Notre Dame fans were all hoping for a bounceback performance against the Texas A&M Aggies on Saturday night after what happened against the Miami Hurricanes a couple of weeks ago, but the Fighting Irish came out with a 41 to 40 loss instead. Frustrations are beginning to mount, and it’s very understandable. It was an overall disgraceful performance. 

The frustration concerning head coach Marcus Freeman’s squad centered around the Irish defense, which put together one of its worst performances in some time. Defensive coordinator Chris Ash will be facing a lot of questions following the performance, and there are going to be some loud pushes for his tenure to be a short one. 

For the Notre Dame offense, there were a lot more things to be excited about. If you would have told anyone that the Irish put up 40 points before the game, most would have assumed you would have left with a blowout victory. There were big plays on both sides, and a lot to build on from Mike Denbrock’s offensive group. 

One of the few bright spots was redshirt freshman quarterback CJ Carr, who made just his second overall start, and first one inside of Notre Dame Stadium. During the contest, Carr managed to complete 20 of 32 passes for 293 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. The 6-3, 210-pound passer was also sacked three times and had one intentional grounding call. While there were obvious moments of growth still needed, there was a lot to be excited about.

Head coach Marcus Freeman spoke about Carr following the game, and he couldn’t find a negative thing to say about his performance.

“You have to live with the tipped ball that turned into the pick,” Freeman told the media. “I don’t know if it’s his fault or the offensive lineman’s fault for letting the defensive lineman get his hands up, but I thought he played really well. There’s nothing I can think off the top of my head that I had to say, ‘Hey, you have to live with that.’ He did a heck of a job tonight. He led our offense, protected the football, put the ball in great places for our wideouts to make some plays. Protection wise, that’s a tough defense and he did a really good job protecting on third down. He’s playing well now.”

Just how good is CJ Carr?

While Coach Freeman couldn’t find much negative to say about Carr, it is responsible to admit that it wasn’t all perfect. He is a young quarterback in his second career college start, so naturally, there are going to be some key areas of improvement that need to be made. Whether the interception was tipped or not, it was a bad decision by Carr to double-clutch and force the football to the middle of the field. Carr also had his third intentional grounding penalty in two games. The overall field awareness is still a work in progress.

After you admit that there are things to still clean up and parts of Carr’s game that need to grow, it is hard not to feel optimistic for the next step of his maturation. He is one of the more natural throwers that the Irish program has had in a very long time, and Carr also isn’t afraid to let the football loose. Carr had little issue allowing wide receivers like Malachi Fields to have opportunities to go up and make a play. There is a lot of internal confidence for Carr with how he plays.

With the assumption that Carr will continue to get better and better, there should be some high expectations for what this Irish offense will look like down the road. Let’s just hope that something gets figured out on the defensive side of the football, and quickly. Coach Ash has unearthed a lot of angst in the Notre Dame fan base, and potentially wasting a talented quarterback will not be tolerated.

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Ryan Roberts