Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1541365
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM NOV. 22, 2025 7 UNDER THE DOME BY JACK SOBLE A s he surveyed the Navy defense on third-and-5 from the Notre Dame 25-yard line, CJ Carr thought he knew what was coming. The Midshipmen put seven defend- ers on the line of scrimmage, showing all-out blitz with man coverage across the board. Carr motioned senior tight end Eli Raridon from the left side of the formation to the right, and the safety motioned with him, further confirming Carr's suspicions. The redshirt fresh- man quarterback had checked into maximum protection, and he planned to hit redshirt senior wide receiver Will Pauling on the deep post. Just one problem: That was exactly what Navy wanted Carr to think. T h e M i d s h i p m e n dropped out, sending only four rush- ers. And that safety, the one who ap- peared to be single-guarding Raridon? He sprinted back to help on the deep post. All the while, Carr stared down Pauling, failing to recognize that his in- tended target was now double-covered. Carr's throw fell harmlessly to the ground. As it sailed through the air, view- ers at home might have seen junior wide receiver Jordan Faison wide open on the backside dig route. If Carr had seen him, he would have gained 20 yards or more. "I just wish he progressed right to the dig," Irish head coach Marcus Freeman said Nov. 10. "I talked to him last night. He's like, 'I know.' I brought up third- and-5, second series, check this and — 'Coach, get to the dig. I get it.'" Freeman, ever the perfectionist, winced as a reporter asked about that play. And Carr, ever the really good quarterback, was nearly perfect from that point on. But something interesting happened on that play that Notre Dame can expect more of in the near future. Navy had seen on tape that Carr loves to throw the deep post against Cover 0, so the Midshipmen baited him into it. And they're not alone in doing that. "I think back to Boston College, it was that middle-of-the-field safety playing zero, or is it Cover 1, like he was trying to run out there," Freeman said. "He was showing in the box, but ran out to play the middle of the field. "He's just gotta be able to adjust to some different looks, right?" This isn't unique to Carr, to be clear. When a young quarterback starts their career, they have a slight advantage to offset their lack of experience: There is little to no tape on them, which can hurt defenses. When you don't have film on the opposing quarterback, you're limited in what you can do to attack them. That's why so many first-year quar- terbacks in college have midseason slumps or off weeks, and even why the "sophomore slump" is very real in the NFL. Defenses start to adjust to the young quarterback, and the quarterback has to adjust back. That happened Oct. 18, when South- ern Cal played shell coverages and dared Carr to beat them underneath. Unfor- tunately for the Trojans, that also left them vulnerable to the run game, which gashed them for 306 yards and won the game for the Irish. Boston College and Navy saw that and decided they couldn't let that happen, so they loaded up to stop the run. But to try to mitigate the passing threat that Carr presented, they tried to throw dif- ferent looks at him and confuse him. That, Freeman explained, is the key for Carr's development as more teams try to do that in the future. "I think teams at the end of the day are still saying, 'We can't allow Notre Dame to run the football,'" Freeman said. "Because that's detrimental. And that's where CJ has got to continuously be good at recognizing what the defense is telling you. There's tells. There's always tells. And he's doing an amazing job of that." The numbers would tell you the same. In two games since Notre Dame's Oct. 25 bye, Carr completed 31 of 41 throws for 517 yards with 5 touchdowns and 0 intercep- tions. That's good for a completion per- centage of 75.6 and 12.6 yards per attempt. Over the course of the season, Carr leads all of college football with 10.1 yards per attempt and ranks third be- hind Ohio State's Julian Sayin and Indi- ana's Fernando Mendoza — arguably the two favorites for the Heisman Trophy — in passer efficiency rating at 176.8. Carr's time in the Heisman spotlight will come. For now, though, Freeman and the Irish are thrilled with his progress. "It just goes to the preparation, but now the experience of understanding all these different things that he's seen, he's able now to recognize," Freeman said. "And I would say, 'Recall something you see. Just recognize.' He's able to do that. "Even if they haven't shown this look, particularly, this defense, he's able to re- call something he's seen in the past that says, 'OK, this is what coverage you're go- ing to. Let's make the right decision.'" ✦ UNDER THE DOME GAME OF ADJUSTMENTS CJ Carr is taking the next step in his development, growing more in tune with how defenses are attacking him Carr has Notre Dame's full trust to change plays and make adjustments at the line of scrimmage. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER