A top contender for the Heisman Trophy, junior running back Jeremiyah Love has continued to climb the leaderboards nationwide.
Furthering his storied journey as Notre Dame’s starting running back, Love has never failed to show up for his team and never fails to keep the audience guessing with his insane runs. Against Navy, Love showcased his skills on the field as he finished the game with 94 rushing yards on 13 attempts and two touchdowns. For his overall season statistics, he now has a total of 988 total rushing yards on 154 attempts, averaging 6.4 yards per attempt to go along with 13 rushing touchdowns on the season.
But Love doesn’t stop there, as he continues to be a showman on the field. In the postgame press conference following the Navy game, freshman quarterback CJ Carr commented, “I had the best view in the house, to be honest. Honestly, I was like, ‘Alright, it’s third down, let’s get ready for the next play.’ I’m looking over to the sideline, hear the crowd go crazy. I’m like, ‘What just happened?’” Carr's response embodies the thrill of Love’s impressive, tackle-breaking touchdown, involving an impressive roll over the Navy defense to somehow stay on his feet to make it to the end zone.
Love also laid out the play, saying, “the play was kind of blown up from the get-go. I tried to make a guy miss and get as many yards as I could. The guy ended up trying to get me down. I felt no part of my body touch the ground, so I just got back up and just kept on running and that’s really all it was … It’s a one-in-a-lifetime type of play."
Despite his outstanding play, Love continues to remain humble, not taking all of the glory for himself. “It was kind of a lucky play, but, you know, I credit that play to how we train day in and day out. Playing through the whistle, playing just as hard as we can through and through, the whole interval of the play. You never know when the play is over, so credit to the way we train.”
Across the sideline, Pitt also has strong rushing numbers with a total of 1,349 yards on the season, averaging 124.2 yards per game.
“They got a great group of players that want to compete. I’ve heard that the coach preaches to his players to be violent and so on and so forth. A great group of players, a great group, just a great team in general. I’m just looking forward to competing with them and want to take some shots with them … they have a great linebacker corps, great defense in general, so I am looking forward to competing with them,” Love said.
Sophomore offensive lineman Anthonie Knapp agreed with Love on the physicality of the Panthers, saying, “I have a lot of respect for them, obviously, and I am excited to play them this Saturday. I think they do a good job of being physical.”
But what does this long-lasting rivalry mean, not just to Love, but to the team as a whole?
“Me personally, it’s just another game. I mean that’s how I go into every single game. It’s just another game, you know.” Love said.
Knapp shared Love's excitement, adding, “I always love a good rivalry, I think that’s what makes this game great.”
In addition to this, Love spoke about how the Irish are preparing in terms of what they need to focus on in practice and what mindset the team needs. “We think of ourselves as a violent team, a team that’s going to just be very physical from the get-go of the game. So [Freeman] kind of made sure we understood what type of team that we are, made sure we understood the standard we need to play to,” he said.
Love and the rest of the Irish football team will face Pitt on Nov. 15 with kickoff set for noon.
