A year ago, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish did something you just can’t do in today’s day and age of college football when hoping to get to the postseason and compete for a championship: They lost the first two games of their season.
A 27-24 loss to the Miami Hurricanes to start the season, followed by a 41-40 loss to the Texas A&M Aggies a week later, ended up derailing things before they even got started in South Bend. Disregard the fact that the Fighting Irish went on to win their next 10 games, and that those two losses ended up coming to eventual College Football Playoff teams. By that point, the damage was done, and Notre Dame was left on the outside looking in, despite a ton of controversy.
While a perceived snubbing like this can scare some and leave many jaded, it has resonated with Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr, who says that the experience has only made him and his teammates hungrier to return this year.
“It just fueled our fight to start it all over again and run it back,” Carr said in an interview with On3. “It wasn’t enough last year even though we felt like we could have done some damage in the playoff. We’ve carried that with us all offseason. There are no excuses. We’re not going to leave it in anybody else’s hands this year.”
The team that got in over Notre Dame — Miami — ended up doing the damage that Carr envisioned for his own squad, making a run to the national championship game where they fell to the Indiana Hoosiers. Had it been Notre Dame in that spot, who knows whether or not they would have made it that far, or ultimately been able to hand Fernando Mendoza and Curt Cignetti their first loss of the year in the last game. It’s fair to wonder, though.
It’s also fair to understand that this is all a moot point, because Notre Dame didn’t win as many games as they needed to, and were rightfully left out of the playoff. That thought is enough to keep Carr pushing for one more year, where his team is among the betting favorites to win it all.
Notre Dame fans everywhere are hoping that this time next year, their QB isn’t looking back on the 2026 season feeling the same way.
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This article originally appeared on College Sports Wire: Notre Dame’s CFP snub has helped fuel QB CJ Carr ahead of 2026 season
