A few minutes after confetti fell on a jubilant Notre Dame Fighting Irish team herded into a corner of the Superdome, quarterback Riley Leonard brushed some of the blue and white flakes off his newfound trophy after being named offensive MVP of the Sugar Bowl.
Taking a second to stare at the award, and all the accomplishment that it represented, the signal-caller produced something that had been in short supply around New Orleans in the wake of a devastating truck attack just three hours into the new year. A few miles away in the famed French Quarter, over a dozen people were killed and many more injured in a tragic event that cast a shadow over the game’s proceedings and forced its postponement a day later from its typical spot on the calendar.
