Riley Leonard's Concerning Injury Could Doom Notre Dame Already

We are only heading into Week 3 of the college football season but it hasn't been smooth sailing for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. They headed into the season expecting to be National Championship contenders but that quickly evaporated last Saturday.

In Week 2, the Fighting Irish were upset at home 16-14 to Northern Illinois. What made the loss sting some more was that Notre Dame had to pay Northern Illinois $1.4 million to play them.

Now the Fighting Irish are looking to bounce back but have some bad news surrounding quarterback Riley Leonard.

Notre Dame News: Riley Leonard Has Injured Non-Throwing Shoulder

Per Pete Nakos of On3, Leonard underwent an MRI, which revealed he has some damage to his labrum in his non-throwing shoulder.

In the loss to the Huskies, Leonard took a hit that impacted his play for the rest of the contest. Through the first two games of the season, the Alabama native was gone 38-of-62 (61%) for 321 passing yards with zero touchdown passes and two interceptions. He's also added 79 rushing yards, and one score thus far.

It's been a struggle for the Fighting Irish offense through two weeks and with Leonard now dealing with a shoulder injury, the pressure just continues to rise for this squad.

Notre Dame now has the 13th-highest odds at +8000 according to BetMGM, to win the National Championship but those lines could continue to shift if they drop another contest this season.

Notre Dame leads the all-time series 59-26-2 against Purdue, with the Fighting Irish outlasting Purdue 27-13 in their last outing in 2021.

Rolling into this battle, Notre Dame is a 9.5-point favorite against the Boilermakers according to FanDuel Sportsbook. Let's see if they find a way to get a win on the road and rebuild some confidence.

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