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The potential risks of playing Jeremiyah Love in the Orange Bowl

The potential risks of playing Jeremiyah Love in the Orange Bowl

Since Notre Dame’s season-ending win in Los Angeles against USC on Nov. 30, star running back Jeremiyah Love hasn’t been at his best.

He still dazzled with a 98-yard touchdown run in the first round of the College Football Playoff game against Indiana while battling a cold, but it was clear he still wasn’t feeling quite right.

Fast forward to Notre Dame’s Sugar Bowl game against Georgia on Jan. 2 and Love still wasn’t feeling like himself after it appeared he sprained his knee once again during the win.

This forced him to put on a brace on the sideline and limp off the field after the win and left fans questioning his availability for the Orange Bowl matchup with Penn State and potentially beyond.

In the video above Illustrated blue and goldIt’s Tyler Horka, you can see the brace on Love’s right knee and the pretty noticeable limp. This has led to debate online about whether it really makes sense for Notre Dame to put Love on the field against Penn State on January 9 in the Orange Bowl if he is less than 90% healthy.

Of course, in a perfect world, Notre Dame wants their best players to be on the field helping them win and advance to the national championship, I totally get that. However, the injury bug has bitten Notre Dame again and again and again, but it keeps winning.

Much of the success can be attributed to the star running back making game-changing plays, but can Notre Dame realistically get past Penn State and try to get Love healthy for the national championship game against the winner of Ohio State vs. . Texas?

That’s how this works. You can’t think about anything other than going through Penn State.

You can’t count chickens before they hatch, but is it worth bringing out Love if she’s only 50-60% done? There are almost two weeks between the Orange Bowl and the CFP National Championship: the star attack with a 75% or better could be essential to win it all.

If he can’t face the Nittany Lions, are Jadarian Price, Aneyas Williams and Riley Leonard enough for Notre Dame to get him on the ground?

If it were up to me, I’d be waiting until the last possible second to see if Love can go and use him sparingly.

He’s too big a destroyer to keep on the sidelines, even if he’s engaged. Of course, you don’t want to make his injury worse, but his impact on the game in just a handful of games can mean the difference between the end of the season and a spot in the national championship.

You know Love will do whatever it takes to go out and take on Penn State. Will the staff interpret it?

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