Central Michigan vs. Notre Dame game balls
It wasn’t the prettiest game or victory of the season, but Notre Dame stayed on task Saturday, didn’t look ahead to its critical game next weekend against Ohio State, and efficiently disposed of Central Michigan 41-17 at Notre Dame Stadium.
The fourth impressive win of the season for the undefeated Fighting Irish provided plenty of options to pass out some game balls.
Here are the three most deserving.
Tailback Audric Estimé
A regular on this game-ball list, the junior Irish tailback recorded a career-high 176 yards on 20 carries with 1 touchdown against Central Michigan.
Estimé posted an 8.8-yard per-carry average Saturday, which brought his average for the season to 8.3 yards per tote.
It was the third consecutive 100-yard game for the star Irish tailback after he tallied 134 yards against NC State on Sept. 9, and 116 yards against Tennessee State on Sept. 2.
For the season, Estimé already has 521 rushing yards, putting him on pace to finish this season with more than 1,500 yards.
Quarterback Sam Hartman
The Irish graduate quarterback was again the star of the show Saturday in the big win.
Hartman finished his day 16-of-26 passing for 330 yards with 3 touchdowns and no interceptions.
Hartman also added a one-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.
Highlighting Hartman’s efficient performance was that he averaged a remarkable 20.6 yards on his 16 completions in the game.
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Hartman hit four completions of at least 39 yards.
The two most notable came in the first quarter when he connected with sophomore wide receiver Tobias Merriweather on a 75-yard touchdown and with senior wide receiver Chris Tyree on a 76-yard scoring toss.
Linebacker Jack Kiser
The graduate Irish linebacker finished with a team-high 10 tackles (6 solo) and 1 tackle for loss after made plays all over the field against Central Michigan.
Playing extended reps because of an injury that kept graduate linebacker JD Bertrand out of the lineup, Kiser filled in admirably and made good on his increased responsibilities.
Kiser, the team’s leader so far this season with 26 tackles, also recorded his first sack of the year and added a forced fumble in the game.
Kiser got dinged up and missed a couple of snaps Saturday, but he returned after a brief absence and didn’t miss a beat.
