RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. After going 14-2 and making it all the way to the national championship game in 2024, Notre Dame got off to a rough start last season.
They lost their first two games to start the year, falling 27-24 to Miami in Week 1 and then 41-40 to Texas A&M a couple of weeks later.
Back-to-back losses to start the season can be a death sentence for any college football program. But the Fighting Irish bounced back and rattled off 10 straight wins to finish 10-2. Controversially, it still wasn't enough to get them into the College Football Playoff, but how quickly the group fought back was impressive, and much of that was thanks to the play of quarterback CJ Carr.
On Monday, Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman joined "The Pat McAfee Show" and spoke highly about his young quarterback.
"You think about a coach's kid, a national championship grandfather, you think about the pedigree, he is a reflection of that. He's a talented individual," Freeman said. "I remember his redshirt freshman year, we're going to the national championship that year, he wasn't going to play, he was redshirt, and he wasn't even on the depth chart. And I remember watching him prepare as if he was a starter; he would be in the indoor walking through practice scripts and going through his development."
"I knew at that point, I said, 'He's not going to wait to be the guy to continue to develop; he's going to do that now as a freshman.' And it speaks volumes of who he is," Freeman added. "Now you're seeing a guy that is leading the team — not even just the offense, he is leading the team. His work ethic has been there since day one. And you're seeing the results of that on the football field."
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Carr arrived in South Bend in 2024 as one of the most hyped quarterbacks in the nation. He was a four-star recruit, the No. 6-ranked QB prospect in the country by 247Sports , and the grandson of two College Football Hall of Famers: former Michigan head coach Lloyd Carr and former Wolverines All-American safety Tom Curtis.
After developing behind Riley Leonard as a freshman, Carr finally got his chance to shine last year, and he never looked back. He completed 66.6% of his passes for 2,741 yards, 24 touchdowns, and six interceptions, posting an elite passer rating of 168.1 and leading Notre Dame to a 10-2 record in his first year as the starter.
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Now entering his sophomore season under Freeman, expectations remain sky-high for both Carr and the Fighting Irish.
Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price, their two workhorse running backs, are in the NFL, putting even more pressure on Carr to lead the offense and get back to the CFP.
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