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Notre Dame improved to 4-0 on the season with a dominant 49-10 victory at Purdue. The third-ranked Fighting Irish also won their third game of the season against the Big Ten, and the Irish also extended their current win streak to 14 games. With such a dominant performance in all three phases of the game there are a number of players deserving of player of the game honors, but four players stood above the rest.

Here are my players of the game for Notre Dame in the win over Purdue.

OFFENSE – WR Micah Gilbert

Gilbert Stats: 2 catches, 83 yards, 41.5 YPC, 1 TD

Runners Up: QB CJ Carr, RB Aneyas Williams, OL Anthonie Knapp

Notre Dame needed an early spark on offense and Gilbert gave them just that. After the Irish punted on the opening series, Gilbert got the offense rolling with a 27-yard touchdown grab on a seam throw to get the offense on the board. On the next series, Gilbert beat his defender on a slant route, hauled in the quick throw and then outran the defense on his way to a 56-yard gain that set up the Aneyas Williams touchdown run. That was all the spark Notre Dame needed to put Purdue away, which it did by jumping out to a 35-0 halftime lead. 

Quarterback CJ Carr would have won the top player honors if he would have made better throws to Jaden Greathouse on the first drive of each half. I could have even lived with the interception had he made those two throws, but even with those mistakes Carr was still a playmaker in the game, racking up four touchdowns. Williams got back on track in the game, leading the offense with 80 rush yards, and he gave the Irish their first 20-yard gain on the ground this season. Wide receiver Jordan Faison and left guard Anthonie Knapp also had quality performances.

DEFENSE – DE Bryce Young, DE Boubacar Traore

Young Stats: 4 tackles, 2 TFL, 2 sacks, 1 forced fumble
Traore Stats: 4 tackles, 0.5 TFL, 0.5 sacks

Runners Up: S Adon Shuler, CB Leonard Moore, DT Armel Mukam

The list of standouts on defense is extremely long, but end Bryce Young and Boubacar Traore were special. Young was the most disruptive player on defense, racking up a pair of sacks in the win. Young got things started off right, sacking quarterback Ryan Browne on the first play of the game. With the Irish leading 21-0, Young blew past a Purdue tackle and stripped the ball from quarterback Ryan Browne, and that fumble was picked up and returned by linebacker Drayk Bowen for a touchdown. Young was also stout against the run. Traore was also highly disruptive against the run and pass, combining with Young to be a dominant force on the edge.

Purdue came into this game averaging 39.3 points and 488.7 yards per game, but when the Irish starters were pulled the Boilermakers only had 3 points, 142 total yards and were averaging just 2.8 yards per play. Notre Dame's defense scored more points (7) than Purdue's starting offense, which speaks to the thrashing we saw from the Irish defense. The play of the Irish ends played a big, big role in that dominance.

Cornerback Leonard Moore was a shutdown player and a force against the run in the win, and fellow cornerback DJ McKinney also had a strong performance. The same is true for safeties Adon Shuler and Joey O'Brien, and defensive tackle Armel Mukam had one of the biggest stops of the game. Strong play all around for the Irish defense.

SPECIAL TEAMS – PR Jordan Faison

Faison Stats: 1 return, 17 yards

There wasn't much action for the Irish special teams beyond Spencer Porath drilling all seven of his extra points and kickoff specialists Micah Drescher putting six of his seven kickoffs into the end zone. Faison gets the nod thanks to his 17-yard return setting up the final score of the first half.

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