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We’re more than halfway through August, and teams are making a statement in the MLB playoff races ahead of the final stretch.

Have the Yankees surpassed the Red Sox in our rankings? Are the surging Braves finally in the top 10? Who’s on top in the seemingly eternal battle between the Dodgers and Giants?

Here is what our eight-voter expert panel decided based on what they have learned over the course of the 2021 season so far. We also asked ESPN baseball experts David Schoenfield, Bradford Doolittle, Joon Lee, Jesse Rogers and Alden Gonzalez to weigh in with one Week 19 observation based on what they have seen recently for all 30 teams.

Previous rankings: Week 18 | Week 17 | Week 16 | Week 15 | Week 14 | Week 13 | Week 12 | Week 11 | Week 10 | Week 9 | Week 8 | Week 7 | Week 6 | Week 5 | Week 4 | Week 3 | Week 2 | Week 1 | Opening Day


Record: 78-43
Previous ranking: 2

Based on their projections heading into the season and the general outlook of their roster, some thought that the Giants might fade down the stretch. Instead, they might be playing their best baseball through what is typically considered the “dog days” of August. Through the first 17 days of the month, the Giants had won 13 of 16 and had outscored teams by a combined 30 runs, boasting a .782 OPS and a 3.06 ERA. The Dodgers are providing a lot of pressure, but the Giants continue to maintain their distance. — Gonzalez


Record: 75-46
Previous ranking: 1

While the Dodgers wait for Mookie Betts’ troublesome right hip to heal, they can take solace in witnessing much-needed signs of improvement from the previously struggling Cody Bellinger. Bellinger began August with a .163/.263/.285 slash line and five home runs in 48 games. In his first 13 games since, he batted .255/.300/.617 with four home runs. He’s not at his MVP level yet, but he seems to be inching closer. And the Dodgers, boosted by the addition of Trea Turner, don’t necessarily need an MVP-caliber performance from Bellinger. They just need a productive one. — Gonzalez


Record: 74-47
Previous ranking: 3

Watch out for Wander Franco who’s heating up at the plate, hitting .288/.344/.559 with three homers, 14 RBIs and 12 runs in his last 15 games. In an effort to add depth to the pitching staff, Tampa Bay added former Yankees closer David Robertson on a minor league deal. Robertson will report to Triple-A Durham with a chance to join the division-leader Rays ahead of the playoff stretch. — Lee


Record: 70-50
Previous ranking: 4

In some respects, this year’s Astros have been something of an enigma. Overall, the quality of the team is clear. Houston has a top-five winning percentage and only the Dodgers have a better run differential. On top of that, only San Diego has a better mark against teams at .500 or better, with Houston going 37-25 thus far. But that’s where the enigma starts: The Astros are 33-24 against sub.-500 teams, which is the worst winning percentage among contending teams. In a tightly-packed AL playoff race, there are six teams who can reasonably harbor hopes of landing the eventual top seed in October. All of them, other than Houston, are at least 13 games over .500 against losing teams. To list them: Tampa Bay (39-15), Chicago (52-29), Oakland (46-19), New York (31-18) and Boston (29-16). The good news for the Astros? There won’t be any losing teams in the AL playoff bracket.— Doolittle


Record: 74-47
Previous ranking: 6

The Brewers’ offense has been trending in the right direction for a while now. It came together in a huge series sweep against the Cubs and hasn’t slowed down much since. Milwaukee was the only team in baseball with an OPS over 1.000 over the past seven days. Their final month will mostly be about prepping for the postseason where their trio of All-Star starting pitchers (Freddy Peralta, Brandon Woodruff and Corbin Burnes) will lead them. Rest may be in order for some next month. — Rogers


Record: 71-50
Previous ranking: 5

Eloy Jimenez made his return to the White Sox lineup with his season debut on July 26. Up to that point, Chicago ranked fifth in runs per game, sixth in average and second in on-base percentage. They ranked just 25th in home runs and 27th in runs via the home run. Since Jimenez’s return, the White Sox have added additional longball threats to the mix like trade acquisition Cesar Hernandez and injury returnee Luis Robert. But since Jimenez’ debut, Chicago has ranked 11th in runs per game, 21st in average and 19th in on-base percentage. They have also ranked fourth in homers and first in runs via the home run. None of this is to lay anything at the feet of Jimenez, who has been terrific since coming back. It’s more to suggest at some point before the postseason, Chicago might want to blend some of the diversity of their pre-August offense with some of the firepower of what they’ve done lately.— Doolittle


Record: 68-53
Previous ranking: 8

The injury to Chris Bassitt after he was struck in the face by a line drive could have significant implications to this Oakland team. Bassitt has been one of the team’s best pitchers this year, posting a 3.22 ERA in 25 games and 151 innings pitched. Starling Marte continues to look like one of the best trade deadline acquisitions, hitting .365/.405/.500 since the trade deadline with two homers and 11 stolen bases without being caught stealing.— Lee


Record: 69-54
Previous ranking: 10

Chris Sale made his return from Tommy John surgery and went five innings, allowing six hits and two runs. With Boston continuing to struggle, the team will depend on his arm down the stretch to push them toward the playoffs. Kyle Schwarber also made his debut for Boston, going 2-for-4 with a run and two doubles. Each loss widens the gap between Boston and the first-place Tampa Bay Rays as the resurgent Yankees continue to inch back up the standings, and the Red Sox lineup rotation and lineup hope Sale and Schwarber can each provide the spark they need. — Lee


