Heisman candidate Jeremiyah Love leaves Notre Dame football game with injury
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Notre Dame football suffered a tough blow on its second drive of the game against Stanford on Saturday when star running back Jeremiyah Love left with an apparent rib injury.
As Love was being tackled on a short run, a Cardinal’s player knee drove into the rib area of Love. The junior was down for a few minutes before getting up and walking off under his own power.
Love immediately went into the blue medical tent on the sideline. He emerged from the tent a few minutes later, but then walked to the locker room with the Irish's head trainer, Rob Hunt.
Notre Dame would finish off the drive, going up 14-0 late in the first quarter.
Love returned to the game with the Irish ahead, 28-3, late in the second quarter.
At halftime, with Notre Dame up 35-3, coach Marcus Freeman provided an update to the ESPN broadcast during an interview.
"He's hurting, and that's a reflection of the type of character that he has," Freeman said. "He wants to be out here, he wants to compete. I keep challenging Love to make sure he does what's best for the team. If that means he needs to keep himself out, then we'll make that decision. I don't want to make it — I want him to make the decision. We're going to have a long talk at halftime, and I want him to make a decision that's best for the team."
On Notre Dame’s first possession, Love set a single-season program record, scoring his 21st touchdown of the season to give Notre Dame an early 7-0 lead.
The Irish are in contention for a College Football Playoff appearance, ranked No. 9 in this past week’s rankings. Love is among the top players in the country, entering the game third in the Heisman Trophy betting odds.
This story is developing.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Jeremiyah Love injury update: Notre Dame football star hurt vs Stanford
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