As all of us ND fans know, Jeremiyah Love has had an incredible year. Most acknowledge that he and Ohio State WR Jeremiah Smith are the 2 best players in college football. Neither is likely to win the Heisman, that's probably going to be IU QB Fernando Mendoza at this point. But Love should win several national awards. If you read all that he's accomplished at the link you will see. SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Junior running back Jeremiyah Love continues his impressive 2025 season by adding another national honor to his resume today, named a semifinalist for the Doak Walker Award, which honors college football’s top running back, the fourth-oldest college football award in the nation which honors the nation’s top college football player. This is Love’s third national semifinalist honor, also named a semifinalist for the Walter Camp Player of the Year and the Maxwell Award. Love Named Semifinalist for Doak Walker AwardLove Named Semifinalist for Doak Walker Award
To my surprise the Irish came in at #9 in the CFP rankings. That's good news for us, if we win out then I like our chances of staying at #9 or better. If USC can beat Oregon this weekend, we could move up, but Oregon is really pretty solid and I don't expect them to lose at home. Texas Tech is unlikely to lose to WVU, so a loss in the B12 Championship game is their only possible loss and they already beat BYU soundly so I don't see them losing again, maybe if Utah somehow gets into the B12 Championship game. Miami remains at #13 so there will continue to be a lot of talk about how they could be there when they beat ND in the 1st game of the season and have the same record. Boo Hoo. I hope Pitt beats them in a freezing snow storm in their last game of the season.
If Miami is rakned ahead of us becauseof a head to head win, can we have the 1978 NC trophy they gave to FSU after we beat them head to head and had the same record?
I too think it is likely to go to a B1G QB, just not that one. Caleb Downs and Arvell Reese would like to have some input, let's hope they do.....we'll talk again on 12/7
Right now the top 3 are 1. Mendoza at +100 2. Sayin at +200 3. Reed at +575 Others who will receive votes are Love Haynes King Diego Pavia Gunner Stockton Ty Simpson Pretty shocking that the best player possibly who is Jeremiah Smith isn't even in the conversation right now? No doubt Downs and Reese are great players as is the Texas Tech LB Jacob Rodriguez but none of them are going to get more than a couple of votes. You might say that the IU/OSU game might determine it but it's the night before the Heisman Dinner so I doubt if voters are going to wait till then to cast their ballots.
One of the things I liked about the way things were is that most if not all schools had a Sr. Class of kids who had spent their entire career, in this case at ND, at the school. You got to see them grow and develop. But now all schools have at least some kids who only were there for 1 year and won't get a degree from, in this case ND, and will move on. Malachi Fields and Will Pauling come to mind for the Irish. I don't know if they got their degree's from Virginia and Wisconsin but I hope they did. Jaylen Sneed is a kid who I like, not because he's an AA (which he isn't) but because he's one of those who has stayed the course, has attended classes like a real student. Sure athletes get a lot of help/resources that normal student's don't have access. But he's had to attend classes in person, he's not been able to do any online courses, although there is a program for summer online classes but it's not a replacement for the normal course work. As coach Freeman tell's recruits, to chose ND you have to chose hard. When the Hilton Head native arrived on campus, Sneed knew he’d be challenged on and off the field at Notre Dame. There were expectations to attend class and then put in extra work in The Gug to catch up to a veteran linebacker room. Sneed will be the first to say there were dark days in South Bend, but he continued to push. “I always thought I would make it through the football part, but the school part was definitely hard,” Sneed explained. “There's definitely sometimes where I felt like I was drowning in the school and with football and then everything piling on top of it. It definitely was hard. That sophomore and junior year, those are definitely two of my hardest years.
Irish basketball blew a 22 pt lead tonight vs Bellarmine tonight. But prevailed for a closer than it should have been. 86-79. Play KU next in Vegas , I fear we might really get beaten badly.
My comment about Caleb and Arvell relates to the fact that they'll help their QB Sayin and vote with their play on the field if they have a chance to go against IU and Mendoza. I saw a stat recently that surprised me but indicated that historically, almost 90% of Heisman ballots are received after the games are played Championship week - submissions are due the Monday following. In light of how close the race seems and how significant is the matchup to both those QB's no reason to think this year would be different. My bet is if we do face each other in Indy, the winning QB takes home the Heisman
Irish Women's basketball back in action tonight. The opponent is a very good USC team, I fear that this team only goes as far as Hildalgo can take us. I hope we can play well, they will need a lot of improvement from her teammates for that to happen.. If not another beat down could happen. Women's soccer takes on Ohio State. Tonight as well, we should win.