Riley Leonard Total Passing Yards Prop Bet vs. Penn State

Notre Dame's Riley Leonard total passing yards Over/Under was coming in at 166.5.

Riley Leonard passed for a touchdown, Jayden Harrison returned a kickoff 98 yards for a score, and Notre Dame’s defense made it hold up in a 23-10 victory over No. 2 Georgia in the Sugar Bowl on Thursday that sent the third-ranked Fighting Irish into the semifinals of the College Football Playoff.

What’s at Stake?

A trip to the College Football Playoff title game awaits the winner in the first year of the expanded 12-team format. The winning coach, either Penn State’s James Franklin or Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman, will have the chance to become the first Black coach to win a national title at college football’s highest level. What had the look of yet another average year for Penn State has a chance to be better, thanks to a pair of double-digit wins in the playoff so far. Notre Dame won its first major bowl game since 1994 last week, with its 23-10 defeat of Georgia in the Sugar Bowl, which was delayed by a day because of the deadly truck explosion in the French Quarter.

Before You Bet

• Notre Dame has won 12 straight games, its longest streak since a 16-game run spanning the 2019 and 2020 seasons.
• The Irish have won its last six games played in NFL stadiums. Hard Rock Stadium, the site of the Orange Bowl, is home to the Miami Dolphins.
• But Notre Dame is also 0-2 in Hard Rock Stadium stadium, losing 42-14 to Alabama in the BCS championship game that capped the 2012 season and losing 41-8 to the Miami Hurricanes in 2017.

Key Matchup

Notre Dame defense against Penn State TE Tyler Warren. At 6-foot-6, 260 pounds with speed and versatility (he has passed for, run for and caught TDs this season), Warren is, as Freeman put it, “a difficult matchup problem.” As if often the case with big, athletic tight ends, if a defense has someone big enough to cover him, that person’s usually not fast enough, while anyone fast enough usually isn’t big enough. Boise State coach Spencer Danielson said getting to the quarterback might be the best way to stop Warren, but the tight end still caught two touchdown passes against the Broncos. Fighting Irish safety Xavier Watts has six interceptions for the country’s second-ranked scoring defense and figures to get first shot at Warren.