The Notre Dame pass game entered the 2025 season with a lot of potential, but with new faces at quarterback and wide receiver it was more about projection than it being a known commodity. Through five games the pass game has been a strength of the offense, and with all due respect to the run game - which is heating up - a case could be made that up to this point it has been THE strength of the Irish offense.
Redshirt freshman quarterback CJ Carr has been a breakout player for the Irish, and despite coming off an "off game" against Boise State he ranks 4th nationally in yards per attempt, 5th in quarterback rating and 6th in passing touchdowns in games against Power 4 opponents. He ranks 6th in yards per attempt and 9th in quarterback rating overall.
Carr has done that while ranking 79th in the nation in passing attempts per game against Power 4 opponents and 86th in attempts per game in all games. He is doing much more with less from an opportunity standpoint, and Carr has been the perfect complement to the dynamic running back duo of Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price.
Carr did have an off game against Boise State, at least based on how he has played this season. The redshirt freshman had a season-low 189 passing yards and he had a couple of uncharacteristic misses of open receivers. Despite the off performance, Carr still completed 65.2-percent of his passes and averaged 8.2 yards per attempt against the Broncos.
NC State could be the perfect "get right" opportunity for Carr and the Irish pass game. The Wolfpack come into this matchup ranked 99th in passing yards allowed, 70th in pass efficiency defense and 106th in completion percentage allowed. NC State's opponents have completed 65-percent of their passes, which is what Carr did in his "off game" against Boise State.
NC State has struggled limiting big plays as well, with its defense ranking 93rd in passing yards of 30+ yards or more allowed. Notre Dame has 10 pass plays of 30+ yards or more in just five games, which is a major jump for an offense that had just 16 such plays in 16 games last season. Notre Dame's five pass plays of 40 yards or more and two pass plays of 50 yards or more has already tied what the offense did all of last season.
Carr has a plethora of weapons to throw to this season. Transfer wideout Malachi Fields has been everything Notre Dame hoped he would be, and he's averaging 18.8 yards on his 17 catches. Junior Jordan Faison is having a breakout season, and the Florida native leads the offense with 25 catches and 327 yards. Tight end Eli Raridon has caught 13 passes for 233 yards (17.9 YPC) and running back Jeremiyah Love leads the offense with three receiving touchdowns. Despite not having Jaden Greathouse available this weekend, Carr will have plenty of big time options to throw to this weekend.
Over the last two games we have seen better results, with NC State holding Virginia Tech to 177 pass yards (5.2 YPA) in a 23-21 loss and 121 yards (3.8 YPA) in a 56-10 win over Campbell. While it might seem like a sign of things to come, those numbers were more a result of overmatched opponents than it was any structural changes within the NC State defense.
Another key to this matchup is that NC State has racked up just nine sacks in six games, so getting pressure on the quarterback has been a struggle. If the offensive line performs like it did the last three games in pass pro and gives Carr time I fully expect the Irish pass game to thrive.
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