Notre Dame QB Riley Leonard will pay a “fee” to run the ball

On December 21, 2024By Littum

BLOOMINGTON — Indiana football hasn’t faced a true dual-threat quarterback this season.

That will change too Hoosiers (11-1) in the first round of the College Football Playoff against Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard. The Duke transfer was one of only six Power Four quarterbacks this season with at least 1,900 passing yards and 650 rushing yards.

“He’s an outstanding player,” Indiana coach Curt Cigetti said. “I’ve watched him for a few years and studied the Duke offense when he was at Duke. He’s a competitor and he throws the ball well. He’s got good movement skills, good size.”

Leonard has averaged 5.5 yards per play. carries in 39 career games and has the second-most career rushing touchdowns (33) among active FBS quarterbacks. He had 16 of them in 2024 and finished the year with multiple touchdowns in four of the team’s last five games.

“When you play Notre Dame offensively, it starts with the run game, and the quarterback is a big part of the run game,” Cignetti said. “Not just on the designed quarterback runs, but when he drops back and he’s in the pocket and escaping the pocket and his ability to make plays with his arm and his legs.”

Notre Dame has the 10th-ranked rushing offense in the nation entering the College Football Playoffs (224.8 yards per game) and is one of only three FBS teams to average more than six yards per carry. attempts (6.3 yards per carry).

The Irish lean on two running backs – Jeremiah Love and Jadarian Price – in addition to Leonard. The group had the fourth-most rushes of 30 yards or more (16) this season.

Indiana defensive coordinator Bryant Haines, a Broyles Award finalist given annually to the nation’s top assistant, rattled off most of those stats when he spoke to reporters Monday afternoon.

“It’s a very good rushing attack,” he said.

Leonard opens up a lot of what Notre Dame wants to do, but don’t be surprised if IU’s game plan doesn’t look that much different Friday night.

“You can’t stop the run if they’re going to run the quarterback,” Haines said. “I mean, you’d have to commit so aggressively to stopping the run that you’d put other parts of the defense at risk.”

He won’t abandon his core principles — IU’s defense has an aggressive style of play that emphasizes getting the front seven downhill into the opposing backfield — with a focus on making Leonard pay a “fee” every time he decides himself to carry the ball.

“We have different things we can do, whether it’s blitzing or mixing up the look,” Haines said. “He can run some, and he probably will, and he’ll probably get some yards, but he’ll also get a few hits from the Hoosiers.”

Haines’ plan has held up against the run all season.

Indiana has the best rushing defense in the country — the Hoosiers held opposing teams to 70.8 rushing yards per game — and gave up the fewest runs of 10 yards or more (26) out of 134 FBS teams. They set a single-game record by holding Purdue to minus-36 rushing yards and only gave up more than 100 rushing yards four times. They also ranked 20th in the FBS with 86 tackles for loss.

The magic number for IU on Friday night could hold Notre Dame to less than 200 yards on the ground.

The Irish are 18-0 under coach Marcus Freeman, who have a 30-9 overall record when rushing for 200 or more yards. They have averaged 112.7 rushing yards per game in those nine losses. The program hasn’t lost a game when it rushed for at least 200 yards since No. 19, 2016 vs. Virginia Tech.

Michael Niziolek is an Indiana reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read his full coverage by clicking here.