All Hogs

Notre Dame running back duo shows no love, Arkansas pays heavy price

Jeremiyah Love, Jadarian Price run rampant all over maligned Razorback defense
Daniel Shi|
Notre Dame Fighting Irish running back Jeremiyah Love (4) signals first down after a run in the first quarter against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Razorback Stadium.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish running back Jeremiyah Love (4) signals first down after a run in the first quarter against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Razorback Stadium. | Nelson Chenault-Imagn Images

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Arkansas RazorbacksNotre Dame Fighting Irish

Notre Dame star running back Jeremiyah Love one-upped a hat trick, scoring four touchdowns (two rushing and two passing) in the first half alone.

His backfield mate Jadarian Price pitched in two more touchdowns as Arkansas left the field to a chorus of boos after trailing 42-13 at halftime, en route to a 56-13 defeat.

"They’re both two good running backs, both of them," linebacker Xavian Sorey said. "Love and the other one, they’re just good backs. That’s really all I got to say."

Earlier in the week coach Sam Pittman provided an eerie foreshadowing early in the week when talking about Price and Love.

"We call them 1A [and] 1B," Pittman said about the two running backs Monday. "I call them 1AAAA and 1B."

While Notre Dame's numbers on the ground didn't jump off the page as otherworldly, Notre Dame used Love repeatedly out of the backfield as an extension of the run game. Arkansas actually averaged more yards per carry than the Irish.

Love's five catches for 70 yards, set a new career-high for receiving yards. His longest reception was a pitch and catch on a 34-yard play down the sideline before cutting back inside with a calvary of blockers waiting to escort him into the end zone.

"That's a heck of a player," defensive end Cam Ball said. "He is a good running back. He affected us in the pass and in the run. He's just a good player, [but] there's no excuse for it."  

For the third straight week, Arkansas had an inopportune fumble towards the end of a half. This time, the team decided to do it 30 minutes earlier than the past two games.

Two plays later, Price found himself in the end zone on a 35-yard screen pass just before the half as Notre Dame scored a touchdown on all six possessions. The two running backs combined for 248 all-purpose yards, accounting for nearly 40% of the team's 641 total yards.

Even with Price and Love getting most of the fourth quarter off because of the blowout, second-string running back couldn't save the Hogs from many of the defensive woes that hampered them for the past two weeks. Aneyas Williams had just four carries for 10 yards on the season. He had a 17-yard touchdown run, the first of his career.

"It's the easy scores," coach Sam Pittman said. "It's the power play here at the end, where we had nobody even close to the guy. That's on everybody. It's not just on the players, that's on all of us. But that's been a trend now for five weeks."

Notre Dame finished with 431 yards through the air, 247 of which came after the catch.

Arkansas will head into a bye week before facing No. 15 Tennessee on the road Oct. 11.

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Daniel Shi
DANIEL SHI

Covers baseball, football and basketball for Arkansas Razorback on SI since 2023, previously writing for FanSided. Currently a student at the University of Arkansas. He’s been repeatedly jaded by the Los Angeles Angels since 2014. Probably silently humming along to whatever the band is playing in the press box. Follow me on X: @dsh12

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