Notre Dame Fighting Irish VS Ball State Cardinals: Player Performances

For obvious reasons, I am going to highlight three players from the defense. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish offense looked very off on Saturday but I think there is still some good things to remember. First, Brandon Wimbush was never going to play 12 flawless games. He struggled and I am thankful it was against the Ball State Cardinals. He is an up and down player, us fans have to deal with it. Next, Notre Dame lost two top 10 picks along the offensive line. It is going to take some time for that new group to gel. These are important to remember. Anyway, onto the the performances.

Jalen Elliott. Finally, an interception for a Notre Dame safety. It seemed like an eternity since this last occurred. Jalen Elliott decided to get greedy and even recorded two interceptions. This is great to see. The lone weakness of the defense was the safety play. Elliott has shown improvement. The two picks ended up being the difference in the football game. Improved safety play is leading to an even more dominant defense.

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Drue Tranquill. He is such a stable force on the defense. Drue Tranquill always seems to be in position and making the correct reads. This is such an underrated skill to have. He finished the game with 9 tackles, including one tackle for loss. We also cannot forget that Tranquill recovered the onside kick to basically seal the game. Yes I know, the game should not have come down to that point, but it is nice to have a senior leader who takes charge when the game is on the line.

Te’von Coney. He is a man on a mission. There is no such thing as breaking a Te’von Coney tackle. He finished the game with 14 tackles. It felt like Coney was making the tackle on every play. His confidence is through the roof right now. Coney knows he is playing great football. He is the anchor of the defense and playing like on of the best linebackers in the entire country.

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Notre Dame beat Ball State and is now 2-0. Some people are forgetting that. The offense will improve. The defense is playing great. Notre Dame still has two games against inferior competition to iron out the kinks. Hopefully by the time Stanford rolls into South Bend, the Irish are rolling on offense.

Notre Dame is 2-0 and that’s all that matters at this point.