Jeremiyah Love Climbs Notre Dame Record Books With Explosive Performance
Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love had to wait a little longer than usual to make his mark on Saturday.
In fact, Syracuse had the ball three times before the Notre Dame offense took its first snap of the game, as the defense recorded two pick-sixes and returned a blocked punt for a touchdown.
CJ Carr hit Jordan Faison for a 14-yard completion on Notre Dame’s first offensive play and then the Love show started.
The St. Louis native raced 45 yards for his first touchdown of the day to put Notre Dame up 28-0 with 6:32 left in the opening quarter.
Love finished his night with just eight carries, but he ran for 171 yards and three touchdowns - an average of 21.4 per touch.
With his performance, Love passed Jerome Bettis for third all-time in total
touchdowns in Notre Dame history (41 touchdowns).
“I just think it's a great honor to be up there with some Notre Dame greats,” said Love. “At the end of the day, I wouldn't have been able to reach that goal without my offensive line, without the defense making stops and helping us get the ball back. Without the receivers making great blocks, without CJ reading defenses well, I wouldn't have been able to achieve that. It's a great feeling, great honor, but kudos to my team.”
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman has been around a lot of special players and Love may be at the top.
The ability to consistently hit big plays puts him in rare air and the entire program feeds off of his playmaking ability.
“He's a special football player,” Freeman said. “It's a confidence. I think it's a confidence that you have when he's on the field, he has the ball in his hands, when he's on your team because he's consistent. He's not just this once in a while he makes a play. He consistently does his job.
“Now, that might mean it's a 50-yard touchdown on this play. But he's a guy that's been so consistent and consistently performs well. I think it brings a lot of confidence to our team, too.”
It wasn’t just the Love show as Jadarian Price, Kenny Minchey and Aneyas Williams also scored rushing touchdowns in the dominating 70-7 win.
In fact, Love was happier to see his teammates find the end zone than himself.
“It's just a great feeling seeing those guys going out there and executing,” stated Love. “Today is Aneyas' birthday. He's been out there and scoring a ton. Everybody wants to shine. Everybody deserves that opportunity to shine. So whenever anybody in my room goes out there and does what they got to do and gets their shine, I love to see it and that just goes for the whole team as well.”
Saturday could have very well been the final time Love runs the ball inside Notre Dame Stadium.
The NFL is calling his name and the College Football Playoff is an unknown and while no decision has been made, Love did make sure to soak in the environment on Saturday.
“I was able to take it in,” Love explained. “I don't know if this will be my last game at Notre Dame Stadium. That's not known as of right now. I made sure to take it all in. Just look at the guys that I was able to play with throughout my time at Notre Dame. Look at the fans. I made sure that I walked down the sideline so I could see how the defense sits on their side of the sideline. I try to take everything in and get all the views that I can.”
If that was indeed his farewell, Love delivered a perfect closing act.
His final carry of the night was a 68-yard touchdown and one he knew deserved something extra.
“I feel like that play was worthy of it,” said Love. “The previous two touchdowns, I didn't feel like they were good enough for that celebration. It was already set in my mind that I was going to do it. What better way to celebrate than break it off for a long-distance run for the Heisman Pose? Yeah, it was pretty tight.”
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Jeremiyah Love Notre Dame Fighting Irish Athlete's Thread Unisex Heisman Stance T-Shirt
