Jeremiyah Love overcomes injury and illness to propel Notre Dame into 1st Sugar Bowl since 2007

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love wasted no time sending a message to his teammates Friday night.

Nothing was going to derail the seventh-seeded Fighting Irish in the College Football Playoff. Not chilly weather, not a motivated opponent ready to prove it belonged and certainly not an injury or even a lingering illness to the team’s top runner.

Now, with 12 more days for the second-year speedster to rest and recover before the seventh-seeded Fighting Irish face second-seeded Georgia in the Sugar Bowl, Love could be much closer to optimal speed when Notre Dame returns to action Jan. 1.

“I probably sound pretty terrible, but I came off of a little injury. I’m sick,” he said before explaining why he slowed down at the end of the run that matched the longest in Irish history. “I was just out of breath. I was gassed.”

At 6 feet, 210 pounds, Love doesn’t necessarily look like the model Missouri Class 5 100-meter champ. But looks are deceiving in this case, and Love has been showing the college football world all season just how dangerous he can be — even with a bad wheel.

He used most of the two weeks between Notre Dame’s regular-season finale Nov. 30 and the playoff opener rehabbing the left knee he hurt against Southern California. Then, he was struck with an undisclosed illness.

So when Love ran through the Notre Dame Stadium tunnel for the first CFP game ever played on a college campus, he was nowhere near full strength against the nation’s top run defense.

It didn’t matter.

After losing a yard on his first carry, Love took his second handoff, ran through a tackle at the line of scrimmage and sped past the other defenders for a 98-yard TD run — the longest in playoff history — as he watched the chase play out on the video board.

“I’ve got the best view in the house. Every time I hand him the ball, I’m just watching, like what’s he going to do now?” Irish quarterback Riley Leonard said after the 27-17 victory over 10th-seeded Indiana. “It’s the little things. It’s that second or third down where he’s stiff-arming guys and getting first downs for us. He’s just a freak athlete.”

Love finished the game with only seven more carries for 10 more yards, playing sparingly after he appeared to reinjure the left knee when he landed awkwardly after attempting to hurdle an Indiana defender later in the first half.

But the victory gives him more time to get healthier for Georgia’s run defense, which allows nearly 130 yards rushing per game. Notre Dame (12-1) faces the Southeastern Conference champion Bulldogs (11-2) — just like they did in 1980 when Georgia’s victory gave the program the second of its four national championships.

The Bulldogs have won all three games in the series against the storied Irish but might be without starting quarterback Carson Beck, who injured his throwing elbow in the SEC championship game.

Regardless, Notre Dame thinks it’s time for a change in this series as it attempts to produce the first 13-win season in school history. Notre Dame also is trying to end a 36-year drought without a national championship, the school’s longest since winning its first title in 1924.

“We wouldn’t be in this situation if we didn’t have 12 wins, so I’m grateful to be part of a program and a team that has been able to accomplish this,” coach Marcus Freeman said. “But you know I’m greedy, and my focus is — although I don’t want their focus to be on it — my focus is going to be on find a way to get 13. That’s what matters.”

It matters to Love, too, as he and the Irish prepare their encore performance.

“Like I say, if we didn’t have a rushing quarterback, how many more touchdowns would this guy have?” Leonard said. “He’d be in (the Heisman Trophy) conversations nationwide. Obviously, I think people are starting to see how special he is.”

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