on saturday, september 20, for their fourth game, the cardinals traveled to bloomington to face the indiana hoosiers. at that point, love led the nation with 144.3 receiving yards per game. love made two catches for 25 yards in the first half. with 10:45 left in the second quarter, quarterback nate davis threw a short 2-yard pass to the right for love on a swing route. he made the reception and ran to the outside and along the sideline. an indiana linebacker grabbed onto love's shoulder pads from behind, which caused him to lower his head as he pushed forward for more yards. an indiana cornerback, chris adkins, made the tackle from the front and love fell to the ground with the ball being knocked loose. hoosiers safety nick polk recovered the fumble and returned it for a touchdown. love remained on the ground for several minutes and reported that his legs were numb. he had suffered a cervical spine fracture (broken neck). after about fifteen minutes, he was placed on a spineboard and taken to the locker room by a motorized cart. love was then transported by ambulance to ball memorial hospital and then by helicopter to methodist hospital of indianapolis. doctors showed love x-rays of his fractured neck and informed him that he may eventually walk again, but would never be able to play football. that night, doctors performed a five-hour surgical procedure to stabilize his spine. after the surgery, love was able to move his arms and legs.