Notre Dame's explosive pass attack, led by CJ Carr, seeks renewed consistency against Boston College's vulnerable secondary. Can Malachi Fields ignite the offense?
Notre Dame has a much different look on offense this season, and the biggest reason is the improvement in the pass game. The Irish won in spite of its pass offense for much of the 2024 season, but that hasn't been the case this season. In fact, the pass offense has carried the offense at times, but it has been a bit more inconsistent over its last three games, and it will look to get back on track against Boston College.
The Fighting Irish come into this matchup against the Eagles with one of the nation's most explosive pass offenses. Notre Dame ranks 4th nationally in yards per attempt, 8th nationally in yards per completion and quarterback CJ Carr ranks 9th nationally in passer rating. Carr has been a bright spot for the Irish offense, and his best days are still ahead of him.
Consistency has been a bit more of an issue for the pass offense. Over his last four games, Carr passed for 354 yards (11.8 yards per attempt) in a win over Arkansas and 342 yards (11.0 YPA) in a win over NC State, but he passed for just 189 yards (8.2 YPA) in a win over Boise State and 136 yards (5.2 YPA) in the win over USC. That up and down performance has coincided with the offense as a whole going through some bouts of inconsistency from a scoring standpoint.
On the whole Carr has been outstanding this season, but coming out of the bye week the offense needs him to be a bit more consistent. This involves his presnap decisions, post snap decisions, mechanics and timing. Carr also needs to be a bit more effective attacking the intermediate parts of the field, and not locking in on receivers as much as we've seen the last few games. That is expected of a young quarterback in his first season as a starter, but the more starts he gets under his belt the more consistent he needs to become.
Against Boston College it would benefit Carr and the offense as a whole to get Malachi Fields back on track. Fields had just one game where he caught less than two passes over the last three seasons, a stretch of 29 games that includes the first five games of this season. But in wins over NC State and USC, Fields has caught just one pass in each game despite played 144 snaps and being targeted nine times. Fields has looked a bit gassed the last two games, so hopefully the bye week allowed him to get re-energized.
Finding some different ways to use him in the offense would help Fields get rolling. That includes some different routes from the boundary but also being more willing to move him around with motions, but also in different spots in formations. Having an early game plan that helps get Fields and Carr on the same page would help get both rolling.
Playing a struggling Boston College pass defense and secondary should also benefit the Irish pass offense. Boston College ranks 112th in pass defense at 247.6 yards allowed per game, but the last five games have been an even worse stretch. Boston College has allowed 282.4 passing yards per game over its last five games. That includes 362 yards allowed against UConn, 331 yards against Pittsburgh, 278 yards against Clemson and 254 yards against California.
The Eagles have a quality safety duo against the run, but its secondary as a whole struggles to defend the pass. To make matters worse, the pass rush has been lacking all season. Boston College ranks 98th in sacks per game, and it had just nine total pressures against Louisville on Saturday, 12 against UConn the week before and 13 in the matchup against Clemson. That's 34 pressures in three games, which is just five more pressures than what Notre Dame had against USC.
There is a golden opportunity for the pass game to come out of the break on fire, but shaking off the poor performance against USC, making some necessary schematic adjustments and getting off to a fast start will be key ingredients to making that happen.
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