Notre Dame football missed out on the College Football Playoff in controversial fashion last year. The Irish were the first team left out of the field fear dropping their first two games of the year and winning the final 10, but that wasn't enough to get them in.
Now, Notre Dame is hungry to get back to the postseason in 2026. However, it will be harder for Marcus Freeman's squad to do that after star running back Jeremiyah Love left for the NFL Draft, where he was the No. 3 overall pick to the Arizona Cardinals. Jadarian Price, Notre Dame's other leading rusher, is also gone, leaving a lot of the burden on quarterback CJ Carr to carry the load.
As a redshirt freshman, Carr proved that he is ready to handle that kind of load in year two as a starter. Analysts around the nation have noticed as well, including FOX Sports college football analyst Joel Klatt. In his offseason rankings of the top 10 quarterbacks in the nation, Klatt ranked Carr as the No. 5 quarterback in the country.
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Last season, Carr completed 66.6% of his passes for 2,741 yards and 24 touchdowns with just six interceptions. Those numbers will have to come up this season in an offense that is likely to be more pass-happy, but the Michigan native has the talent to handle it.
Carr's offseason ranking from Klatt goes hand in hand with the NFL Draft buzz that he has been getting heading into the 2026 season. While Arch Manning and Dante Moore are the consensus top two quarterbacks in the class heading into the year, there are a lot of other first-round worthy signal-callers in college football this season. Some have even ranked Carr as the best of the rest, which would put him in the conversation to go in the top 10 next spring.
He will have to prove that on the field this fall, but it's clear that he showed enough in 2025 to garner that attention. With Notre Dame expected to be among the top teams in the nation, Carr will have every opportunity to grow his star this fall.
Notre Dame football missed out on the College Football Playoff in controversial fashion last year. The Irish were the first team left out of the field fear dropping their first two games of the year and winning the final 10, but that wasn't enough to get them in. Now, Notre Dame is hungry to get back to the postseason in 2026.