A key part of the Notre Dame offense, junior running back Jeremiyah Love showed his worth on the field throughout the game against Texas A&M on Saturday evening.
Kicking off the first quarter, Love was a key player who freshman quarterback CJ Carr was looking for in all of the big plays despite dislocating his finger early on in the game. The junior finished the first quarter with a total of 25 rushing yards and one receiving yard, a big part of why the Irish were able to gain their second touchdown of the night. After pushing the ball inside the red zone on the Irish end of the field, Carr found junior running back Jadarian Price, who found a pocket to get the 7-yard touchdown, putting the Irish up 13-7.
“I see a lot of greatness in CJ. CJ is one of the greatest quarterbacks in college football,” Love said.
Now going the other direction, Love took no time in getting the ball down the field, going from the Irish 25-yard line to the Aggie 50 over the span of three plays, giving hope to those in the stands. Following that, Carr found Love open on the right side with a deep, 36-yard pass, and Love made the third touchdown for the Irish, putting them up 23-14 at 9:43 in the second quarter. With that touchdown, Love and the Irish were in control of the game.
Following an injury on the Aggie side with just a little over a minute left in the second quarter, the team jumped right back into action but appeared out of sorts. Love remained focused, though, jumping on an errant snap near midfield to avoid an Aggie scoop-and-score before halftime.
Going into the second half, Love became a main player in rushing, as in a span of around four minutes, he took the ball 15 yards. In addition to this, Love woke up around the four-minute mark, as he collected nine yards over three plays that happened within the minute. Ending the third quarter, the junior had a game total of 59 rushing yards with a long rush of 16. In addition to this, Love had a total of 50 receiving yards with the 36-yard touchdown.
Moving to the fourth quarter, with the energy still high in the stadium due to Notre Dame’s 34-31 lead, the team kept composure and was ready to take on what Texas A&M was bringing. After tying up the score for the second time in the evening, the stadium got rowdier, and Love gave them more to cheer about. Late in the fourth quarter, he found the end zone on the ground, putting the Irish ahead 40-34.
Finishing the game, the Irish took the close 41-40 loss after Texas A&M found the end zone in the final seconds of the game.
“We all brothers. We all love each other, so don’t point fingers,” Love said after the game.
“It’s not good enough ... We had some unexpected injuries, but it doesn’t matter ... We didn’t play well enough,” head coach Marcus Freeman said.
The Irish will face off against Purdue this Saturday, Sept. 20, at 3:30 p.m. in Notre Dame Stadium.
