Day after: Final thoughts on Notre Dame’s tough, late opening loss to Miami

As we wake up on Monday morning, were still swallowing the tough pill that Notre Dame lost to the Miami Hurricanes in its 2025 season opening game, 27-24.The Irish didnt look at all like what we expected, but that is typically the case with college football with so much turnover from year to year.

This version of the Fighting Irish is much different than what we saw last fall, but still have the same goal.It would have been very nice to see the Irish getting a road win with a first-time starting quarterback, but as a quick reminder, the No.

1 team in the country in Texas did the same, and also returned home with a loss.

In this era of the College Football Playoff, one loss doesnt eliminate you, but it does muddy the road.There are plenty of thoughts that went through my head last night and into this morning, and here are my Monday thoughts following Notre Dames season opening road loss to Miami.

CJ Carr is not Riley Leonard Its a bit odd to me that offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock opted to keep a similar playbook to what was called last year with Riley Leonard for new starter CJ Carr.

There were many plays that were almost the same from last year despite different skill set between the two.

This isnt a knock on Carr at all, I think hes got great potential and will be a very good quarterback, its just that hes not Leonard.

Running with him isnt the same, and could lead to an injury.

More than a few of the designed run plays, Carr took some big hits, and that something that you cant expect him to do all year.

No doubt that he can run, but Denbrock has to better about picking his spots, and teaching him how to take hits better in practice, so it doesnt happen in games.

A loss doesnt stop the ultimate goal This isnt the end of the season for Notre Dame, just one game in, but it doesnt give them much room for error going forward.

We all thought that theyd split their two early games, so this loss isnt a surprise.

The Irish will have almost two week to get back to work and fix some of their issues, and Id be willing to bet we see a much different Notre Dame team when they face off against Texas A&M.

All of the Irishs season goals are still achievable, so while this loss hurts, its not the end.

Marcus Freemans early season woes continue It has become a theme for Freeman, as his teams have all dropped either the opener or the second game during each of his full-seasons as Notre Dames head coach.

A 0-2 start in 2022, Northern Illinois last fall, and now the loss to Miami.

Its becoming common for Freeman-led teams to have bad starts, so hes got to go back to the drawing board and figure this out.

Unfortunately, it wont be able to be correct until the 2026 season.

Not enough touches for the running backs If you would have told me before the game that Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price would get 16 total rushing attempts, I probably would have said it because the defense dominated and gave the Irish plus field position all game.

Well, that wasnt the case on Sunday, as Love got 10 of those and Price didnt get enough with just six.

He was the more effective runner, but Notre Dame didnt get him a touch until the second-half.

Again, it was an odd game-plan, and youd have to think that the coaching staff would like to have this one back.

Chris Ash made some great adjustments in the third and fourth quarter As much as you want to complain about what the Notre Dame defense did in allowing 27-points, it wasnt all their fault.

Notre Dames offense didnt help, as they had 3 three-and-outs, not giving the defense much time to rest on the sidelines.

Following the first quarter fumble, they held Miami to no points on a short field.

Just a field goal after Carrs interception, and made the Hurricanes work to get their final field goal.

There wasnt as much pressure as we would have liked to see, but theres no doubt in my mind that its coming.

How much trust does Mike Denbrock have in CJ Carr?At times, it didnt seem like Denbrock had full trust in running the whole offense for Carr, and it seemed like it hampered the offense at times.

They didnt go fast when down a touchdown with just under 10 minutes left, and I think if it was Leonard, the hurry up would have happened.

It was clear that Denbrock was trying to protect his young quarterback, mostly short throws and screens.

For Notre Dames offense to really take that next step, theyll have to be better at throwing down the field.

A lot of that depends on how much trust Denbrock has with Carr, and that will need to grow fast.

There is tons of room for growth for Notre Dame Think about this for a moment, Notre Dame went into the house of a top-10 opponent, and had a chance to win the game with a first-time starting quarterback.

I dont want to make excuses, but its hard to simulate the Florida head in Indiana, its just different.

We saw players gassed, and that could have been one of the reasons why we saw this result.

Im not trying to make up excuses for the Irish in their loss, its just the reality of the situation.

I dont think we saw Notre Dame at its best on Sunday, but we will later in the year.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on X (Formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.Follow Mike on X: @MikeFChen This article originally appeared on Fighting Irish Wire: Day after: Final thoughts on Notre Dames tough opening loss to Miami.

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