Why analyst Joel Klatt is not worried about Notre Dame after disappointing loss to Miami

College football analyst Joel Klatt is not sounding the alarm on Notre Dame.

On Monday, Klatt, the color commentator for Fox College Football’s No. 1 broadcast team, shared his perspective on the Irish dropping their season opener to now-No. 5 Miami. He isn’t worried about the trajectory of Notre Dame’s season, largely because of quarterback CJ Carr’s debut.

“Notre Dame, consequently, like not overly concerned,” Klatt said on The Joel Klatt Show. “They bring in a brand new quarterback who leads them down the field, comes back from a 10-point deficit. He brings them back to the point where they’re tied on the road against a really good team. So I’m not worried about Notre Dame.”

The Irish entered the fourth quarter down 14 but rallied behind Carr. He led a touchdown drive to cut the deficit to 21-14. After throwing an interception that set up a Miami field goal, Carr responded with two more scoring drives that tied the game at 24 with 3:21 to play.

Carr’s resiliency in his first career start earned Klatt’s approval, though he pointed out areas of improvement elsewhere on the roster.

“I was impressed with Carr,” Klatt said. “I think that they need to fix some things in their pass protection. (Running back) Jeremiyah Love is an absolute star. Their wide receivers need to play a little bit better and the defense is excellent.”

On 36 pass-blocking plays, the Irish offensive line allowed 11 quarterback pressures, including 2 sacks. Love managed just 14 touches for 59 yards. Defensively, Notre Dame surrendered 27 points, 20 first downs and 332 total yards to Miami.

Klatt sees parallels to Notre Dame’s playoff push last year

While Klatt remains optimistic about Notre Dame’s outlook, he noted its next game against Texas A&M might be a must-win.

“Now, does this present some pressure on the rest of their schedule? Yes,” Klatt said. “Namely, that game against Texas A&M. And A&M did not look great in Week 1. Now, obviously, that can change and they can develop.

“But this puts some pressure on (Notre Dame) that game against A&M because if they lose to Miami and then A&M, there’s not a lot left on their schedule where they can point to and be like, ‘Well, see, we of course deserve to go to the College Football Playoff.’”

Beyond the Aggies at No. 19, no other Notre Dame opponents landed in the top 25 of the Week 2 AP Poll. Southern Cal received 64 votes while Navy and Pittsburgh received 2 apiece.

A loss to Texas A&M would likely force the Irish to win out to stay in the conversation for a spot in the 12-team playoff. As Klatt noted, they were in a similar position last year after losing to Northern Illinois. Many expected them to stumble again, but they stacked wins the rest of the way to reach the playoff and play for the national championship.

“So again, a little bit of pressure on Notre Dame,” Klatt said. “Not something that they’re unfamiliar with. Remember, their bad loss was (against) Northern Illinois. They were able to rattle off the rest of those wins, get to the playoff and then ultimately play for the national championship.”

Last year’s run, Carr’s potential and Notre Dame’s willingness to play tough opponents are why Klatt remains confident the Irish can bounce back from their Week 1 hiccup.

“So am I concerned about Notre Dame? No. No, I’m not,” Klatt said. “Again, give me more top-10 matchups because I’m not going to punish these teams — not if you play well.”