Rain never seemed to slow CJ Carr down at North Carolina, and Notre Dame’s quarterback left Chapel Hill with another performance that should keep his Heisman case moving forward.
In a 37-26 win Saturday, Carr handled a soaked football, a scheme designed by Bill Belichick to disrupt him and a second-half push from the Tar Heels, then kept delivering anyway. He completed 21 of 29 passes for 234 yards and four touchdown throws, and added a 9-yard touchdown run after a broken fourth-down play in the red zone. Through five starts, he’s been sacked only twice behind Notre Dame’s offensive front.
“These guys just want it, we play hard and we play for each other so it's a fun group to be around,” Carr said. “We faced some adversity, but came out firing off (in the second half).”
Carr entered the week as the clear No. 4 in the Heisman race behind Alabama’s Keelon Russell, Ohio State’s Jermiah Smith and Miami’s Darian Mensah. He doesn’t live off the viral throw or the flashy scramble, but he keeps running Mike Denbrock’s offense with the kind of steadiness Notre Dame wants from its quarterback. That mattered again Saturday, and it has now carried him into a stretch few Irish passers have touched: Carr has thrown at least three touchdowns and rushed for another in three straight starts, making him the first Notre Dame quarterback to do that in 30 years.
The game also gave Notre Dame something beyond individual hardware chatter. The Fighting Irish opened the second half with North Carolina’s Jaden Jefferson taking a kickoff back for a touchdown, which could have turned the afternoon into a tense, ugly fight. Instead, Notre Dame answered with a nine-minute drive capped by a fourth-down touchdown and took control from there.
That kind of finish matters for the College Football Playoff picture, even if the selection committee won’t unveil its first rankings until Nov. 3.
Notre Dame entered Week 5 ranked No. 6 in game control, ahead of Texas, Alabama, Indiana and several other top-10 teams. The metric measures a team’s average chance of winning throughout a game, and the Irish boosted their standing by turning a potentially tricky road win into a convincing second-half pullaway.
There was a moment when the game looked like it might tilt the other way. Notre Dame led 21-7 in the second quarter, then rolled the dice from inside North Carolina’s 3-yard line and came away empty on fourth down. The Tar Heels responded with a 97-yard scoring drive to close the first half, trimming the margin and carrying momentum into the break.
That momentum didn’t last long. Notre Dame’s opening possession of the second half lasted 17 plays and 75 yards and ate more than nine minutes.
The Irish then forced a three-and-out, and North Carolina barely found any rhythm after that. The Tar Heels had the ball for only 1:28 in the third quarter, and their best stretch after halftime didn’t come until their final possession in the fourth.
“We've got a resilient group of guys on that field with a golden helmet on and the message at halftime was to go out and dominate, stick to what we do,” Carr said.
The result also serves as a reminder of what Notre Dame is playing for this fall. After being left out of the 12-team bracket last season, the Irish would receive an automatic bid if they are ranked in the CFP Top 12 on Selection Sunday, according to the memorandum of understanding Notre Dame signed in spring 2025.
Carr’s next chances to make more noise in the Heisman race are lined up. Notre Dame’s schedule still includes Stanford on Oct.
10, No. 10 BYU on Oct.
17, Navy in Foxborough, Mass., on Oct. 21, No.
4 Miami on Nov. 7, Boston College on Nov.
14, No. 21 SMU on Nov. 21 and Syracuse.
The BYU trip gives him the first big chance, and the Miami matchup against Darian Mensah could loom large in the Heisman conversation when the CFP releases its second set of rankings.
In Other News...
UNC Suddenly Has A Billy Edwards Problem It Cant Ignore
The night at Notre Dame laid bare a few issues North Carolina can no longer treat as one-off problems. Billy Edwards was under constant pressure, the Tar Heels struggled to protect him, and early turnovers helped tilt the game before it ever settled in. With the rushing attack limited and the defense stretched, it was the kind of performance that can leave a coach sorting through more than one concern at once.
Bill Belichick pointed straight at the passing game and the offensive line afterward, and it was hard to argue with the diagnosis. The Tar Heels need cleaner pockets and a steadier start from their quarterback, but they also need the offense to give the defense some help after a night when both sides were exposed. What happened against a top-three opponent may end up looking less like a bad loss than a warning about what still has to be fixed. [Read more 🡒]
UNC Just Changed The Season Debate In A Way Fans Noticed
North Carolinas loss to Notre Dame still left room for a different kind of takeaway. The Tar Heels were beaten 37-26, but for long stretches they were more competitive with the third-ranked Irish than many expected, giving the game a very different feel than a routine blowout against a top-tier opponent.
For a team trying to steady its season, that matters. Even with the mistakes that surfaced along the way, this was the kind of showing that can change how the rest of the schedule is viewed, with the conversation shifting toward whether Carolina can still get to .500 and keep a bowl bid in reach. [Read more 🡒]
North Carolina Just Lost A Recruiting Battle Fans Were Watching
Jordan Page made his choice after taking official visits to both North Carolina and UConn, and the five-star wing has now given the edge to the Huskies. The 6-foot-5 standout from IMG Academy is ranked No. 10 overall in the 2027 class, which made this one of the more closely watched recruiting battles for Tar Heels fans looking to see how the program stacked up against another national power for an elite perimeter talent.
For North Carolina, the miss lands with extra weight because Page brings the kind of length and two-way profile that fits the modern game and would have been an appealing addition on the wing. The scouting read on him points to a player whose competitiveness meshes well with UConn's style, even as his offensive game still has room to grow, and that combination helped shape a recruitment the Tar Heels were in until the end. [Read more 🡒]