Marcus Freeman’s Notre Dame started their 2025 season with a gut-wrenching 27-24 loss at Miami. It’s the kind of loss that stings just enough to fuel some serious motivation. The Irish fought back from a 14-point deficit late in the third quarter, tying the game with a touchdown run from freshman QB CJ Carr, who was making his first start. But the late-game drama ended with Miami’s 47-yard field goal in the final minute, sealing the heartbreaker. Freeman is not happy and is bringing the hammer down on the unit that failed to perform in last year’s championship game as well. But what happened?

See, early on, the Irish offense leaned heavily on short screen passes that Miami’s defense stuffed easily. They simply couldn’t get any consistent rhythm throwing the football. Miami’s defense quickly set the tone for a rough night in the passing game. Freeman’s frustration boiled over after the loss, and he directly calling out his WR group to tighten things up. Now, with Texas A&M standing on the horizon for Week 3, Notre Dame has no time to dwell on what went wrong. It’s clear, they needs to sharpen their passing game, starting with the wide receivers stepping up to make plays.

“We’re going to have to make plays in the pass game,” Freeman said. “It’s something that we’ve been really challenging our group that (when) the ball’s in the air, we’ve got to go make plays. That’s the next step that this group’s got to take.  So we got a couple more days to prepare, but it’s gonna be a great challenge.” Predictability becomes the foremost issue. Notre Dame’s offensive scheme is habituated in a pattern that worked with their former QB Riley Leonard. But Carr’s style does not fit the current scheme. On his debut, he completed 19 of 30 passes for 221 yards with two touchdowns but also threw an interception and faced relentless pressure from Miami’s defense.

See, Carr is still meshing into the starter role. He needs receivers by his side who can win at the line, get separation, and make some big plays downfield, too. After that tough loss to the Hurricanes, Freeman made it clear the team’s got to bring energy and effort every single day. With just 93 rushing yards against Miami, Freeman understood the run game had to be the foundation. He also tried to protect CJ Carr early by calling for easy reads and shorter throws, so he wouldn’t get overwhelmed. You can’t just have CJ sling it deep every snap without getting the run game rolling first. But against Texas A&M? Notre Dame’s gonna need a legit air attack to keep the defense honest and open things up.

The Aggies’ defense is fierce, especially on third downs. It ranked 5th nationally in average third-down distance and only allowed rivals to convert about 29% of the time. That means when Notre Dame faces key third-down situations, they’ll need to stretch the field and make plays through the air to keep drives in motion. The Aggies’ defense does a good job of controlling the clock.

Sure, Notre Dame’s backfield duo of Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price can still grind out yards and eat up time, but that’s not the point. Without opening up the passing lanes, the Irish offense risks becoming predictable and stagnant. If the Irish mix a solid passing game with their tough ground attack, it can keep drives alive, own third downs, and set the tone at home.

Fake news overshadows actual good deeds

A Facebook post about Jeremiyah Love dropping $100K to save his old youth camp went viral. Yeah, that turned out to be fake. Notre Dame beat reporter Matt Freeman cleared it up on X. This inspirational tale spread widely on social media. It spoke about Love giving back to the very foundation that helped shape his football journey. And guess what, there was even a quote rumored to be by Love when the camp was facing closure.

“For the field that built my strength when all I had were dreams,” is what the quote read. This false story clouds the real impact Love’s making through his play on the field. This whole thing’s just a made-up story from an AI, and it first popped up in a Facebook group called “Irish Thunder.” However, Love did host a football camp, though.

He hosted the CareSource Jeremiyah Love Impact Camp right in the town of South Bend. This football camp, held at Washington High School, welcomed over 200 local kids from grades 1 through 8. All these kids got a chance to learn from one of Notre Dame’s star running backs. The young athletes got to see firsthand what dedication and hard work look like, interacting with Love and learning basic skills designed to improve their game and confidence.