Record: 69-52
Previous ranking: 11

The momentum is on the side of the Yankees, who have been surging since their acquisitions at the trade deadline with series wins over the Kansas City Royals, Chicago White Sox and division rival Boston Red Sox. Luis Gil continues to ride a wave of success in the Yankee rotation, going 4.2 innings against Boston in his third start, allowing three hits while walking and striking out four batters apiece. Through three starts, Gil hasn’t allowed a run in 15.2 innings pitched.— Lee


Record: 67-56
Previous ranking: 7

The Padres are slipping fast, having lost seven of their last eight games to the Marlins, Diamondbacks and Rockies, owners of three of the 10 worst records in the sport. The Padres, coming off a three-game sweep at Coors Field, are a combined 17-18 against the Rockies and Diamondbacks this season, two teams they needed to take advantage of in what is otherwise a brutal National League West. Fernando Tatis Jr. is back — as an outfielder — but the Padres are down to three healthy starters in Joe Musgrove, Blake Snell and Ryan Weathers. — Gonzalez


Record: 65-56
Previous ranking: 13

The power-hitting infield has led the surge over .500 and into first place. All four infielders have a chance to reach 30 home runs, which has never happened. The only team with all four of its primary infielders to reach even 25 home runs were the 2008 Marlins (Mike Jacobs, Dan Uggla, Hanley Ramirez, Jorge Cantu). The season record for an infield is 139 home runs by the 2019 Astros, and the Braves are on pace for 135. — Schoenfield


Record: 63-56
Previous ranking: 9

Toronto hits a critical stretch of games with their season, with 11 of their next 15 games against the Nationals, Tigers and Orioles, providing an opportunity to beat up on some of the worst teams in the sport and keep pace with the Rays, Yankees and Red Sox. The team’s success since the return of outfielder George Springer creates wonder about how good the team could’ve been had the All-Star outfielder remained healthy the entire season. It bodes well for an improving young team in the years to come. — Lee


Record: 65-57
Previous ranking: 12

The series loss to the Cubs hurt, but it wasn’t season-burying partly because the San Diego Padres aren’t playing great baseball. The two teams are vying for the second wild card position. Cincinnati is improving on the mound but their strength continues to be the top of their order. Having said that, it was outfielder Tyler Naquin who led them last week hitting over .400. Add him to the Jonathan India, Jesse Winker, Nick Castellanos and Joey Votto foursome and the Reds might just hit their way to the postseason. — Rogers


Record: 61-59
Previous ranking: 14

Bryce Harper continues to make a run into the MVP discussion, although Fernando Tatis Jr.’s return keeps him as the favorite. Harper is hitting .306/.453/.816 with six home runs in August heading into Wednesday, and he now leads the NL in OPS. People will point to the low RBI total (50), although Harper has hit with just 212 runners on base compared to the MLB average of 248 with his number of plate appearances. — Schoenfield


Record: 61-58
Previous ranking: 19

The Cardinals have been holding out hope that face-to-face meetings with the Milwaukee Brewers would make a difference. It won’t. Their only real hope is the wild card, and with the return of Jack Flaherty, they may have an outside shot. Flaherty pitched six scoreless innings against the Kansas City Royals in his first action since May. That’s a great sign for the stretch run. — Rogers


Record: 65-56
Previous ranking: 16

Heading into Wednesday’s game, the Mariners’ starters had a 2.83 ERA in August — best in the AL. Trade deadline acquisition Tyler Anderson has a 2.91 ERA in his four starts with Seattle, issuing just two walks in 21.2 innings. A positive sign for Jarred Kelenic: He has cut his strikeout rate to 14.8% in 15 games in August, down from 32.2% prior to that. Down on the farm: George Kirby and Emerson Hancock were promoted to Double-A (and Kirby currently ranks as Baseball America’s No. 11 prospect, with Julio Rodriguez and Noelvi Marte in the top 10). — Schoenfield


Record: 60-60
Previous ranking: 15

Tuesday’s loss dropped the Mets to 59-60, which is their first time under .500 since they were 12-13. That loss dropped them to 4-12 in August and 5-14 over their past 19 games. Mets owner Steve Cohen is getting upset. “It’s hard to understand how professional hitters can be this unproductive. The best teams have a more disciplined approach. The slugging and OPS numbers don’t lie.” Oh, Steve, you thought owning a major league team would be more fun, didn’t you? — Schoenfield


Record: 58-61
Previous ranking: 17

After struggling to find his footing early in the season at the big-league level, lately rookie righty Triston McKenzie has looked like Cleveland’s latest successful pitching development story. This was true even before his run at a perfect game at Detroit last weekend, but that masterpiece (91 game score) put his gains on full display. McKenzie still needs to refine his command, as he too often misses in the middle of the plate and gets barreled up more than you’d like to see. But his control — getting the ball over the plate at all — has jumped up a tier or two. Overall, McKenzie had a 5.47 ERA with a 32% strikeout rate and a 19% rate of walks before the All-Star break. Since then, the strikeouts have dropped to 22%, but the walks have nearly disappeared, down to 4%. More importantly, McKenzie’s trajectory seems to be trending upward, and his progress gives Cleveland fans something to root for as the club plays out the string.— Doolittle


