Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard found wide receiver Kris Mitchell for a 5-yard touchdown pass with 1:11 remaining in the first half to put the Fighting Irish up 21-7 over the visiting Stanford Cardinal in South Bend.
The pass capped off a 9-play, 56-yard drive that took 2:37 off the clock. The 21-7 lead would stand heading into halftime.
Notre Dame started slow but rallied and controlled most of the remainder of the first half. If the Irish can maintain that level of performance, they should be able to avoid a season-crushing upset as they cling to college football playoff hopes.
Notre Dame wide receiver Kris Mitchell participates in a drill during a Notre Dame football practice at Irish Athletic Center on Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024, in South Bend.
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Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard has run for one touchdown so far and thrown for another against the Stanford Cardinal in South Bend.
This time, Leonard faked a handoff to Jeremiyah Love on a run-pass option and then found Jayden Thomas for a 15-yard touchdown pass that capped off a 7-play, 52-yard drive that took 3:20 off the clock.
The Fighting Irish started the drive at midfield after Howard Cross sacked Stanford quarterback Ashton Daniels on fourth-and-5.
Notre Dame now leads the Cardinal 14-7 early in the second quarter.
Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard warms up before a NCAA college football game between Notre Dame and Stanford at Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in South Bend.
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Notre Dame ties it, sighs of relief sound across South Bend.
Notre Dame once again got off to a rough start against an underdog opponent — this time the Stanford Cardinal.
A holding call against Anthonie Knapp and a sack allowed by Knapp stalled a promising first drive for the Fighting Irish. Then the Notre Dame defense struggled to stop Stanford and the Cardinal punched it in from the goal line.
The Irish answered by moving the ball downfield with a mix of runs and passes, though observers were wondering why Jadarian Price got all the carries and Jeremiyah Love wasn’t in the game. Love came in on the final play of the drive — but it was quarterback Riley Leonard taking the ball into the end zone on the ground to tie things up.
Once again, Leonard’s legs have capped off a Notre Dame drive with a touchdown.
Sep 21, 2024; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish quarterback Riley Leonard (13) runs for a touchdown in the fourth quarter against the Miami Redhawks at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-Imagn Images
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Over the course of his first five games as the Notre Dame Fighting Irish starting quarterback, [autotag]Riley Leonard[/autotag] has made some positive progression.
Irish offensive coordinator [autotag]Mike Denbrock[/autotag] believes that his starter is just scratching the surface of his potential, as he explained on Tuesday night during his media availability.
When ask about Leonard, Denbrock explained that “we’ve seen glimpses of what it can really turn into and become here. And we’re at about the point in the season where it’s time for that to kick into gear.”
Leonard’s has improved in multiple areas, as his completion percentage has made a jump from the 60% he had against Texas A&M to 73.9% against Louisville.
That’s clearly a big difference, as has been his ball security. After throwing two picks against Northern Illinois, he’s been able to stay away from giving the ball to the other team, while getting his first three passing touchdowns over the course of the Irish’s last two games.
Sep 7, 2024; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish Offensive Coordinator Mike Denbrock watches warmups before the game against the Northern Illinois Huskies at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-Imagn Images
If Denbrock is correct, then this Irish offense could be off to the races during the second-half of the season with Leonard being the catalyst.
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Riley Leonard could be comeback player of the year.
Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard is on the October watch list for College Football Comeback Player of the Year.
This follows Leonard’s decision to transfer from Duke to Notre Dame in 2023. Leonard suffered a season-ending ankle injury on his final play against the Fighting Irish in Notre Dame’s 21-14 road victory over the Blue Devils.
Cynical Notre Dame fans might also say it applies to Leonard’s 2024 season — Leonard struggled in the passing game early but has looked better in the two most recent games.
We’re betting he’s on the list because of the injury and only because of the injury, but given his early struggles, we understand where Irish fans are coming from.
Regardless, Leonard has a shot at the award if he continues to play well over the remainder of the season.
Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard (13) takes his helmet off as he walks off the field at the end of a drive during a NCAA college football game between Notre Dame and Louisville at Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in South Bend.
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While some Notre Dame fans want [autotag]Riley Leonard[/autotag] replaced as the Irish’s starting quarterback, he clearly hasn’t been that bad. Otherwise, this post wouldn’t exist.
Leonard has been listed among the Top 25 for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, which is given to college football’s best upperclassman quarterback. He, of course, was named to the preseason watch list for the award along with 62 other quarterbacks. A win would mark the third for an Irish quarterback after [autotag]Brady Quinn[/autotag] in 2006 and [autotag]Tony Rice[/autotag] in 1989.
Another quarterback who made the cut, Louisville’s Tyler Shough, faced the Irish in their last game and lost. The Irish will be facing one other quarterback later on who made the cut, and that’s Georgia Tech’s Haynes King.
As long as Leonard continues to run the football with regularity, fans will continue to call for someone who mostly throws it. But Leonard has merited award consideration, so exactly how a rough a spot are the Irish in with him?
Here’s to Leonard continuing to prove his doubters wrong.
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Former college quarterback and current analyst Greg McElroy is back in on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish after the Irish beat Louisville 31-24 on Saturday.
A lot of pundits are still not seeing the Irish as a top-10 or playoff team, but McElroy thinks the Irish could be — if they get back to playing to their potential, and if they can do it for a full game.
