With less than a minute remaining in the third quarter on Saturday in Chestnut Hill, Mass., Notre Dame was staring at a potentially season-crushing upset at the hands of one-win Boston College. After struggling in all three phases for nearly three quarters of an hour, the Irish offense had the ball leading by two after a nearly 12-minute Eagles scoring drive. Notre Dame was in desperate need of points and leadership. Both were needed fast to save the season and continue the College Football Playoff push.
A less mature team and a less mature quarterback would have crumbled. But behind the calming presence of freshman signal-caller CJ Carr, the Irish marched down the field and got six. Then, they got the ball back and scored again, riding a 94-yard wave from junior running back Jeremiyah Love to seal the Holy War and hoist the Frank Leahy Memorial Bowl.
With the way he has guided Notre Dame’s offense through an 0-2 start and ensuing six-game winning streak, it can be easy to forget that Carr has started just eight games in his collegiate career. He possesses the poise, game control and arm talent of a fourth-year veteran, but the Saline, Mich. native is just 20 years old.
After plucking transfer portal quarterbacks from the Atlantic Coast Conference in each of his first two years at the helm, head coach Marcus Freeman opted for an in-house competition at the sport’s most important position last offseason. He was comfortable with the candidates he already had in South Bend, in part because Carr has been molded for this role and these moments.
“He’s ultra-talented, but he also prepares in a way that I don’t know if you can even improve that,” Freeman said of his quarterback’s talent and steady approach following the 25-10 win over BC.
The grandson of legendary Michigan bench boss Lloyd Carr, CJ has grown up around the college game and understands that anything can happen on any given Saturday, especially in rivalry games. Despite their lack of success on the season, Boston College’s interior seemed to confuse the Irish attack on the opening two series of Saturday’s showdown. However, the freshman was able to process how the Eagles stacked the box and change his approach.
“They were gonna take away the run, so going over to the sideline and seeing what they were doing allowed us to win the next play and next series,” Carr said.
Despite his youth, Carr has displayed an innate ability to decipher defenses and adjust Notre Dame into the correct formation.
“He’s been good at making in-game adjustments,” Freeman said. “He’s got a great arm and great decision-making.”
Carr put those traits to use, and instead of panicking after coming up empty in the first quarter, he worked with Boston College’s pressure to exploit the favorable matchups.
“We started slow, but did a really good job of adjusting to their pressures and their zero coverage,” Carr said.
Sporting the arm talent that has impressed Freeman and fans alike, Carr calmly connected with multiple pass-catchers over the middle of the field to exploit the Eagles’ run fits.
“We hit some deep ones to loosen them up and then open the run game a little more,” he added.
All told, Carr left Alumni Stadium having connected on 18 of 25 attempts for 299 yards and two scores. While Freeman has preached the process, Carr and the offense have remained focused on improving every week in preparation for the Playoff hunt.
“When you think of it like you have to be perfect, then you have to be perfect,” Carr said. “The reality is that we have to come into every game and narrow it down to one play at a time.” He continued, “It’s not ‘we gotta win four games’ and all this stuff, it’s just continuing to get better starting tomorrow.”
In a success-driven business, it can be incredibly difficult for young people to work through the external noise and anchor in on steady improvement. But behind its first-year leader, the Irish offense has done just that.
“The main goal for this offense and this whole team is just to reach our full potential,” Carr said.
He also understands that celebrating Saturday’s team glory is warranted, but the outcome was far from clean.
“He’ll be the first to tell you that the two touchdowns were great, but there’s a couple other ones that he wants back,” Freeman said.
Carr summed up his feelings briefly, saying, “Consistently doing our job is something we can get better at.”
Although he may not be the national superstar that Love is, or garner the same Heisman Trophy respect of fellow quarterbacks Fernando Mendoza, Julian Sayin and Ty Simpson, Carr has become the fearless leader Notre Dame needed under center. Already named to the Alexander, Manning and O’Brien Award watchlists, Carr has topped 2,000 yards and added 18 touchdowns while throwing only four interceptions across eight games.
Perhaps most importantly, CJ Carr recognizes the pressure that comes with being the quarterback at Notre Dame. He doesn’t wither in fear of failure, or worry about not living up to the standard set by last year’s team. The maturing, budding superstar is confident Notre Dame can win that elusive national championship, and he knows his play is a big reason why.
“We had a really good team with really good players last year,” Carr said. “We feel like we have the same talent, if not better, this year. Our ceiling is really high and we’re just trying to elevate every week.”
