MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — For nearly two full quarters, Notre Dame football seemed to forget it had a Heisman Trophy candidate in its backfield.
In Sunday night’s 27-24 loss at 10th-ranked Miami, Jeremiyah Love somehow had just 16 total yards on five offensive touches until the final stages of the third quarter.
During one stretch, the Irish ran 20 straight plays without giving the ball to Love, either by handoff or pass. Part of that was due to Jadarian Price subbing in for Notre Dame’s first touchdown drive, an 11-play march that tied the game at 7 in the second quarter.
Some of those CJ Carr runs or short passes came on run-pass options (RPO) that could have gone instead to Love.
Eventually, Irish coach Marcus Freeman said, the coaching staff advised Carr to get Love more involved. A 17-point output in the fourth quarter accompanied that advice.
“I need to continue to get a better feel for what our offense needs in the moment,” Carr said after losing his debut. “A lot of times it’s going to be Jeremiyah Love. On the (fourth quarter) pick, I should have just given him the ball specifically. It cost us a big play.”
Love finished with just 59 total scrimmage yards: 33 on the ground (on 10 carries) and 26 through the air on four catches. The man behind the animated cartoon “Jeremonstar” also seem to look for opportunities to leap over defenders rather than lowering his shoulder and running through them.
“Some RPOs you can hand the ball off or, depending on what the defense does, pull it and throw it,” Freeman said. “We started to say later in the game, ‘Stop reading it and hand the ball to J-Love. We need to establish this run game.’”
Love’s longest run of the night covered just 8 yards. His longest reception went for 11, and he was targeted six times.
Price, meanwhile, led the Irish with just 45 rushing yards on six carries. All of that output came on a single scoring drive, including a 30-yard sweep around left end to the Miami 3.
Price fumbled on his next carry for a loss to 3 and did not touch the ball again. Carr recovered the fumble, and the Irish scored through the air on the next play.
“(Carr) was doing what he was coached to do on a lot of those pulls and throwing,” Freeman said. “We have to block better on the perimeter. The one interception, you can’t have. But there’s times we have to take away the read and say, ‘Just hand the ball to your running backs,’ and he’ll do that.”
Mike Berardino covers Notre Dame football for the South Bend Tribune and NDInsider.com. Follow him on social media @MikeBerardino.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Why Notre Dame football couldn’t get Jeremiyah Love going in loss to Miami
Reporting by Mike Berardino, South Bend Tribune / South Bend Tribune
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