By Jackson Neill and WNDU.com
Published: Sep. 2, 2024 at 4:31 PM EDT
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WNDU) - Notre Dame this past Saturday, and it couldn’t have been a better start to the season.
A 10-point win over a top 20 opponent on their home turf has now set the tone for Notre Dame in 2024. It was a huge win for the Irish, and one of the biggest for the program in recent memory.
One of the biggest talking points heading into the season opener was the debut of new transfer quarterback Riley Leonard. He had a pretty solid day for the Irish, not making any mistakes and leading Notre Dame to the win.
Leonard went 18-30 with just 158 yards and no touchdowns, but most importantly he didn’t throw an interception and only took one sack. But where Leonard really stood out was in the run game. He was second on the team in yards and carries, taking the ball 12 times for 63 yards.
During his news conference on Monday afternoon, head coach Marcus Freeman praised his new quarterback’s performance.
“He did a really, really good job in some of his decision making,” Freeman said. “There were also some decisions he probably wished he would’ve saw something or made a different decision, but he really played the quarterback position well. He did what we asked him to do, and that was to take care of the football. We weren’t asking for explosive plays. This had to be a complimentary football game, and Riley did a really good job at doing that.”
Going into the game, the offensive line was a concern, but the young line stepped up down in Texas.
Notre Dame started a true freshman Anthonie Knapp at left tackle and then had redshirt freshman Sam Pendleton next to him at left guard. In total, the Irish had just six career starts on that starting line.
While the line did have a couple penalties throughout the game, they played well overall. Notre Dame allowed only one sack and outgained Texas A&M in total yards by 110 yards, including rushing for 198 on the ground.
“I was really proud of the way they performed. They did a good job versus a really tough defensive line, and they battled,” Freeman said. “There were some mistakes that maybe to the normal person’s eye that it was an O lineman’s fault, but there’s also some things as a coaching staff that we got to put them in better situations and make some different checks and things like that. They continued to battle even after maybe they got beat, maybe they got a holding call, you got a false start. They reloaded, they went back and performed, and they really competed through all four quarters, so really pleased with the performance of our offensive line.”
A crowd of more than 107,000 was on hand at Kyle Field to watch the Irish defeat the Aggies. It was the fourth-largest crowd in Texas A&M history.
And it wasn’t just Aggies fans… plenty of Irish faithful made the trip down to Texas to support Notre Dame.
Now, the Irish are back in South Bend and will host Northern Illinois in their home opener this Saturday, giving Notre Dame its first chance this year to play in front of a packed house of just Irish fans.
“Shout out to our fans that did go to College Station. We felt them, they were loud, we felt their energy,” Freeman said. “But to be back home, there’s no place like home. That’s what they say, right? To be back at Notre Dame Stadium, every time we practice at Notre Dame Stadium, I remind my team this has to be special. We can’t take it for granted. It can’t be another game. So, we owe it to each other and to our football program to perform at a high level, but we also owe it to these fans who come here to support us to make sure we are performing at a high level and a high standard.”
But it wasn’t all good news during Freeman’s news conference, as he also confirmed that wide receiver Jordan Faison will miss this week and possibly next with an ankle sprain. Faison left Notre Dame’s win on Saturday night midway through the second quarter and did not return to action, watching the second half on the sideline without shoulder pads.
Jaden Greathouse now becomes the main punt returner and KK Smith moves up the receiver depth chart.
Kickoff for this upcoming Saturday’s home opener against the Huskies will be this Saturday at 3:30 p.m. EDT.
In the meantime, we want to know which Notre Dame home game you are most excited about this season. Let us know by voting in our Game Day Question of the Week!
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