Notre Dame football started out its season with an 0-2 record. Since that start, the Fighting Irish are slowly climbing back into the College Football Playoff picture. Notre Dame is now 2-2, after back-to-back wins over Purdue and Arkansas.
The Fighting Irish thrashed Arkansas Saturday, in Fayetteville. Notre Dame won 56-13 behind a fabulous performance from their quarterback CJ Carr. It was the second consecutive game where Notre Dame scored 56 points.
The contest turned out to be the final game for Arkansas coach Sam Pittman. Pittman was fired by Arkansas on Sunday, after he struggled out to a 2-3 start to the year.
While the squad was nearly left for dead, it appears that Notre Dame still has a path to the CFP this season. Here are some reasons why.
Notre Dame's defense is improving
Notre Dame looked awful on defense in their first two games. The Fighting Irish allowed 488 yards to Texas A&M, and lost that game in the final few minutes. The squad is getting better, partly due to Marcus Freeman being more involved with that group.
The Fighting Irish allowed just 365 total yards to Arkansas. Notre Dame did a good job of slowing down Arkansas, allowing just a bit more than five yards per play.
“The ability to handle success is always a challenge,” Freeman said, per the Associated Press. “And the ability to handle criticism is always a challenge. I’m proud of both sides of the ball.”
Notre Dame's offense is clicking at the right time
The Fighting Irish scored 42 points by the end of the first half against Arkansas. That's impressive, to say the least.
The squad is led by CJ Carr, who takes over this season from Riley Leonard. Carr hasn't been explosive in his performances, but that changed on Saturday. The young quarterback is finding his groove. He finished the Arkansas game with four touchdown passes.
“Carr went 22 for 30 passing for 354 yards and matched the TD passing record set by Ron Powlus, who threw for four scores in his first career game against Northwestern in 1994. Carr, a redshirt freshman, threw for 294 yards and the four TDs in the first half, leading scoring drives of 75, 73, 75, 70, 75 and 45 yards,” the Associated Press reported.
If Carr can continue to do even close to that well, Notre Dame has a solid chance to win out against the rest of their schedule. He was doing so well on Saturday, that Notre Dame was able to sit him for the entire fourth quarter.
The schedule is starting to get a bit easier for the Fighting Irish. Notre Dame has some strong teams ahead like USC, but the team is no longer facing any more ranked teams this season, at time of writing. Notre Dame has to play Pittsburgh which has struggled in recent weeks, as well as Stanford.
Notre Dame next plays Boise State on Saturday.
