Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman deemed his team’s 27-24 loss to Miami on Sunday night in South Florida worthy of being a “top-10 fight.”
The No. 6 Irish charged back from a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit to tie it but ultimately lost to No. 10 Miami on Carter Davis’ 47-yard field goal with 1 minute, 4 seconds to play.
It was an exciting punctuation on college football’s Week 1, during which area teams turned in some good — and not-so-good — performances. Here are some takeaways from their season openers.
CJ Carr had some big moments — and some mistakes — in his Notre Dame starting debut.
Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman deemed his team’s 27-24 loss to Miami on Sunday night in South Florida worthy of being a “top-10 fight.”
The No. 6 Irish charged back from a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit to tie it but ultimately lost to No. 10 Miami on Carter Davis’ 47-yard field goal with 1 minute, 4 seconds to play.
It was an exciting punctuation on college football’s Week 1, during which area teams turned in some good — and not-so-good — performances. Here are some takeaways from their season openers.
CJ Carr had some big moments — and some mistakes — in his Notre Dame starting debut.
Carr, who hadn’t thrown a college pass before Sunday, was 19-for-30 for 221 yards with two touchdowns and an interception and also ran for 16 yards and a touchdown.
“He’s going to be a really good quarterback, everything that I thought he was going to be,” Freeman told reporters at his postgame news conference. “His ceiling looks so high. He’s going to have to learn to take this loss and not let it beat him up too much because he’s an ultra competitor.
“But he’s a gamer, man. He performs when the lights are on. He prepares his tail off. He had answers for questions myself or Coach (Mike) Denbrock would have. And he’s going to do great things, man. It’s just the start for him.”
His first touchdown was a wild one. Carr ran about 20 yards back from the line of scrimmage before racing forward and finding Micah Gilbert for a 7-yard touchdown. He also hit Jordan Faison for a 1-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter.
But Carr threw a fourth-quarter interception into a crowd. The ball was tipped twice before Rueben Bain Jr. pulled it down, and the Hurricanes turned the takeaway into a field goal that put them up 24-14.
Freeman said his inner dialogue on the first touchdown was chanting: “Throw it away.”
“I said, ‘Throw it away,’ and then, ‘Oh, great job,’” Freeman said. “He kept his eyes downfield and made a play. We don’t draw ‘em up like that, but those are plays that CJ Carr can make.
“He made a good amount of them tonight. Made some mistakes like any first-time quarterback will make. But his ceiling is extremely high and his future is bright.”
Outside linebacker Gabe Jacas got off to a good start to what Illinois hopes is a big season.
ESPN named Jacas, a 6-foot-3, 270-pound senior, a preseason All-American after he had eight sacks, 13 tackles for a loss, 10 quarterback hurries, three forced fumbles and a fumble recovery last season.
In a season-opening 52-3 win against Western Illinois on Friday at Memorial Stadium, Jacas looked like he was on a different level.
In the first quarter, he slipped through a hole to take down Leathernecks quarterback Chris Irvin from behind, knocking the ball loose. Defensive back Kaleb Patterson recovered, and the Illini scored their second touchdown five plays later.
“I just feel like we feed off energy,” Jacas said. “So me making that play, like everyone just fed off the energy and the rest is history. Everyone was making plays and flying around.”
In the second quarter, he rang up another sack, bending by WIU offensive lineman Michael Forney to wrap his arms around Irvin and bring him down.
Illinois coach Bret Bielema called Jacas “a freak of nature” and said he thinks being elected captain helped build even more confidence heading into this season.
“Highly motivated,” Bielema said. “He’s a big playmaker. He’s a guy that’s never satisfied. It’s fun to see his energy and juice kind of fall out to other people as well.”
