The night belonged to a sophomore who turned a routine handoff into a jaw-dropper. Early in the second half against Navy, Jeremiyah Love knifed through traffic for a 48-yard touchdown that ignited Notre Dame’s football team's blowout, the latest in a season of momentum-swinging plays.
CJ Carr was sharp and efficient, going 13 of 16 for 218 yards and three scores, while Love headlined the ground game with 13 carries for 94 yards and two touchdowns. Aneyas Williams and Jadarian Price kept the chains moving to finish off a 49-10 statement that pushed the No. 10 Irish to 7-2 and kept their late-season surge intact.
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman, asked about Love’s Heisman case beyond the box score, didn’t mince words. Via Matt Fortuna, Freeman said Love is as special a football player as he has been around, that every touch tilts the field in Notre Dame’s favor, and that the running back is as dangerous an offensive weapon as he has coached.
Notre Dame's Marcus Freeman on Jeremiyah Love's Heisman case beyond #s:
"As special of a football player as I've been around. Every time he has the ball in his hands he can make something positive happen. He is as dangerous of an offensive weapon probably as I've been around." pic.twitter.com/bahY7J3prM
— Matt Fortuna (@Matt_Fortuna) November 10, 2025
The clip that will loop all week explains why the buzz is building. Love’s 48-yard score began as a crease and became a sprint after a pair of balance-saving cuts, a showcase of burst, contact courage, and finish. Malachi Fields and Jordan Faison paced the passing game, and the Irish front kept Carr clean long enough to rip efficient, high-leverage throws.
It looked like the complete, complementary blueprint Freeman has been preaching since September.
Momentum meets resume in November, which is where awards talk gets real. Efficiency is Love’s calling card as much as volume. Through nine games, he has stacked production while avoiding wasted touches, a trait Heisman voters historically reward when the wins keep coming. The schedule offers the right kind of stage, too, with road grit required at Pittsburgh and rivalry urgency waiting against Syracuse and Stanford.
Freeman has already put his stamp on the campaign. He recently called Love a legitimate Heisman candidate and pointed to a week of demanding practices that translated to clean execution on Saturday.
The numbers back the argument: 988 rushing yards, 13 rushing touchdowns, 6.4 yards per carry, and 1,242 yards from scrimmage so far. Stack that on top of last season’s 1,125 yards and 17 touchdowns, and you see a player turning flashes into a body of work.
If Notre Dame keeps stacking wins and Love keeps stacking explosives, the conversation won’t be a whisper much longer.
