Notre Dame: Chase Claypool was Offensive Player of the Game vs Navy

Chase Claypool was an unstoppable force for Notre Dame against Navy all afternoon.

A Top 25 team came into Saturday’s game allowing a mere 18.1 points per game. Then that team came to South Bend to play a Notre Dame team that struggled offensively against teams likes Virginia Tech and Louisville.

Then the 2019 Notre Dame Fighting Irish dropped a 50 burger on that Top 25 defense. About time.

For the first time all season, it feels like there’s actual options as to won offensive player of the game this week. Ian Book or Chase Claypool?

On the one hand, Ian Book has finally shown up and proved that he can play to the level everyone expected coming into the season. He threw for 284 yards and 5 touchdowns. On top of that, Ian Book led the Irish offense’s rushing attack, running for 31 yards on 5 carries.

That being said, Ian Book isn’t this week’s offensive player of the game. That honor belongs to Chase Claypool.

Claypool dominated the game, and showed off why he’s an potential first round talent. The athleticism of Chase Claypool is what shone through on Saturday afternoon. It was clear that he has special talent, and was up against guys who were not going to be able to keep up with him.

His stat line: 7 catches, for 117 yards and 4 touchdowns. That’s absolutely insane. Claypool caught 50 percent of Book’s completions and 80 percent of his touchdowns.

What’s even more impressive when a receiver like Claypool puts up numbers like this is that everyone knows its coming. Everyone knows Claypool is Book’s favorite receiver. Everyone knows that if you can take Claypool away, the Irish offense will have a hand tied behind its back.

So, defenses scheme around stopping Claypool. Navy had two weeks to prep for Claypool, as they were coming off a bye week.

All that effort and scheming didn’t matter. From Claypool’s first down catch on the second play of the game, it was clear that he was too fast for the Navy defense. Claypool pounded the point home on a crossing route touchdown to end that opening drive.

He kept pounding that point home through his fourth touchdown catch of the game, and earned offensive player of the game because of that effort and athleticism.