Notre Dame’s No. 6 Ranking Tested as Freshman QB CJ Carr Debuts vs. Miami

A lofty No. 6 ranking for Notre Dame warrants a qualifier.

Not because the Fighting Irish don’t have a good team. They do.

It’s because they are entirely unproven at the quarterback position.

Notre Dame brought in Riley Leonard from Duke before the 2024 season, and he helped the Irish reach the national championship game before falling to Ohio State. Prior to that, the Irish had even more experience with Sam Hartman at the controls.

Now they look to repeat that accomplishment with redshirt freshman CJ Carr as the starter and third-year sophomore Kenny Minchey as the backup.

Carr edged Minchey in a close competition, and all eyes will be on him Sunday night when Notre Dame opens the season on the road against No. 10 Miami.

That’s quite an opening test for Carr. Like they couldn’t line up a pigeon to let him break in a bit easier?

Was Northern Illinois unavailable? The Huskies beat the Irish in South Bend last year. They are permanently on the “We’re not scheduling them” list.

So Carr will be under the microscope while also being dealt a stellar opportunity. He knows there is no easing into this situation.

“Yeah, it means everything. This is what you worked for your whole life, really,” Carr said of being named the starter.

Offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock has been impressed with Carr’s maturity and poise.

But even he knows the gloves can’t come off in the opening minutes of start No. 1.

“We’re going to ease him into this thing,” Denbrock told reporters. “He can handle a lot, but with the atmosphere being what it is, playing on the road first game, we’ll be a little bit cautious with how we approach it in the beginning and see how this thing gets rolling.”

The players are saying all the right things about Carr, which is hardly a surprise.

Unless your name is Ryan Leaf and you’ve alienated all your San Diego Chargers teammates, players are going to heap praise on the new guy and show they have his back.

Some of the chatter has been about Carr having a ton of self-belief, perhaps bordering on overconfidence.

Denbrock called it a “balancing act” in terms of handling that aspect, but he also doesn’t want to completely harness a youngster eager to make his mark.

“You don’t want them to ever lose the aggressiveness that they have to play the game,” Denbrock said. “It’s easier to say ‘whoa’ than it is ‘giddy up’ with a quarterback. I don’t have that problem with him, for sure.”

Carr certainly has been receiving regular lessons from someone else in his family — he is the grandson of former Michigan coach Lloyd Carr.

Lloyd Carr’s Wolverines won the 1997 national championship, beating Leaf’s Washington State team in the Rose Bowl, and he is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame.

But how will CJ Carr react his first time on the big stage? That’s what everyone will want to dissect.

Let’s not forget why Notre Dame is ranked so high despite having an unproven signal-caller.

You can cite the presence of star running back Jeremiyah Love, who rushed for 1,125 yards and 17 touchdowns last season. He scored at least one touchdown in 13 straight games.

You can point to a veteran defense that led the nation with 33 takeaways last season. The Irish ranked fourth nationally in scoring defense at 15.5 points per game.

You can also look at coach Marcus Freeman. It seemed a bit crazy to hand him the keys to a powerhouse school like this at age 35.

But there’s no disputing now that he’s one of the best coaches in the country. Freeman is 33-9 in his three full seasons on the job, including last season’s 14-2 mark.

Come Sunday, we’ll get our first chance to evaluate if Freeman’s decision to go with Carr is the right move.

Even if Carr has a shaky debut, there will be a bye week before the second game against Texas A&M. Now that’s good scheduling.

As for that ranking, if Carr proves to be the real deal, the Fighting Irish will be near the top all season long.