Notre Dame Runs Away From Cardinal, Moves To 5-1 On The Season

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SOUTH BEND, Ind. — During the week leading up to their inevitable match-up with West Coast rival Stanford, Notre Dame’s offensive staff touted the progress being made in the passing game that has been glaringly lacking this season.

On Saturday, the Irish put some of that criticism to bed despite a slow start to the contest.

Riley Leonard, the main focal point of the Irish’s passing struggles this season, turned in his best passing effort of the season completing 16 of the 22 passes he threw, throwing for 229 yards, and passing for three touchdowns.

“These last couple weeks in practices we’ve been knowing who we want to be and striving to be that,” Leonard said. “The plays we made (today) we’ve made three times each at practice this week. It was like deja vu for us. It was really cool.”

A holding penalty derailed the opening drive for the Irish as the game kicked off on a crisp fall afternoon Saturday. The threat of rain lingered for later in the day and the ease with which Notre Dame was stopped by the Stanford defense on the opening drive left a hint of trepidation in air. Things were not helped by Stanford’s opening drive in which quarterback Ashton Daniels engineered a 9-play, 63-yard drive to punch it in giving the Cardinal a 7-0 lead.

Notre Dame’s response to the opening deficit would be key to how the rest of the day went.

The response was emphatic. Leonard led the Irish on a 12-play, 75-yard drive anchored by two exquisite passes to Jaden Greathouse (19 yards) and Kris Mitchell (12 yards) leading to Leonard walking into the endzone for his first and, would you believe it, only rushing touchdown of the day.

The floodgates opened for the Irish offense from there and were closed by the Irish defense as the Irish would go on to score 49 unanswered points throughout the game, relying on many of those magnificent plays Leonard alluded to. 49-7 the final score.

Jeremiyah Love had a solid day running the ball carrying six times for 53 yards and a touchdown. Jadarian Price added 49 yards on 12 carries and a touchdown. Kris Mitchell, Jayden Thomas, and Eli Raridon accounted for each of Leonard’s touchdown passes.

Adding to the fun, center Pat Coogan ended up with his first career reception off of a tipped pass from Leonard that somehow ended up in Coogan’s hands. Beaux Collins led the day receiving four the Irish hauling in four passes for 85 yards.

“Our guys were prepared. The coaches did a great job getting our guys prepared,” said head coach Marcus Freeman. “I was really proud of the way we responded after that first series. Terrible first series. From the second series on they played lights out.”

The Irish have continued doing what they need to do, which is winning, as their margin for error remains thin for their College Football Playoff aspirations. Having enjoyed a whole month staying put in South Bend, the Irish will pack up and hit the road over the course of the next two weeks. In the coming week, they will head south to face Georgia Tech. That will be followed by what has become a critical game on the Irish schedule when they take on currently unbeaten Navy in the Meadowlands of East Rutherford, New Jersey.