The 12-team College Football playoff began on Friday for the first time ever. What we saw in this historic matchup between the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the Indiana University Hoosiers was the greatness of Hoosiers running back Jeremiyah Love of St. Louis, Missouri in a 27-17 Notre Dame win over Indiana at Notre Dame Stadium.
At only 19 years of age, Love definitely has an incredible future ahead of him in football. What we saw on Friday in this all-Indiana state battle, was offensive brilliance on the ground very early in the contest. With the Fighting Irish on their own two yard line, it was Love who broke free for a remarkable 98 yard touchdown run to open the scoring. Love’s major score seemed to deflate the Hoosiers who simply looked flat for the first 57 minutes. It was not until the Fighting Irish had a blowout lead of 27-3 that the Hoosiers offense came to life. Both of Indiana’s touchdowns, which were two touchdown passes by Canadian quarterback Kurtis Rourke, came in garbage time, with less than 90 seconds left.
This game was all about Love. He finished the game with eight rushes for 108 rushing yards and one touchdown, and two catches for 18 yards. While the 98 yard run got the headlines, it was a rush later in the game where Love forced multiple Hoosiers to miss him, was actually just as impressive.
Love eclipsed 100 rushing yards five times this season. He also had 109 rushing yards in a 66-7 Notre Dame over Purdue on September 14, 102 rushing yards in a 51-14 Notre Dame win over Navy on October 26, 137 rushing yards in a 35-14 Notre Dame win over Virginia on November 16, and 130 rushing yards in a 49-14 Notre Dame win over Army on November 23 at Yankee Stadium. With the win, Notre Dame will next play Georgia in the College Football quarterfinals on New Year’s Day. This game will be the Sugar Bowl from New Orleans, Louisiana.
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