Record: 61-61
Previous ranking: 18

Anthony Rendon underwent season-ending surgery to repair a troublesome hip recently — a development that suddenly makes the $188 million remaining on his contract feel a little dicey — but we also have some good news: Mike Trout is back to doing on-field workouts and seems to be on a path towards potentially returning to play. Trout was putting together another MVP-caliber season before a right calf strain sent him to the injured list on May 17. After a recent setback, it would’ve been easy for him to give up on the season, given the Angels’ place in the standings, but he badly wants to play. And baseball is better for it. — Gonzalez


Record: 58-64
Previous ranking: 20

When Miguel Cabrera becomes the 28th big leaguer to reach 500 career home runs, he’ll be the first to do so while playing for the Tigers. That’s a bit surprising for a franchise that’s been around for 121 years and toiled for much of that time at homer-friendly Tiger Stadium. The only other players that have reached 500 homers and played for the Tigers at any point were Eddie Mathews and Gary Sheffield, and both came close to hitting No. 500 during their time with the Tigers. Mathews hit 493 homers for the Braves, then ended up with the Astros, for whom he hit No. 500 in 1967. He then finished with Detroit, hitting his last nine dingers to end up at 512. Sheffield was even closer: He had clubbed 455 homers for six teams before ending up with the Tigers in 2007. He then added 44 homers to that total over two seasons in Detroit — leaving him at 499. Sheffield hit 10 homers, including No. 500, for the Mets during his final season in 2009, finishing at 509. The Tigers’ franchise record for homers is 399 by Al Kaline. Cabrera was sitting at 361 while awaiting his milestone longball, with his first 138 coming during his years with the Marlins.— Doolittle


Record: 51-70
Previous ranking: 22

The Marlins averaged 21,662 fans for a three-game series against the Yankees at the end of July. They drew less than 10,000 fans for all four games against the Mets, and the first two games of the Atlanta series drew under 7,000. The COVID outbreak in Florida isn’t helping. They also drew under 10,000 for games against the Dodgers and Padres in early July. Oh, Derek, you thought owning a major league team would be more fun, didn’t you? — Schoenfield


Record: 54-67
Previous ranking: 26

In a preseason outlook for the Minnesota Twins, who featured an everyday lineup that would include the likes of Nelson Cruz, Miguel Sano, Max Kepler, Byron Buxton and Josh Donaldson, who could have guessed that we reach the latter stages of August and the team’s home-run leader would be … Jorge Polanco? This says more about the Twins than Polanco, who is one homer shy of his career-high of 21 in 2019. Still, there’s no doubt that the underrated Polanco has established himself as one of the game’s better middle infield bats. The standard setter in Senators/Twins history for middle infield homers is Brian Dozier, who had a three-year run of 28, 42 and 34 homers, respectively, from 2015 to 2017. Beyond Dozier, the only Twins shortstop and/or second baseman to surpass Polanco in a season are Roy Smalley (24 in 1979) and Jonathan Schoop (23, 2019).— Doolittle


Record: 55-66
Previous ranking: 21

The Rockies could be a juggernaut if they never left Coors Field. No, seriously. On the road, they’re a ghastly 14-45 with a minus-119 run differential. At home, where they just completed a sweep of the Padres, they’re 41-21 and have combined to outscore teams by 74 runs. That is a stunning home-road split, to say the least, but it is not without explanation, given the significant difference in conditions when playing home games at high altitude. It’ll be up to the new head of baseball operations — whoever that is — to figure out how to make up that gap. — Gonzalez


Record: 52-68
Previous ranking: 23

Tuesday’s win temporarily halted a 1-12 skid, but this is a terrible baseball team right now. Since Max Scherzer beat the Phillies 3-1 in the first game of a doubleheader on July 29, the Nationals have a 6.11 ERA and have allowed five or more runs 14 times in 18 games (heading into Wednesday). — Schoenfield


Record: 52-67
Previous ranking: 25

During his minor-league career, Nicky Lopez looked like a bat-on-ball maestro who might carve out a niche at the highest level as a high-contact, patient hitter who would add value with his glove and on the basepaths. Alas, he spent much of his first two seasons with the big club in Kansas City looking like someone simply overwhelmed by big-league pitching. This season has been different, as Lopez now looks like a quality utility player, at worst, and possibly even a semi-regular starter in the middle infield. While his lack of power will always be an issue, Lopez’s contact skills have finally manifested against big-league pitching, as his 2021 contract rate (85%) rates in the 93rd percentile of all qualifying hitters. He’s also filled in admirably at shortstop during the extended absence of Adalberto Mondesi and looks like he’ll be a plus defender no matter where you plug him in on the infield. And as for the basepaths: Lopez was just 1 for 7 in steal attempts before this season. In 2021, he’s a perfect 13 for 13.— Doolittle


Record: 54-69
Previous ranking: 24

Tryouts are well underway for next season with one player jokingly calling it ‘Game of Thrones’-esque. May the best men win jobs. The unfortunate part is the Cubs aren’t sending top prospects out to play, mostly older retreads from other organizations. They finally won a series in beating the Reds as the one bright spot of the season. Kyle Hendricks won his league-leading 14th game of the year. — Rogers


Record: 42-78
Previous ranking: 27

Texas played the spoiler role over the weekend in a series win against Oakland. They scored 15 runs in winning two games, something that’s been lacking since the trade of Joey Gallo to the Yankees. Reliever Joe Barlow has been a nice find this season as he’s produced a 0.61 ERA in 16 games to go along with two saves — both coming against the A’s. — Rogers


