College Football HQ

Notre Dame scores first TD of 12-team playoff era in style

Jeremiyah Love tied a Notre Dame school record with a 98 yard highlight-reel touchdown, the first score of the 12-team College Football Playoff era.
James Parks|
Notre Dame star Jeremiyah Love scored a 98 yard touchdown to start the 12-team College Football Playoff era in style.
Notre Dame star Jeremiyah Love scored a 98 yard touchdown to start the 12-team College Football Playoff era in style. | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

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Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Notre Dame kicked off the first game of the 12-team College Football Playoff era in style by scoring a highlight reel touchdown to take an early lead against Indiana.

Moments after the Irish picked off Indiana quarterback Kurtis Rourke two yards short of the goal line, quarterback Riley Leonard handed the ball off to tailback Jeremiyah Love.

He did the rest, racing around left end and down the sideline for a 98 yard touchdown, the first score of the expanded playoff era.

The touchdown made history by tying the longest score ever recorded in Notre Dame football history, joining Josh Adams’ 98 yard TD against Wake Forest back in 2015.

And the score goes in the books as the second-longest carry by any back in FBS bowl and postseason history, as well.

Oregon State’s Terry Baker, who went 99 yards against Villanova in the 1962 Liberty Bowl, holds the all-time record for the longest carry in that category.

Notre Dame took a 7-0 lead on Indiana with the play.

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James Parks
JAMES PARKS

James Parks is the founder and publisher of College Football HQ. He has covered football for a decade, previously managing several team sites and publishing national content for 247Sports.com for five years. His work has also been published on CBSSports.com. He founded College Football HQ in 2020, and the site joined the Sports Illustrated Fannation Network in 2022 and the On SI network in 2024.

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