Jeremiyah Love is proving a sudden impact on Notre Dame football

SOUTH BEND — Riley Leonard’s postgame fashion statement following Friday night’s 27-17 win over Indiana said it all.

Instead of his usual quarter-zip from the Notre Dame Football collection, the winning quarterback of this opening game of the College Football Playoff wore a white screen-printed T-shirt with a caricature of his teammate Jeremiyah Love on the front.

The gesture was completely appropriate considering what the flu-stricken Irish running back had just done to the best rushing defense in the country. Barely four minutes later, Love took a simple handoff, darted through the hole Anthonie Knapp had opened for him, jumped outside and didn’t stop until he had put the Irish ahead on a 98-yard blitz to stay .

That made Josh Adams’ scoring streak against Wake Forest in 2015 the longest in program history.

It also showed the loud-mouthed visitors that the Irish weren’t messing around.

“Everyone wanted to talk about how great their rushing defense was,” Leonard said. “Obviously our rushing offense is pretty good. In order to get that (score) early, we sent a statement like, “Okay, we’re not backing down.” “We’re going to run over the rock and punch you in the front of the mouth.” “

The NIL-ready display from Love, a second-year running back from St. Louis, didn’t leap over a helpless tackler or race down the visitors’ sideline like a runaway locomotive.

The Real Deal led these two crowd favorites in the 11th^Th Straight win for the Irish, next up was New Orleans and a Sugar Bowl date with No. 2 Georgia on New Year’s Night.

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On Leonard’s T-shirt, Love wasn’t even wearing a hero’s cape.

Give him a few more games like this in the 12-team tournament, and Love might start wearing a cape of his own in the postgame interview room.

Jeremiyah Loves playing with flu-like symptoms for Notre Dame football

Thirteen times this season the Irish have played games that mattered. Love stormed by at least one score every time.

Add in the short touchdown reception he had against Oregon State in last year’s Sun Bowl, and Love has a 14-game scoring streak by either run or catch.

Imagine what he could do if he had two good knees and clear nasal passages.

“I started this game with a few problems,” Love said in a labored voice. “I probably sound pretty terrible. I survived a minor injury. I’m sick.”

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He wore a brace on his right knee during practice this week after a hard tackle at USC knocked him out of the regular-season finale that clinched a playoff spot. The coaches left it up to him whether he wanted to wear the brace in Friday’s game.

Love has decided against it.

“I decided not to wear it,” he said. “It was my decision. I just felt like it helped me play more freely.”

He tiptoed into a 1-yard loss on his first run, but after an exchange – including Xavier Watts’ 13^Th Career tip on Kurtis Rourke’s fall in the red zone – Love was ready to take off.

“The opportunity to come into this game and do what I need to do for this team was special,” he said. “I would do anything for my brothers if it would help this team win.

Love, a former Missouri state sprint champion at Christian Brothers College High School, outran Hoosier cornerbacks D’Angelo Pounds and Jamari Sharp.

In a play reminiscent of St. Louis’ Kyren Williams’ 91-yard score for the Irish in 2021, Love took full advantage of the Jumbotron serving as a rearview mirror on the same sideline against North Carolina.

“I looked up the video board,” Love said. “He had no intention of catching me. I slowed down. I knew I would score.”

As he reached the end zone, Love did his trademark “heart,” folded his arms and then collapsed into his teammates’ arms as they arrived a few seconds later.

“I was just out of breath,” he said. “I was gassed.”

The entire play lasted just 14 seconds, which was pretty remarkable considering Love completed the outing wearing football pads and a helmet while running at a 45-degree angle for the first 25 yards or so.

That’s 397 minutes (and more than two months) since Notre Dame last trailed with seven minutes left in the first half at Georgia Tech on Oct. 19.

With Watts’ recent haul equaling Joe Restic’s total from 1975-78 and Love’s latest touchdown, the Irish have never been threatened by a Hoosier club that made history all season long.

“Once (love) closes the gap, you say, ‘All right. Go to the sideline. “He’s gone,” Leonard said. “I’ve seen it over and over again. Once he gets to secondary school, he’s uncatchable.”

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Sixth-year linebacker Jack Kiser ended his home career on personal game No. 67, providing extensive coverage on the pass over the middle intended for Ke’Shawn Williams that sailed into Watts’ hungry arms.

“Certainly big plays have been made and the dynamic has really changed,” Kiser said. “It’s huge when you can make an interception in the red zone and then put you in the crib like J-Love did. That was a big turning point in the game and I don’t think we looked back on it.”

Notre Dame outrebounded the Hoosiers 193-63, nearly tripling the 71 yards per game Indiana allowed during the regular season. Even in their previous loss to Ohio State, the Buckeyes were only able to rush for 115 yards on 29 carries.

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