Riley Leonard explains how he was able to overcome struggles in pass game during Sugar Bowl

Riley Leonard overcame struggles in the passing game to help Notre Dame beat Georgia in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals.

In fact, there wasn’t much offense to be had for either team. But with defense and special teams, Notre Dame did just enough on offense to advance to the CFP semifinals at the Orange Bowl next week.

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Leonard knew there was going to be a certain physicality to this game against the Bulldogs. It was something he and the Irish were ready for.

“Yeah, I mean, everybody keeps telling me stop doing that, and I did it, and it worked out today,” Leonard said postgame. “Plus, we’re in the playoffs, which was like, all right, put your butt on the line. But that’s my mindset going into every game. Everybody else can put their butt on the line, I’m going to do it right there with them.

“It was going to be a physical matchup. Our number one key to victory was the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, and that’s exactly what we did. We knew if we could establish ourselves up front, we were going to have a chance at this thing.”

Leonard finished the game 15-of-24 passing for 90 yards, one touchdown and ran 14 times for 80 yards, which actually led Notre Dame on the ground.

“They’re a very physical group,” Leonard said. “They brought a lot of pressure today, but I think we handled it pretty well and stayed behind the chains early in the game, and then kind of figured it out a little bit.

“I was struggling in the passing game, but, shoot, that opens up the run game. And we were able to utilize our abilities and execute when it mattered.”

It wasn’t the prettiest offensive performance, but like Leonard said, head coach Marcus Freeman appreciated to see all three phases clicking in the 23-10 win.

“Yeah, that’s what it takes to win versus Georgia in the quarterfinals of the College Football Playoffs,” Freeman said. “It’s going to take that. It’s not going to be one or two phases. If we expect to continue to move forward in the College Football Playoffs, it’s going to take all three phases.

“We feel strongly about all three phases. But that’s what it’s going to take, and it was a great performance today. Now we’ve got to get some things cleaned up, find a way to get better in this week of practice. Then we’ve got another opportunity to go out there and perform in all three phases here on Jan 9th, I think, at the Orange Bowl.”