#10 Notre Dame drills Florida State, 52-3

Last Updated: November 11, 2024By Chuck Freeby

(Notre Dame) — Despite a primetime time slot, a 1-8 Florida State football team wasn’t perceived as much of a threat to Notre Dame.

Perception proved to be reality.

Quarterback Riley Leonard ran for two touchdowns and threw for another as the 10th-ranked Fighting Irish easily dispatched of the Seminoles, 52-3. Leonard threw for 215 yards and rushed for 70.

Marcus Freeman says it would have been easy to overlook FSU because of their record, but it’s a mature group that prepared well.

“I truly believe Saturday is a reflection of preparation,” noted Freeman. “Our guys are playing with clarity. We gotta give our guys a chance to play fast and our guys did that today.”

Jadarian Price and Jeremiyah Love added rushing touchdowns. Love has scored in each game this season.

The Notre Dame defense dominated the nation’s worst scoring offense, tying a Notre Dame Stadium record with eight sacks. Rylie Mills contributed a career-high three, while Donovan Hinish added two. Luke Talich contributed a 79-yard interception return for a touchdown. Florida State only managed 206 yards of offense for the night.

The Irish jumped out to a 7-0 lead less than two minutes into the game on a dazzling 34-yard touchdown run by Leonard. Irish went a while before scoring again and then took a 21-3 lead into the half.

“I was really proud of the way they played in the second half, being up 21-3, and to come out and defensively, I think the interception, turnover on downs, three-and-out, three-and-out, interception, touchdown,” Freeman said. “Offensively it was touchdown, field goal, touchdown, touchdown. That’s a pretty dominant half of football, and so I’m really proud of the way they performed.”

Notre Dame is now 8-1, entering next Saturday’s Notre Dame Stadium regular season finale with Virginia.