What’s next for Notre Dame after CFP National Championship loss? Irish need to be better through the air

ATLANTA — Notre Dame may have fallen short of the College Football Playoff National Championship, losing to Ohio State 34-23, but the fact that they’re even here in the first place is quite the achievement in itself. 

After taking the worst loss any CFP contender had all season in dropping a home game to Northern Illinois, the Irish’s CFP hopes seemed dead on arrival. But they used a complementary football approach with great defense and special teams to quietly thrash the rest of their regular season opponents and march to the Playoff as the hottest team in college football. Notre Dame quickly fell behind the eight-ball Monday night, but battled back valiantly. 

Now that their season is done, what these are three big questions for Notre Dame to answer heading into next season. 

Who will start at quarterback?  

Marcus Freeman said in December that Notre Dame will not go portal shopping for a new signal-caller, so they’ll roll with who is already on the roster if Freeman’s word is good. That means Steve Angeli could be the guy moving forward, but a QB competition in the spring could prove otherwise. 

Angeli has been QB2 this season, and came in for Leonard in the CFP semifinal against Penn State and went 6-for-7, leading the team’s first scoring drive heading into the half. Teammates expressed complete confidence in him after the game. But Angeli will have to go up against highly-rated 2024 recruit CJ Carr this spring. 

Carr suffered a season ending elbow injury in September. How he recovers and whether he can live up to his recruiting potential and pedigree — yes, his grandfather is former Michigan coach Lloyd Carr — will determine the future of the Irish offense. 

Can the Irish wideouts take the next step? 

Notre…

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Author : Richard Johnson

Publish date : 2025-01-21 05:34:00

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