presence felt. He showed good range in space and tackled well against the run and pass.
Owusu-Koramoah came hard off the edge on a 3rd-and-1 play to bring down the Stanford running back short of the sticks. When Stanford tried to run at Owusu-Koramoah he not only held up well, he made plays by using his speed to beat Stanford blockers to the point of attack, and using his strength to get off blocks.
The junior made plays in coverage in the second half as well, matching up effectively against the Stanford slot receivers that made so many plays early in the game.
I went with Owusu-Koramoah for top player honors because of all he was asked to do, and due to his ability to make plays in so many different facets of the game. You could have made a strong case for any of Notre Dame’s veteran ends as well.
Runners Up: DE Ade Ogundeji, DE Khalid Kareem, DE Jamir Jones, CB Troy Pride Jr.
SPECIAL TEAMS
DE Isaiah Foskey — blocked punt
Notre Dame was trailing Stanford by a 17-7 score with about five minutes left in the first half, but Foskey made a play that completely changed the direction of the game. After the defense forced a three-and-out, the 6-5 freshman used his athleticism and length to get up the field to block the punt.
Sophomore end Justin Ademilola picked up the blocked punt and took the ball down to the Stanford 1-yard line. Three plays later the Irish offense got into the end zone, and Stanford never recovered.
Maybe Notre Dame still wins the game if Foskey doesn’t make that block, we will never know. But there can be no debate that his block had a significant impact in the huge momentum swing that happened after the block. Notre Dame outscored Stanford 14-0 in the final five minutes of the second quarter, and it all began with Foskey’s big play.
Runners Up: LS John Shannon