What to look for as Notre Dame looks to bounce back from BYU loss

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Notre Dame had an extra week to pick up the pieces from its first loss of the season, and coach Marcus Freeman said the No. 5 Irish used some of their bye week to take ownership of all that went wrong against BYU.

Freeman’s instructions to his players and staff — and himself — were not to add the word “but” after they owned their mistakes in the 28-24 loss to the No. 8 Cougars on Oct. 17 in Provo, Utah.

“Coach says, ‘Man, I should have called something different.’ Period,” Freeman said at his weekly news conference Monday. “Head coach says, ‘Man, we should practice this situation more.’ Period. Player: ‘I should have done this better.’ And that’s the end of the statement.

“Don’t add a ‘but’ to it, because when you add a ‘but,’ that leaves the opportunity to blame somebody else.”

After they took the blame, the Irish (6-1) got to work on fixing the issues as they prepare to play Navy (2-5) on Saturday at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., one week before their home showdown against No. 1 Miami.

Here are four things Freeman said as Notre Dame tries to bounce back.

1. Is a ‘systematic change’ needed to fix the end-of-game clock issue?

Late in the night after BYU’s win, the Big 12 released a statement acknowledging that one second remained on the official clock when the football hit the ground on CJ Carr’s final pass. Notre Dame should have had one more play to try to win it on second down.

Freeman was quick to say Monday that Notre Dame won’t use that one second — and one play — as an excuse for why it lost.

But he also said he isn’t sure his staff members could have known there was time left just from watching the clock on their own. Freeman noted the “complete chaos” as fans rushed the field after the final pass and said he didn’t know about the remaining second until the plane ride home.

“With the human eye, could our guys look in the press box and say — from the press box — if the ball hit with one second left?” Freeman said. “It’s something that you’ve got to trust the officials and the replay officials to make sure that they get that call right.”

Freeman didn’t delve into specifics of the potential solution but said there should be “some type of systematic thing where that mistake doesn’t happen.”

2. CJ Carr’s performance in the loss won’t shake his confidence.

Freeman and Carr took away both good and bad from watching his film against BYU. Carr completed 27 of 49 passes for 261 yards with no touchdowns, no interceptions and one lost fumble on a botched spike.

The 55.1% completion percentage and 99.8 passing efficiency rating were the worst of the two-year starter’s career, with some notable misfires.

“There were some one-on-one balls I know he wishes he could do it again and some one-on-one balls that we’ve been able to connect on previously,” Freeman said. “But I don’t want to take away that he did some really, really good things. He made some throws in those two-minute situations that I don’t know if I’ve seen, period, for any quarterback.

“And that’s where there’s a fine line with him because he’s such a competitor, such at times a perfectionist that he can beat himself up on the ones that he didn’t connect on.”

It was just Carr’s third loss as the starter and his first in more than a year since Notre Dame opened 0-2 against Miami and Texas A&M in 2025. Freeman said his job as a coach is to remind Carr of the plays he did well and let him know they all continue to have confidence in him.

“Let’s continue to do the things you’ve done really, really well and not let it shake your confidence, which it won’t,” Freeman said. “It won’t.”

3. The Irish want to get some offensive players on the field more.

Notre Dame’s usage of wide receivers and running backs received scrutiny in the wake of the loss.

According to Pro Football Focus, only three wide receivers played more than two snaps against the Cougars: Jordan Faison, Jaden Greathouse and Micah Gilbert. Mylan Graham played two. That was it — obviously not an ideal rotation, especially if it meant Notre Dame’s best trio was worn out when it came down to a crucial drive.

Greathouse led Notre Dame with eight catches for 125 yards, while Faison had six catches for 64 yards.

Freeman said the game — in which the Irish trailed by 11 at halftime and had two-minute drills at the end of each half — dictated that usage at times. Notre Dame coaches decided that in “those toughest moments, you’re going to go with the guys that you truly trust.”

He said that wasn’t to slight other “ascending players,” and he had a conversation with coaches and the other receivers about how to fix the issue.

“I have a lot of confidence in the entire wide receivers room,” he said. “So we have to be more intentional about getting them in the game. But it works twofold. They’ve got to continue to be consistent in practice so there’s no hesitation.”

Freeman said freshman running back Jonaz Walton was in a similar situation. He played 10 snaps and had five carries for 17 yards.

The Irish wanted to use their most reliable back in pass protection in the two-minute drills, and Freeman said it didn’t help that they went three-and-out on a couple of Walton’s drives.

“We’ve got to make sure we don’t have three-and-out in those situations more than anything, so that he does have an opportunity to get the ball in his hands more,” Freeman said.

4. Boubacar Traore’s ejection for targeting was all the discipline he needed to learn.

Freeman said he didn’t need to yell at Traore, an Associated Press second-team midseason All-American on the defensive line, after he was ejected for targeting on the fifth defensive play.

“It’s, ‘Hey, Boubacar, do you ever want to sit out another day like that?’” Freeman said. “’No? Let’s make sure we learn from that play, hit them in the strike zone.’”

Freeman said he told Traore that if he had been on the field, “there’s at least one less touchdown.” Notre Dame didn’t have a sack and had two tackles for a loss in the game.

But Freeman also put it on the rest of the defensive players and coaches to make up for Traore’s absence.

“We put them in a position to have success, and that’s on us as coaches to call things they’ll be successful in,” Freeman said. “And also make sure they’re ready for the different looks and all that’s going to give us: the chippers, the six-man pros and things like that.

“So there’s a little bit of everybody. The players have got to continue to execute better. The coaches definitely have got to put them in better situations.”