Notre Dame's Love named AP Player of the Week after win vs. USC

The Associated Press national player of the week in football for Week 8 of the season:

Jeremiyah Love, Notre Dame

Love rushed for a career-high 228 yards and a touchdown in the Fighting Irish’s 34-24 win over Southern California.

Love’s total was the sixth-highest on the Notre Dame all-time list, and he became the 14th player in program history to run for over 200 yards while leading a rushing attack that accounted for 306 of the offense’s 442 total yards. He averaged 9.6 yards per carry on 24 attempts.

No player for the Irish had ever run for so many yards in the 512 games played at Notre Dame Stadium, which opened in 1930.

Love’s 134 first-half rushing yards were the most in the opening half for Notre Dame since Julius Jones’ 171 against Stanford in 2003.

Runner-up

Arizona State QB Sam Leavitt returned from injury to complete 28 of 47 passes for a career-high 319 yards and one touchdown in a 26-22 win over Texas Tech.

Leavitt has not thrown an interception on 143 attempts over the last four games. He’s the first player in the country to throw for 300-plus yards with no interceptions against a top-10 team this season.

Honorable mention

UAB WR Iverson Hooks caught 11 passes for 172 yards and three TDs in a 31-24 upset of Memphis. ... Georgia QB Gunner Stockton passed for 289 yards and four touchdowns, including three to TE Lawson Luckie, in a 43-35 win over Mississippi. ... James Madison QB Alonza Barnett III accounted for six touchdowns and 448 yards of total offense in a 63-27 victory over Old Dominion. ... Texas State LB Treylin Payne made a school-record 24 tackles in a 40-37 overtime loss to Marshall. The total was second-best in Sun Belt Conference history and highest since New Mexico’s A.J. Haulcy had 24 against Fresno State in 2022. ... Vanderbilt QB Diego Pavia threw for 160 yards and a score and ran for 86 yards and two more TDs in a 31-24 win over LSU.

Six stats

— UConn's Joe Fagnano has not thrown an interception in 226 attempts, the best start for a quarterback with at least as many attempts since Oregon's Marcus Mariota went 285 without getting picked off in 2013.

— Julian Sayin's 80% passing accuracy for Ohio State is the highest for a quarterback with at least 195 attempts through a Week 8 since Colt McCoy was at 81.2% for Texas in 2008.

— Navy leads the nation in touchdown rate when it enters the red zone, having scored 21 TDs in 25 trips inside opponents' 20-yard line (84%).

— Southern California's nine punts are fewest through a Week 8 since at least 2013, according to Sportradar.

— Nevada and Wisconsin are having trouble getting started in games. The Wolf Pack have scored a total of nine first-quarter points over six games against FBS opponents; the Badgers have scored 10 first-quarter points over seven games.

— Maryland intercepted two more passes against UCLA to raise its FBS-leading total to 14, five more than in 2024.

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AP voters: Aaron Beard, Cliff Brunt, Pat Graham, Mark Long, Steve Megargee, John Marshall, Eric Olson, Eddie Pells.

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