2023 season Love spent his freshmen season as the fifth-string running back behind
Audric Estimé, Gi'Bran Payne,
Jadarian Price, and Devyn Ford, but still played in every game. In the 2023 home opener, Love rushed for his first career touchdown on a 36-yard run in a win over
Tennessee State. He finished his first collegiate season rushing 71 times for 385 yards and a touchdown, while also bringing in eight receptions for 77 yards and a touchdown.
2024 season Love entered the 2024 season as the starting running back for the Fighting Irish following the departure of fellow running back
Audric Estimé. Love finished the 2024 season with 1,125 yards and 17 touchdowns on the ground, and 28 catches for 237 yards and 2 touchdowns in the air, including a school-record 13 consecutive games with a rushing touchdown. This included an appearance in the
College Football Playoff, highlighted by key performances and plays in games by Love. These performances and plays included a 98-yard touchdown run in the first round of the playoffs against
Indiana. Ultimately, Love and the Fighting Irish fell short in the
National Championship against
Ohio State.
2025 season Entering the season, Love was named to multiple award watch lists. On October 11 against
NC State, he rushed for 86 yards and two touchdowns, becoming the fourth-fastest player in Notre Dame history to reach 2,000 career rushing yards. The following week against
USC, he rushed for a career-high 228 yards and a touchdown, the most by a Fighting Irish player at
Notre Dame Stadium and the sixth-most in a single game in program history. On November 1 against
Boston College, Love rushed for 143 yards and two touchdowns, including a 94-yard scoring run, becoming the first player in program history to record two 90-yard rushing touchdowns in a career. In the regular-season finale on November 29 against
Stanford, he rushed for 69 yards and a touchdown, surpassing
Jerome Bettis for the most total touchdowns in a single season in school history with 21, while tying Audric Estimé's single-season rushing touchdown record with 18. Notre Dame concluded the 2025 season with a 10–2 record and was controversially excluded from the
College Football Playoff. Love rushed 1,372 yards and 18 touchdowns, and added 27 receptions for 280 yards and three touchdowns. He was named a finalist for the
Heisman Trophy, the
Maxwell Award, the
Walter Camp Award, the Pony Express Award, and the
Capital One Orange Bowl-
FWAA Courage Award. He won the
Doak Walker Award, becoming the first in Notre Dame's history, as well as the
Disney's Wide World of Sports Spirit Award and a semifinalist for the
Heisman Trophy. He also earned
unanimous All-American honors and declared for the
NFL draft following the season.
Statistics ==Professional career==