Notre Dame QB Riley Leonard was quick to give Marcus Freeman due credit for a trick play in the Sugar Bowl. Freeman was able to outsmart No.2 Georgia with about eight minutes left in regulation as we swapped the entire unit off the field and substituted them for their offense on a punt. Leonard caught a few Georgia players jumping offside, resulting in Notre Dame a first down and they were able to see off the game. But come the national championship game, Freeman it appeared ran out of ideas.

The Fighting Irish were competitive for the most and stayed in the game, but as the clock ticked down, they appeared to be running out of steam. Then there was the play-calling decision late in the game that effectively ended Notre Dame’s hopes of a title win. With his team down 31-15 in the fourth quarter instead of going for the touchdown and the 2-point conversion that would have made it a one-possession game, he chose to kick a field goal which Mitch Jeter ultimately missed as OSU ran out  34-23 winners.

But the game didn’t start this way. Notre Dame charged forward with an 18-play, 75-yard drive that took nearly 10 minutes off the clock. Leonard Riley carried the ball times and completed three of five passes and his eventual 1-yard rushing touchdown put his side 7-0 up early in the game. However, the aftermath of this play might have dented Notre Dame’s chances.

Riley was soon spotted walking towards Notre Dame’s bench at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium after the opening play and ESPN’s Molly McGrath reported that Leonard “was vomiting” on the sidelines. He even appeared to stagger a bit while coming on the field to begin their next drive. This led to the question of whether it was a sensible play to make on the opening drive and whether Leonard was 100% after that. In a conversation with 247Sports on Tuesday, Leonard opened up on how the play affected him.

“That drive you know obviously didn’t feel too great on my body, but I didn’t really feel it too much. I had a lot of time to recover on the sideline after that one, but I was definitely a little hurt out there. It probably looked like I didn’t run the ball as much the rest of the game but a little bit of that was just due to the circumstances, given that we were down by a lot going into halftime,” the 2025 Draft hopeful said.

Following that incredible drive Leonard was on the sidelines and pictured with his eyes closed taking deep breaths, trying to regain his composure and strength. After carrying the ball nine times including on four straight plays, a lot was taken out of Leonard. He only ran the ball once over the next four offensive series for the Irish, resulting in zero points. After having nine carries on the opening drive, Leonard had only eight the rest of the game.

Leonard possibly pushing himself too much on the opening drive may have very well impacted Notre Dame’s game plan for the rest of the encounter. Trying to regain your strength and perform at the highest level after an exhausting drive can be challenging in any game, let alone a National Championship contest against the country’s top defense. At many points in the game, Leonard was seen limping and appearing exhausted.

For the rest of the game, the Fighting Irish were unable to execute their running game with Leonard due to the exertion on that opening drive. It meant they had to look elsewhere for options to produce, which completely flipped the script. As Leonard added, “We had to throw the ball in the second half to be able to come back. So we were kind of in two-minute mode that whole second half, which obviously means we’re not going to be running QB, you know counters and QB draws. we kind of got to get the ball spread out a little bit and rush to come back.”

The first drive it seems cost Notre Dame more than it benefitted them as they finished the game with just 53 yards rushing despite being one of the best in the country on the ground. After being down 21-7 following the end of the first half, Notre Dame rallied to outscore OSU in the next two quarters, but it proved to be too little too late.

After the game, Freeman admitted, “We couldn’t run Riley every play. It’s not right for Riley and it’s not going to sustain the success we needed offensively. We can’t run Riley every single play. That’s not what the formula for success is. You know, we ran him a whole bunch that first series.” 

Notably, Leonard offered a slightly different view about his vomiting and injury in the first half following the heartbreaking loss. When questioned whether he was exhausted or sick, he mentioned, “Uh, nah, I just landed on the ball funny a couple of times. Wasn’t feeling sick. Felt fine. Just landed on the ball, felt a little awkward. No problem at all for me.”

Leonard also defended the play calling on the opening drive saying that he has no problem doing whatever he’s asked to do by the coach in order to win. While the opening play put them ahead, it did set them on the back foot for the rest of the game, still, they clawed themselves back into it, only to be let down by more questionable play calling from Freeman.

Freeman, who was reluctant to take credit for that play against Georgia, was quick to put his hand up for his mistakes against OSU.

Marcus Freeman takes accountability for his costly misstep 

With the Notre Dame football team down 28-7, Freeman called a baffling fake punt on his own on 4th & 2 on the Irish 33-yard line. However, the trickery backfired and it turned into a dropped pass and led to Ohio State kicking a field goal to go up 31-7. This was the first blunder, which was followed by the gaffe on 4th and goal from the 9-yard line.

The 39-year-old Notre Dame coach didn’t shy away from taking the blame for their championship loss.

“It falls on my shoulders. And as the head coach, we have to prepare and be better prepared for this moment. These guys gave everything they got,” he said.

Despite the disappointing finish to the season, Freeman and the Irish can be proud of a terrific year overall. They won 13 straight after a Sept. 7 loss to Northern Illinois and played in the national title game for the first time since January 2013.

If not for some critical mistakes in key situations, Riley Leonard might have been the perfect closing chapter to his college football journey and Notre Dame could have broken their 36-year national championship drought, too.