Jeremiyah Love is expected to be ready for 7th-seeded Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl

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Jeremiyah Love is expected to be ready for 7th-seeded Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl

2025-01-05 09:12 Last Updated At：09:20

Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love is expected to start Thursday in the Orange Bowl against sixth-seeded Penn State, enabling the seventh-seeded Fighting Irish and their trademark ground game to operate at — or near — full capacity in the first College Football Playoff semifinal.

Love re-injured his ailing right knee late in the third quarter of Notre Dame's 23-10 victory over second-seeded Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. He went into the medical tent twice before returning to the sideline with a hefty brace protecting the knee.

But when coach Marcus Freeman spoke with reporters Saturday, Love did not make the team's injury report.

“The only injury update from the game is Cooper Flanagan will be out for the remainder of the College Football Playoff with a foot injury,” Freeman said, referring to a backup tight end. “We'll miss Coop and love him, but other than that, everybody else was clean. Pretty clean game in terms of injuries.”

That means Love and quarterback Riley Leonard are expected to continue to lead the ground game while backup running backs Jadarian Price and Aneyas Williams provide reinforcements as the Irish (13-1, No. 3 CFP) chase their first national championship game appearance since the end of the 2012 season.

Love did not speak with reporters Saturday and is not scheduled to address the media before facing the Big Ten runner-up Nittany Lions (13-2, No. 5). Price is expected to talk later Saturday.

How critical has Love been to Notre Dame's offense?

He leads the Irish with 1,076 yards and 16 touchdown runs, averages 7.3 yards per carry and set a school record by rushing for scores in 13 consecutive games. The streak ended against Georgia.

Love also set the tone in Notre Dame's first-round victory over 10th-seeded Indiana when he sprinted 98 yards for the first score. It was the longest TD run in playoff history and came on a day Love when was fighting both the flu and the sore knee he hurt in the team's regular-season finale at Southern California.

But stats and his on-field feats don't provide a complete accounting of Love's impact.

He has hurdled 10 defenders this season, including an attempt against the Hoosiers on which he aggravated the knee injury, and his ability to play well despite injury or illness has given the Irish a toughness that resonates throughout the locker room. And his strength and breakaway ability only make Leonard a more dangerous option on the ground.

The result: Notre Dame needed just 90 yards passing to beat the Southeastern Conference champion Bulldogs in New Orleans.

So having Love on the field seems like a must if the Irish are to end their national championship drought at 36 years — the longest gap between title-winning seasons since the Irish captured their first in 1924.

But even if Love isn't at full strength, the Irish have other options.

Leonard already holds the single-season school record for TD runs by a quarterback (15) and needs 169 yards rushing to record his first 1,000-yard season. Price also can be both a breakaway threat and a workhorse back and Williams, a freshman, has worked his way into more action by logging half of his 32 carries over the last four games.

Price promises to be ready for whatever is asked of him.

“I always feel like I could do more every game,” Price said. “The good thing about our victory is that we have another opportunity to do it, so we want to do everything we can to have a better performance.”

The combination has caused plenty of consternation for Notre Dame opponents during a 12-game winning streak that already has produced the first 13-win season in the school's history.

Now Penn States faces another concern — the health of All-American defensive end Abdul Carter. He left the 31-14 Fiesta Bowl victory over third-seeded Boise State with an apparent left arm injury. Coach James Franklin indicated Saturday that Carter could play, though he may be limited.

“He’s doing great, his attitude is great, his mentality has been really good,” Franklin said. “Really it’s going to come down to how he feels and how much practice he gets. I don’t think at this point there’s anything stopping him from playing; it’s how he is able to play.”

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Stock market today: Nvidia and other tech stocks drive Wall Street higher

2025-01-07 02:47 Last Updated At：02:51

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes are rising Monday to recover more of the holiday-season slide that bridged the new year.

The S&P 500 was 0.8% higher in afternoon trading and on track for a second straight jump following five straight losses, its longest losing streak since April. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 106 points, or 0.3%, as of 1:42 p.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.3% higher.

Tech stocks again led the way, including those swept up in the frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology. Nvidia climbed 4.8% ahead of a speech by CEO Jensen Huang at the annual CES convention in Las Vegas after trading ends for the day.

Nvidia and other AI stocks keep climbing even as criticism rises that their stock prices have already shot too high, too fast. Despite worries about a potential bubble, the industry keeps talking up its potential.

Microsoft Vice Chair Brad Smith said on late Friday the company is on track to invest about $80 billion to build out AI-enabled datacenters to train AI models this fiscal year. Smith said AI is the biggest opportunity “to harness new technology to invigorate the nation’s economy” since the invention of electricity. Microsoft rose 0.8%.

Uber drove 3.2% higher after the ride-hailing app said it would accelerate $1.5 billion in purchases of its own stock, part of a previously announced $7 billion buyback program. Uber’s chief financial officer, Prashanth Mahendra-Rajah, said it’s making the move because its stock price looks cheap compared with the strength of its business.

In the old economy, U.S. Steel climbed 4.9% after it and Japan’s Nippon Steel filed a federal lawsuit challenging President Joe Biden’s decision to block a proposed nearly $15 billion deal for Nippon to buy its Pittsburgh-based rival.

The suit, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, alleges that it was a political decision and violated the companies’ due process. Japanese leaders have also said there is scant evidence that the merger would create a security concern for the U.S.

This upcoming week will have one fewer day of trading than usual. The New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq will close their stock and options markets on Thursday in observance of a National Day of Mourning for former President Jimmy Carter.

But the calendar is nevertheless packed with potentially market-moving events. Tuesday will deliver the latest updates on monthly job openings advertised by U.S. employers and on the health of businesses in the services industries. On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve will release the minutes from its last policy meeting, where it cut its main interest rate for a third straight time but hinted fewer reductions may come in 2025.

Friday will bring the week’s headliner: the monthly jobs report, along with an update on how U.S. consumers are feeling.

So far, the economy has remained remarkably resilient despite high interest rates the Fed instituted in recent years to stifle inflation. A report on Monday said business confidence also has improved since the presidential election, and a measure of activity for services businesses hit its highest level in nearly three years.

“Business activity in the vast services economy surged higher in the closing month of 2024 on fuller order books and rising optimism about prospects for the year ahead,” according to Chris Williamson, chief business economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence.

The Fed has also been trying to give the economy an easier time, and it began cutting interest rates in September after inflation pulled nearly all the way down to its 2% target. But getting the last percentage point of improvement from inflation may prove more difficult. Worries are also rising that tariffs and other policies coming from President-elect Donald Trump could put upward pressure on inflation.

Treasury yields have climbed in the bond market as a result. That can hurt stock prices because higher-paying bonds can peel away investors who otherwise might buy stocks.

At Morgan Stanley, strategist Michael Wilson says the sweet spot for U.S. stocks is likely a yield of between 4.00% and 4.50% for the 10-year Treasury. It drove above that level in mid-December and has remained there. It’s up to 4.63%, up from 4.60% late Friday.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed across Europe and Asia.

AP Writers Matt Ott, Zimo Zhong and Mari Yamaguchi contributed.