Notre Dame sophomore running back Jeremiah Love has been activated for the start of the expanded College Football Playoff.
In Friday night's first-round game against in-state rival Indiana, Love scored his first score with an epic 98-yard rushing touchdown after both teams traded interceptions in the opening minutes. Ta.
The school-record first-quarter carry came just after Hoosiers quarterback Curtis Rourke threw a pick to Xavier Watts in the red zone, giving Notre Dame the ball at its own 2-yard line.
Love, in his second season with the Fighting Irish, entered the game with a team-leading 949 rushing yards (7.1 yards per carry) and 15 rushing TDs, the longest scoring run of his college career. .
The touchdown score was a thrilling way to kick off the all-new College Football Playoff format, which has grown from four teams to 12 this season.
This will be the first meeting between the two schools since 1991, when the Fighting Irish won by a landslide.
Indiana hasn't beaten Notre Dame in nearly 75 years, the last time being in 1950.
Following last year's 3-9 record, Indiana qualified for the playoffs for the first time in program history under new head coach Curt Cignetti.
But Love's long score put the Hoosiers in an early hole in South Bend.
