Last week, CJ Carr and Notre Dame faced their biggest opponent during the 2026 season—No. 8 BYU.
What ensued was a tough performance in Provo that left Carr’s Heisman hopes severely damaged.
After entering the season as the odds-on favorite to win the award per FanDuel Sportsbook, Carr has dropped to the sixth best odds.
It also doesn’t bode well for Carr that his 261-yard, 0-touchdown performance came on national TV in prime time.
It’s now or never for Carr to keep his Heisman Trophy candidacy alive.
Players like Jeremiah Smith and Jesse Legree have put together two impressive seasons from their receiver positions.
Smith has caught 52 passes for 984 yards and 12 touchdowns through seven games, while Legree has caught 46 passes for 1,040 and 14 touchdowns as a true freshman.
Smith’s Buckeyes also picked up a big-time road win against then-unbeaten and reigning national champions No. 6 Indiana Hoosiers.
Carr has thrown for 1,639 yards, 16 touchdowns and added another 3 rushing touchdowns.
However, the most important stat that Carr needed against the Cougars was a win and the Irish were not able to get the job done.
To put it simply, Matt Freeman said this about Carr handling the national championship and Heisman hype in his 60 questions for Notre Dame Football:
“He has handled it in stride,” said Freeman. “Carr hasn’t been impacted by the pressure, but he did have the worst game of his career at BYU, which likely eliminated him from Heisman contention.”
Further, ISD’s Jamie Uyeyama said this about Carr’s individual performance against the Cougars in his rewatch notes:
“It was not a good game from Carr,” said Uyeyama. “He completed only 48.3% of his throws in the second half. His average of 5.3 yards per attempt was his lowest since the 2025 USC game. That was the last time Carr was in a big spot and the facts are the facts. He didn’t play well in either of these games.
“Carr had been exceptional this season in most respects. This was a spotlight game and though he did have some good moments, he missed three open touchdown throws starting on the first drive to Jordan Faison, a wheel route that was set up well to Jack Larsen, and a slot fade to James Flanigan where each of them had separation.”
However, Carr and the Irish still have their biggest game of the season to come when the now No. 1 Miami Hurricanes travel to South Bend in November.
Here are the players with the same or better odds to win the Heisman per FanDuel and who they are playing this week:
- Ohio State wide receiver Jeremiah Smith idle
- Miami quarterback Darian Mensah vs. Pittsburgh
- Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss at No. 19 Texas
- Miami wide receiver Malachi Toney vs Pittsburgh
- Oregon State wide receiver Jesse Legree idle
With Navy and Miami on the horizon, CJ Carr needs to put together some big games to keep his Heisman hopes alive.
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