When the Notre Dame football team got off to a 21-0 lead over Syracuse without the offense getting a snap, plenty of Fighting Irish fans were worried the game would tank Jeremiyah Love's Heisman campaign. The good news here is that he ended up having a good enough game that not only did he keep his campaign alive, but it got a boost.
Depending on the Vegas oddsmakers, Love is either alone in second place in the Heisman standings or tied for second place. There's also a concerted effort to make sure that the award doesn't automatically go to a quarterback this year.
For now, Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza (-135) is the frontrunner. And he's the frontrunner by a good margin. However, some oddsmakers have Love jumping into second place at +400, just ahead of Julian Sayin at +450.
Jeremiyah Love moves up in the odds for a Heisman hunt for Notre Dame
FanDuel Sportsbook has the Heisman race even cloudier with the Notre Dame running back tied with Sayin and Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia at +500 while Mendoza has an even bigger lead at -105.
It's not a surprise that Love is getting more ... love. The Irish running back is No. 3 in CFB in yards from scrimmage per game (143.6). He's No. 1 in yards per play (7.5) among the top three backs, and he's No. 2 nationally in total touchdowns with 20.
Indeed, while the beginning of the Notre Dame football game made it look like his Heisman march might suffer, in reality, he gave it a massive boost. While he had just 8 carries, he ran for 171 yards and 3 touchdowns.
He's got one more regular-season game against Stanford next Saturday night to make his case. Then Notre Dame will have to sit and wait and hope that people understand just how good Jeremiyah Love is.