Buoyed by transfers, Irish knock UGA out of CFP
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Mark Schlabach, ESPN Senior Writer
NEW ORLEANS — Notre Dame‘s 23-10 victory against Georgia in the College Football Playoff Quarterfinal 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 the College Football Playoff 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 by a quarterback in a CFP game, according to ESPN Research, and his 831 rushing yards this season are the 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 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 transfer from South Carolina had been 5-for-9 on such attempts before Thursday.
ESPN’s David Hale contributed to this report.
LOS ANGELES — Veteran forward Evander Kane made his season debut for the Edmonton Oilers in Game 2 of their first-round Stanley Cup playoff series with the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday night.
Defenseman John Klingberg also returned from a lengthy injury absence as the Oilers attempted to even the series.
Kane is a 15-year NHL veteran who hasn’t played for the Oilers since Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final last June. He had surgery last September to repair a sports hernia, and he underwent knee surgery in January.
Kane was slotted on to the Oilers’ second line alongside Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman.
Klingberg hasn’t played since suffering a lower-body injury while blocking a shot March 27 in Seattle. The Swedish veteran signed with Edmonton in January after going unsigned early in the season, but he played in only 11 games while dealing with multiple injuries.
The Oilers are hoping Klingberg can help their blue line, which frequently struggled in the Kings’ 6-5 victory in Game 1.
Jeff Skinner was scratched by the Oilers to make room for Kane. The 15-year NHL veteran forward made his Stanley Cup playoff debut in Game 1, recording an assist.
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Ryan S. Clark
Chris Drury and the New York Rangers agreed to a multiyear contract extension on Wednesday, keeping him at the helm of the team’s hockey operations after missing the playoffs for the first time since the 2020-21 season.
“I am pleased that Chris will continue to lead the Rangers hockey operations in his role as president and general manager,” Madison Square Garden chairman and CEO James Dolan said in a statement. “Over his tenure, Chris has shown passion for the Rangers, relentless work ethic and a tireless pursuit of excellence.
“While we are all disappointed in what transpired this past season, I am confident in his ability to guide this organization to success.”
Drury, 48, took over as general manager and president of hockey operations at the start of the 2021-22 season. The Rangers reached the playoffs in his first three seasons.
His future was one of a few items that remained in question, with the intent that the Rangers would use this offseason to reload in their bid to return to the playoffs. The team also is facing a third coaching search in four seasons after firing Peter Laviolette following his two seasons.
“I am honored to sign this contract extension and continue in this position with the team I grew up supporting,” said Drury, a former Rangers captain who played four seasons with the team. “As I said when I began in this role nearly four years ago, there isn’t a more special organization in hockey, and I look forward to continuing our work this offseason to help us reach our goals for next season and in the coming years.”
After winning the Presidents’ Trophy and reaching the Eastern Conference finals under Laviolette in the 2023-24 season, the Rangers started 12-4-1 this season, only to lose the next five games. That started a chain reaction of inconsistent play that ultimately led to the Rangers finishing six points out of the final Eastern Conference wild-card spot.
While the Rangers sought to make the playoffs, Drury also made it known they were open for business in December. That’s when they traded captain Jacob Trouba, who still had a year left on his contract, to the Anaheim Ducks. A few weeks later, they traded Kaapo Kakko, the No. 2 pick in the 2019 NHL draft, to the Seattle Kraken for defenseman Will Borgen, who would then sign an extension with the Rangers.
A month before the trade deadline, the Rangers reacquired J.T. Miller in a trade with the Vancouver Canucks. The Rangers also traded defenseman Ryan Lindgren to the Colorado Avalanche and forward Reilly Smith to the Vegas Golden Knights while adding defensemen Carson Soucy in a separate deal with the Canucks.
Still, the Rangers lost four consecutive games in early March before having two three-game losing streaks that further damaged their chances in the Eastern Conference wild-card race.
Now that Drury has a new contract, he’ll be charged with trying to improve a roster that PuckPedia projects will have only $9.67 million in available cap space. K’Andre Miller, Zac Jones and Matt Rempe are part of the club’s eight-player restricted free agent class, while the Rangers have only two unrestricted free agents in Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Calvin de Haan.
Drury will be looking for a coach in what is expected to be a competitive market. Anaheim and Seattle also fired their coaches, and three other teams — Boston, Chicago and Philadelphia — ended the season with interim coaches. The Canucks declined the option on coach Rick Tocchet, but they have offered him a new, more lucrative contract.
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