Buoyed by transfers, Irish knock UGA out of CFP

NEW ORLEANS — Notre Dame‘s 23-10 victory against Georgia in a College Football Playoff quarterfinal game at the Allstate Sugar Bowl on Thursday might have been a 60-minute informercial on how to effectively use the transfer portal.

Nearly a half-dozen transfers who joined the No. 7 Fighting Irish before the 2024 season helped them capture one of their biggest victories in decades against the No. 2 Bulldogs. It was Notre Dame’s 13th win of the season, the most in program history, and it snapped an eight-game losing streak in BCS/New Year’s Six bowl games.

The Irish couldn’t have knocked off the Bulldogs without transfers such as quarterback Riley Leonard, defensive end RJ Oben, kick returner Jayden Harrison, receiver Beaux Collins and kicker Mitch Jeter, who made big play after big play at Caesar’s Superdome.

Notre Dame advanced to play No. 6 Penn State in a CFP semifinal at the Capital One Orange Bowl on Jan. 9.

“I see the work they put in, and I’ve seen their process they’ve gone through, and I’m just so proud of them to see them come up big,” Irish linebacker Jack Kiser said. “There’s a ton of firsts this year. It’s been an awesome ride. But it just shows that we’ve earned one more and we’re excited for that guaranteed opportunity to come, and we’re not going to take anything for granted. We’re going to seize the opportunity.”

Leonard, who played three seasons at Duke before transferring for his senior season, essentially carried the Fighting Irish offense on his back. He threw for 90 yards with one touchdown on 15-for-24 passing and ran 14 times for 80 yards.

“They’re a very physical group,” Leonard said. “They brought a lot of pressure today, but I think we handled it pretty well and stayed behind the chains early in the game, and then kind of figured it out a little bit. I was struggling in the passing game, but, shoot, that opens up the run game. And we were able to utilize our abilities and execute when it mattered.”

Leonard’s rushing total was the fourth-highest in a CFP game, according to ESPN Research, and his 831 rushing yards this season are second-most in a season by a Notre Dame quarterback (Tony Rice had 884 in 1989).

Several of Leonard’s biggest runs against Georgia came on third down, and he lowered his shoulder to convert a few of them.

Oben, Leonard’s former Duke teammate, turned in the biggest defensive play of the game. With the Fighting Irish leading 6-3 late in the first half, Oben sacked Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton from his blind side and caused him to fumble.

Irish defensive tackle Junior Tuihalamaka recovered the ball at the Georgia 13 with 33 seconds left in the half. On the next play, Leonard threw a 13-yard touchdown to Collins, a transfer receiver from Clemson.

Oben, a senior from Montclair, New Jersey, didn’t have a sack in his first season at Notre Dame before Thursday. He had piled up 14 in the previous three seasons at Duke.

“It’s been amazing,” Oben said. “Things haven’t always gone the way I wanted them to, but this is the reason I came here, and I’m so happy to go through this experience with my team. I know Riley can take this team as far as it can go, and I’m so glad we’ve been able to keep playing together.”

Oben moved into the starting lineup against Georgia after senior Rylie Mills suffered a season-ending knee injury in a 27-17 win over Indiana in a CFP first-round game on Dec. 20.

“These guys don’t always control the amount of plays they get,” Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said. “Those are determined by your coaching staff in terms of what they need out of your role for this game. RJ is a guy that no matter what the role is that’s determined for him, he puts everything into it.

“And when you have that mindset and you have that work ethic, good things like what happened today happen to you. And if you’re sitting here and complaining about why you’re not playing more than the next guy, then you know what? You’re not putting everything into making the most out of your opportunity.”

Harrison, a Marshall transfer, helped the Irish put the Bulldogs in an even deeper hole when he returned the second-half kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown.

It was the longest kickoff return in the postseason in Notre Dame history and the second longest in Sugar Bowl history. Florida’s Andre Debose had a 100-yard return in a 33-23 victory against Louisville in 2013.

“The whole journey has been a blessing, and things happen for a reason,” said Harrison, who was second in the FBS with a 30.7-yard average on kickoff returns at Marshall last season. “We’re all in this together. Georgia was a great team, but my guys executed play after play after play.”

Jeter converted all three of his field goal attempts, each one from longer than 40 yards. The one-time South Carolina transfer had been 5-for-9 on such attempts before Thursday.