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ATLANTA — Riley Leonard opened the national championship game with a do-it-all drive that made it appear the Notre Dame quarterback could win the title by himself.
As it turned out, Leonard needed more help. Leonard's two second-half touchdown passes to Jaden Greathouse proved the Fighting Irish were resilient, but the comeback attempt was too late. Greathouse's first scoring catch came late in the third quarter of Ohio State's 34-23 win on Monday night.
Leonard accounted for three touchdowns, passing for 255 yards with two scores. He ran for 40 yards with a touchdown on 17 carries.
Leonard was the workhorse on a monstrous 18-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to open the game. Riley had nine carries for 34 yards, including a 1-yard scoring run, in the drive which lasted 9 minutes, 45 seconds.
Nine carries in one drive? That was half of Riley's season high for carries in a full game. He had 18 carries for 34 yards and a touchdown in Notre Dame's 27-24 Orange Bowl win over Penn State in the College Football Playoff semifinal.
Leonard wasn't complaining about coach Marcus Freeman's plan.
"If coach wants to call my number and have me run the ball every single time, I've got no problem with it," Leonard said.
Freeman knew he couldn't keep asking his quarterback to handle so many carries.
"We couldn't run Riley every play," Freeman said. "It's not right for Riley and it's not going to sustain the success we needed offensively."
Following the touchdown run to cap the opening drive, Riley pointed to "Matthew 23:12" on his wristband. The scripture reads "Whoever exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be exalted."
Riley may have been indicating it was time for the Fighting Irish to be exalted. Instead, Notre Dame's proud defense couldn't stop Ohio State quarterback Will Howard and running back Quinshon Judkins.
The Fighting Irish couldn't keep up with the the Buckeyes without more support. Ohio State led 21-7 at halftime as Leonard's teammates combined for only eight yards on six carries. Meanwhile, Leonard passed for only 46 yards in the half.
When Judkins' 70-yard run set up his 1-yard scoring run for a 28-7 lead, Leonard and the Fighting Irish faced a formidable deficit that couldn't be addressed on more quarterback keepers.
The three-touchdown deficit left Notre Dame in a state of desperation. An incomplete pass on a fake punt on the first possession of the second half gave the Buckeyes the ball at the Notre Dame 33, only adding to the grim outlook.
Notre Dame trailed 31-7 before finally scoring their first points since the opening drive on Greathouse's 34-yard touchdown catch from Leonard with 3:03 remaining in the third quarter. Greathouse added a 30-yard scoring catch with 4:15 remaining. The Fighting Irish's second 2-point conversion left them within eight points, but Howard's 57-yard pass to Jeremiah Smith with 2 minutes remaining sank the comeback attempt.
Leonard blamed himself for the failure to complete the comeback.
"Everything was just clicking," Leonard said of the drives which produced touchdown passes to Greathouse. "The next couple of drives maybe I got relaxed a little bit and I can't let that happen."
Notre Dame (14-2) saw its 13-game winning streak end. The Fighting Irish are still searching for their first national championship since 1988. Coach Marcus Freeman was denied in his attempt to become the first African American coach to capture a title.
Charles Jagusah was Notre Dame's fill-in starter at left tackle. Jagusah made only his second career start as Anthonie Knapp was held out with a high ankle sprain. Jagusah missed the regular season with a torn right pectoralis muscle before returning for the postseason.
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