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SOUTH BEND, Ind. — When Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love stepped to the podium late Friday night, he could barely speak.
“I probably sound pretty terrible,” Love said.
After weeks of working his way back from a knee injury sustained in the Fighting Irish’s regular-season finale at USC, Love was hit with flu-like symptoms before a College Football Playoff first-round matchup against visiting Indiana. He spent the days before kickoff working with the athletic training staff and staying as hydrated as possible, even on a frigid game night. Notre Dame running backs coach Deland McCullough didn’t know if Love could impact the game the longer it went on.
Turns out, he needed just one touch.
Despite a voice reduced to a whisper, Love delivered the first earsplitting play of the 12-team College Football Playoff era, a 98-yard touchdown run barely four minutes in that propelled No. 7 seed Notre Dame to its first-ever CFP win. He recorded the longest play in CFP history — by 13 yards — as well as the longest by an FBS player this season, registered the longest play Indiana had ever allowed and tied Fighting Irish running back Josh Adams (2015) for the longest rush in team history.
The run also added to a growing library of highlights for Love, whose hurdles, jukes and blistering speed have made him the main attraction on a Notre Dame team that will face No. 2 seed Georgia in the Allstate Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1 (8:45 p.m. ET, ESPN) for the CFP quarterfinals.
Notre Dame offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock called Love the “engine that kind of sparks this thing.” When quarterback Riley Leonard took the podium Friday, he wore a Jeremiyah Love T-shirt.
“I’ve always been a playmaker,” Love told ESPN on Monday. “My first-ever touch in football, when I was like 6 or 5, I scored a touchdown. My team has always…
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