Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza is your 2025 Heisman Trophy winner. A well-deserved honor as he led the Hoosiers to the program’s first 13–0 season and the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff while throwing the most touchdown passes in the nation.

Without discounting Mendoza’s incredible year, other Heisman finalists shined in their own right, putting together outstanding campaigns to make a true case for college football’s top honor. Debatably, no player made a Heisman statement better than Notre Dame’s star running back Jeremiyah Love.

He ended third in the Heisman vote, earning 46 first-place votes, behind Mendoza and Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia. Love has found the end zone in 11 straight games, scoring multiple times in seven of those contests and ends the season as the top Heisman vote getter outside of the quarterback position.

Let’s lay out the case Love had for the Heisman as the sole non-QB among the finalist group:

Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love’s case for the 2025 Heisman Trophy

  • Love’s 2025 season stats: 199 carries for 1,372 yards and 18 touchdowns. Three receiving touchdowns with 280 yards on 27 receptions.

In an award typically dominated by quarterbacks, Love earned his rightful spot as a Heisman finalist as the nation’s premier running back. He was fourth in the nation in rushing yards (1,372) and third in rushing touchdowns (18), rushing for 100 or more yards in six games this season while finding the end zone in 11 straight contests. He added three touchdowns and 280 yards receiving, serving as one of college football’s top offensive threats on a team that was snubbed from the College Football Playoff.

Notre Dame’s two losses to Miami and Texas A&M to begin the year proved enough to keep the Irish out of the CFP. However, Notre Dame and its best player got better and better throughout the rest of the year. Love’s biggest rushing performance came Oct. 18 against USC, where he rushed for 228 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries. The performance was the best rushing day for a Fighting Irish player in Notre Dame Stadium and was the sixth-most in a game in school history.

After the historic day against USC, Love put up Heisman performance after Heisman performance in the weeks to follow. In Notre Dame’s 70–7 stomping of Syracuse on Nov. 22, he needed just eight carries to rush for 171 yards and three scores, including long touchdowns for 68 and 45 yards. He had a four-score day earlier in the year against Arkansas, rushing for two scores and finding two more touchdowns through the air.

More impressive than Love’s incredible numbers were the jaw-dropping highlights he put on film nearly each week. There was the 48-yard touchdown run against Navy where he was nearly brought down in the backfield but stayed on top of a defender to then get up on his feet and run for the score. Then, the unbelievable spin move to put Notre Dame on the board early against Pittsburgh. Plus, the epic 75-yard run where he ran straight past several USC defenders to start his historic game.

There’s a Love highlight for every mood, which led to the star runner receiving the Doak Walker award, which is given to the nation’s top running back. He became the first Notre Dame running back to receive the honor. No running back has won the Heisman since Derrick Henry received college football’s top honor in 2015, a streak that will have to wait until at least next season. Henry rushed for a whopping 2,219 yards and 28 touchdowns in his Heisman year. However, Love’s numbers are similar to Mark Ingram’s when he won the Heisman back in ‘09 (1,658 rushing yards and 17 touchdowns).

QBs have won the Heisman in 12 of the past 15 years, with this season being especially tough to top signal callers in the conversation with the dominant QB play in the Big Ten and SEC. Mendoza’s season specifically was tough to beat as he brought Indiana to even greater heights, especially as his Heisman moment came with a clutch throw in the Big Ten title game against No. 1 Ohio State after Love and the Irish had finished their regular season.

Nevertheless, Love was certainly a worthy Heisman finalist and gave himself the best chance possible to hear his name called in New York City. Mendoza’s campaign was just that good.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as The Case for Jeremiyah Love to Take Heisman Trophy Over 2025 Winner Fernando Mendoza.

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