Notre Dame football: Top 3 offensive performers from the Sun Bowl
The Notre Dame football team played about as well as one could have hoped against Oregon State in the Sun Bowl on Friday. While their defensive performance didn't surprise head coach Marcus Freeman, their offensive output likely did.
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish won the game 40-8 and while the game wasn't always a blowout, the way they managed to take control of the game was an eye opener. There were a ton of different contributions to why they were able to dominate so completely.
Sometimes raw stats don't always show the whole story. That's why we're going to take a look at the absolute best performances based on what Pro Football Focus has graded out.
Notre Dame football's best performer was Jordan Faison
Sometimes, raw stats actually do tell the tale when talking about who had the best performance in a game. The freshman receiver, who came to Notre Dame on a lacrosse scholarship, had a bit of a breakout game against the Beavers on Friday.
Faison caught 4 passes for a season and career high 111 yards. He also caught one of Steve Angeli's three touchdown passes. Overrall he had the top offensive grade according to PFF with an 85.8 rating.
Jayden Thomas
After spending most of the season being frustrated over Notre Dame football wide receivers' performances, it's a bit surprising to see the top two offensive players (with at least 20 snaps) both be wideouts.
Jayden Thomas posted an 81.1 rating on the strength of 4 catches for 59 yards and a touchdown. This was the kind of game Marcus Freeman and company have been waiting on from Thomas for a while now, as he's struggled this season due to injury.
Steve Angeli
It's not surprising that Angeli is on this list, despite the Sun Bowl being his first ever start. It's a little surprsiing he's third on the list, considering the kind of game he had against Oregon State.
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Angeli earned a 79.2 overrall grade thanks to completing 15 of 19 passes for 232 yards, 3 touchdowns and no interceptions. That grade does seem to be weirdly low, but he'll take it since it helped him lead the Notre Dame football team to victory.