CJ Carr's five-touchdown performance boosts Notre Dame's Heisman and CFP hopes

Perhaps Heisman voters will catch the replay of CJ Carr's five-touchdown performance in Saturday's 37-26 win at North Carolina. The Notre Dame quarterback overcame a rain-soaked ball and a high-pressure Bill Belichick scheme devised to rattle the Irish signal caller.

He finished 21 of 29 for 234 yards and four touchdown passes, along with a 9-yard touchdown run on a broken fourth-down play in the red zone. Carr's only been sacked twice through five starts this season behind a nasty offensive front.

"These guys just want it, we play hard and we play for each other so it's a fun group to be around," Carr said. "We faced some adversity, but came out firing off (in the second half)."

Carr entered as the clear-cut No. 4 in the Heisman race behind the likes of Alabama's Keelon Russell, Ohio State's Jermiah Smith and Miami's Darian Mensah. He's not flashy and rarely makes a jaw-dropping highlight, but he's the perfect triggerman for Mike Denbrock's offense and what Notre Dame needs to win a national championship this season under center.

Carr has thrown at least three touchdowns and rushed for another in three consecutive starts. He's the first Irish quarterback to accomplish that feat in 30 years.

Game control matters

The College Football Playoff selection committee won't debut its first set of rankings until Nov. 3, but Notre Dame's second-half pullaway could impact overall opinions of the Fighting Irish.

The game looked uncomfortably tight after North Carolina's Jaden Jefferson ran back a kickoff for a touchdown to open the second half. Instead, Notre Dame marched down the field with a nine-minute drive capped with a fourth-down touchdown to set the tone for a dominant second half.

The CFP selection committee uses its own metrics for evaluating teams, but analytics models such as game control and strength of record come into play.

Notre Dame entered Week 5 ranked No. 6 in the country in game control ahead of Texas, Alabama, Indiana and a few other top-10 teams. Game control tracks a team's average chance of winning through each game, providing more context for how convincingly it has handled its schedule. A close win would've been detrimental to Notre Dame's resume, but what it showed instead during a steady downpour was a taking-care-of-business victory.

A necessary reminder after the Fighting Irish were excluded from the 12-team bracket last season: Notre Dame receives an automatic bid if it is ranked in the CFP Top 12 on Selection Sunday this fall based on a memorandum of understanding signed by Notre Dame in spring 2025.

Notre Dame hits second gear

Notre Dame rolled the dice in the second quarter, leading 21-7 and going for a knockout blow, but failed on fourth down from inside UNC's 3-yard line. The Tar Heels responded with a 97-yard scoring drive to essentially end the first half, going into the locker room with momentum while trailing by a touchdown.

Notre Dame's first possession of the second half was a methodical 17-play, 75-yard drive that took more than nine minutes before the Fighting Irish followed that up with a three-and-out on defense. The Tar Heels possessed the football for only 1:28 in the third quarter, and their only semblance of rhythm after intermission came on their final possession midway through the final frame.

"We've got a resilient group of guys on that field with a golden helmet on and the message at halftime was to go out and dominate, stick to what we do," Carr said.

Fighting Irish's remaining schedule

vs. Stanford, Oct. 10

at No. 10 BYU, Oct. 17

vs. Navy (Foxborough, Mass.), Oct. 21

vs. No. 4 Miami, Nov. 7

vs. Boston College, Nov. 14

vs. No. 21 SMU, Nov. 21

at Syracuse

Carr's going to get three Heisman moment opportunities moving forward for the unbeaten Fighting Irish, the first coming in two weeks on the road against BYU. His outing against Miami and fellow standout quarterback Darian Mensah on Nov. 7 will provide a telling mark in the Heisman conversation coming out of the CFP's second set of rankings.