Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM SEPT. 13, 2025 31 M a rc u s Fre e m a n k n ows h e 's pushed this Notre Dame football program beyond the point where silver linings resonate anymore. The stakes, the dreams, the blueprint, the administration at the fourth-year Irish football coach's back are all big- ger than that now. And perhaps what redshirt freshman quarterback CJ Carr did in his Notre Dame starting debut in a 27-24 season-opening loss at soggy, sweltering and apparently under-ranked No. 10 Miami, will sync up with that sooner than seemingly anyone imagined. It's the needed fixes around Carr, ironically, that require more urgent at- tention during the upcoming bye week and ahead of another ranked oppo- nent for No. 6 Notre Dame, Texas A&M Sept. 13. And who saw that coming? Especially in the trenches, where Notre Dame's offensive line — even sans injured right guard Charles Jagusah — had pre- season Joe Moore Award-winning buzz. And the defensive line, which elicited a couple of jaw-slacking compliments from Freeman himself a week before the opener, got pushed around physically and bullied a bit schematically as well. In the first half, in which Miami (1-0) took a 14-7 lead 12 seconds before in- termission, new defensive coordinator Chris Ash's unit had amassed 0 sacks and 0 QB hurries against admittedly a seasoned quarterback in sixth-year se- nior and Georgia transfer Carson Beck, who — by the same token — isn't a dual threat by any means. "Every goal we have is still ahead of us," Freeman proclaimed. "At the end of the day, we don't speak about championships. It's about reaching our full potential, and that's what we've got to be able to do. I'm glad those guys were able to get in and perform in a big environment like this." They'll need to perform out of the spotlight even more impressively. In practices. In the meeting rooms. And poring over the analytics spit out in a needed early self-scout report. The 12-game playoff format has some built-in forgiveness for early-season hic- cups, but Miami and Texas A&M could very well be teams competing for at-large spots with the Irish (0-1) on Selection Sun- day in December. And the head-to-head trump card still plays big with the College Football Playoff selection committee. The Irish scratched out a still-modest 314 against the Hurricanes, but were outrushed 119-93, with Jeremiyah Love under-used and under wraps, account- ing for 33 rushing yards on 10 carries. Heading into the fourth quarter, with the Irish trailing 21-7, Carr actually had amassed more rushing yards at the junc- ture than had Love. And he finished the game with one more carry than Love. Part of that neglect was the product of Irish offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock taking inventory early in trying to get a feel for where he could attack the Miami de- fense and blind date/first-year Hurricane defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman. And part of it was a young quarter- back doing his best to evolve through the decision-making process, some- thing Carr picked up momentum with as the game wore on. "I've said this before. It was creating some easy throws, some easy decisions," Freeman said of Love ending up on the back burner for so long. "Obviously, some RPOs [run-pass-options] that you can hand the ball off or, depending on what the defense does, pull it and throw it. "We started to say later in the game, 'Stop reading it. Hand the ball to J-Love, and we need to establish this run game.' He was doing what he was coached to do on a lot of those pulls and throwing." Including four to Love, for 26 yards in receptions. By game's end, Carr's pass efficiency rating almost mirrored Beck's, 140.5 to 141.4. That translated to 19-of-30 ac- curacy for 221 yards and 2 touchdowns, including a spectacular play-extending 7-yard touchdown strike to fellow red- shirt freshman Micah Gilbert. Carr did throw a pick that careened off two sets of hands before it found its way to Miami defensive end Rueben Bain Jr. and set up a Hurricanes field goal. Virginia transfer wide receiver Malachi Fields fumbled in the first quarter inside the Irish 25-yard line for Notre Dame's other turnover. Ash's defense held Miami without points on that short field, but was never able to coax any turnovers of its own. The Irish led the nation in takeaways last season, but in former defensive co- ordinator Al Golden's first year with the Irish (2022) it was Game 4 before that Irish defense got its first of the season. Freeman's track record for finding lasting answers to questions before they become lingering is stellar. And maybe the best big-picture news on a heart- breaking night is that very few of them are about a quarterback who came into this top-10 matchup with 4 career col- lege snaps and 0 career pass attempts. "He's going to be a really good quar- terback," Freeman said. "Everything that I thought he was going to be — his ceiling is so high. He's going to have to learn to take this loss and not let it beat him up too much, because he's an ultra- competitor, but he's a gamer, man. "He performs when the lights are on. He prepares his tail off. He had answers for questions that myself or coach Den- brock would have. He's going to do great things, man. It's just a start for him." ✦ Redshirt freshman CJ Carr entered the top-10 matchup at Miami with 4 career college snaps and 0 career pass attempts, but performed admi- rably while accounting for 237 yards of total offense and 3 touchdowns. PHOTO BY LARRY BLANKENSHIP Irish Have A Long List Of Fixes, But QB Isn't One Of Them Eric Hansen covers Notre Dame athletics for On3, with a focus on Irish football. He can be reached on X @ EHansenND THE DEEP READ ERIC HANSEN