‘It just can’t happen’ – Notre Dame QB CJ Carr pulls back the curtain on critical errors during home loss to the Texas A&M Aggies
Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr had some nice moments during the shootout against Texas A&M, and some poor ones. He took the media through his biggest mistakes.
The Notre Dame 41 to 40 home opening loss to the Texas A&M Aggies on Saturday night can be defined by a Fighting Irish squad that plays a frustrating brand of defense and makes too many critical mistakes.
Despite that tough loss, many fans left the performance in South Bend with a lot of optimism for the future of redshirt freshman quarterback CJ Carr. The talented passer completed 20 of 32 passes for 293 yards and a touchdown. There were some impressive moments throughout the contest.
Carr also had several plays that he would like to have back, including an ill-advised interception while fading left and throwing back to the middle of the field. He also had an odd sequence near the end of the first half that resulted in giving the Aggies a chance to score before intermission, as well as another intentional grouping penalty, and a few errant throws.
With Carr being a younger quarterback, making just his second career start, everyone expects him to make the occasional bad decision. There is no harsher critic of Carr’s poor plays than Carr himself. The 6-3, 210-pound passer broke down that interception and other miscues for the media after the game.
CJ Carr pulls back the curtain
“We had four vert called, kinda zoned it all off, tried to get to a check down,” Carr told the media. “The three technique kind of jumped up high, kind of sailed it. It just can’t happen. I have to put our defense in better positions. Two times there, one could have ended up in points with the snap and the pick ended up in points. It’s just putting stress as a defense. We have to figure it out as an offense and it starts with me.”
At the end of the day, no Notre Dame fan left South Bend this weekend blaming Carr for the loss. He’s a part of the team, obviously, but he was far down the list of reasons that the Fighting Irish weren’t able to come out with the victory. That list was highlighted most by defensive coordinator Chris Ash, and a suddenly putrid pass defense.
With the team sitting now with a 0-2 record, this Notre Dame squad under head coach Marcus Freeman is going to be tested from a leadership perspective. It’s a lot to put on a player with just two career starts, but as the quarterback of the younger group of players, Carr will be counted on even more moving forward. It is just the nature of the position that Carr plays.
As Carr continues to get more and more experienced, he will be asked to continue making some big plays while cutting out some of the poor decisions. That’s, again, the nature of the position and an expectation for Carr moving forward. The fact that the talented quarterback talks so openly and thoroughly about those improvements is a great sign for the future.
Notre Dame has now put itself in the unfortunate reality where it will have to be perfect from here on out. There are no guarantees that a 10-2 Fighting Irish team will get you in the playoffs, but that’s where this team is right now. Regardless of whether they make the run or not, this team will need to be the best version of themselves from here on out for the betterment of the long-term future of the program.
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