Record: 42-79
Previous ranking: 28

Considering how poorly the Cubs are playing, the Pirates actually have a shot at getting out of the cellar of the NL Central before season’s end. It may not be their true motivation as the Pirates have to rely on high draft picks — not free agency — to improve their team. Building around rookie Ke’Bryan Hayes is the best Pittsburgh can hope for right now. — Rogers


Record: 40-81
Previous ranking: 30

The D-backs’ miserable, tough-luck season received a much-needed feel-good moment on Saturday night, when Tyler GIlbert — a 27-year-old making his first major league start, who was originally acquired in the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft — threw a no-hitter against the mighty Padres. Gilbert only recorded five strikeouts and allowed 10 batted balls that traveled 95 mph or harder. But as D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said: “We were at the right place at the right time. And made plays. And it equaled a no-hitter.” The D-backs will certainly take it. — Gonzalez


Record: 38-81
Previous ranking: 29

Baltimore finds itself in the middle of a 13-game losing streak and sole claim to the worst record in baseball. As the rebuild continues, the Orioles moved to the top of the FanGraphs farm systems rankings, but whether or not it was worth it will depend on how those prospects eventually blossom at the major league level. Cedric Mullins continues his reign as not only the team’s best player, but among the best in the entire sport. — Lee

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How a Sugar Bowl scramble exemplified the best of Riley Leonard at Notre Dame

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How a Sugar Bowl scramble exemplified the best of Riley Leonard at Notre Dame

The easiest way to understand why quarterback Riley Leonard has Notre Dame on the verge of its first national title game in more than a decade is to watch him run.

Really, any run will do. But perhaps the best — or at least, most recent — example is the run on third-and-7 with 5:53 left in the Allstate Sugar Bowl. The Irish were nursing a 23-10 lead, chewing up the final minutes in a game of keep-away, and Leonard needed a conversion. He took the snap, took a half-step forward, then tucked the ball and darted outside. He slid out of a tackle behind the line with a stiff-arm, then outran a defender to the perimeter. At the line to gain, he met Georgia star Malaki Starks head-on. Starks went low. Leonard leaped — flew almost — in a head-first jailbreak for the marker.

Leonard soared over Starks, landed 3 yards beyond the line-to-gain, popped up with the ball in his hand and signaled for the first down.

The crowd went wild. His teammates went wild. Leonard, the kid from a little town in southwest Alabama, at least reached something close to wild.

“Everybody keeps telling me to stop doing that,” Leonard said of the hard run. “I did it. And it worked out. But we’re in the playoffs, so it’s like — put your butt on the line.”

Notre Dame’s drive ate another four minutes off the clock, and after stuffing Georgia on downs, the Irish celebrated a Sugar Bowl win — their biggest victory in more than 30 years. Now, their next biggest game is a date with Penn State in the playoff semifinals on Thursday in the Capital One Orange Bowl (7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN).

Notre Dame is here for many reasons, but perhaps the biggest one is Leonard’s drive to win at all costs. Not that anyone doubted Leonard’s competitiveness when he arrived at Notre Dame in January as an injured transfer from Duke. But what he has shown in the past three months since the Irish last lost a football game — a loss Leonard took full responsibility for — is that he’ll put his butt, his shoulder, his head and anything else he needs to on the line if it means winning a football game.

“It’s in his DNA,” said offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock. “I knew he was a competitive guy. That’s a strong trait we knew he had. But it’s so much greater than I’d imagined. He’s a winner, and he brings people around him to his level. And I think that’s the biggest compliment you can give a quarterback.”

Those runs like the Sugar Bowl scramble are the height of playoff football, but Leonard has been doing this since he was young. He played some wide receiver growing up, and he loved going across the middle. He torments defenders at practice, teammate RJ Oben said, because he’ll run hard even wearing a noncontact jersey. He played baseball, too, and his father, Chad, jokes that Riley knew how to slide feet-first then, but he refuses to do it on the football field.

“I hold my breath waiting for him to get up,” said Heather Leonard, his mother, “but when they need something, he’s always going to get it.”

It’s the dichotomy of Riley’s approach. He is overlooked, polite, smiley and understated, and yet at the same time he’s utterly driven to win at a level even other players find hard to capture.

Perhaps that’s the secret to those runs. He’s underestimated, and he’s relentless.

“I don’t understand why I’m hard to tackle, honestly,” Leonard said. “I don’t have very good juke moves. I’m very tall. Not intimidating, at least on the field. But guys just miss.”

Plenty of people missed on Leonard coming out of high school.

Back in Fairhope, Alabama, he played football and baseball, but basketball was his passion. College basketball was the dream until COVID-19 hit and scuttled Leonard’s best opportunities to impress college recruiters. That’s when he started to seriously consider football as an alternative. Turns out, one of his coaches was pals with former Duke coach David Cutcliffe, who liked what he saw in Leonard. Duke was Leonard’s only FBS scholarship offer.

Leonard’s first college start came on Nov. 13, 2021. It was 17 degrees in Blacksburg, Virginia. Winds swirled, and the crowd was ferocious. Leonard was so out of sorts, he forgot his mouthguard leaving the locker room, then amid the team’s run onto the field for kickoff, he turned and retreated, pushing his way through a sea of charging teammates to retrieve it, like an overwhelmed performer retreating from the stage.

Leonard threw for just 84 yards in that game. Three weeks later, Cutcliffe was fired at Duke after the team finished 3-9. Mike Elko arrived for 2022, and Leonard opened fall camp that year in the midst of a QB competition, which he narrowly won before the opener.

He won that game. Then another. And he kept on winning.

