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Notre Dame

Riley Leonard calls out Marcus Freeman for 'being humble,' not taking credit for key Sugar Bowl play

ns_headshot_2024-clearby:Nick Schultz•01/02/25•

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Notre Dame HC Marcus Freeman and QB Riley Leonard
© Matt Cashore-Imagn Images

In the fourth quarter of Thursday’s Sugar Bowl against Georgia, Notre Dame found itself facing a 4th-and-1 from its own 18-yard line. The Fighting Irish lined up to punt, but later ran a fire-drill play as the punt team ran off the field and the offense came back out – leading the Bulldogs to jump offsides.

It was a bold call from Marcus Freeman, who declined to take credit in the postgame press conference. That’s when Riley Leonard interrupted to make sure his coach got his due.

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Freeman said Notre Dame practiced that situation, which is why the Irish were able to execute it so well. In that moment, with 7:17 to play in the game, he saw an opportunity to try and catch Georgia off guard. It worked out with the penalty, and Freeman said it’s part of the aggressive mentality he wants to instill in the program.

“It’s a mentality,” Freeman said. “That situation that happened in the fourth quarter was something we practiced. And I think the performance was a reflection of that. We had a lot of confidence in the ability to be able to do that, and we had a plan. And that’s the aggressiveness in terms of our preparation that I want our program to have, and again, out there when it matters the most.

“And so, that’s got to be one of our edges, is that we are going to be an aggressive group and not fear making mistakes. Not fear, hey, it didn’t go your way. We went for it on fourth and one. We didn’t execute. Okay, here we go, defense, and they got a stop. That’s how I want this group to attack our preparation, in an attack performance when we have the opportunity.”

That’s where Leonard jumped in. He interrupted Freeman, who he said came up with a new wrinkle earlier this week. Leonard called it “his play” when describing what Freeman did different even though the coach refused to take credit.

“Real quick. He’s being humble,” Leonard said. “That was completely his play, and we were going to do it a different way two days ago. And then he flipped it, and we executed it that way, and it worked. So he’s being humble … All throughout the year – you know this guy. But I’ll say it for him. Great play, great execution.”

That play call was part of an impressive drive for Notre Dame to all but seal a College Football Playoff quarterfinal victory over Georgia. The Fighting Irish took 7:36 off the clock with a 10-point lead, and the defense stood strong to complete the 23-10 victory in the Sugar Bowl. But that play stood out – and, as On3’s Andy Staples wrote, showed Marcus Freeman had officially arrived as a coach.