Marcus Freeman preaches that Notre Dame is built upon its offensive and defensive lines. Sunday night Miami looked like a better version of what the Irish want to be, controlling the game on both fronts.
And despite a fourth quarter push, Notre Dame fell short on the road against No. 10 Miami, 27-24.
“Obviously disappointed in the outcome,” Freeman said. “It was a top 10 fight. Come down to a three point game against a hell of a football team. There is obviously a lot out there we didn’t do well but there are some things we did do well.”
The Irish certainly weren’t making it easy on their rookie quarterback, and they were forced to do exactly what they wanted to avoid – placing pressure on Carr.
Down seven with just over five minutes remaining in the fourth, Carr was under pressure – a lot of it.
Carr answered the call, and on the road against No. 10 Miami, carried himself with the poise and confidence that would be expected of a four-year starter. While Carr isn’t that, he looked the part as he fired a deep ball to a wide open Eli Raridon who turned up the field for an explosive 65-yard gain.
Just two plays later Carr scrambled up the middle — doing his best Riley Leonard impression — and launched himself into the endzone to tie the game at 24.
“He’s going to be a really good quarterback,” Freeman said. “Everything that I thought he was gonna be. His ceiling is 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.”
Now Carson Beck, in his debut as a Hurricane, had his chance to answer the redshirt freshman. The quarterback has been in his fair share of big games as a member of the Georgia Bulldogs and he took advantage of an Irish mistake.
Keelan Marion, sprinting down the left sideline, had Christian Gray beat, and Beck knew it. He launched a deep ball, tripping up Gray and in turn Marion, drawing a crucial defensive pass interference penalty. Now at midfield, the Hurricanes opted to be conservative, handing it off to CharMar Brown until the Irish defense came up with a third down stop.
Davis Carter came through with a difficult 47-yard field goal, sweeping in a right to left kick that gave Miami a 27-24 lead.
Once again, Carr had the game in his hands.
He couldn’t do much with it as Miami’s highly-touted defensive ends ripped the game from his hands. Carr was brought down multiple times before the clock ran out on Notre Dame’s comeback attempt.
While there was a lot of good and bad for the Irish, Carr seemed poised from the beginning. But the Miami defense didn’t make it easy on Notre Dame for much of the night Sunday.
Carr didn’t have to wait around to kickstart his career as the starting quarterback as the Irish received the ball to begin their 2025 campaign. Offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock went to the first-year start early, calling four straight short pass plays. Jordan Faison displayed some early playmaking in the screen game, spinning off tackles for a pair of first downs.
“It was creating some easy throws, some easy decisions,” Freeman said. “He was doing what he was coached to do.”
Ultimately the first drive of the season fizzled out as the Miami defense forced Carr to bail out of the pocket and toss the ball out of bounds.
Shortly after Carr, Beck made his Hurricanes debut under a rainy Miami sky. He showed his arm off early for a 14-yard gain to Marion, but Boubacar Traore crashed down on third down to send Beck back to the sidelines.
With the nerves of Carr’s first drive out of the way, he didn’t get a chance to settle in for a longer second drive. Malachi Fields fumbled his first catch as a member of the Irish, gifting Miami a new possession deep in Notre Dame territory.
Luckily for Fields, the Notre Dame defense under new defensive coordinator Chris Ash came to play early. On a key second down, Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa exploded through the line to stuff Miami running back Mark Fletcher Jr. for a loss of three. A few plays later the Hurricanes were forced to take a field goal, and whether it was the rain or the first game nerves, it didn’t go to plan. The snap skipped to the holder, Dylan Joyce, resulting in a jail break scramble that saw Joyce flee out of bounds.
The earlier fumble by Fields had the offense on its heels, and the Irish’s next drive didn’t last much longer with a quick three-and-out that ended with an errant throw to Greathouse that was out of his reach.
Beck flashed his old Georgia self on Miami’s next drive, and wide receiver Malachi Toney was a big reason why. The quarterback zeroed in on Toney for consecutive gains of 11 and 13 to get within striking distance. Once there, Beck went right back to Malachi Toney, rolling out and firing a 28-yard strike to the wide receiver to put Miami on the board.
Now with their back to the wall, the Irish needed a response, especially if they wanted to keep Carr protected like the staff was saying prior to Sunday. Still, the Irish couldn’t find their footing in the wet Miami turf as another three and out put Notre Dame in danger of going down two scores.
Notre Dame got the ball right back thanks to a Miami three and out, and Jadarian Price was finally the match to light the fire under the offense. The running back exploded for 14 quick yards right into Miami territory and followed that up with the biggest play of the day to that point. Price burst outside and down the left sideline for 30 yards all the way down to the Miami goalline.