Duke finished 2022 a surprising 9-4, Leonard started gaining legitimate attention from NFL scouts, and after upending Clemson in the 2023 opener, the attention reached a fever pitch.

None of it fazed the kid from Fairhope.

Back in his high school days, he began a tradition with his mom. He wanted to avoid the pitfalls of success and stay grounded in the work, so he asked her to text him with the same message before every game: “You suck.” He now wears a green wristband with the same words. Leonard’s biggest fear has always been forgetting how hard it is to win. Appreciating the difficulty is his secret weapon.

Football delivered another reminder of its fickle nature just as the wave of Riley-mania reached its zenith in Durham. Duke was 4-0, and Leonard had the Blue Devils on the brink of a program-defining win over Notre Dame. But the Irish broke a late run to take the lead, Leonard injured his ankle in a failed comeback attempt, and over the next eight months, he struggled to get back on the field, endured three surgeries, and ultimately transferred to South Bend, joining the program that had effectively ended his miraculous run at Duke.

For Leonard, Notre Dame represented a chance to finish his college career at a level that might have seemed unimaginable when it began.

“I wanted an opportunity to reach my potential as a player,” he said. “I’m at a point in my career now where I have the most confidence in my game. I understand this offense probably more than any offense I’ve ever been in.”

It didn’t start out that way though.

Notre Dame opened its season with a hard-fought win over Texas A&M, but one in which Leonard and the offense struggled to move the ball through the air. A week later, the one-dimensional attack proved costly. Northern Illinois‘ defense utterly flummoxed Leonard, and the Huskies stunned Notre Dame 16-14. It was arguably the biggest upset of the college football season, and any hopes for the playoff were on life support.

That version of Riley Leonard looked lost.

“I don’t even think I’d recognize the player that was playing earlier on in the season,” he said recently.

Leonard isn’t into making excuses, but he had missed all of spring practice and much of the summer. He simply hadn’t had enough reps with his new team. He was frustrated — even if he rarely let it show, Heather said.

“That was one of the hardest weeks of his life,” Heather said. “It definitely took a toll on him, but he also knew he had to move on.”

Leonard promised his team he’d be better. He took the blame for the loss, and he assured his teammates he’d approach the rest of the season the same way he does those third-down runs. He would leave nothing in the tank.

“He took it on his shoulders,” said tight end Mitchell Evans. “You could see it in the way he practices, his mindset, his confidence — he has grown in a remarkable way. That’s what you have to do to be the Notre Dame quarterback.”

After four games, Leonard had yet to throw a touchdown pass in a Notre Dame uniform.

But in the 10 games since, Leonard has completed 68% of his throws, has an 81.1 Total QBR, and has 17 touchdown passes to just four picks. And the 13-1 Irish haven’t lost again.

“Riley has shaken off the ‘he’s just a runner’ thing people were saying about him,” said tailback Jeremiyah Love, “and we’re more explosive in the passing game. The running game is better than it was, and the offensive line has come together. We’re way better now.”

And so what if it was still a run — a hard, physical, acrobatic run — that served as Leonard’s highlight in Notre Dame’s biggest win of the year? He was hurting after the NIU loss because he felt like he had let his team down, but he had never listened to any of the criticism about his arm. He said he doesn’t care how he’s perceived.

“The moment I start to say I need to throw this many yards or score this many touchdowns is when I get off track,” he said. “My job is to win the football game however that may look.”

He is two victories away from claiming his place among the greatest winners in the history of one of college football’s most storied programs. That’s a long way from the basketball courts in Fairhope.

But Leonard has never paid much attention to how far off his destination might seem. He likes to dream big, and if there are obstacles in his way, well, Georgia’s defenders found out how that goes.

The one thing that has changed in the waning moments of his unlikely college football career is Leonard is trying to take some time to reflect.

“I don’t think I would’ve written the story any differently,” Leonard said. “It’s cool now to go back and look at it. I don’t really do that too often, but I’m very proud of the person I’ve grown into.”

He still hasn’t watched film from that NIU game, but he said he will once the year’s over, because it’s a moment he now cherishes, one that helped him get to where he is now. It’s supposed to be difficult, he said. That’s what makes it fun.

“I try to remind myself to appreciate it — like, you’re living your dream,” he said. “I don’t want to live my dream and then end up thinking you shouldn’t have taken that for granted. But moments like these make me appreciate it.”

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How a Sugar Bowl scramble exemplified the best of Riley Leonard at Notre Dame

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How a Sugar Bowl scramble exemplified the best of Riley Leonard at Notre Dame

The easiest way to understand why quarterback Riley Leonard has Notre Dame on the verge of its first national title game in more than a decade is to watch him run.

Really, any run will do. But perhaps the best — or at least, most recent — example is the run on third-and-7 with 5:53 left in the Allstate Sugar Bowl. The Irish were nursing a 23-10 lead, chewing up the final minutes in a game of keep-away, and Leonard needed a conversion. He took the snap, took a half-step forward, then tucked the ball and darted outside. He slid out of a tackle behind the line with a stiff-arm, then outran a defender to the perimeter. At the line to gain, he met Georgia star Malaki Starks head-on. Starks went low. Leonard leaped — flew almost — in a head-first jailbreak for the marker.

Leonard soared over Starks, landed 3 yards beyond the line-to-gain, popped up with the ball in his hand and signaled for the first down.

The crowd went wild. His teammates went wild. Leonard, the kid from a little town in southwest Alabama, at least reached something close to wild.

