Penn State football’s best defensive player is battling an injury, and so is Notre Dame’s best offensive player, and many are asking if they’ll be at or close to 100%.
Penn State star EDGE Abdul Carter got hurt in the team’s Fiesta Bowl/College Football Playoff quarterfinal win over Boise State New Year’s Eve.
Two days later, Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love suffered an apparent knee injury. Love is not only Notre Dame’s No. 1 RB but also one of the better ones in college football. He has 1,076 yards rushing and 16 touchdowns, averaging 7.3 yards per carry. He’s already had a “legacy moment” in these College Football Playoffs, going for a Playoff-record 98-yard TD run in the team’s first-round win over Indiana.
JEREMIYAH LOVE GOES 98 YARDS FOR THE TOUCHDOWN 😱 pic.twitter.com/SSAjPnrRtt
— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) December 21, 2024
WILL LOVE BE GOOD TO GO?
SOUTH BEND, IN – DECEMBER 20: Notre Dame Fighting Irish running back Jeremiyah Love (4) runs past Indiana Hoosiers linebacker Rolijah Hardy (21) during the CFP first round game between the Indiana Hoosiers and Notre Dame Fighting Irish on December 20, 2024 at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, IN. (Photo by Jeffrey Brown/Icon Sportswire)
So what’s Love’s status going into Thursday.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.Per Tyler Horka, who covers Notre Dame for On3Sports and talked exclusively with Nittany Sports Now this week, it will be a struggle.
“(Love was wearing a) pretty hefty brace,” Horka said. “He’s a guy that does not like to play with anything on his legs, his knees, whatever. Because he is that elusive, and you become less elusive when you play with something like that, let’s just call it what it is.
“He was fiddling with it a lot in practice. He looked like he was walking gingerly in between reps. He never missed a rep, but what was interesting was he took second-team reps exclusively. So that kind of tells you where Notre Fame thinks he’s at, where Notre Dame thinks he will be Thursday, which is definitely nowhere near 100% and that will absolutely affect this ballgame.”
THE PRICE IS RIGHT?
The good news for Notre Dame is that, if Love is as limited as he appears to be, it has a solid option to carry the load. Jadarian Price (720 yards, seven touchdowns, 6.5 YPC) is no slouch, nor is QB Riley Leonard (831 yards, 15 touchdowns, 5.6 YPC). Regardless of whether Love is active, out or limited, Notre Dame has other options to hurt Penn State on the ground.
No. 6 Penn State takes on No. 7 Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl/College Football Playoff semifinal Thursday, Jan. 9 at 7:30 on ESPN.
