“They Are Incredibly Dangerous” – #8 Notre Dame Fighting Irish New Team With Resurgence of Riley Leonard

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish struggled out of the gates this season and provided some subpar performances to kickoff the season.

The talk of the offseason was quarterback Riley Leonard, a transfer from the Duke Blue Devils, who many felt would blow the competition apart at Notre Dame. However, Leonard and Notre Dame had difficulties during the start of the season as the quarterback was still adjusting. The Fighting Irish had a narrow, and rather ugly win over Texas A&M and a bad loss to NIU.

In both games, Leonard had by far his worst games of the season, combining for over 300-passing yards, 79-yards rushing, and one rushing touchdown. Leonard recorded two interceptions against NIU, and was heavily criticized for his performances up until the Miami (Ohio) game. The quarterback began the year with four rushing touchdowns and zero passing touchdowns through three games.

However, since his performance against Miami (Ohio) where he recorded 143-yards rushing and two touchdowns, Leonard has been a different quarterback. In the four games since, Leonard has recorded over 600-yards passing, seven passing touchdowns, and five rushing touchdowns for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

With the new level of play that Leonard has hit for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, many analysts are starting to believe the team is “dangerous”.

Notre Dame Fighting Irish Offense Improving Due to Quarterback Riley Leonard

While the Notre Dame Fighting Irish have been a strong team the majority of the year, the play of Riley Leonard has truly taken the team to the next level.

Often times, teams are just a solid quarterback away from being a formidable opponent for most. With Notre Dame, that has proven to be the case as the play of Leonard directly correlates to how successful the team will be each game. The four lowest quarterback rating games for Leonard (Texas A&M, NIU, Louisville, Georgia Tech) were also the closest games of the season up to this point for the Fighting Irish.

PFF College analyst Max Chadwick has been vocal about how the success of the Fighting Irish is dependent on the success of Leonard. Chadwick recently provided a quote that sums up the situation perfectly with the season dwindling down.

If Notre Dame Continues to get this version of Riley Leonard, they are going to be incredibly dangerous – Max Chadwick, PFF College

Notre Dame has Florida State, Virginia, Army, and USC left on the schedule this season before entering post-season play. Even with some sort of epic collapse, the Fighting Irish have already secured bowl eligibility after their most recent wins.

Leonard likely will not be tested much throughout the rest of the regular season due to the defensive talent the team must play against. Both USC and Virginia have had trouble trying to stop the pass this season on defense. If Army and Florida State are anything like the Navy and Georgia Tech games, then both should be fairly easy games for Notre Dame and Leonard.

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