“Everybody keeps telling me to stop doing that,” Leonard said of the hard run. “I did it. And it worked out. But we’re in the playoffs, so it’s like — put your butt on the line.”

Notre Dame’s drive ate another four minutes off the clock, and after stuffing Georgia on downs, the Irish celebrated a Sugar Bowl win — their biggest victory in more than 30 years. Now, their next biggest game is a date with Penn State in the playoff semifinals on Thursday in the Capital One Orange Bowl (7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN).

Notre Dame is here for many reasons, but perhaps the biggest one is Leonard’s drive to win at all costs. Not that anyone doubted Leonard’s competitiveness when he arrived at Notre Dame in January as an injured transfer from Duke. But what he has shown in the past three months since the Irish last lost a football game — a loss Leonard took full responsibility for — is that he’ll put his butt, his shoulder, his head and anything else he needs to on the line if it means winning a football game.

“It’s in his DNA,” said offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock. “I knew he was a competitive guy. That’s a strong trait we knew he had. But it’s so much greater than I’d imagined. He’s a winner, and he brings people around him to his level. And I think that’s the biggest compliment you can give a quarterback.”

Those runs like the Sugar Bowl scramble are the height of playoff football, but Leonard has been doing this since he was young. He played some wide receiver growing up, and he loved going across the middle. He torments defenders at practice, teammate RJ Oben said, because he’ll run hard even wearing a noncontact jersey. He played baseball, too, and his father, Chad, jokes that Riley knew how to slide feet-first then, but he refuses to do it on the football field.

“I hold my breath waiting for him to get up,” said Heather Leonard, his mother, “but when they need something, he’s always going to get it.”

It’s the dichotomy of Riley’s approach. He is overlooked, polite, smiley and understated, and yet at the same time he’s utterly driven to win at a level even other players find hard to capture.

Perhaps that’s the secret to those runs. He’s underestimated, and he’s relentless.

“I don’t understand why I’m hard to tackle, honestly,” Leonard said. “I don’t have very good juke moves. I’m very tall. Not intimidating, at least on the field. But guys just miss.”

Plenty of people missed on Leonard coming out of high school.

Back in Fairhope, Alabama, he played football and baseball, but basketball was his passion. College basketball was the dream until COVID-19 hit and scuttled Leonard’s best opportunities to impress college recruiters. That’s when he started to seriously consider football as an alternative. Turns out, one of his coaches was pals with former Duke coach David Cutcliffe, who liked what he saw in Leonard. Duke was Leonard’s only FBS scholarship offer.

Leonard’s first college start came on Nov. 13, 2021. It was 17 degrees in Blacksburg, Virginia. Winds swirled, and the crowd was ferocious. Leonard was so out of sorts, he forgot his mouthguard leaving the locker room, then amid the team’s run onto the field for kickoff, he turned and retreated, pushing his way through a sea of charging teammates to retrieve it, like an overwhelmed performer retreating from the stage.

Leonard threw for just 84 yards in that game. Three weeks later, Cutcliffe was fired at Duke after the team finished 3-9. Mike Elko arrived for 2022, and Leonard opened fall camp that year in the midst of a QB competition, which he narrowly won before the opener.

He won that game. Then another. And he kept on winning.

Duke finished 2022 a surprising 9-4, Leonard started gaining legitimate attention from NFL scouts, and after upending Clemson in the 2023 opener, the attention reached a fever pitch.

None of it fazed the kid from Fairhope.

Back in his high school days, he began a tradition with his mom. He wanted to avoid the pitfalls of success and stay grounded in the work, so he asked her to text him with the same message before every game: “You suck.” He now wears a green wristband with the same words. Leonard’s biggest fear has always been forgetting how hard it is to win. Appreciating the difficulty is his secret weapon.

Football delivered another reminder of its fickle nature just as the wave of Riley-mania reached its zenith in Durham. Duke was 4-0, and Leonard had the Blue Devils on the brink of a program-defining win over Notre Dame. But the Irish broke a late run to take the lead, Leonard injured his ankle in a failed comeback attempt, and over the next eight months, he struggled to get back on the field, endured three surgeries, and ultimately transferred to South Bend, joining the program that had effectively ended his miraculous run at Duke.

For Leonard, Notre Dame represented a chance to finish his college career at a level that might have seemed unimaginable when it began.

“I wanted an opportunity to reach my potential as a player,” he said. “I’m at a point in my career now where I have the most confidence in my game. I understand this offense probably more than any offense I’ve ever been in.”

It didn’t start out that way though.

Notre Dame opened its season with a hard-fought win over Texas A&M, but one in which Leonard and the offense struggled to move the ball through the air. A week later, the one-dimensional attack proved costly. Northern Illinois‘ defense utterly flummoxed Leonard, and the Huskies stunned Notre Dame 16-14. It was arguably the biggest upset of the college football season, and any hopes for the playoff were on life support.

That version of Riley Leonard looked lost.

“I don’t even think I’d recognize the player that was playing earlier on in the season,” he said recently.

Leonard isn’t into making excuses, but he had missed all of spring practice and much of the summer. He simply hadn’t had enough reps with his new team. He was frustrated — even if he rarely let it show, Heather said.

“That was one of the hardest weeks of his life,” Heather said. “It definitely took a toll on him, but he also knew he had to move on.”

Leonard promised his team he’d be better. He took the blame for the loss, and he assured his teammates he’d approach the rest of the season the same way he does those third-down runs. He would leave nothing in the tank.

