A month ago, Jeremiyah Love wasn’t a dark horse, a sleeper, or a long shot — he was already known as one of the most explosive players in the country. What he wasn’t, at least not yet, was a serious Heisman contender. That changed quickly. After a ridiculous stretch of highlight-reel performances, game-breaking runs, and historic Notre Dame production, Love has surged toward the top of the Heisman odds board and forced himself into the center of the national conversation.
| bet365 | BetMGM | Caesars | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fernando Mendoza | -120 | -105 | -115 |
| Jeremiyah Love | +400 | +375 | +400 |
| Julian Sayin | +450 | +400 | +550 |
| Diego Pavia | +600 | +600 | +700 |
| Marcel Reed | +1100 | +1300 | +1000 |
Just a month ago, Love was outside the top 10 and the +3000-4000 range in betting odds. He is currently sitting with the second shortest odds for the Award on most sportsbooks today though. And now, heading into the final week of the regular season, one thing is abundantly clear: Jeremiyah Love is playing like the most exciting non-quarterback in college football — and one capable of stealing the most quarterback-dominated award in sports with the race still wide open.
Love flashed plenty last season — the burst, the acceleration, the ability to turn a crease into a chunk play. But the jump from last year to this has been something else entirely. He’s become the engine of Notre Dame’s offense, a back with both home-run speed and the patience to set up blocks and rip through front sevens.
Everything he teased last year, he’s now doing weekly… and at a national spotlight level. Heading into the final week of the season, he has a real chance to rewrite the Notre Dame running back history books.
The Run That Launched the Heisman Push
Love’s climb up the odds board didn’t happen slowly – it happened with a series of jaw-dropping, explosive plays on the field that left defenses looking silly and onlookers in awe.
Arkansas — The Touchdown Avalanche
Against Arkansas, Love punched in four touchdowns, showcasing his versatility and toughness in the red zone. This was the game where his season touchdown pace started to enter legendary Notre Dame territory. He only totaled 127 total yards on the day but he became the first Notre Dame player since 1996 with four touchdowns in a single half with his two rushing and two receiving scores.
USC — A Career Day on the Biggest Stage
Then came the performance that really gave him a chance to make a run: an insane game against arch-rival USC in what could be the last game in the series as USC tries to back out under the guise of suddenly not playing non-conference games past September. Love’s performance instantly became his defining “big game” moment of the year with a career-high 228 yards on 24 carries. Rivalry, prime time spotlight, high stakes, and Love completely took the game over.
Boston College — The Spark
Love’s 94-yard touchdown run against Boston College wasn’t just a scoring play; it was the moment the “Heisman heat check” quietly started. The burst, the glide, the acceleration into the open field showed everything that makes him one of the most electric players in the country and likely top-5 pick in next year’s NFL Draft. It also opened up a game that was entirely too close for comfort against lowly Boston College.
Navy — The Viral Moment
Then came the cutback touchdown run against Navy — a play where he broke tackles, bounced off the defenders, and left half the defense grasping at air. It wasn’t just a great run. It was a Heisman run — the kind of clip that gets replayed on every college football show in America. The NBC announcers even called it out as a Heisman moment as it happened.
Pitt – The Spin Move
A week later, Love made another highlight reel run with an incredible spin move to spring free for a 56-yard touchdown run in Notre Dame’s win over then-ranked Pitt. He ended the day with 147 yards to go along with the score, and his third viral run in three weeks had his Heisman odds improving.
Syracuse — The Full Detonation
And then he blew the doors off Syracuse, racking up absurd efficiency, multiple long touchdown runs, and single-handedly ripping the hearts out of the Syracuse defense in the first half. Love would have broken his career high if the game weren’t a laugher. As is, he totaled a ridiculous 171 yards on just 8 carries, including touchdown runs of 45, 14, and 68 yards. His Heisman odds didn’t just move after Syracuse — they shifted massively. He went from “maybe the best RB in the country” to “maybe the best player in the country.”
The Race Is Wide Open — and Love Took Advantage
Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza may still sit atop the betting boards, but he hasn’t delivered a knockout punch, making this race still very much open. In a year without a dominant quarterback, the door is cracked open for someone with elite highlights, elite production, and elite momentum.
Love checks every one of those boxes.
- He leads the nation in explosive plays.
- He’s putting up absurd per-touch numbers.
- And he’s doing it in the exact month when the Heisman race traditionally tilts toward the hottest hand.
Mendoza faces a Purdue defense that is bad enough for a monster performance, but also bad enough that anything short of that could hurt his odds. Ohio State’s Julian Sayin currently has the third-highest odds, but has been fading a bit and faces a tough Michigan defense this weekend.
Chasing History at Notre Dame
With all the fireworks, Love isn’t just stacking numbers — he’s climbing into Notre Dame’s record book.
He now sits tied with Jerome Bettis for the most touchdowns in a single season in school history. Bettis – one of the greatest to ever put on the gold helmet – has held the record for 33 years, and Love needs just one score to break it on Saturday night.
Love is also firmly in reach of the single-season Notre Dame rushing record of 1,437 yards set by Vegas Ferguson in 1979. Love enters the final game of the season with 1,306 and needing just 132 yards to break it. The question might come down to how much he and the Irish staff really want to pursue the record. Stanford is not very good, so this game could get out of hand quickly, just like the Syracuse game did. Marcus Freeman and Mike Denbrock will have to balance how much they want to feed Love when the ultimate prize for the Irish is a spot in the College Football Playoffs.
Love has topped 132 yards five times this season, including four times in the last five games. Look for Notre Dame to feed Love the ball early and often in hopes of him popping another long touchdown run or two to chase the record. If Notre Dame is up big in the second half and Love hasn’t broken the record yet, Freeman will have an important decision to make. He preaches team glory, but chasing an individual record that has stood for almost 50 years is pretty special.
Either way, this isn’t just a good season. It’s an all-time Irish season.
A Fun (and Real) Heisman Pattern: The “Year Ending in 5” Running Back Trend
History has a strange way of looping back on itself. And there’s a quirky trend in the Heisman archives that Irish fans will love:
Running Backs Who Won the Heisman in Years Ending in ‘5’
| Year | Player | Position | School |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1955 | Howard Cassady | RB | Ohio State |
| 1965 | Mike Garrett | RB | USC |
| 1975 | Archie Griffin | RB | Ohio State |
| 1985 | Bo Jackson | RB | Auburn |
| 1995 | Eddie George | RB | Ohio State |
| 2005 | Reggie Bush | RB | USC |
| 2015 | Derrick Henry | RB | Alabama |
Is it predictive? Probably not. Is it the kind of thing that fuels a great Heisman narrative? Absolutely.
And in 2025, the country’s hottest running back is wearing blue and gold.
What Love Needs Next
For Love to have a legit chance to surge even more, he obviously needs a big game at Stanford. Considering Stanford is so bad, a big game would need to be another game, either at or near 200 yards, with multiple scores of the SportsCenter top plays caliber. Think Reggie Bush versus Fresno State type game. If Love has an output similar to what he did against Syracuse, he could have a real shot, depending on what Mendoza and Sayin do in their contests. If Sayin goes off on Michigan and Ohio State wins big, then it could all be a moot point.
If all of those happen, Love doesn’t just have a chance – he becomes one of the strongest candidates in one of the most wide-open races in years and at least locks down a trip to New York as a finalist.
