SOUTH BEND, INDIANA – OCTOBER 18: Jeremiyah Love #4 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish celebrates a touchdown in the first quarter against the USC Trojans at Notre Dame Stadium on October 18, 2025 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Justin Casterline/Getty Images)
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As the final whistle blew inside Notre Dame Stadium Saturday night, Fighting Irish running back Jeremiyah Love sprinted towards the end zone, stopped and did three quick push-ups. He then headed back towards his teammates, all of whom were celebrating Notre Dame’s 34-24 victory over USC that kept its hopes alive of advancing to the 12-team College Football Playoff for the second year in a row.
After losing their first two games by a combined four points against Miami and Texas A&M, the No. 13 Irish have won five in a row and should be heavily favored in each of their final five games, all against currently unranked opponents. As such, Saturday’s game against No. 20 USC (5-2) was crucial for the Irish’s CFP chances, and they delivered, especially running the ball and stopping the run.
Love, a projected first round pick in next year’s NFL draft, had 24 carries for 228 yards, a career-high and the fifth-highest total in Notre Dame history. No Irish player has ever run for more yards in a game in Notre Dame Stadium, which opened in October 1930. The four Notre Dame players who ran for more yards did so on the road.
Love had a 63-yard run on his first carry and never slowed down. He even had a crucial block that opened a hole for quarterback CJ Carr to score on a 1-yard keeper to put the Irish ahead 34-24 with 7:16 remaining. For good measure, he had five catches for 37 yards.
Meanwhile, Jadarian Price, who shares the load with Love, gained 87 yards on 13 carries and a touchdown. He also returned a kickoff 100 yards for a score to give the Irish a 27-24 advantage immediately after USC took the lead on a 59-yard touchdown pass from Jayden Maiva to Ja’Kobi Lane.
If Love keeps it up, he has an outside shot at becoming the first Notre Dame player since receiver Tim Brown in 1987 to win the Heisman Trophy, and Price isn’t that much behind him in terms of production. Love has gained 758 yards on 124 carries (6.1 yards per attempt) and nine touchdowns, while Price has run for 509 yards on 76 carries (6.7 yards per attempt) and eight touchdowns.
“It’s not very common in college football, it’s not very common in life, to see two guys that are so talented that deserve the ball in their hand every snap but choose to put the team in front of themselves and then make the most of their opportunities,” Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said. “They’re not pouting. They’re each other’s biggest supporter…That’s what you want your team to be a reflection of — great players that make great plays when they have the ball in their hands, but continue to put team before (themselves). That’s hard to do. That might be one of the hardest thing we ask our players to do.”
Playing in rain for much of the night, Notre Dame ran for a season-high 306 yards despite having a first-time starting center in sophomore Joe Otting, who replaced starter Ashton Craig, who sustained a season-ending knee injury last Saturday against North Carolina State. The Irish also played without starting defensive tackle Gabe Rubio, who was sidelined with a left elbow injury, but they still held USC to a season-low 68 yards rushing on 29 yards. The Trojans’ 2.3 yards per attempt was far below its previous season-low of 3.7 yards per carry.
Maiava completed 22 of 42 passes for 328 yards and two touchdowns, but in the second half he went just 8 of 18 for 151 yards and threw two interceptions. Entering the game, Maiva led the nation with 10.83 yards per attempt and led the Big Ten Conference with 1,852 passing yards while throwing 13 touchdowns and just two interceptions.
“Our defense, we challenged them to say, ‘Let’s make them one dimensional. We can’t let them run the ball at will and throw the ball at will,’” Freeman said. “That’s what they’ve been doing. And for the most part, we stopped them in the run game. Obviously they had some passes, and that was the challenge…They were probably OK with us making them one dimensional, and they had some success, but our guys kept battling and they kept battling, and that’s what it takes to have success.”
Earlier in the season, Notre Dame’s defense struggled under first-year defensive coordinator Chris Ash, especially in the Irish’s 41-40 loss to Texas A&M when they allowed 40 points for the first time since 2019 and a season-high 488 yards. Since then, the Irish have regrouped and held their last five opponents to 16.2 points per game.
On Saturday, the Irish made a few crucial defensive plays in the second half, including cornerback Christian Gray stepping in front of a Maiva pass for an interception late in the third quarter. Gray had been called for pass interference twice in the half and had been covering Lane when he scored a touchdown to put the Trojans ahead by three points. After Gray allowed that touchdown, Freeman spoke with him.
“I reminded him, ‘Nobody feels bad, man. You’ve got to do your job and play with the proper technique. Do I believe you can do it? Absolutely. But you’ve got to go do it, and nobody has sympathy,’” Freeman said. “After that pick, he ran over, and he said a couple words to me, but I like that. I like that. And he knows I love him. I believe in him. He needed a challenge a little bit.”
In the fourth quarter, after Notre Dame missed a 31-yard field goal, USC had the ball trailing 27-24 when Maiava completed a 42-yard pass to Makai Lemon. But on the next play, Notre Dame safety Adon Shuler forced Lemon to fumble on an end-around, and Irish linebacker Kyngston Viliamu-Asa recovered the ball. On the following possession, Carr ran for a touchdown and a 10-point lead. The Irish then stopped USC on a fourth and inches when Maiava rolled out and threw an incompletion, all but ensuring Notre Dame would win. The victory became official when Maiva had an interception with 1:06 remaining and the Irish ran out the clock.
Notre Dame gets a week off before playing at Boston College, which fell to 1-6 Saturday after losing 38-23 to UConn. The Irish then play at home against 6-0 Navy, always a difficult matchup because the Midshipmen play a triple-option offense, and close the season against Pittsburgh (5-2), Syracuse (3-4) and Stanford (2-4). If the Irish play up to their potential, they should win all of those games and be back in the CFP, where a year ago they made it to the national title game before losing to Ohio State, Freeman’s alma mater.
On Saturday night, Freeman wasn’t thinking that far ahead. He seemed relieved and excited to defeat USC, a team that Notre Dame has played each year since 1926 save for during World War II and in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As of now, there is no Notre Dame-USC game scheduled for next year, leaving some questions as to if they’ll keep the rivalry alive on an annual basis. Still, Freeman said he told his players before Saturday’s game that he remembers all of his rivalry games, dating back to Pee Wee football.
“They mean just a little bit more because of what it represents for your University, what it represents for your fans, the players before us and the players to come,” Freeman said. “I reminded our guys of the responsibility we have to go perform the way we did.”
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