Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM OCT. 4, 2025 27 CJ CARR OUTSHINES TAYLEN GREEN ON BIG STAGE Sometime in the second half of Notre Dame's 56-13 annihilation of Arkansas, a fan within shouting distance of the Razorback Stadium open-air press box did his best to make his demands of a beleaguered home-side coaching staff known. "Take Taylen out of the game!" Game, in this context, is a subjective term. The game was over. But Taylen Green, the Razorbacks' starting quar- terback and nation's leader in total of- fense entering the first ever meeting be- tween Notre Dame and Arkansas, was still in it — whatever it was. This particular fan wasn't poking fun at Green, who did all he could to keep it close. He was acknowledging that with such a lopsided score, there was no point in risking injury to the Razor- backs' best player on an afternoon in which an Arkansas player — wide re- ceiver Jalen Brown — had already been carted off the field with a significant lower-leg injury. Why was the score so lopsided? It was due in large part to Notre Dame redshirt freshman quarterback CJ Carr. Arkansas sold out its stadium in an- ticipation of a showstopping outing from Green, but they got it from Carr instead. He completed 22 of 30 throws (73.3 percent) for 354 yards with 4 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. Green went 17-of-32 passing (53.1 percent) with 0 touchdowns and 1 interception. He ran 10 times for 81 yards, but 54 of those came on one carry. And Carr even had a 14-yard first-down jaunt that ri- valed Green's for the best quarterback rushing attempt of the afternoon. When it came down to it, Carr out- did his more experienced, more highly touted counterpart. No refuting that. "I don't know if anyone compares themselves," Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman said when asked about Carr outshining Green. "For him, it's just, he's got to compete against himself. And how does he get better? How does he, after three really good performances, [get better]? He's get- ting better." He sure is. And he was already really good to begin with. The college football world found that out when he nearly rallied Notre Dame to a second-half comeback in primetime at Miami on Sunday night of Labor Day weekend. He announced himself as a box-office, power-program QB then. He's asserted himself as one ever since. In the first four starts of his career, Carr has completed 68.3 percent of his passes for 272.8 yards per game with 9 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. Those numbers got a big boost in Hog Country, but it's more of the fact that nobody seemed shocked a first-time full-time starter had the afternoon he did on the road in a hostile SEC environment. In just one-fourth of a season — four games — Carr has already made the status quo for himself looking like someone who's done this, stepped in- side the pressure cooker that is quar- terbacking the University of Notre Dame, a million times. That ain't easy. You wouldn't know it with how Carr's played. "There's very few people that you come in contact with that are blessed with that — just leadership, competitive training," Freeman said. "I'm talking, like, not normal. Very few people have that competitive trait. … He's one of those rare individuals, man, that is just ultra, ultra-competitive." "It's not something I really think about, to be honest with you," Carr added. "Growing up, we were never playing with toys or doing things like that. We were just competing with each other, my dad and I, my brothers. It's just kind of a part of who I am. It's not really a conscious thing." Makes sense. For 60 minutes on Sat- urdays, Carr is unconscious — in the best way. — Tyler Horka DEFENSE DELIVERS BOUNCE-BACK PERFORMANCE Arkansas' fans booed their team off the field at halftime at Donald W. Reyn- olds Razorback Stadium. Notre Dame's ARKANSAS GAME NOTES BY TYLER HORKA AND JACK SOBLE Carr diced up Arkansas' secondary, connecting on 22 of 30 pass attempts (73.3 percent) for 354 yards with 4 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER