BYU’s defense is heading into this weekend with one clear mission: make CJ Carr think twice.
That was the message from first-year defensive coordinator Brady Poppinga after practice Wednesday, when he laid out the Cougars’ approach to slowing Notre Dame’s quarterback. Poppinga didn’t dance around it. He called Carr the kind of passer who gets the ball out on time and punishes any defense that gives him a clean pre-snap picture.
“I think he's a rhythmic quarterback where he can get the ball out on time, and he knows exactly where to throw the ball if you show him what coverage you're in,” Poppinga said of Carr. “… So we've got to do a good job of making sure pre-snap-wise, we're doing some things to hopefully confuse him and have him throw into something that he's not expecting.”
That’s the heart of BYU’s plan. The Cougars don’t want to line up and make this a simple quarterback-versus-pass-rush problem, because they know how that usually ends. Instead, they’re leaning into disguise and uncertainty, trying to muddy the picture before the ball is ever snapped.
BYU has earned the right to trust that formula. The Cougars’ defense has given up more than 20 points only once this season, and even that outlier came with some context: Colorado State scored 16 of its 23 points after BYU was already up 38-7 in the fourth quarter. So far, only Arizona has managed to score more than 10 points against the Cougars.
Poppinga drew a comparison to the quarterback BYU has already seen this season when he tried to explain what makes Carr tough to pin down. He pointed to Wildcats quarterback Noah Fifita, then quickly noted the difference in style.
“As far as a comp of somebody that we've played before, Fafita is a different type of player. He gets out of the pocket a little bit more, makes plays with his feet, where this guy is more like a true NFL-style quarterback.
But he's athletic enough to get out of the pocket and make plays too as well. So, yeah, I just think he's got a very strong arm, very smart.”
Poppinga also said Carr usually arrives at the line already knowing where he wants to go with the ball. That’s why the Cougars are putting so much emphasis on changing the picture before the snap. They know a straight-up rush isn’t the answer.
Jake Clifton, one of Poppinga’s own players, echoed that concern Wednesday after practice. He talked about both Carr and Notre Dame’s offensive line and said BYU will need to bring steady physicality if it wants any chance of getting to the quarterback and bothering him mentally.
And that’s the challenge: Carr has not looked rattled. In just his second season as a starter for the Fighting Irish, he has carried himself like a veteran, and his numbers back that up.
Through this season, Carr has completed 70% of his passes for 1,378 yards, 16 touchdowns and only one interception. He has also been sacked just twice.
For BYU, the assignment is simple to say and hard to pull off: keep Carr guessing long enough to matter.
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