Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM SEPT. 20, 2025 27 EVEN IN ANOTHER LOSS, CJ CARR ELECTRIFIES CJ Carr put his palms to the ceiling and rolled his eyes. At one of the various questionable calls that went against Notre Dame in a 41-40 loss to Texas A&M? No. At the game-winning touchdown the Aggies pulled off on fourth-and-goal from the 11-yard line? No. At the mistake he made on his only interception of the night? No. At a question he wasn't particularly fond of during the Fighting Irish's post- game press conference. Carr wasn't even at the lectern field- ing questions yet. He was sitting in a chair off to the side of the media room patiently waiting for Leonard Moore to do so. He clearly didn't like one of the musings thrown at Moore. Carr's reaction wasn't immature or out of line. It was real. In the moment. Probably not picked up by 90 percent of the couple dozen people sharing the same space as him. But what it said about him is that in every single second of anything that has to do with Notre Dame football, he's all the way locked in. Dialed. Engaged. Passionate. And he's only a redshirt freshman. Carr completed 20 of 32 pass attempts for 293 yards with 1 touchdown and only the 1 interception. Just as he did after the Miami game when he explained what happened on his pick there, he brilliantly took reporters through his misfire again like someone who's done it time and again. At this level, he's only done it twice. And he's only 20 years old. "We had four verts called," Carr said. "[Texas A&M] kind of zoned it all off. Tried to get to a checkdown. Three technique kind of jumped up high. Tried to sail it. Just can't happen. … We've got to figure it out as an offense, and it starts with me." It sure does start with him. And he sure does have a whole lot figured out already. In just two career starts, Carr has dazzled and turned heads aplenty. Just as he doesn't carry himself like a second-year player who didn't have any career pass attempts going into the season off the field, he's calm, cool and collected on it. After the pick Carr completed seven of his next nine throws. He spreads the ball around like a veteran, getting seven of his teammates involved with at least one catch. Six of them had at least two. They love playing for him. "I see a lot of greatness in him," junior running back Jeremiyah Love said. "His future is very bright. CJ could become one of the best quarterbacks in college football. I really see that. "I see the work he puts in every single day. I see his leadership growing every single day. I've got a lot of respect for CJ." Carr's got the stamp of approval from his head coach, too. "He did a heck of a job tonight," Mar- cus Freeman said. "He led our offense. Protected the football. Was putting the ball in great places for wideouts to make some plays, protection-wise. That's a tough defense, and they did a good job protecting in third down. He's playing well, man." As far as silver linings go in Notre Dame's 0-2 start, what the Irish have in Carr is the shiniest and most polished of them. — Tyler Horka IRISH FALL IN HEARTBREAKING FASHION Christian Gray looked up at the sky and said a prayer, shaking his hands to the heavens. Tae Johnson and Luke Ta- lich, two young safeties about to play the biggest snap of their lives, pulled their facemasks together and hyped each other up. This was what defensive players dream about when they're kids. Fourth- and-goal with the game on the line. Seconds later, reality set in. Texas A&M redshirt sophomore quarterback Marcel Reed dropped back to pass. While he did that, it should be noted, Aggies junior guard Chase Bi- sontis tackled Irish redshirt junior de- fensive tackle Donovan Hinish. No call was made, so Reed moved to his left and tossed a perfect pass to graduate stu- dent tight end Nate Boerkircher. With Irish junior linebacker Drayk TEXAS A&M GAME NOTES BY TYLER HORKA AND JACK SOBLE Carr completed 20 of 32 throws for a career-high 293 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 interception against Texas A&M. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER