A year after current Notre Dame offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock coached an elite passing attack with Jayden Daniels, Malik Nabers, and Brian Thomas Jr. at LSU, he’s leaned heavily into the running game in South Bend. The Fighting Irish are one of the most efficient rushing offenses in the country and while veteran quarterback Riley Leonard both necessitates and unlocks that philosophy, star running back Jeremiyah Love is an essential piece of it.
Love is the team’s leading rusher with 1,076 yards on 148 carries and he blew open Notre Dame's first-round College Football Playoff win over Indiana with a 98-yard touchdown run. However, the sophomore was limited in that matchup with an illness, that didn’t appear to slow him down, but a knee right knee injury did in the Irish’s Sugar Bowl win over Georgia last Thursday.
Love has played just eight snaps in each of Notre Dame’s CFP wins, and his status was seriously in doubt heading into an Orange Bowl CFP semifinal against Penn State on Thursday night, but on Wednesday, he received the green light from his head coach.
“He’s had a good week of practice.” Marcus Freeman said of Love in his final pre-Orange Bowl press conference. “We have to be smart about how much we’re asking him to do in practice. No one is 100% right now. He’ll be good to go.”
In a similar situation to Penn State star edge rusher Abdul Carter, “good to go” doesn’t necessarily mean that Love will play well while nursing his knee injury. Carter is officially a game-time decision with a left arm injury but is likely to play, again it’s a question of how well.
Notre Dame backup running back Jadarian Price has been a highly effective Robin to Love’s Batman, but in the CFP, he’s yet to crack 40 yards in a game despite seeing 11 carries against Indiana and 10 vs. Georgia. Penn State would much prefer an Irish backfield sans Love, who is third in the country to only Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty and Price in yards after contact per carry this season. If Love is full strength, or anywhere close, stopping Notre Dame’s ground game could prove an even bigger challenge than bottling up Jeanty was in the Fiesta Bowl.