Welp. The excitement over this Notre Dame football season lasted exactly one week. The same goes for the excitement over Riley Leonard at quarterback.
That’s not to say there weren’t concerns over the Duke transfer in the Fighting Irish’s first game of the season. However, those concerns were mostly poo-pooed away by the fact that it was against Texas A&M and in front of more than 100,000.
There was also a ton of Marcus Freeman love after the Week 1 win. People talked about how he seemed to connect with his team more than any coach in the country. It’s safe to say any love he got last week is about to be wiped out.
A Notre Dame football coach who some thought should be on the hotseat after some bad losses to Louisville and Ohio State last year. If he wasn’t before, losing a game they had no business losing (it was Northern Illinois’ biggest win ever) will get him there.
While Freeman might get more of the blowback over the next week, the anger is being aimed squarely at Leonard for now. Keep in mind that Leonard doesn’t have a touchdown pass as a member of the Fighting Irish.
He doesn’t have a 200-yard game through the air yet either. Both of those things are far more glaring when you consider the entire point of bringing in Leonard over Steve Angeli or CJ Carr or Kenny Minchey is that he was considered a veteran presence who could make the tough throws.
He hasn’t looked like a veteran. He’s showed happy feet. He’s missed wide open receivers. He’s underthrown guys badly, like he did on his second interception of the game against Northern Illinois.
There’s plenty of blame to go around for this loss. We’ll look at that more over the next week. But for today, it’s hard not tow wonder if Riley Leonard is going to be the guy who takes the Notre Dame football team to the playoffs, or whether Freeman and company might look elsewhere.
The Michigan Wolverines made it to the College Football Playoff for the first time in 2021 after beating Ohio State and winning the Big Ten Championship. Sin
Alabama football's WR room stagnated in the final years of the Nick Saban era in Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide went from a dominant run of recruiting and develop
Courtesy of UAPB Athletics PINE BLUFF, AR.– The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff Golden Lions football team has announced its 2025 HBCU football s
There's great news, and just some OK news for the Ohio State football program. The great news is that the Buckeyes made good on their "national title or bust" s