Jeremiyah Love's Heisman Odds Take Hit After Notre Dame Defeats Stanford

The star running back should still get an invite to the Heisman Trophy ceremony, but his chances of winning the award fell significantly during the final week of the regular season.

Notre Dame Fighting Irish running back Jeremiyah Love (4) celebrates a touchdown against the Syracuse Orange at Notre Dame Stadium. | Michael Caterina-Imagn Images

One of the best seasons by a running back in Notre Dame history won't be enough to win the Heisman Trophy, it appears.

As of Monday morning, Jeremiyah Love has the fourth-best odds at +1600, according to the Draft Kings Sportsbook. That puts him behind Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia (+360), Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin (+145) and Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza (+125) by a wide margin.

Love entered Saturday's regular season finale at Stanford needing to make a convincing case for the Heisman Trophy, but winning was certainly within the realm of possibility. However, the weekend's results have essentially eliminated Love from contention and set up a Big Ten championship game with major implications on the Heisman Trophy race.

Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza (15) throws against the Purdue Boilermakers at Ross-Ade Stadium. | Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images

Why Jeremiyah Love likely won't win the Heisman Trophy

When the Irish woke up Saturday morning in California, oddsmakers gave Love a legitimate shot to win the Heisman Trophy. He had the second-best odds on the Draft Kings Sporstbook, with Mendoza at +100, followed by Love at +250, Sayin at +360 and Pavia at +650. But results didn't go in his favor as the weekend went on.

The second-ranked Hoosiers rolled past Purdue 56-3 on Friday without needing a big game from Mendoza, who completed 8-of-15 passes for 117 yards, two passing touchdowns and one rushing touchdown. It wasn't Mendoza's "Heisman moment," but it was enough to maintain his standing as the favorite.

Sayin and No. 1 Ohio State put together a well-rounded performance in a 27-9 win over Michigan. The sophomore quarterback completed 19-of-26 passes for 233 yards, three touchdowns and an interception, while the Buckeyes' defense shut out Michigan in the second half.

Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback Julian Sayin (10) takes a snap against the Michigan Wolverines at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Mich. | Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Pavia also jumped Love, as he led No. 14 Vanderbilt to a 45-24 win at No. 19 Tennessee. The senior quarterback finished 18-for-28 for 268 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions, but he also rushed 20 times for 165 yards and a touchdown.

Love got off to the start he needed Saturday against Stanford, rushing eight times for 54 yards and a touchdown on the game's first drive. But he left the game in the first quarter with a rib injury, and despite returning in the second quarter, it wound up being a quiet night for the electrifying back.

Love finished with 14 carries for 66 yards and a touchdown to go along with one reception for six yards. And after the Irish led 42-3 early in the third quarter, coach Marcus Freeman opted to play the backups in the fourth quarter.

“I know he wanted to go out there and put on a Heisman Trophy-worthy performance, and we owed it to him to say, ‘If you feel like you can go, go,'” Freeman said postgame. "And that tells you the type of competitor he is. I know he’s hurting, but he wanted to go. And it was safe for him. We wouldn’t put him in harm’s way, right? And the doc said, ‘If he wants to go, he can go.’ And I left that up to him because he’s earned that right.”

It's hard to win the Heisman as a running back

Right or wrong, the Heisman Trophy has turned into a quarterback-friendly award. And with Love competing against the quarterbacks of the No. 1 and 2 teams in the country, nothing was going to be handed to him.

He needed an emphatic performance against Stanford to have a chance, and even that may not have been enough. It didn't happen, but Love still had an incredible regular season, ranking fourth nationally in rushing yards, third in rushing touchdowns and 11th in yards per carry.

Now it likely comes down to which quarterback –– Sayin or Mendoza –– leads their team to the Big Ten title. There's nothing necessarily wrong with that, either. The two have been outstanding all year, as they rank top two, respectively, in ESPN's passer rating metric and have led their teams to the only undefeated regular seasons in the FBS.

It will become an interesting debate if the Big Ten championship is a low-scoring game and neither quarterback puts up big numbers. That's certainly possible, too, as Ohio State and Indiana rank first and second, respectively, in scoring defense. Could Mendoza still win if Indiana loses, but Sayin has a bad game? Perhaps that'd open the door for Pavia, though he doesn't play in the SEC title game this weekend.

At the end of the day, Love's junior season will still go down as an all-time great. Love wrapped up the year with 1,372 rushing yards, good for fourth-most in a season in program history behind Vagas Ferguson (1,437 in 1979),

Josh Adams (1,430 in 2017) and Allen Pinkett (1,394 in 1983). Love also tied Audric Estime's program record of 18 touchdowns in a single season, and he's tied for third with 36 career rushing touchdowns.

Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love (4) runs for a touchdown against Syracuse at Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025, in South Bend. | MICHAEL CLUBB/SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

His 228 rushing yards against USC are the sixth-most in a single game in Notre Dame history, and his 21.4 yards per carry against Syracuse are second-most in a single game in program history. Love is up to 2,882 career rushing yards, which ranks seventh in Notre Dame history.

While it likely won't include a Heisman Trophy, Love has a chance to solidify himself as Notre Dame legend if he can lead the Irish to their first national title since 1988.

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