No. 11 Notre Dame topped No. 17 Duke, 21-14, on the road in Durham, North Carolina on Saturday night in a tense game that came down to the wire.
Fighting Irish running back Auric Estime gave his team the lead with a 30-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter, and with quarterback Sam Hartman leading a good two-point conversion, Notre Dame took a seven-point lead. Duke had just 31 seconds to try to make something happen, and unfortunately, it was an awful ending for the Blue Devils.
On second-and-five from their own 30-yard line, Duke quarterback Riley Leonard was sacked and fumbled the ball, which Notre Dame recovered and effectively ended the game. But Leonard went down extremely awkwardly and looked to be in horrible pain on the ground afterward.
Leonard was in Duke’s medical tent when the game ended, and Hartman waited to celebrate and hung around for him to exit. Eventually, Leonard came out on crutches, seemingly not putting any weight on his right ankle, and the two quarterbacks shared a brief moment together.
Sam Hartman stayed on the field to check on Riley Leonard after he got injured on the final drive.
Class act 👏 pic.twitter.com/oEsEGe3b3N
— ESPN (@espn) October 1, 2023
A classy moment and the epitome of sportsmanship.