Notre Dame Football: Te’von Coney was Defensive Player of the Game vs. Navy

The Notre Dame football win over Navy showcased another dominant performance for the future NFL Draft pick.

This may be the easiest Notre Dame football Defensive Player of the Week award we’ve handed out all year.

Te’von Coney was without question the best player on the field during Saturday’s 44-22 victory over the Midshipmen. That may also include both sides of the ball.

The star linebacker helped limit Navy to 22 points on Saturday, their third lowest point total of the year. Only Temple and Air Force held Navy to a lower score.

Coney finished the game with 14 tackles, which led both teams. That number was just three shy of his career high set against LSU in the Citrus Bowl. That may have been the “bigger” game, but Saturday’s game was more important. That’s what you want from your leader: showing up for the big games.

The biggest key to the game on defense was to limit the triple option, and Coney was great at that. Per Pro Football Focus,  the senior was on the field for 45 run snaps and a run defense grade of 89.2, which is a phenomenal score. He barely missed out on the PFF National Team of the Week.

Even after the defense started to play a little sloppy in the second half, Coney stayed strong and helped right the ship early in the fourth quarter.

The offense did their part in time of possession, but the defense did their part in forcing four three and outs and three turnovers.

This is just the latest in an incredible season for Coney, who upped his total tackles to 70 in 2018. He’s now on pace for yet another 100-tackle season, and that’s before any post season game(s).

This is Coney’s last season in South Bend in what’s been a fantastic career. Luckily for us, we still have quite a few more games to enjoy the greatness that is Te’von Coney.