Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard seems to have found his stride and the confidence in the Irish offense has started to go up since the Northern Illinois loss earlier this season. At the beginning of the season, it felt like the offense was constantly stuck in mud and could not move the ball down the field vertically.
Since then, the Irish quarterback has been accurate, decisive, and effective both in the air and on the ground.
Notre Dame Offense Getting Hot
Since the Northern Illinois game, Leonard has thrown for six touchdowns and only one interception. He has also been very effective on the ground rushing for nine touchdowns. This has put the Irish offense back on track even while navigating through multiple key injuries and now look like they have adopted a style that can drive them into the playoffs.
Even better, Leonard has completed 69% of his passes since week two. He has been more decisive when throwing the ball and it seems like offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock has modified the offense to allow for Leonard to get the ball out quickly. This has opened up so much for the offense, as the running game was the only threat earlier in the season, which allowed teams to just stack the box and make Leonard try to throw it deep, which caused plenty of issues. Besides the one interception trying to force the ball deep to Beaux Collins last week against Georgia Tech, Leonard has been nearly perfect with his decision-making.
Leonard Was Always Going To Take Time to Catch Up With Notre Dame
With a lingering ankle injury from last season with Duke, Riley Leonard was always going to be a bit behind with Notre Dame. He needed a second surgery back in March and missed Spring practices, he only started practicing during training camp in August. He went through walkthroughs in the Spring and was around the team all summer, but the practice time is so important, so he was behind from the start.
At the beginning of the season, injuries started piling up and Leonard was still trying to adjust to the offense which caused some of the mistakes. Confidence is huge, and it seems like Leonard finally has the confidence in the scheme and the offense.
The confidence in Leonard has never waivered, with Denbrock reinforcing his belief in him during the bye week a couple of weeks back, and that seems to be finally paying off. Fans and some of the media started to believe Leonard should be benched a few weeks ago when the offense was struggling, but now it seems like everyone is behind Leonard.
Important Stretch For Notre Dame
This was what the Irish were expecting when Leonard transferred. A dual-threat QB who can drive the offense to another level. It is not there yet, but they are now closer than ever with a really important stretch coming up. Notre Dame must win out, and it doesn’t get any easier from here on out with a game against undefeated Navy coming up next week, which is never an easy game.
The Irish are primed to make the playoffs now but cannot afford any slip ups the rest of the way. They need to win out, and the improvements from the offense significantly help their chances. Leonard is starting to show the same performances that rose him to stardom at Duke, and Notre Dame needs a few more of those to get them to December.
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