Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Stanford Cardinal

Love gets hurt but returns as No. 9 Notre Dame routs Stanford 49-20

Afterward, Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said he felt his team has done enough to be considered for the CFP.

“We have improved as much as anybody in the country, been playing as well as anybody in the country and we have, in my opinion, the best player in the country,” Freeman said. “That’s what you want. You want the best teams in the country now. Who’s the best teams for the playoffs right now? I truly believe we’re one.”

The fourth-leading rusher in the nation and a Heisman Trophy contender, Love was shaken up after running for a short gain midway through the first quarter. He remained down for a few moments, walked to the locker room and didn’t return until the second half.

Love finished with 66 yards (8 after returning) and scored his 21st touchdown of the season, breaking Jerome Bettis’ school record for overall TDs while tying Audrice Estime’s record of 18 rushing touchdowns in a season.

“I went into the tent, like I was good immediately,” Love said. “But they wanted to make sure I was good. Everything came out right. Just a bruise.”

Backups Jadarian Price and Aneyas Williams combined for 178 total yards of offense and four touchdowns.

CJ Carr threw for 205 yards and two touchdowns as Notre Dame (10-2) retained the Legends Trophy.

Elijah Brown passed for 204 yards and a touchdown with one interception for Stanford (4-8). Emmett Kenney added two field goals.

“The culture that the players set, the way we did things … we didn’t get as many wins as we want but we made progress there, too,” Stanford interim coach Frank Reich said. “There’s a lot more wins coming to this program, trust me on that.”

Talich scored on a 4th-and-19 pass from Joshua Burnham in the second quarter.

“Something we’ve been working on for a couple of weeks, and we knew if we got a certain look, we would check to it,” Freeman said. “Then we got the look that we wanted, we checked to it, and we executed.”

The Irish scored touchdowns on each of their first four drives, led 28-3 at halftime then coasted. It’s the fourth time in the last eight seasons that Notre Dame has had a winning streak of 10 games or longer.

The takeaway Notre Dame: The Irish are in position to get in the playoffs. All 10 of the their wins have been by double figures.

Stanford: Former Cardinal quarterback Tavita Pritchard takes over as head coach next season.

Up next Notre Dame awaits the playoffs announcement.

REICH