Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1531388
20 FEBRUARY 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY TYLER HORKA AND JACK SOBLE T here's something heart-stopping about nearly 80,000 people, re- gardless of what color they're wearing, knowing a player is go- ing to score before he even gets across midfield. Heck, before he even gets to his own 25. A sold-out College Football Playoff crowd at Notre Dame Stadium shared that type of moment Dec. 20. Sophomore running back Jeremiyah Love began with his feet in his own end zone. Fewer than 15 seconds later, his feet were in Indiana's end zone. Love's 98-yard touchdown is the longest rushing play in all of college football this season. It's tied for the longest rushing play in Notre Dame history. It's the longest rushing touch- down in College Football Playoff history. And it was the early moment that re- affirmed what most spectators watch- ing in person or on ABC/ESPN thought a b o u t t h e m o n u m e n ta l i n t ra s ta te matchup going in: Notre Dame is the better team, and Notre Dame should win. That's exactly what happened. Notre Dame 27, Indiana 17 in a game that wasn't as close as the final score would indicate. It was on to No. 2 Georgia in the quarterfinals at the Sugar Bowl for head coach Marcus Freeman and his Fighting Irish. "I want them not to look past to- night," Freeman said. "Celebrate to- night. Celebrate this victory that they worked tremendously hard to achieve and obtain." Love's touchdown might not have even been his best run of the night. He had one late in the third quarter in which he ran to the sideline with no an- gle whatsoever and two Hoosiers in hot pursuit. He violently stiff-armed one, RUNAWAY Notre Dame punched its ticket to the Sugar Bowl with a dominant 27-17 victory over Indiana in the first round of the College Football Playoff Sophomore running back Jeremiyah Love got the scoring started versus Indiana with a 98-yard touchdown in the first quarter. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER