Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard would like the real mastermind behind their fourth quarter trick play to please stand up.
Head coach Marcus Freeman was trying to be coy when asked about the trick play that helped seal Notre Dame’s 23-10 victory over Georgia in the Sugar Bowl Thursday night. Freeman offered up some coachspeak about his team’s preparation and execution when he was interrupted by Leonard in a cool moment.
“Real quick, he’s being humble,” Leonard said with a big smile on his face. “That was completely his play, and we were gonna do it a different way like two days ago. And then he flipped it, and we executed it that way, and it worked. So he’s being humble.”
Freeman smirked and shook his head while humbly attempting to avoid any credit, telling Leonard to “stop…it’s our play.”
“Alright, yeah, you know this guy,” Leonard said while maintaining a big smile. “I’ll say it for him, great call, great execution.”
The trick play occurred with just under eight minutes left in regulation, as Notre Dame faced a fourth-and-1 from its own 19-yard line. Lining up to punt, Freeman called for a substitution, and the punt unit sprinted off the field for the offense. Georgia countered with a quick substitution and ran its defense onto the field, but amid the chaos, they jumped offsides with two seconds left on the play clock.
Notre Dame took full advantage of its fresh set of downs and didn’t give the ball back to Georgia until around the two-minute mark, effectively cementing the win and an Orange Bowl appearance on Jan. 9 against Penn State.