The stage is set for an incredible cat-and-mouse game between Riley Leonard and Caleb Downs, two outstanding players whose roles and responsibilities make it a virtual certainty that they’ll collide with the sport’s biggest prize at stake.

Neither QB was ranked in the top 600 nationally. Leonard signed with Duke, Howard with Kansas State. Here's the backstory.

Quarterbacks Will Howard of Ohio State and Riley Leonard of Notre Dame will put their friendship on hold for one night to play for a national championship.

The one common denominator between the Irish teams that lost to Ohio State in the past two seasons was quarterback play. It wasn't Leonard then. but it's Leonard now.

Riley Leonard and Will Howard, the soon-to-be starting quarterbacks at Notre Dame and Ohio State, attended the famed Manning Passing Academy at Nicholls State over the summer. They were roommates, getting ready for the pressure cooker of big-time college football at two of the biggest brands in the sport.