Why Riley Leonard has a chance to be the difference for Notre Dame football in the national championship game
SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Riley Leonard wasn't there when it all went down.
The last-second loss to Ohio State where Notre Dame squandered a four-point lead in the final seconds, had just 10 players on the field on the Buckeyes' game-winning score and watched as OSU head coach Ryan Day called out former Irish coach Lou Holtz postgame.
Leonard might've watched it back in Durham, North Carolina, as he was quarterbacking Duke at the time. but he's been made well aware. Irish head coach Marcus Freeman has put that game on televisions around the Irish Athletic Facility.
"He's playing it around the facility," Leonard said Wednesday. "We understand the pain."
Leonard might understand the pain, but now he has a chance to help absolve it.
The one common denominator between the Irish teams that lost to Ohio State in the past two seasons was quarterback play. It wasn't Leonard then. but it's Leonard now.
With one more stellar performance, he can lift Notre Dame over Ohio State and deliver the Irish to promised land.
"We expected this," Leonard said. "I think people get surprised when everything they don't expect happens in their lives, but when you expect it to happen, it's just like, yeah, we believed this for a long time."
Expecting a national title game berth may have been tough when the Irish lost to Northern Illinois. Leonard said at that point, the team wasn't even thinking playoffs. But, Leonard is a reason why Notre Dame made it to this point.
The Irish have a running game with three options: No. 1 Jeremiyah Love, No. 2 running back Jadarian Price and No. 3 Leonard. Love steals the show with indescribable plays and Price is a stellar change of pace, but Leonard provides a third option that could be plenty of No. 1 options for teams everywhere else.
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Leonard is one of only quarterbacks among Power Four teams to throw for 2,600 yards and rush for 700 this season. He's thrown 19 touchdowns and rushed for 16 more. His 6-foot-4 and 216-pound frame provides him the size to be the leader in Notre Dame's power running game in short-yardage situations.
The team trusts him in the biggest moments, too. Leonard picked up a key first down on a third and seven against Georgia with his legs, going through one defender and over another as he leaped for a first down.
The biggest talent Leonard has, though, is his adaptability. We saw it throughout the season as Notre Dame's offense better understood how to call an offense around his passing ability and how Leonard was able to rise above his mistakes. He did it after a two-interception performance against NIU in one of the program's worst losses and again mid-game during the Orange Bowl.
His second-half interception set up a go-ahead score by Penn State, but Leonard rallied with a 54-yard touchdown to Jaden Greathouse.
"I think maybe in the way that we play and the way that we respond, especially after a mistake by me," Leonard said. "If you see the other guy's body language, it's probably pretty positive because we know how to respond at this point and fix our mistakes."

SOUTH BEND, INDIANA - SEPTEMBER 28: Riley Leonard #13 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish celebrates with Jordan Clark #1 during the second half at Notre Dame Stadium on September 28, 2024 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
It helps that Leonard has his running ability to lean on if his passing isn't working. He can test defenses physically in the middle or physically on the edges. That might provide a spark against an Ohio State team that boasts Jack Sawyer and J.T. Tuimoloau who are pass rushing nightmares for an offensive line and offensive coordinator, let alone the quarterback taking hits from them.
Leonard has been a key in Notre Dame's big wins over Indiana, Georgia and Penn State, but he's also passed off the spotlight. After the Orange Bowl, he was asked about returning to the game after getting tested for a concussion in what was one of the most heroic moments in Notre Dame football history. Leonard passed off the spotlight to backup quarterback Steve Angeli, who piloted the Irish to a crucial field goal before halftime.
"They model the head coach," Irish defensive coordinator Al Golden said after the Orange Bowl. "No excuses. Selfless. I don’t know if anything embodies it more than we just witnessed. We needed every little bit of that mettle to win that game."
Leonard, embodying that trait again, said one of the biggest things for him in the national championship game would be putting his teammates in the right positions.
"I got to really be good with my protection adjustments and knowing what I'm getting, make sure the o-line's sliding in the right direction," Leonard said Wednesday.
As Leonard answered questions from plenty of reporters about the national title game on Wednesday, ranging from national writer to reporters from small-town Alabama hearing from the local kid playing on one of the world's biggest stages.
He'll have to beat the one school that's had Notre Dame's number the last two years to do it.
Those losses aren't a part of Leonard's memory, however. A national championship might be. Leonard could prove to be the missing piece if the Irish finally beat the Buckeyes.
"It mean the world to me. It's kind of something I've dreamed of my whole life," Leonard said. "To be at a school like this and to be able to represent a school like this and get to a national championship, so far it's truly an honor and something that I don't take for granted."