CJ Carr has been so effective in his two seasons as the starting quarterback at No. 5 Notre Dame that it has been easy to take him for granted.
In the most recent game for the Fighting Irish, however, a 28-24 loss at BYU, Carr was not his efficient self as his passer rating dipped below 100.0 for the first time in a game in his college career.
When Notre Dame (6-1) opposes Navy (2-5) on Saturday in Foxborough, Mass., the Fighting Irish will look to reinvigorate their usually reliable passing attack.
“There’s a fine line with him because he’s such a competitor, such, at times, a perfectionist that he can beat himself up on the ones that he didn’t connect on,” Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said.
After leading Notre Dame to 16 straight wins, Carr had many missed connections against BYU, completing 27 of 49 passes for 261 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions. He also fumbled on a spike attempt.
“There were some one-on-one balls I know he wishes he could do it again,” Freeman said, “but I don’t want to take away that he did some really, really good things. He made some throws in those two-minute situations that I don’t know if I’ve seen, period, for any quarterback.”
Notre Dame has had a bye week to stew on its loss to BYU and to fine-tune for Navy, along with an eye on its Nov. 7 opponent, No. 1 Miami.
“I reminded our guys: Sometimes you gotta lose to win,” Freeman said. “Our job is to learn from the many lessons that loss taught us.”
Navy is off to its worst start in four seasons under coach Brian Newberry and some of the blame can be attributed to turnover margin. The Midshipmen have coughed up the football an uncharacteristic 10 times while forcing just four turnovers from opponents.
By contrast, Notre Dame has the second-best turnover margin in the nation, forcing 16 turnovers and committing just two.
Navy still is powered by its signature rushing attack, which is producing 307.7 yards per game. However, the turnover issues have been tough to overcome for a team that has little margin for error. Each of the losses for the Midshipmen this season has come by 10 or fewer points.
“Those are the games they were winning last year,” Freeman said.
Navy’s Jackson Gutierrez has passed for seven touchdowns and just one interception while rushing for 869 yards (5.8 per carry) and 12 scores. His backup, Braxton Woodson, has added 384 rushing yards (7.8 per carry) and five touchdowns.
In the four seasons since Newberry has been in command at Navy, the Irish have outscored the Midshipmen 177-59 while going 4-0 in their annual matchup.
“There’s no weakness when you watch them,” Newberry said. “That’s the scary thing about this team. They’re good across the board.”
Navy’s last win in the series came in 2016. The Midshipmen also won three of four games against the Fighting Irish from 2007 to 2010.
“You think of Notre Dame and Navy, it’s a special game,” Freeman said, “and it’s always a challenging game, when you talk about schematically what they do. We’ve got a lot of respect for their program, the history of their school, what they do, what they stand for.”