Notre Dame offense clicks at the right time

 

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – With a new quarterback, weapons, and offensive coordinator, Notre Dame wanted to stick their identity of running the ball and it worked out in their favor.

Of all places to debut a new offense, Notre Dame had to do it in front of the 12th man in Aggieland.

"That's an environment that I'm sure none of us have really ever played in before. I mean, the SEC is different," transfer quarterback Riley Leonard.

"I remember looking up and like, trying to see the end of the stands and like you literally just can't even just can't even see the top," Leonard added.

Blocking for the veteran at left tackle was a true freshman, who had never sniffed the inside of a collegiate stadium on gameday.

"Playing in front of 107,000 people as a true freshman. A lot of things are going through your head, but the same time you got a job to do," True Freshman Anthonie Knapp said.

In his first start under center, Riley Leonard and the Irish offense got off to a slow start but, they stuck to the game plan.

"Good run games against good defenses kind of entail how the game kind of unfolded, right? It's not very pretty in the beginning," Offensive Coordinator mentioned.

When it mattered, running back Jadarian Price broke off a 47-yard run, giving Notre Dame a 13-6 lead after converting the extra point.

"Once in a while you'll hit one kind of midway through the second and third quarter," Denbrock added.

In the second half, the Notre Dame offense started to click.

"I thought it was unbelievable in the second half, just, you know, because we had a chance to kind of regroup. After they tied it up at 13," Defensive Coordinator Al Golden said in response to how the offense performed.

Tied 13-13, game in his hands, Leonard found his stride.

"I got a lot of confidence in a guy like Riley Leonard at the end of the game, put the ball in his hands. He'll make good decisions and lead this offense to victory," said Head Coach Marcus Freeman.

"Everybody had all the confidence in the world that we were gonna be able to go down there and score, it was just a matter of when. And, you know, finally, by the fourth quarter, we kind of got things going," Leonard added.

The start of an 85-yard drive began with Leonard picking up 9 of his 63 rushing yards.

"That's obviously one of my, one of my strengths," Leonard said.

In the fourth quarter, Leonard looked like he settled in. Finding Sophomore receiver Jaden Greathouse on a critical 3rd and 5 to go, in their own territory. But nothing beats Leonard connecting with Beaux Collins for a 20-yard completion.

"I was trying to be too cute and throw a back shoulder earlier and by the end of the, by the end of that last drive, I was like, shoot, I'm just going to throw the ball up and let him make a play," Leonard said laughing.

"It was kind of just crazy. I worked on that in practice, pretty much off all camp, just 5050, balls. Not going to lie, kind of it was an out of body experience when I got up. Man, I was just overly excited," Collins added.

Leonard would continue to use his legs to put his offense in good position.

"I play the game, you know, the way I put I play the game. I won't change that for anybody or anything, or any injury, you know, it can't stand in my way," Leonard mentioned.

He wasn't alone. The Notre Dame running backs, the same position group that scored the first touchdown, would put a stamp on things. Another sophomore, Jeremiyah Love capped off the 8-play drive, squeezing through the aggies defensive line and putting the Irish on top 20-13.

"To see Riley and the o-line, and the running backs do what they did, and the wide receivers blocking, and then Bo making a big play like that's, that's what it takes to go into an environment like that," Golden said.

"You have to make decisions as head coach in that moment, like, do you want to tell Jay Love and huddle, hey, go down. If you break. We're just trying to get a first down and stay in field goal range, right? And I didn't want to put that on his brain and go, go score. And I have a belief in our defense that we'll be able to stop them," Freeman added.