Sloppy But Resilient: Notre Dame Rallies Past Boise State

Bruce Straughan
Oct 5, 2025
4 min read

Every team seems to have that one game that's sloppy, and you just hope to get out of it with a win. For Notre Dame, Saturday's matchup against Boise State was anything but pretty. The Irish overcame poor execution and penalty troubles to win comfortably, despite some less-than-stellar moments on both sides of the football.

Photo by Notre Dame Athletics

The Notre Dame offense coming into this game had been the one thing so far this season that you could count. It appeared that today was going to be no different when CJ Carr and the offense started with a 9-yard run from Jeremiyah Love and a 10-yard pass to Jordan Faison. However, trouble would soon follow for the first of many times on the day.

Jeremiyah Love fumbled the ball but was able to recover, and at that time, it didn't seem like much of an issue after two consecutive 24-yard pass completions (one to Will Pauling and another to Jordan Faison), but it would be the beginning of a litany of miscues for the Irish. After two short runs by Love, OL Billy Schrauth committed a false start, and the drive would end on 4th down at the Boise State 1-yard line, where Jeremiyah Love was denied a touchdown after being swallowed up by the Broncos' defense for a 1-yard loss.

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The Irish defense didn't start out much better after committing two penalties on Boise State's first drive, one by CB DeVonta Smith for holding and another by DL Junior Tuihalamaka for being offside. With all that being said, the Irish found a way to stop the Broncos' offense and were able to get off the field. In fact, the first 3 offensive series for the Broncos ended with them punting, and the defense seemed to be really locked in, that is, until the 4th offensive series when S Tae Johnson was flagged for unnecessary roughness. This would be one of many flags to be thrown throughout the course of this game.

In fact, 24 total flags were thrown, accounting for 224 penalty yards combined for the two teams. I have to say I've never seen so many penalty flags in my entire life. When the refs make themselves a part of the game in that fashion, it's not fun for anyone involved, including coaches, players, and even fans. It makes the game unwatchable and begs the question: when is it time to let the players play? I'm all for following the rules, but today was overkill and made you wonder if the refs were being paid per flag thrown. Obviously, that's hyperbole, but what we witnessed yesterday was ridiculous.

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CJ Carr had his worst game of the season today, where he looked out of sync and was up and down in terms of being in rhythm with his wide receivers. Case in point was him missing a wide-open Will Pauling for a touchdown, a pass I'm sure he'd love to have back. With that being said, he still throws the best football we've seen (especially the deep ball) since Jimmy Clausen. With every freshman signal caller, you expect them to have a game like this, and I'm glad it was today, where the defense was able to step up and help. I really don't see this being a pattern for Carr, but instead a lesson in growth and progression as his career continues to unfold.

The defense really was the bright spot of the day, as they seem to be growing as a unit and look more and more confident in what they're doing each week. Leonard Moore continues to be a shutdown corner and one of the best in college football, with two interceptions and 6 tackles today. When will teams learn not to throw it his way? I hope never! Christian Grey perfectly jumped a route, and had he fully committed to it, it would have been an easy walk into the endzone, and the front four finally got some pressure today and got home on multiple occasions. The growth we've seen from this unit since the first two games has been slow, but it seems to be turning a corner.

At the end of the day, a win is a win, and ugly or not, you take them when you can get them. Games like this, although they can be frustrating for coaches, players, and fans when it's not exactly going flawlessly, it is a step in the right direction towards exposing your weaknesses and making the corrections to get that much better as the season rolls on. On to the next!

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