“The boobirds were out after Week 2, weren’t they?” McElroy said on his podcast. “You go, and you lose to Northern Illinois. They look great against A&M in the fourth quarter of the football game, and then Northern Illinois comes to town, and you get beat up along both lines of scrimmage.”
“Sometimes, you can point to upsets, and you say, ‘All right, well, little flukey, right. (It’s) unlikely that that happens again,'” McElroy said. “Well, that wasn’t the case against Northern Illinois. Northern Illinois just flat-out beat them along both lines of scrimmage.”
Sep 28, 2024; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish long snapper Rino Monteforte (39) prepares to snap the ball on an extra point in the fourth quarter against the Louisville Cardinals at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-Imagn Images
That was the bad. Here’s the good.
“You look at it, Riley Leonard, it’s his fifth game as the starting quarterback of the Irish, and this was his first with multiple touchdown passes,” McElroy said. “All right. He hit (Jaden) Greathouse on the one, and then I love the designed screen throwback to (Jeremiyah) Love, which was a big touchdown down the left side. So, there’s an awful lot to like about what we saw from Mike Denbrock.
“I really liked what we saw from Mike Denrock the offensive coordinator, a highly, highly compensated offensive coordinator,” he added. “Bring him up from LSU, and this is the type of performance that you would anticipate. My goodness, they have improved drastically. That was a good defense that they played against. That was a really good defensive line. I think that’s a group that has talent in the back end, and I thought Notre Dame’s offensive performance was rock solid.”
McElroy praised quarterback Riley Leonard’s growth and development. He then went on to speak highly of the defense, especially with the injuries it has been dealing with.
He ended by pointing out that the Irish have been playing well in 15-minute chunks.
“I’d love to see it for 60 minutes because we haven’t yet seen it for 60 minutes from Notre Dame,” McElroy said. “We’ve seen it in really 15-minute increments, whether it’s the fourth quarter against Texas A&M, whether it’s the one quarter of dominance and brilliance against Louisville in the first quarter. I’d love to see it for 60 because if they can do it for 60, they could play with anybody.”
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Notre Dame Fighting Irish quarterback [autotag]Riley Leonard[/autotag] played a huge role in the 31-24 victory over the Louisville Cardinals this past weekend.
The transfer threw for 163-yards with two touchdowns, while rushing 13 times for 52-yards and another score. Leonard was excellent with his ball security as well, as he was turnover free for the contest.
That exceptional play earned him two national weekly awards, one from the [autotag]Reese’s Senior Bowl[/autotag], as he was named its Offensive Player of the Week. You can most likely expect to see him competing in Mobile, Alabama when Notre Dame’s season concludes.
Leonard was also recognized by the Davey O’Brien Award as one of its Great 8 performers during Week 5. On Tuesday, we will find out if he took home their weekly award, as one of the eight players chosen will get the title. This award is giving out annually to the top quarterback in the country, and Leonard was named to their watchlist at the beginning of the season.
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While it may seemed like Notre Dame Fighting Irish starting quarterback [autotag]Riley Leonard[/autotag] had re-injured his shoulder, that was not the case in the win.
The broadcast didn’t mention much of the injury, as he sat out just one play before re-entering the game. It seemed like it was nothing at the time, and Leonard confirmed exactly that after the game.
The Athletic’s Pete Sampson grabbed the quote from the “injured” one, and it wasn’t exactly that. Leonard told the press that he just got the wind knocked out of him, and needed a play to regroup. He said that “it was really no problem after a couple minutes. It really didn’t play an impact on me.”
While he might not think it impacted his game, it seemed like it did. The Irish offense was cruising and shortly after taking that hard shot, it seemed like the whole offense followed its quarterback. Clearly this is good news for Leonard in avoiding something serious, as he does have an extensive injury history.
Riley Leonard said he got the wind knocked out him when he went out of the game for snap. “It was really no problem after a couple minutes. It really didn’t play an impact on me.”
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After one quarter of play, it looked like Notre Dame football was going to run Louisville out of Notre Dame Stadium.
After running back [autotag]Devyn Ford[/autotag] fumbled the opening kickoff and the Cardinals found the end zone, the Irish responded with three straight touchdown drives.
Running back [autotag]Jeremiah Love[/autotag] got it started with a 6-yard plunge, then quarterback [autotag]Riley Leonard[/autotag] found wide receiver [autotag]Jaden Greathouse[/autotag] for a 34-yard score. To cap off the flurry, Leonard ran one in from 4-yards away after Notre Dame recovered a botched snap on a punt.
Then the Irish’s offense went extremely quiet during the next two quarters, just a [autotag]Mitch Jeter[/autotag] 48-yard field goal, which kept the Cardinals in the game. Early in the fourth quarter, they cut Notre Dame’s lead to 24-17, but another response happened.
The Irish would march 75-yards on just 5-plays capped by a Love 32-yard touchdown reception from Leonard. The lead went back to two scores, which gave them a solid cushion.
Sep 28, 2024; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish quarterback Riley Leonard (13) celebrates with wide receiver Jaden Greathouse (1) after a touchdown against the Louisville Cardinals in the first quarter at Notre Dame Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-Imagn Images
The Cardinals would come back and score a touchdown, to pull within a score once again. Notre Dame would need a big drive to seal the deal, but they couldn’t get it done. The defense saved the day as they made a final stop to end the game.
The Irish would win 31-24, improving to 4-1 on the year with a bye next week. They return to the field on October 12th to take on the Stanford Cardinal.
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