Notre Dame QB Riley Leonard expects “dog fight” against Indiana in College Football Playoff

On By Littum

Notre Dame knew it would hear its name called on Selection Sunday, so quarterback Riley Leonard wasn’t too nervous about the day itself. He was actually ready to get it over with. By then, he had tired of what he referred to as 120 amateur bracketologists — er, teammates — guessing the Fighting Irish’s first-round opponent in the College Football Playoff.

“I just rolled my eyes all week,” Leonard said, smiling. “They thought they could perfectly predict all 12 teams that would be in the league and they knew exactly what was going to happen and who we were going to play. I heard a lot of different recordings and I didn’t really care. Can we just come to sunday?”

He just wanted to know who to play and he wanted to go to work. Then the matchup flashed on the screen: No. 7 Notre Dame vs. No. 10 Indiana. Friday night, under the lights in South Bend, Ind. Leonard pumped.

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“It’s huge for the state of Indiana — we’ve talked about it becoming a football state,” Leonard said. “It’s notorious for basketball, for obvious reasons.”

He smiled. This type of matchup with these kinds of stakes is exactly why he chose Notre Dame a year ago. He said he left Duke and jumped onto the transfer portal last year because he wanted an opportunity to play for a national championship. He knew the 12-team CFP era was about to begin and Notre Dame would be well positioned to make it year in and year out.

“To be here right now, it’s really satisfying,” Leonard said. “You know you made the right decision. And I knew I made the right decision right away, but obviously this insurance is really good. Notre Dame fans have been talking about this day since I committed — 12-team playoff. They were all over it. So we are able to fulfill their wish.”

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That doesn’t mean it’s all been easy, or that getting to this point was a straight line. Leonard had multiple offseason surgeries on his right ankle. He missed all of spring practice. And then, after working his way back to health and starting to gain real experience in a new offense, the Irish lost to Northern Illinois in the most stunning showdown of the season.

The day after the loss, head coach Marcus Freeman told Leonard something he will never forget. Freeman said there will come a day and a time when Leonard admitted he was grateful for the experience of the humiliating loss. It’s been three months since the head coach shared that message. In that time, Leonard led Notre Dame to 10 straight wins, many in blowout fashion, and now a Playoff appearance.

As it turns out, that moment of gratitude is here.

“It’s hard for me to even say I’m grateful for that, but I am,” Leonard said. “(Coach) said he was thankful for, in previous years, similar losses, that they have (helped him grow) as a person. And I just sat there and said, ‘Dude, there’s no way. There ain’t no way I’m ever gonna say that.’ But here we are.

“It drove us the rest of the year. (Freeman) always said to ‘keep the pain’ before every fight. He said, “Keep that pain, because you don’t want that feeling again.”

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In some ways, Notre Dame was the first team in the Playoff – three months ago. The Irish have played “make-or-break games for 10 straight games,” as Leonard put it. “Every game has been either you make the playoffs or you don’t.”

So the Irish simply didn’t lose. And now they have to face a team in Indiana that has also won a lot this season. The losing program in college football history won 11 games in the regular season for the first time, one of the best stories of the entire season. The Hoosiers have veteran players who are well prepared and well disciplined. They don’t beat themselves up and they never walk into a field thinking they are overmatched. They will be ready for the Irish; Leonard said he expects “a dogfight.”

Tickets sell for thousands of dollars. Fans are hoping for snow. And students have the very first on-campus College Football Playoff game to look forward to at the end of finals week.

“I wouldn’t say they’re prioritizing it over playoffs, but it gives them hope,” Leonard said, smiling. “They’ve got something good coming.”