The Notre Dame Fighting Irish began their 2025 season, after coming just short in 2024 as the College Football National Champion runners-up, with a week-one matchup against a revamped Miami Hurricanes team.
Notre Dame was ranked sixth coming into the game, while Miami was unranked. It was a close game, but the Fighting Irish fell in week one by a score of 27-24.
After the game, in a piece from Alanis Thames of The Associated Press, head coach Marcus Freeman defended his quarterback, CJ Carr, amid the upset loss to begin the 2025 season.
Freeman Defends Carr After Week One Upset
Notre Dame's first game of the year wasn't the best start, but Freeman is confident in Carr as the team's starting quarterback going forward. He won the quarterback competition in the offseason and has the trust of his head coach going forward.
"His ceiling is so high. He's going to have to take this loss and not let it eat at him too much." Freeman said. "He performs when the lights are on. He prepares his tail off. He's going to do great things. It's just the start for him."
Carr's Notre Dame debut had some ups and downs, and if the team hadn't lost, it would have been looked at as a solid first step for the Freshman quarterback.
In his debut, Carr went 19 of 30 for 221 passing yards, good for 7.4 yards per completion. He also had two passing touchdowns, both of which came on long drives of at least 10 plays and 60 yards.
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However, he did throw an interception in the fourth quarter, which nearly sealed their fate to a loss. But he bounced back, as two drives later, he led a quick 75-yard touchdown drive, capped by a seven-yard rushing touchdown for Carr.
It wasn't enough in the end, as despite having the ball with a minute left in the game, the Carr-led Notre Dame offense couldn't get anything going, thanks in part to an intentional grounding penalty late and multiple sacks on the final drive.
It wasn't the best debut for Carr, especially with the loss against an unranked Miami team. But he did have enough on display for Freeman to be encouraged by his performance. It's week one, and the season is not over yet.
While he needs to put this loss behind him, Carr has the confidence of his head coach that he can turn things around and be the leader for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish during the 2025 NCAA Football season.
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