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At the center of the New York City spotlight as a Heisman Trophy finalist, Notre Dame star Jeremiyah Love touched on numerous topics that surfaced since the College Football Playoff left the Fighting Irish out of the field despite 10 straight wins.

Love, who registered 1,372 yards rushing and 18 touchdowns, finished third in Heisman voting behind Indiana's Fernando Mendoza and Vanderbilt's Diego Pavia. He was asked about the recent Yahoo Sports report that cited multiple conference actively "threatening to freeze Notre Dame out of future schedules" after learning of the Fighting Irish's memorandum of understanding.

The MOA, signed last spring, guarantees the program a playoff appearance if they rank inside the top 12 of the final poll in 2026.

"They're scared to play us," Love said. "They don't want to play Notre Dame because we're Notre Dame. You're leaving us out of your schedule, it's not a good look. Why not play us? That's how I think about it."

Preferential access to future playoff brackets is not sitting well with competing athletic directors, per Yahoo Sports, especially after Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua applauded his team's bowl opt-out. Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark blasted Notre Dame's "egregious" reaction to its playoff snub and defended the ACC after Bevacqua went on the offensive.

Nearly all of Love's biggest games came against top power-conference competition, including a 228-yard explosion against USC and 171 yards and three touchdowns in the first half of a 63-point beatdown of Syracuse. Love also scored four touchdowns at Arkansas and found the end zone twice in blowouts of Purdue and Boston College.

Notre Dame and Clemson agreed to a 12-year scheduling agreement this offseason, but there are future deals that could be in jeopardy, including Texas-Notre Dame (2028-29). With the SEC moving to a nine-game league slate in 2026, there's not much benefit for the Longhorns to play an annual elite like the Fighting Irish considering the toughness of its own schedule during league action.

Ironically, Texas missed the playoff this season at 9-3 overall, primarily due to a non-conference loss at Ohio State in the season opener.

NFL buzz surrounding Freeman

Bevacqua acknowledged "everybody has eyes on Marcus" given his 43-11 overall record as the Fighting Irish head coach, which includes a national championship appearance.

"Coach Free, I have all the trust in him and his ability to lead," Love said before Saturday night's Heisman reveal. "And also his ability to connect to the players. I feel like if he was to go and do it at the NFL level he would still connect with the players, but it's a little bit different. Those are grown men who have families. They're not college students or anything like that. 

"He would definitely still connect with them very well, but they have their own lives, but from outside the football aspect, he probably wouldn't hang out with them as much. But coach Free would be a great head coach anywhere on any level."

Giants general manager Joe Schoen is leading New York's coaching search and the future of quarterback Jaxson Dart is dependent on this hire. CBS Sports' Jonathan Jones reports that Notre Dame is pushing to keep Freeman.

"Is (it) possible? Sure, but it's still early," Jones said on CBS Sports HQ. "To get a Marcus Freeman, who doesn't have NFL coaching experience to the Giants and pair him with Joe Schoen, who could be a lame duck general manager. ... that's the place a lot of people are thinking about right now. We'll see if it ultimately develops. It's hard for college football coaches to become NFL head coaches because of the calendar. You have to just leave your team. You have to desert them in order to go to the NFL."

There's the money aspect, too. Since Notre Dame's a private university, exact numbers for Freeman's compensation is confidential. However, he is believed to be one of college football's highest-paid coaches and it doesn't sound like salary will be a factor in Freeman's decision should the NFL come calling.

"I would never say we wouldn't match anything when it comes to Marcus," Bevacqua said. "I make sure that he knows that he will be where he deserves to be, and that is at the top, top, top tier of college football coaches when it comes to compensation every year. I view his contract –– although a multi-year contract –– as a living, breathing document that we will revise every year as need be to make sure he's where he needs to be. He knows he has that commitment from me, and more important from the university."

Bevacqua is a former executive at Creative Artists Agency (CAA) and was the chairman of NBC Sports, so he has vast experience at the negotiating table at the highest of form. Freeman signed a lucrative extension ahead of last season's playoff appearance through the 2023 season and the Fighting Irish are prepared if the Giants were to try and swoop in.