CJ Carr Doesn't Have To Be A Hero For Notre Dame To Beat Miami

Notre Dame vs Miami: The spotlight couldn't get any brighter for CJ Carr

After all of the drama, rumors, and conspiracy theories, CJ Carr has emerged as the winner of Notre Dame's QB competition and will take his first snaps as a starter on the road against Miami in a few short days. This is going to be a massive moment; it's Notre Dame vs Miami in a top-10 matchup, a standalone game window with all of the country watching.

All eyes are going to be glued to whoever Notre Dame's new QB is, and now we know that man will be CJ Carr. Nobody, including CJ Carr and his coaches, is quite sure how CJ will handle this massive, pressure-packed moment.

The good news for Carr and the Irish is that the Notre Dame team is a very strong group overall, and CJ Carr will not have to be a hero to lead the Irish to a week-one victory.

More mature parts of this team need to step up

Breaking in a first-time starter in this chaotic of an environment comes with inherent risk on multiple levels, both physical and mental, for Notre Dame.

This is why it's imperative that the parts of this team that have experience and some comfort in big game atmospheres step up, play well, and take some pressure off Carr so he doesn't feel like the weight of the world is on him and he must be perfect.

This effort starts with the Irish defense. This unit is expected to be one of the best in the country, and it must play like that against Miami and keep the score low so that Carr and the offense don't press and feel like they need to score 40 points to win this game.

Flipping over to the offensive side of the ball, success for Carr in this game starts and ends with the offensive line. This unit must be able to create push and run lanes for Jeremiyah Love and company.

Similarly, for Carr to gain any confidence and rhythm in the pass game, he must have solid protection so that he can make his reads without being hurried regularly, which would be toxic to a young QB in his first start on the road in a hostile environment.