On Monday night, the Heisman Trophy committee will release its finalists for the 2025 award. With four players typically making the trek to New York City, this year will likely see Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza, Vanderbilt’s Diego Pavia, Ohio State’s Julian Sayin and Notre Dame’s Jeremiyah Love take center stage in the Big Apple.
With Notre Dame’s season officially over, the goal for many Irish fans hoping to salvage a disappointing finish is to see Love hoist the Heisman Trophy. While the majority of bookmakers have him nestled behind Mendoza and Pavia, the two gunslingers are by no means untouchable. And if Sunday’s College Football Playoff selection show taught the country anything, it’s that anything can happen in college football. This includes a Jeremiyah Love Heisman.
So the question now becomes: how can Love win the Heisman? If Love is to do the unthinkable and become the first Irishman to win the award since Tim Brown in 1987, Notre Dame must do a successful job at making an effective case to voters.
The best way to do just that is break Love’s Heisman argument into two sections: Love vs. other running backs and Love vs. the Heisman competition.
Love vs. other running backs
Love finished the season with 1,372 yards, a mark that places him fourth in the nation. At first glance, his production in this department may not appear Heisman-worthy, however, several larger factors must be considered when comparing Love to the running backs ahead of him.
The nation’s leading rusher, Cam Cook, has accumulated 1,659 yards in his record-breaking season for Jacksonville State. However, he’s done this on 295 attempts. Love, on the other hand, has achieved his yardage total on 96 fewer carries. If Love had 295 carries while maintaining his 6.9 yards per attempt, he would hypothetically amass 2,034 yards.
Just shy of Cook’s tally is Missouri’s Ahmad Hardy. The shifty back who had the Tigers lurking around College Football Playoff conversations for much of the season picked up 1,560 yards on the ground. Like Cook, Hardy is averaging fewer yards per carry than Love.
Cook and Hardy also have 16 touchdowns each, all of which come on the ground. Meanwhile, Love has 18 rushing touchdowns and 3 through the air. His 21 total broke NFL Hall of Famer Jerome Bettis’ single-season touchdown record at Notre Dame.
With these metrics in mind, Love is head and shoulders above every running back in the nation. What he has been able to accomplish while splitting touches with fellow future NFL back Jadarian Price is unreal. This leads naturally into the bigger conversation of how Love stacks up against the nation’s fellow heavy-hitters.
Love vs. Heisman candidates
Love’s two main competitors for the Heisman will be Mendoza and Pavia. After Sayin and the Buckeyes lost in the Big Ten Championship Game to Mendoza’s Hoosiers, his Heisman hopes were effectively silenced.
What Mendoza has been able to accomplish at Indiana is unheard of. He led the perennial Big Ten bottom feeder to the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff. Mendoza has a quick release, controls the line of scrimmage and doesn’t make many mistakes.
Mendoza has thrown for 2,980 yards, 33 touchdowns and six interceptions. On Saturday night, he likely cemented his Heisman case by leading Indiana to a 13-10 Big Ten Championship win over Ohio State. However, there is one blemish in his resume.
Mendoza has only one game of 300+ yards passing. In comparison, recent Heisman winning quarterbacks Jayden Daniels, Caleb Williams and Bryce Young all had at least seven games of 300+ yards in the air in their Heisman campaigns. Mendoza’s only 300+ yard game came against a Michigan State team that eventually fired its head coach.
Trailing Mendoza in the odds is Vanderbilt’s beloved star, Diego Pavia. The Commodores’ main man has had a terrific year, accounting for 36 touchdowns, 3,192 passing yards and 907 rushing yards adjusted for sacks. All of those respective stats are greater than Mendoza’s numbers.
Like Mendoza, Pavia has been at the forefront of his program’s meteoric rise. Vanderbilt finished the season 10-2 with wins over the likes of LSU, Tennessee and Missouri.
Mendoza and Pavia have unquestionably done enough to convince Heisman voters that they deserve to hoist the prestigious trophy. But they are by no means untouchable. If Love is to win the Heisman, it will come down to a debate that exists beyond statistics.
Heisman Moments
Every Heisman winner has their “Heisman Moment.” In 2012, it was Johnny Manziel’s miraculous performance against Alabama. For Bryce Young in 2021, it was his four-overtime performance in Auburn. This year, Love is seemingly leading the way in Heisman-moment worthy plays.
From his 56-yard, video game-esque touchdown run against Pitt to his improbable score from way downtown against Navy, Love has become a human highlight reel. Nearly every game this season, he’s delivered a play worthy of SportsCenter’s Top 10.
Mendoza’s Heisman moment came last night against Indiana. The Hoosiers faced a third-and-six inside their own 30 with less than three minutes left when Mendoza saved the day. His perfectly placed ball toward the opposite side of the field found Charlie Becker, sealing the deal for Indiana’s victory.
Manziel had his fair share to say of college football fans around the country claiming that was a Heisman moment, tweeting, “We got basic fade routes being called Heisman moments now… I’ve really seen it all.”
Manziel, who would know a thing or two about Heisman moments, is not sure that one pass from Mendoza deserves the label of a Heisman moment. As for Pavia, his performance against LSU was extraordinary. But then again, the Tigers finished 7-5 and Brian Kelly was fired.
In this category, Love clearly separates himself from the competition. Undoubtedly the most electric player in the country, he now awaits recognition from Heisman voters. After the Irish were left out of the playoffs, a Jeremiyah Love Heisman would give Notre Dame fans something to rally behind amid a tumultuous end to the year.