Notre Dame’s Riley Leonard Thinks Jesus Is to Thank for Title Game Run

Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard argued this year’s national championship game is the work of some divine intervention. 

Leonard, 22, and the Fighting Irish will face The Ohio State University in the College Football Playoff National Championship on Monday, January 20, and the devout quarterback said that’s no coincidence. 

“We’re the two main teams to just publicly display our faith the most,” Leonard told reporters on Wednesday, January 15. “I truly believe that Jesus was looking over both our shoulders throughout the season and put these two teams on a pedestal for a reason.”

Leonard has never shied away from professing his faith, which was evidenced during his postgame interview with ESPN after Notre Dame’s victory over Penn State in the Orange Bowl on January 9. 

“I just started trusting the lord,” Leonard told reporter Katie George. “I looked up and said, ‘Jesus, whatever your will is for my life, I trust it 100 percent.’”

He continued, “This offense and this team trust in Jesus and his plan for this season.”

Leonard did the same during his postgame interview with ESPN’s Laura Rutledge after Notre Dame’s win over Georgia in the Sugar Bowl on January 2, saying, “First and foremost, I want to thank my lord and savior Jesus Christ. Without him, I wouldn’t be here. We wouldn’t be here.”

The sentiment was shared by Ohio State quarterback Will Howard after his team’s victory over Oregon in the Rose Bowl on January 1. 

“First and foremost I’ve got to thank my lord and savior Jesus Christ for giving me this opportunity to be on this stage,” Howard, 23, told ESPN’s Stormy Buonantony.

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman has made faith a focus of his football program, instituting pregame mass for the first time in over a decade. 

“What better time is there to go have mass?” he asked the National Catholic Register in August 2022. “What better time to be able to really be on the edge of your seat to get every word that comes out of the priest’s mouth and to be as close to God as you can?”

Shortly after taking the job at Notre Dame in December 2021, Freeman, 39, converted to Catholicism. During a media call in September 2022, Freeman called it “a family decision, a personal decision.”

Notre Dame and Ohio State meet in the College Football Playoff National Championship on Monday, January 20, at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.