“He took it on his shoulders,” said tight end Mitchell Evans. “You could see it in the way he practices, his mindset, his confidence — he has grown in a remarkable way. That’s what you have to do to be the Notre Dame quarterback.”

After four games, Leonard had yet to throw a touchdown pass in a Notre Dame uniform.

But in the 10 games since, Leonard has completed 68% of his throws, has an 81.1 Total QBR, and has 17 touchdown passes to just four picks. And the 13-1 Irish haven’t lost again.

“Riley has shaken off the ‘he’s just a runner’ thing people were saying about him,” said tailback Jeremiyah Love, “and we’re more explosive in the passing game. The running game is better than it was, and the offensive line has come together. We’re way better now.”

And so what if it was still a run — a hard, physical, acrobatic run — that served as Leonard’s highlight in Notre Dame’s biggest win of the year? He was hurting after the NIU loss because he felt like he had let his team down, but he had never listened to any of the criticism about his arm. He said he doesn’t care how he’s perceived.

“The moment I start to say I need to throw this many yards or score this many touchdowns is when I get off track,” he said. “My job is to win the football game however that may look.”

He is two victories away from claiming his place among the greatest winners in the history of one of college football’s most storied programs. That’s a long way from the basketball courts in Fairhope.

But Leonard has never paid much attention to how far off his destination might seem. He likes to dream big, and if there are obstacles in his way, well, Georgia’s defenders found out how that goes.

The one thing that has changed in the waning moments of his unlikely college football career is Leonard is trying to take some time to reflect.

“I don’t think I would’ve written the story any differently,” Leonard said. “It’s cool now to go back and look at it. I don’t really do that too often, but I’m very proud of the person I’ve grown into.”

He still hasn’t watched film from that NIU game, but he said he will once the year’s over, because it’s a moment he now cherishes, one that helped him get to where he is now. It’s supposed to be difficult, he said. That’s what makes it fun.

“I try to remind myself to appreciate it — like, you’re living your dream,” he said. “I don’t want to live my dream and then end up thinking you shouldn’t have taken that for granted. But moments like these make me appreciate it.”

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Can Penn State coach James Franklin win the big one?

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Can Penn State coach James Franklin win the big one?

There’s no sugarcoating it: As Penn State‘s coach, James Franklin owns an abysmal 4-19 record against opponents ranked in the Associated Press top 10 — and is just 3-10 in such games when his team is also in the top 10.

It’s a mark that saw a small but significant boost with Penn State’s resounding 31-14 College Football Playoff quarterfinal win against No. 8-ranked Boise State in the VRBO Fiesta Bowl, but with each step forward in the CFP bracket comes a greater opportunity — and louder doubters about Franklin’s ability to beat the best.

As the Big Ten runner-up and No. 6 seed in the College Football Playoff, the narrative surrounding Penn State was that they had arguably the easiest path to the national title — a home game against overmatched No. 11 seed SMU, followed by a matchup against Mountain West Conference champion and No. 3 seed Boise State. The Nittany Lions outscored their first two playoff opponents by a combined 69-24.

Now Franklin is two wins away from the school’s first national championship since 1986, but in order to win it, he has to do something that has eluded him during most of his career: beat a top-5 team. He is 1-14 at Penn State against AP Top-5 teams, the lone win coming in 2016 against No. 2 Ohio State. By comparison, former Alabama coach Nick Saban (30-16), former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer (14-5) and Georgia coach Kirby Smart (11-7) all have winning records against AP Top-5 opponents, according to ESPN Research. Ohio State coach Ryan Day, though, is 5-6 against them, and former Penn State coach Joe Paterno was 3-12 in his first 15 games against AP Top-5 teams at Penn State.

Franklin is also 0-5 against teams ranked in the top five by the CFP selection committee, and he has lost those games by an average of 20.4 points according to ESPN Research. The Nittany Lions will face Notre Dame (No. 3 AP/No. 5 CFP) on Thursday in a College Football Playoff semifinal at the Capital One Orange Bowl (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) in what is undoubtedly the biggest game of Franklin’s career.

Franklin “understands” his fans’ frustration. He declined to comment for this story but said this following a 20-13 loss to No. 4 Ohio State on Nov. 2: “Nobody is looking in the mirror harder than I am. I’ve said this before, but 99% of the programs across college football would die to do what we’ve been able to do in our time here.”

Despite his struggles against top teams, Franklin enters the Orange Bowl with a record of 101-41 and is 64-33 in the Big Ten over the past decade in State College. That includes five top-10 finishes, a Big Ten title (2016) and regular appearances in New Year’s Six bowl games. Under Franklin, Penn State joins Alabama, Georgia and Ohio State as the only programs that have ranked in the selection committee’s final top 12 at least seven of the past nine seasons.

He has six years left on his contract and the support of his administration.

“I’m not going to give credence to the criticism, because I see it differently,” said Penn State athletic director Patrick Kraft, who was hired at Penn State on July 1, 2022 after serving two years as the athletic director at Boston College. “When I got here, I was really surprised where just the infrastructure and how everything was set up, how behind we really were. Yes, wins and losses are what we are all judged on, but I will tell you, the culture of that building and the young men he brings in and graduates are second to none.

“You don’t see behind the curtain as a fan or just someone watching,” Kraft said, “and when you get behind the curtain, the thing that oozes out for me is culture and family. That’s really how it’s built, but the infrastructure behind it wasn’t matching that culture and we still have a ways to go. So yes, we want to win every single game — that’s the expectation for every program, but to see what he has done and that consistency is what’s remarkable to me.”

