Notre Dame Football Needs a Team Leader —Who Will Step Up?

Notre Dame's captains need to back up their designation with on-field play. That didn't happen Sunday night and can't happen again.

Being chosen as a Notre Dame captain is a very special thing. It means that you are respected among your peers as a leader of the program in all aspects, off the field and most importantly, on it. In this regard, the Irish captains left a lot to be desired against Miami.

As the game unfolded, I found myself waiting. Waiting for someone to make a big play. Waiting for someone to light up the sideline and wake up Notre Dame when it felt like Miami started the game with much more fire and intensity. I waited, and I waited some more. I waited until the clock hit triple zero and the Irish had lost.

This is a problem.

Notre Dame Offense Must Support CJ Carr

In what shouldn't be the case but is a compliment, it felt like CJ Carr in his first start was the leader of the Irish offense. Logically, one may think Jeremiyah Love would be the natural leader of this unit, but it's hard to lead when he only touched the ball 14 times all night.

Two Irish captains play along the offensive line. Billy Schrauth and Aamil Wagner. While Schrauth held his own fairly well, Wagner had a rough night at times, and it's very hard to be a leader when your play on the field is not strong.

Much was made of Wisconsin transfer Will Pauling being named a captain upon his arrival to South Bend, but his zero catch night doesn't exactly scream "captain" to me. I know this is just one game, and things are likely to improve, but this offense needs someone or some group of players to help CJ Carr out quickly.