How Notre Dame QB Steve Angeli was one of the best quarterbacks in bowl season
Eighty one signal-callers registered a quarterback rating during bowl season. Only four of them had a better QBR, a metric that values the quarterback on all play types on a 0-100 scale adjusted for the strength of opposing defenses faced, than Notre Dame sophomore Steve Angeli.
Angeli is tied for fifth in bowl season QBR through the College Football Playoff semifinals with a mark of 96.2. Only USC’s Miller Moss (98.1), Washington’s Michael Penix Jr. (97.7), South Alabama’s Gio Lopez (97.2) and Virginia Tech’s Kyron Drones (96.9) had betters figures. Angeli tied with Old Dominion’s Grant Wilson.
Angeli went 15-of-19 for 232 yards with 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions in his first career start, a 40-8 Tony The Tiger Sun Bowl victory for the Fighting Irish over Oregon State on Dec. 29.
Everything came together well for Angeli in a game he won’t ever forget. It was the only game he was guaranteed to start in a Notre Dame uniform. Duke transfer Riley Leonard is coming in to presumably start every game in 2024.
Angeli had his one shot, and he made the most of it.
“It means a lot,” Angeli said. “I don’t take that title or anything like that lightly. Being the starting quarterback in college football at a bigger level is a lot, but being the starting quarterback at Notre Dame speaks way more. Really just to have that opportunity and for Coach [Marcus] Freeman to give me that chance to be able to do this, it means the world to me. I really appreciate it.”
Angeli will have a chance to show the Notre Dame coaches he’s just as capable of being QB1 for the Irish as Leonard, but he’ll be behind from the start of the offseason competition just like Tyler Buchner was with Sam Hartman coming in from Wake Forest a year ago. Buchner transferred to Alabama at the conclusion of spring practices.
Leonard is far more experienced than Angeli having started 21 games for Duke over the last three seasons. He’s been mentioned by NFL Draft analysts as potentially being one of the best quarterbacks available in the 2025 draft. Angeli does not have such status yet. He hasn’t played enough at the college level to garner it.
But if the chips fall in his favor and he gets the looks required to receive NFL Draft buzz, all he has to do is play like he did in El Paso to transform himself into a true draftable prospect.
Angeli made one thing certain with his performance in the Sun Bowl; Notre Dame will be a better team in 2024 if he’s on the roster. He’s just the guy you want backing up Leonard — someone who can take over and avoid a drop off in the event of injury and/or someone who can push the starter if the offense is stalling.
