Urban Meyer gives 'ultimate respect' to Riley Leonard

Notre Dame advanced to the College Football Playoff semifinals with a win over Georgia, getting a stellar performance from quarterback Riley Leonard in the process.

Leonard’s numbers might not reflect typical quarterback dominance, but make no mistake about it: He helped power the Fighting Irish to the win.

“How about his effort in the fourth quarter on that last drive, where he launched himself?” Urban Meyer said on The Triple Option podcast. “Ultimate respect, man. You see his passing stats, I believe he only threw for 80 yards in that game. So it wasn’t that. Incredible.”

Riley Leonard threw for just 90 yards on 15-of-24 passing, tossing one touchdown pass. But he also ran 14 times for 80 yards, helping keep the chains moving on the ground and allowing Notre Dame to build a 23-10 lead in the game.

He impressed folks like Meyer with his ability to control the game despite putting up relatively pedestrian passing numbers.

Coach Marcus Freeman pointed to the team’s early season loss to Northern Illinois as a turning point of sorts for Leonard. Instead of focusing on the external noise, Riley Leonard learned to turn inward.

“I think what he was able to learn is that you can’t get your joy from what outsiders are saying about you. You get your joy from playing this game with your teammates,” Freeman said. “You play this game with confidence. And that’s where I’ve seen him grow the most is the confidence that he’s playing with.

“And that smile he has on his face, the way he plays this game, is just a reflection of the love he has for his team, the fun he’s having playing with his teammates.”

Riley Leonard himself also opened up on his performance, noting it was as physical as it needed to be. Sometimes his body ends up on the line.

But for the Notre Dame quarterback, that’s OK if that’s what the job calls 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 No. 1 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.”

Have a chance they did, one the team took full advantage of. Now Notre Dame advances to take on Penn State in the Orange Bowl on Thursday.