EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Jeremiah Love ran for 102 yards, two touchdowns and extended his streak of rushing for a TD to eight games in leading No. 12 Notre Dame to a 51-14 victory over No. 24 Navy on Saturday, knock the uncharacteristically error-prone midshipmen out of the undefeated ranks.

Love ran for 64 and 2 yards and quarterback Riley Leonard ran for a touchdown and threw for two more as the Fighting Irish (7-1) beat Navy (6-1) for the seventh straight time in this 97th meeting, played at MetLife Stadium.

The Midshipmen, who hadn’t lost a fumble all season, lost five and that led to 28 points for the Irish, with Jaylen Sneed recovering a Blake Horvath fumble in the end zone for a touchdown.

Love’s shorter TD run, a 6-yard TD pass from Leonard to Kris Mitchell and a late 4-yard TD run by Kedren Young also followed turnovers, including two on muffed punts.

Leonard finished 13 of 21 for 178 yards, adding a 37-yard TD toss to Beaux Collins to help the Irish win their sixth straight after a stunning loss to Northern Illinois in Week 2.

The Irish led 31-7 at the half and were never threatened.

Horvath scored on a 47-yard run for Navy and finished with 129 yards on 14 carries. Eli Heidenreich scored on a short run for the second touchdown.

Notre Dame outgained Navy 466-310 with the 51 points being the most allowed by the Midshipmen this season.

The takeaway

Notre Dame: The Irish knew they had to be efficient on offense to stop Navy from running their ball-control offense, and they did just that. Leonard and the offense are rounding out in form and have now scored at least 30 points in four straight games. The defense has been good all season and nothing changed against Navy.

Navy: Horvath is an outstanding quarterback and the offense can be up and down when it’s not coughing up the ball. Navy’s defense couldn’t handle Notre Dame’s size, speed and talent, and the poor position its offense put it in.

Voting Consequences

The Irish played well except for a couple of busts on runs by Horvath. It wouldn’t be a surprise if they moved up. Navy played their worst game in years and that will probably knock them out of the poll.

UP NEXT:

Norte Dame: has a bye and returns Nov. 9 at home against Florida State.

Navy: at Rice on Saturday.

___

AP College Football: and