Notre Dame’s Jeremiyah Love: Irish Forged Their Own Path to Playoff Elimination
NEW YORK — Jeremiyah Love described Notre Dame’s bowl decision as a team choice, noting that the Fighting Irish essentially left their fate in the hands of the selection committee and ended up missing the College Football Playoff as a result.
Love and the other Heisman finalists spoke Friday at a Midtown Manhattan media session. Notre Dame, ranked No. 11, wrapped up its season last Sunday after the school announced it would forgo a bowl appearance following its CFP omission.
Love hinted that several of Notre Dame’s top players may have chosen to sit out a bowl game.
“Our goal was to present the best possible representation of our 2025 football team,” Love said. “We believed we had a very special group, and by season’s end we wouldn’t have the same team going into the bowl game. So we decided not to represent the team in any light that hadn’t defined us throughout the entire 2025 season.”
Notre Dame finished the year 10-2, riding a 10-game win streak, and narrowly missed the CFP, despite spending weeks ranked high enough to be in the 12-team field before dropping one spot in the final rankings.
Athletic director Pete Bevacqua had publicly criticized the selection process and the ACC, which Notre Dame has long lobbied against, particularly in its efforts to back No. 10 Miami, a team that defeated Notre Dame in Week 1. While Notre Dame is independent in football, it participates in the ACC for most other sports and maintains an annual football scheduling agreement with the conference.
Love recalled the initial reaction to the CFP exclusion as one of sadness.
“At first, people didn’t understand why,” he said. “But after a few days, we realized we’d placed ourselves in that position.”
Notre Dame began the season 0-2, losing to Miami and No. 7 Texas A&M by a combined four points.
“At the end of the day, we left it to the committee to decide our playoff fate,” Love said.
Love, who ran for 1,372 yards this season, is pursuing the Heisman as the first running back to win since Derrick Henry in 2015. The other finalists are Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia, Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza, and Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin. Mendoza and Sayin guide their teams into the Playoff as the Nos. 1 and 2 seeds, respectively. Pavia and No. 14 Vanderbilt will play in the ReliaQuest Bowl against No. 23 Iowa.
Love noted that Notre Dame concluded the season with a charitable event for the team earlier in the week.
“We understand that if we had taken care of business all season, there would have been no doubt we’d be in the College Football Playoff,” Love said. “But given the season we had, we’re not disappointed. We’re proud of how we played and how we finished. It’s just a bit disappointing not to make the playoffs.”
But here’s where it gets controversial: should teams with a perceived chance at the Playoff still play every bowl game, or should players opt out to protect future value? And this is the part most people miss: the decision isn’t just about a single game—it reflects long-term strategy, recruiting optics, and program identity. What’s your take—should schools and players prioritize bowl participation, or is opting out a prudent choice when the path to the Playoff feels uncertain?