As a former Big Ten head coach who spent seven seasons leading Indiana, first-year Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Allen has studied the Nittany Lions from the inside out. He has game-planned against Franklin, and now he’s trying to help Franklin win his first national title. Allen heard Franklin’s critics when he was at Indiana, and he has heard them again as a member of Franklin’s staff.

“Now that I’m here and I see the behind-the-scenes and the day-to-day and see how much of a bulldog he is — that’s the word I use — he’s a bulldog for the details and the little things and just being on top of everything,” Allen said. “To me, those criticisms, they’re not fair, but until you win those big games, they’re going to be there. And I think we all as coaches understand that.”

What Franklin has accomplished so far is often overshadowed by what he hasn’t. According to ESPN Research, when Franklin won his 100th game at Penn State in the first-round against SMU, he became the fourth FBS coach to win 100 games at a single school since he headed to State College in 2014. The career milestone put him in elite company, joining Dabo Swinney at Clemson (129 since 2014), Nick Saban at Alabama (127 from 2014-23) and Kirby Smart at Georgia (105 since 2016).

There’s one thing separating Franklin from the rest of the group, though — multiple national titles.

“We don’t run away from the expectation,” Kraft said. “Being the head coach of Penn State, there’s so much scrutiny on him and he handles it really well internally. He and I are partners in this.”

One current Big Ten head coach said the expectations of Franklin should mirror the resources he has to work with.

“Ryan Day has been in championships, Clemson has been in championships, Bama has won them, Michigan has won them,” he said. “If the Penn State expectation is they should have at least played for championships in 10 years of his tenure, then no, he’s not successful, right? If their expectation is, ‘Hey, we only have resourced him to be a 10-win team, January 1 bowl team, right at the bottom of the blue bloods from a resource standpoint — which I don’t know — then yeah, he matches the expectations of a 10-win guy. If you’re a blue blood, are you being resourced like Clemson, like Michigan, like Ohio State, like the people we’re comparing them to, because it’s not fair to have that expectation if he hasn’t had the resources.”

Kraft said so much of Penn State’s growth under Franklin has come behind the scenes with things like working to build the budget for NIL, salaries for assistant coaches, stadium renovations and improvements for Penn State’s student-athletes in all sports in areas such as mental health, nutrition and travel — all things that ultimately contribute to winning a national title but happen off the field.

“You have to build the infrastructure in-house,” Kraft said. “That is what I think has really improved is allowing him — and all of our sports — to go and do the things they need to do internally to get to the championship level.”

A second Big Ten head coach said the most noticeable improvements with Penn State and Franklin this year are twofold: the hire of two proven coordinators in Allen and offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki, and Franklin’s overall growth as a head coach in certain situations.

“James has surrounded himself, in my opinion, with maybe the best coordinator combo in our league,” the source said. “Now James has been able to manage games and do the things he’s good at for the first time. He’s at a different level as a head coach.

“I get it, I get the narrative,” the coach said, “but that’s probably based on more of the past than the present. Even him having a better understanding of how you’ve got to use your players. He’s been at Penn State so long, he’s always been the favorite, so when he gets in these games where he’s the underdog, you’ve got to not only play different, you’ve got to strategize different. And when he ran that fake punt against Minnesota … I don’t think he’s ever had to do that before, and he’s kind of realizing, this is what I’ve got to do to win this game. I can’t just win it on my talent alone. And there’s a learning curve for that.”

Kotelnicki said Franklin doesn’t get enough credit for being as consistently good as he has. From 2016 to 2019, Franklin led Penn State to 42 wins, the most in program history for the Big Ten era, and a school-record 28 conference wins.

“It’s really hard to win, and to do it over a decade like he has as a head football coach here, it’s really hard,” Kotelnicki said in the Nittany Lions’ locker room following their win against Boise State. “I’ve had the opportunity in my life to work with some pretty good head coaches. He’s in elite company for sure. So I don’t know if [beating Boise State] is going to silence the critics — probably not. … But I hope it does [calm down] a little bit for his sake. He deserves a little, ‘Alright, OK, I guess he’s OK.'”

Penn State’s defense was more than “OK” in the Fiesta Bowl win against Boise State, and it will have to play at a championship-caliber level for Franklin to improve his record and advance against the Irish. According to ESPN Research, the defense is at the heart of Penn State’s problem in previous top-10 matchups. The Nittany Lions have allowed 31 points per game in those matchups and 422 total yards. The defense has also allowed 190 rushing yards per game under Franklin in top-10 matchups.

Against Boise State and Ashton Jeanty, the Heisman runner-up was held to a season-low 104 rushing yards. That trend will need to continue: Notre Dame has relied on its running game this season, ranking in the top five in yards per rush and rushing touchdowns.

Penn State will be playing its third AP Top-5 matchup of the season, losing the previous two games against Ohio State and Oregon. The program’s woes run deeper than Franklin, too: The Nittany Lions haven’t won a top-five matchup since 1999 against No. 4 Arizona.

“You just have to do a great job of blocking that out, but also not being afraid to dig and find ways to create change,” Allen said. “That’s what I see him doing, is, ‘Hey, what can we do?’ and there’s this constant evaluation of how we practice, the game plans if something doesn’t go a certain way. I see him just being so relentless in that as the leader of our program. So to me, I just think it’s a matter of time.”

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