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Riley Leonard's 'Faith' Comments Stir Strong Reactions Before Ohio State-Notre Dame Title Game

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | Last updated Jan 16, 2025 11:54 AM ET

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Ohio State Buckeyes are getting prepared for the biggest game of their season on Monday night in the national championship down in Atlanta. For just about every player on the field, it will be the biggest game of their young careers.

Fighting Irish quarterback Riley Leonard recently spoke out about the upcoming game, and what has helped his team get as far as they have this year.

"We're the two main teams to just publicly display our faith the most," Leonard said about Notre Dame and Ohio State. "I truly believe that Jesus was looking over both our shoulders throughout the season & put these two teams on a pedestal for a reason."

While it's a great sentiment, Leonard has been the subject of some jokes on social media for his suggestion that faith is the only reason that these two teams got to the championship game.

While that may have been a part of it, depending on what you believe in, there are also a number of other factors that undoubtedly played a part.

Here's how fans reacted to his comments

Per Riley Leonard, the Lord Jesus Christ was actively working against 14 of Notre Dame’s opponents this year, but is also a massive Northern Illinois fan. https://t.co/blAiuNU6xx
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) January 16, 2025

Jesus deciding who should win the national title game: https://t.co/kEeAq0lnc8 pic.twitter.com/0p9lnjDrmZ
— College Sports Only (@CollegeSportsO) January 16, 2025

Why does Jesus hate Pitt https://t.co/FCembHINXY
— The Loyal Sons (@TheLoyalSons) January 16, 2025

Jesus couldn’t block NIU’s d-line I guess https://t.co/koFlQEK2ku
— nick (@burziyech) January 16, 2025

the way some of these athletes talk about God you would think the Good Lord is watching the all-22 and dialing up combo blocks https://t.co/NpYgtvirVe
— Deablo fan account (@DeferredWalkOn) January 16, 2025

I If only there was an app to track Jesus's parlays on Draft Kings https://t.co/pGkqWgtNj6
— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) January 16, 2025

Notre Dame is a Catholic school that has always been very faith-oriented, so it comes as no shock that Leonard is this outward about his belief while playing at a school that shares the same ideals.

We will see how that helps him on Monday night against an Ohio State defense that is among the very best in the nation with the biggest game of the year on the line.

The game is set to kick off at 7:30 p.m. ET and will be aired on ESPN.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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