Across the last decade of Notre Dame football, only two sophomore running backs have totaled 170 rushing yards in their first two games of the season. In 2020, there was Kyren Williams, who went for a combined 174 against Duke and South Florida en route to an 1100-yard campaign. He’s now a Pro Bowler and an 1100-yard rusher with the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League.
The other shining sophomore? Jeremiyah Love. In two games to start 2024, the second-year man from St. Louis has piled up exactly 170 yards. Even as Notre Dame suffered a gutting loss to Northern Illinois last Saturday, Love remained a definitive bright spot, totaling 79 rushing yards and scoring his second touchdown of the season.
“My confidence level is still as high as it can be,” Love said on Tuesday. “For the team, our confidence level is still as high as it can be. Anybody can win on any given day, and that’s just that.”
As a freshman, Love flashed major potential as a change-of-pace backup for historic tailback Audric Estimé. He didn’t just post 346 rushing yards — he did so at an impressive clip of 6.2 yards per carry. He applied his season high in rushing yards to Notre Dame’s most meaningful contest against Ohio State.
Two games into 2024, Love has put proof into his potential, ripping off two memorable touchdown runs as the lead Irish back. In a 13-13, fourth-quarter tie at Texas A&M in Week One, Love provided the game-winning score with a 21-yard weave on the ground. Against Northern Illinois, Love accounted for Notre Dame’s highlight of the day, hurdling a defender on an energizer of a 34-yard score in the third quarter.
“They were hitting me in my knees the whole game, so after halftime I knew if I got in the open field somebody was gonna try to cut me or something like that,” Love described. “I came through, busted through the hole, and I knew he was going low so I just jumped over him and then scored.”
Love, who has already matched his total touchdown count from a year ago, thrives on making plays that provide a little extra juice to his teammates.
“When anybody makes a big play or scores a touchdown to bring us back in the game, I feel like that gives the offense or, shoot, the whole team a lot of momentum and a lot of confidence,” Love said. “That play, I would say, was most definitely a confidence-booster and got us back on our feet.”
While Love’s leaping score gave Notre Dame some life on a game-specific level, the Irish must now find their footing in a much broader sense. At 1-1 and outside the AP Poll’s top 15, Notre Dame has its College Football Playoff hopes hanging in the balance with each game’s outcome. Asked about his perspective on the remaining season, Love was crystal clear about how his football team can and must move forward.
“The perspective is to just keep going, bring each other up and play football,” Love said. ”[It’s to] prepare the same way, have great preparation, take practice seriously and do all the things you need to do to play to the best of your ability. [It’s to] come out and play with a hunger to defeat anybody we go against — try to just get better every week and every day.”
If anyone is ready and in position to satisfy Notre Dame’s hunger to defeat Purdue, it’s Love. With their passing attack suspect and senior quarterback Riley Leonard banged up, the Irish may lean on Love as a pillar for consistency. He’s shouldered the workload before and, like the program he’ll suit up for on Saturday, is playing with something to prove this weekend.
“We’re looking at ourselves and trying to find ways to get better … We are our true opponents, and the key to us having success is coming out every day, working on our craft and getting better in some type of way,” Love said.
