{"id":79809,"date":"2025-01-04T07:15:35","date_gmt":"2025-01-04T13:15:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/riley-leonard-explains-how-he-was-able-to-overcome-struggles-in-pass-game-during-sugar-bowl\/"},"modified":"2025-01-04T07:15:35","modified_gmt":"2025-01-04T13:15:35","slug":"riley-leonard-explains-how-he-was-able-to-overcome-struggles-in-pass-game-during-sugar-bowl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/riley-leonard-explains-how-he-was-able-to-overcome-struggles-in-pass-game-during-sugar-bowl\/","title":{"rendered":"Riley Leonard explains how he was able to overcome struggles in pass game during Sugar Bowl"},"content":{"rendered":"

Riley Leonard<\/a><\/strong> overcame struggles in the passing game to help Notre Dame<\/strong><\/a> beat Georgia<\/strong><\/a> in the College Football Playoff<\/strong><\/a> quarterfinals.<\/p>\n

In fact, there wasn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

Get your team\u2019s official College Football Playoff watch from AXIA by CLICKING HERE: \u201cWatches that tell so much more than time\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I mean, everybody keeps telling me stop doing that, and I did it, and it worked out today,\u201d Leonard said postgame. \u201cPlus, we\u2019re in the playoffs, which was like, all right, put your butt on the line. But that\u2019s my mindset going into every game. Everybody else can put their butt on the line, I\u2019m going to do it right there with them.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt 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\u2019s exactly what we did. We knew if we could establish ourselves up front, we were going to have a chance at this thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re a very physical group,\u201d Leonard said. \u201cThey 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

CLICK HERE to go to PrizePicks and use code ON3 to receive a guaranteed $50 once you play $5 in lineups!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

It wasn\u2019t the prettiest offensive performance, but like Leonard said, head coach Marcus Freeman<\/a><\/strong> appreciated to see all three phases clicking in the 23-10 win.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, that\u2019s what it takes to win versus Georgia in the quarterfinals of the College Football Playoffs,\u201d Freeman said.<\/a> \u201cIt\u2019s going to take that. It\u2019s not going to be one or two phases. If we expect to continue to move forward in the College Football Playoffs, it\u2019s going to take all three phases.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel strongly about all three phases. But that\u2019s what it\u2019s going to take, and it was a great performance today. Now we\u2019ve got to get some things cleaned up, find a way to get better in this week of practice. Then we\u2019ve got another opportunity to go out there and perform in all three phases here on Jan 9th, I think, at the Orange Bowl.\u201d<\/p>\n

The post Riley Leonard explains how he was able to overcome struggles in pass game during Sugar Bowl<\/a> appeared first on On3<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Riley Leonard overcame struggles in the passing game to help Notre Dame beat Georgia in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79809"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79809\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.wztzfm.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}