Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM OCT. 31, 2026 29 W hat ifs don't seem to linger in Marcus Freeman's world before the Notre Dame head football coach alchemizes them into fuel for redemption. Which seems like a strange ne‑ cessity for a team that came within 8 yards of clearing a path to its first No. 1 ranking in 14 seasons and ex‑ tending the nation's longest active winning streak to 17 games. Even stranger is that the best thing that happened to the No. 2 Irish on a night when they left doubt in a 28‑24 loss at No. 8 BYU happened some 2,500 miles away. That's where No. 3 Miami, the presumptive new No. 1 team, survived four‑loss Florida State, 43‑35 in double overtime. On a day when a record five of the Associated Press poll's top seven teams lost, Miami nearly made it six. Suddenly, a possible No. 1‑vs.‑ No. 2 matchup Nov. 7 in Notre Dame Stadium between the Irish and the Hurricanes (6‑0) has must‑win vibes for Notre Dame (6‑1) when it comes to inclusion in the third season of the 12‑team College Football Playoff — instead of for seeding position in the CFP and trolling rights on social media. "We didn't play to our standard across the board," Freeman said after Notre Dame's final fling in the end zone from CJ Carr to Jaden Greathouse fell incomplete. "Part of it is because of things they were doing and part of it is some things that we did to Notre Dame that we can't allow to happen. "And so, a lot of things we've got to use from this game to attack as we go into the bye week, and we'll move for‑ ward from there." Freeman has made a habit of turning setbacks into inflection points. This one comes with considerably less runway. Even if BYU was flagged for pass inter‑ ference on that play — as ABC's announc‑ ing team and rules analyst Matt Austin suggested it should have been — Freeman and the Irish still would have carried a lengthy to‑do list into the bye week. Starting, shockingly, with getting Carr right. Admittedly, against statistically the best defense Carr has faced in his Notre Dame career, he played his most mortal game. His 99.8 pass efficiency rating was the worst of his career, roughly 86 points be‑ low his season rating entering the game, which ranked fifth nationally among FBS quarterbacks. BYU came into the game ranked eighth nationally in total defense. Carr's only other losses as a starter came in the first two games of his ca‑ reer, against Miami, which finished 12th nationally in total defense, and Texas A&M, which finished 18th. Both of those teams made the CFP last season. Against BYU he attempted a career‑ high 49 passes, completing 27 of them for 261 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions. Sprinkled in were missed opportunities and rookie mistakes, like botching a spike to stop the clock late in the first half that was ultimately ruled a fumble. Two more opportunities came in the third quarter. Freshman Bubba Frazier recovered a muffed BYU punt at the Cou‑ gars' 41‑yard line. Later, safety Luke Tal‑ ich snuffed out a fake punt, giving Notre Dame the ball at the BYU 24‑yard line. The Irish turned both short fields into field goals instead of touchdowns. "We've got to have a better plan in that situation," Freeman said. And a better defensive plan for tight ends, quick slot receivers, tall, physical wide receivers and dual‑threat quarterbacks. BYU's dual‑threat quarterback, sopho‑ more Bear Bachmeier, ran for two touchdowns, threw a touchdown pass and caught one from wide re‑ ceiver Kyler Kasper. It didn't help that one of Notre Dame's most consistently disrup‑ tive defenders, Boubacar Traore, got tossed early in the first quarter for a targeting call. The Irish pass rush was largely nonexistent with‑ out him. And there's a complicating twist to those defensive repairs. Before Notre Dame can turn its attention to Miami's top‑ranked passing attack, it must prepare for Navy's triple‑option of‑ fense on Halloween in Foxborough, Mass. Which means the bye week becomes even more valuable — and the available practice time even more precious. As far as the offense goes, Notre Dame's final, 15‑play drive, ended in heartache, not controversy as far as Freeman is concerned. "It was chaos, man," he said when asked about what explanation he was given for why pass interference wasn't called. "I'm obviously going to prob‑ ably feel some type of way when I'm out there. We'll watch it. But it is what it is. "I know people are going to look for me to put blame on somebody else. That's not what we do around here. We own it. And we've got to be better and we've got to execute, no matter what the situation is." The situation is that the Irish have a new rallying point if they don't waste it. There's nothing that happened in Provo that can't be fixed. But the margin for error is gone. And so too must the grow‑ ing pains be. ✦ After the 28-24 loss at BYU, head coach Marcus Freeman said, "We didn't play to our standard across the board." PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER Notre Dame's Margin For Error Is Gone 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