Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM SEPT. 14, 2024 27 NOTRE DAME DOESN'T GET ENOUGH FROM LEONARD IN LOSS If Notre Dame's Riley Leonard experi- ment was like putting together IKEA furniture we'd be at the point in the process where you thought you were rolling right along, following all the steps, but things aren't coming together like they should. So instead of staring at a finished product you're staring at the instructions like, "Did they give me all the necessary equipment? Is this even the right sheet for this dresser?" Confusion. Angst. The urge to go back to the store and get your money back. We've all been there with a for-home purchase. Is Notre Dame already there with Riley Leonard after he completed 20 of 31 passes for 163 yards with 0 touchdown passes and 2 interceptions, the latter of which was of the game- costing variety, in an inexcusable 16-14 loss to Northern Illinois? No. Not quite. But causes for con- cern are multiplying like scratches of the head when the pieces aren't coming together with that darn dresser. "Everybody's going to try to point the finger at somebody, some side of the ball, one play, one person," Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman said when Blue & Gold Illustrated asked about Leonard's level of play. Leonard pointed the finger at himself. "Can't happen," Leonard said of his second interception, a fourth-quarter turnover that led to NIU's game-win- ning touchdown. "Completely my fault. I got to fix it." Leonard said he's got to be more dis- ciplined with his eyes. At least he knows where the issues are stemming from. Time and again against the Huskies it looked like he was late to throw the ball where it needed to go. That was the case on the first interception. He had soph- omore slot receiver Jaden Greathouse open over the middle. He hesitated, waited too long, and when he finally threw the ball it was deflected by one Husky and all of a sudden in the diving arms of another. Leonard still does plenty right for the Notre Dame offense. It's why he entered the season unequivocally sworn in as the Irish's QB1. He pieced together a 13-play, 75-yard touchdown drive on the Irish's opening possession. He was responsible for 73 yards on it, including the final 11 on his first touchdown of any kind in a Notre Dame uniform. Here's the issue; it's still his only touchdown in a Notre Dame uniform, two whole games into the season. He had the same problem producing in his final season at Duke. In seven games, he accounted for 7 touchdowns. That's not good for a signal-caller who was responsible for 33 touchdowns in 13 games in 2022. Leonard's got more to give. So do his teammates. Freeman said the of- fensive line needs to protect better, for instance. Leonard's process was sped up by pressure on several occasions against NIU, and that's not a recipe for success when the quarterback is already having trouble internalizing what's going on down the field. Freeman also mentioned route run- ning as a potential sore spot. It's been two weeks in a row now Clemson trans- fer Beaux Collins has led Notre Dame with modest receiving statistics, this week 5 catches for 45 yards. But the quarterback is always going to take the most heat of any of the play- ers, just like the head coach will take the most heat of anyone, players or coaches, period. It's barely September and Leonard has already reached an inflection point in his Notre Dame career. He's got to be better. No excuses. "I got to clean up my game all around if we want to win football games," he said. SAME OLD STORY FOR NOTRE DAME VS. GROUP OF FIVE TEAM It's almost a routine at this point for Howard Cross III. Cross stepped up to the podium at Notre Dame Stadium after the Irish lost to Marshall in 2022, doing "damage control," as he described it. The gradu- ate student defensive tackle remembers losing to Cincinnati in 2021 and nearly losing to Toledo that season, too. And frankly, he's sick of it. "We need to prepare like they're one of the best teams in the nation," Cross said. "I don't care if we go against [Northern Illinois]. I don't care if we go against Alabama. That's how we need to prepare." Cross wore an expression best de- scribed as "Here we go again." He didn't come back to Notre Dame to lose to Northern Illinois at home, but that's what happened. And it's the same old story for a program that was supposed to leave losses like this in the past. "I'm gonna say the same thing I say every time," Cross said. "We know we're a good team." In his next breath, Cross made a sig- nificant correction. NORTHERN ILLINOIS GAME NOTES BY TYLER HORKA AND JACK SOBLE Senior quarterback Riley Leonard struggled in his second start with the Irish, compiling only 179 yards of total offense in the 16-14 loss. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER