CJ Carr arrived in Provo with plenty of hype and left with a much harsher conversation attached to his name.
Notre Dame had gone into the matchup with BYU leaning on the idea that Carr was the edge, the quarterback who could separate the Irish from a strong opponent. Instead, BYU’s 28-24 upset flipped that script. The gap under center belonged to the other side, and suddenly the junior’s case as one of college football’s premier passers looked a lot less settled.
Carr had been rolling before this one. Through his previous games this season, he was completing 63% of his passes with a 155 passer rating.
Against BYU, though, he ran into the first elite defense on the schedule and hit a wall. He finished 27-of-49 for a career-low 55.1% completion rate, averaged 5.3 yards per attempt and went through a stretch in the second and third quarters where he completed just 7 of 17 passes.
“I don't know, it wasn't the preparation,” Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said. “Some of those big plays that he usually hits, we weren't executing on.
We weren't hitting them. I don't know if it's CJ's fault, I don't know if it's the wide receivers' fault or an accumulation of both.”
The trouble started early and never really let up. On Notre Dame’s opening possession, Carr opened with three short completions to help move the ball down the field.
Then came the shot: a third-down look to a wide-open Jordan Faison breaking toward the end zone. Carr overshot it by several yards.
That became a theme. According to Pro Football Focus, Carr completed only 30.4% of his throws more than 10 yards downfield.
He had entered the game hitting 60.0% of those passes. He also went from averaging 7.8 attempts per game on throws of 10-plus yards in Notre Dame’s six wins to 23 against BYU.
The pressure wasn’t constant in terms of sacks, but BYU still got to him. Carr was pressured a career-high 13 times, and as the Irish tried to force the issue, his rhythm kept slipping. Notre Dame’s passing inconsistencies also helped BYU lock in on the ground game, and the Irish managed just 2.4 yards per carry in the second half.
While Carr struggled to find answers, Bear Bachmeier delivered the kind of breakout game that changes a night and maybe more. The sophomore put up 224 passing yards, 45 rushing yards, 15 receiving yards and four touchdowns against the No. 1 defense in college football. Notre Dame reportedly stringed Bachmeier along during his recruiting process, and now he sits in the top 10 in Heisman odds.
“Out of high school, Notre Dame disrespected me and my family pretty badly,” the normally quiet Bachmeier said. “There was no way I was going to lose to those guys.”
For Notre Dame, this loss fits into a bigger pattern that is getting harder to ignore. Since making the national championship game in 2024 with dual-threat Riley Leonard at quarterback, the Irish are 2-3 against AP Top 25 teams with Carr under center.
All three losses against opponents ranked No. 16 or better ended the same way: defeat. And Notre Dame still hasn’t beaten an AP top-10 road opponent since 2012, when Manti Te’o led the Irish to the national title game.
That’s the part that stings most for Freeman’s program. The roster has been built into something formidable.
Under Freeman, Notre Dame climbed from outside the top 10 to No. 6 in the 247Sports Talent Composite, and the Irish are No. 2 in blue-chip ratio. On paper, they have the talent to win it all.
But against BYU, the issue wasn’t talent. It was execution.
“They used a lot of things that we hadn't seen on film,” linebacker Drayk Bowen said. “They kind of used our weaknesses against us.
Now we'll be able to go back, look at it and say, we really need to improve in these areas. It'll be a good bye week for us.”
Carr did still make enough plays to keep Notre Dame alive. The Irish converted all four of their fourth-down tries, with Carr delivering several tight throws in those moments.
He also led a late drive that got Notre Dame in position for a possible game-winning throw into the end zone. Without his checks, the Irish wouldn’t have been close.
Still, the standard at Notre Dame is bigger than staying close. If the Irish are going to live up to those expectations, they need more from their quarterback.
A home game against No. 1 Miami now looms as a must-win, or Notre Dame could once again find itself on the wrong side of the College Football Playoff picture.
“We've just gotta go back to work, do what we do, practice well all week,” Carr said. “We'll try to continue to string things together through the bye week and to bounce back with whoever we've got next.”
In Other News...
Rece Davis Turns BYU Win Into Bigger Officiating Fight
The aftermath of Notre Dames loss to BYU has stretched beyond the scoreboard, with Rece Davis adding his voice to the growing frustration over how the game ended. A clock error denied the Irish one final play, and the Big 12 later acknowledged that one second remained when the last snap was over, setting off a review of the replay officiating process. For Notre Dame, it was the kind of finish that leaves little room for consolation, especially when the final sequence becomes part of the larger story.
Davis also widened the lens beyond one controversial ending, tying the officiating discussion to the bigger argument around College Football Playoff expansion. For a program trying to navigate every high-stakes detail of a season, the point is bigger than a single mistake or a single game. It is about how much room there should be in the sport for missed calls, replay review and the possibility that one late officiating issue can shape not just a result, but the broader conversation around the postseason itself. [Read more 🡒]
Former Irish Stars Made Their Presence Felt Across The NFL Sunday
Former Notre Dame players were all over NFL box scores in Week 6, turning in the kind of across-the-league impact that keeps the program visible long after Saturdays on campus. Audric Estim, Cam Hart and Michael Mayer were among the former Irish standouts who made their mark, while several other alumni chipped in with tackles, receptions and other timely plays for their respective teams.
The most notable individual steps forward came from Estim and Hart, two players whose early pro careers are still taking shape but who both flashed in meaningful spots. Mayer also kept his name in the mix by leading his team in receptions, a reminder that Notre Dames NFL pipeline remains active and productive as the season moves deeper into October. [Read more 🡒]
Notre Dame Fans Still Can't Ignore How The BYU Finish Unfolded
The ripple effects from Notre Dames loss at BYU are still hanging around the program, and not just because it was a tight game on the road. The Irish had been in the thick of the national picture, so the defeat carried real weight in the latest AP Top 25, even as the debate around how the finish played out never really faded for fans who watched it unfold.
For Notre Dame, it has been a frustrating stretch of reminders that little margins can reshape a season in a hurry. The football loss landed on the same weekend the mens basketball team dropped an exhibition game to Dayton, with Ethan Roberts leading the Irish in scoring, so there has been no shortage of reasons for supporters to keep looking for a cleaner break in the action. [Read more 🡒]