Desperately needing a score on third and goal, Carr got his chance to show why he won the job. The Saline, Michigan native scrambled and circled all the way back to the 29-yard line, evading the Hurricane defensive front before stepping up and firing a strike to Micah Gilbert to even the game. What went down as a 7-yard touchdown was a whole lot longer, and impressive, than the stats will show.
With the game now knotted at seven, Beck seemed truly settled into his new home at Hard Rock Stadium. The quarterback had plenty of time in the backfield to find his targets as the Irish front had trouble putting pressure on Beck.
“D-line, I want to be more dominant,” Freeman said. “It was my expectation for that unit to dominate the game in the run and in the pass, put pressure on the quarterback and stop the run. Credit to Miami, we weren’t able to do that.”
Once again in striking distance of the endzone, Traore finally got his hands on Beck but the quarterback got the ball out before he could be brought down. What appeared to be a dangerous throw turned out to be an explosive play as CJ Daniels snagged a one-handed catch, falling into the endzone for Miami’s second touchdown of the game as the first half clock winded down.
The second half got off to just about as bad a start as it could for Notre Dame.
After deferring to the second half, the Hurricanes were set up perfectly to take firm control of Sunday’s game — and that they did. Miami went on a commanding 12 play, 75 yard drive that spanned well over seven minutes. The Hurricanes offensive front were in complete control as Beck continued to hit strikes downfield to Toney and tight end Elija Lofton for a pair of third down conversions. Fletcher did his share too, powering right down the teeth of the defense for a pair of firsts.
Near the Irish goalline, the Hurricanes once again imposed their will as Brown muscled his through the front and across the line to give Miami a 21-7 lead.
The last thing the Irish could do after its defense was on the field for almost eight minutes was go three and out. Three Carr incompletions later and the Irish defense was right back out on the field.
Miami’s next drive wasn’t nearly as long and Carr finally got the chance to air it out, going back to Fields, who fumbled earlier in the first quarter. Fields redeemed himself, leaping for a 27-yard grab down the right sideline and setting Notre Dame up in Miami territory.
After being held dormant for much of the game, Jeremiyah Love finally got the chance to stretch his legs as he rumbled down the sideline, leaping over the Hurricane defender for 13. The highlight reel play was called back due to a holding penalty on Raridon. Miami responded the next play with a pass interference penalty to bail out the Irish.
Now at the goal line, Love couldn’t quite get in, getting stuffed twice at the line. Denbrock put the ball in Carr’s hands with a play action pass which he executed to perfection, lofting a pass to Faison to cut the Irish deficit to seven.
With some building momentum, Notre Dame’s defense started to pick up some much-needed pressure on Beck. Facing a long thrid down, the Irish only sent three, but that didn’t stop Traore. The rusher used an explosive spin move to break through and bring down Beck for a Miami three and out.
Carr and the Irish now had the chance to tie the game, but after an eight yard Love rush, Denbrock dialed up a Carr screen pass that was deflected and bounced around before landing into the arms of Rueben Bain Jr.
In the blink of an eye all the momentum Notre Dame built evaporated as the Hurricanes were quickly in scoring range. The Irish defense were able to force another three and out but Miami’s Carter Davis knocked through a 38-yard field goal to make it a two-score game, 24-14.
Down 10, Notre Dame needed a score to keep the game alive and Carr kept its hopes alive. The quarterback found Fields once again, this time the receiver was wide open for an easy 20. A few plays later Carr felt the Hurricane pressure and unwisely tossed the ball away and drew an intentional ground penalty. A Love screen pass got the Irish back into field goal range and Noah Burnette knocked in a 39 yard kick to cut the deficit to seven once again.
Despite the inspired foruth quarter push, Miami’s defense stood tall at the end and Notre Dame, led by a freshman quarterback, fell short on the road.
After the back breaking touchdown drive by the Hurricanes to start the second half, Ash’s defense held Beck and Miami mostly in check. Beck finished with just 205 yards after throwing for nearly 150 in the first half.
Carr finished the game throwing 19-30 for 221 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Love and Price weren’t featured nearly as much as needed, combining for just 78 yards on 16 carries.
Notre Dame will now head back to South Bend for a bye week before gearing up for another tough test against Texas A&M at Notre Dame Stadium on September 13 at 7:30 p.m.
“We’ll get back to work,” Freeman said. “Look at ways to fix it and ultilize this bye week and get ready for our next opponent.”
