Riley Leonard concedes he gave a lot of different answers when people asked him why he entered the transfer portal after last season and chose Notre Dame.
“But the truth is, I came here to win a national championship, and to go to the best team that would give me the best chance to do that," he said.
What a move. And now, the quarterback, who reportedly made more than $1 million in NIL by coming to the Fighting Irish from Duke, gets some much-needed rest before he plays for that title on Jan. 20.
A day after Leonard emerged from the medical tent after being checked for a concussion to lead Notre Dame to a 27-24 win over Penn State, he waited to see if the opponent in the final will be Ohio State or Texas. They were set to square off Friday night in the Cotton Bowl.
That Notre Dame would earn the trip to Atlanta for the championship game felt farfetched late in the second quarter at the Orange Bowl on Thursday.
Hounded by Penn State's defenders, the Irish had amassed 90 yards, five first downs and no points when Leonard got sandwiched by Zane Durant and Dvon J-Thomas.
With Leonard in the medical tent, backup Steve Angeli came in and quickly engineered a drive that led to a field goal and trimmed the deficit to 10-3.
Leonard returned for the third quarter looking like a new quarterback, and the Fighting Irish looked like a different team.
“When I saw Riley come back in, I said ‘this guy’s a fighter,'" Notre Dame tight end Mitchell Evans said. "He has the most heart. You could see it the way he runs the ball. No matter how, he’s going to find a way to get us there.”
Using his arms and his legs, Leonard engineered drives of 75 and 72 yards to lead Notre Dame to two touchdowns in the third quarter.
Trailing 24-17 in the fourth, he made the easiest throw of the night, finding Jaden Greathouse after a Penn State defender slipped. Greathouse's 54-yard TD tied it at 24.
The stars at the end were Christian Gray and Mitch Jeter. Gray's sliding interception of a Drew Allar pass set up a 41-yard game-winning field goal by Jeter.
It buys Leonard and the whole team one more game, and a chance to bring a national title back to the Golden Dome for the first time since 1988.
That is why Leonard chose Notre Dame.
"Obviously this is the right place and I made the right decision," Leonard said. “That’s why I came here, at the end of the day.”
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