Notes from the game

On the QBs:
- Angeli - He will be a wonderful backup. He was accurate with the ball and was comfortable in the pocket. However, his ball occasionally floats on him. We should hope Leonard is and stays healthy this fall.
- Minchey - Throws a nice ball and will be able to pick up yards when the pocket collapses. However, he’s still very raw. Threw some really bad balls.
- CJ Carr - Wow. I can’t believe how good he looked. Throws a beautiful ball. Very polished for a freshman - knew when to leave the pocket and did a great job keeping his head up and finding someone on broken plays. Almost every ball was right on the money. He might be our best QB - certainly was the best today.

On the WRs:
- None of the group really stood out to me. Gilbert made some nice plays after starting with a really bad drop. Eli Raridon had several catches and a couple bad drops. Was hoping to see to see more thrown Kris Mitchell’s direction. Colzie looked healthy and made a couple nice plays.
- The entire group needs to clean up the dropped balls.
- I suspect Faison will be our top performer this fall. We’ll need other guys to emerge - Greathouse in particular.

Other players who impressed:
- KVA looks like everything that was promised
- Love how Aneyas Williams runs. He should contribute immediately - especially in short yardage situations.
- Sevillano and Vernon are big boys on the DL. Jason Onye is an ass kicker.
- Micah Bell’s name kept popping up.

Carr had a great throw right in stride for a TD

He looked impressive.

Love has such great moves in open field and showed some power, too. He's going to be special.

Best pass of the day

That pass was a thing of beauty. Right between two defenders, right in stride to the receiver, who was only open by half a step. I think Micah Gilbert caught that ball, didn’t he?

It was hard to tell without knowing more about the safety.

My initial impression was that the safety didn't look particularly quick in providing over the top help. With the views we get, I couldn't see where he was playing. I also don't know how skilled that safety is. I assume it was a second or third teamer by that point in the game. I suspect Watts would've broken that up. The throw seemed fine enough. But with the few highlights I was given, it wasn't something I could read too much into.

Carr looked really good on tape

Visibly and quickly went through his progressions from one side of the field to the other, and decisively pulled the trigger. He looked fantastic. If Leonard is better than him, we’re in good shape in 2024. I have zero concerns for 2025 now. Carr will start.

You expect year to year improvement with experience at

at all positions. Apparently that doesn’t hold true at the color commentator slot.

QB controversy is on *

For backup. *

It’s a good one to have

I think all 4 could win at least 9 games.

Conventional wisdom

a competitive QB situation means that your team has no starting QB

Disagree

Carr playing well/above expectations is an excellent development.

No one thinks he’s going to start in 2024. It’s not a “QB controversy”.

But it’s a sign that we might be able to get out of transfer portal purgatory.

I agree that

(a) the talent at QB had been upgraded a lot since Freeman arrived and (b) there isn't a quarterback controversy yet.

However, with Carr apparently having more upside than Angeli and Angeli having more experience and Leonard coming off of an injury. ND needs to beat Texas A&M then sort out the QB pecking order during the soft September and October schedule.

However, that says nothing about the talent level…

You can have multiple QBs equally bad, mediocre, good or great. After the Kelly years, it’s refreshing to see multiple talented QBs on the team. Looks like MF made it a point that going forward QB wasn’t going to be a weak point on his teams.

Cute but simplistic *

Carr was the best QB on the field.

And it wasn’t close.

And he should be in HS *

Yes he should.

Maybe it looked different on tv, but in the stadium it was pretty clear.

I won’t be even mildly surprised if Angelli or Minchey hit the portal this week.