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Junior quarterback CJ Carr's opening game passing ledger shows two touchdowns, no interceptions, and more than half of his team's total yardage accrued through the air while completing 65.5% of his 29 pass attempts. Good? Yep. A winning effort? Almost always. A championship effort? Not yet. Of course, no team won the College Football Playoff over Labor Day Weekend, but one sticking point for Irish fans, offensive aficionados, and fans of the passing game alike was clear: Notre Dame didn't often attack Wisconsin vertically down the field. Why? "We want to take what the defense gives us," said Irish head coach Marcus Freeman of Carr's execution and the offense's plan. "He did exactly what the game-plan presented. We don't need to force something that's not there. That's how they played their defense, a lot of zone. The shots we were going to be able to take were those deep in cuts to the number one receiver to the field. And he did it. We knew we were going to have to take check downs and he did it and he made great decisions, great balls." Carr technically finished 0-2 on passes that traveled more than 20 yards, though he had a deep offering to Mylan Graham called back due to penalty and finished 3-for-3 on throws JUST under 20 yards as Freeman noted above. "If a defense is going to present us opportunities to throw deep balls and be successful, we'll do it. We could have thrown 20 deep balls and if they're not complete, why are we doing it? Let's be smart and take advantage of what defenses are going to give us and the opportunities to throw those deep balls I'm sure will come." Carr was 16-for-20 on throws that traveled fewer than 10 air yards, accruing 162 of his 239 passing yards in the process. A closer look shows Notre Dame's 'Average Depth of Target' (or ADOT, per Pro Football Focus) among its receivers—save for Jordan Faison, that is—lower than the norm. - Jordan Faison: 12.7 yards average depth of target. Faison was under 10 yards in 2025 and 2024; 13 yards ADOT as a freshman - Micah Gilbert: 7.8 - Ty Washington: 6.0 (1 target) - Mylan Graham: 4.0 (1 official target) - Cooper Flanagan: 4.0 (2 targets) - Aneyas Williams, James Flanigan, Nolan James, Jaden Greathouse and Kedren Young a combined 13 targets at just under 2 yards per target on average.Is the lack of downfield attempts a reflection of the receivers? Of Carr's trust in the group save for Jordan Faison? "I think CJ has confidence in a lot of those guys," said Freeman. "He has to continue to trust what the game plan is. I remember we threw the fade ball to Mylan, it was incomplete. The one we did throw to Mylan, we had a holding call on—I think he threw it 10 different targets, maybe nine different guys had receptions, and it isn't always going to be the wideouts, right? Tight ends had receptions. You talk about the running backs." Only four receivers were targeted along with three running backs and two tight ends. "That's what this game plan presented," Freeman continued. "They have chemistry. He has chemistry with those guys on the field. I think it's just making sure that we have to be efficient. If that means a lot of those plays were Faison on the in cut, we got to throw them. If that means we got to throw check-downs, we got to throw them. At the end of the day, we got to score points. "I thought he did a great job of really going through his progression and making the right decision. He has a lot of chemistry, I believe, and trust in those wideouts. When the opportunity comes, he'll throw it to them." Notre Dame's ADOT Leaders A look at Notre Dame's best in this regard assuming at least 25 targets (or two per contest) 2025: Malachi Fields (16.4), Will Pauling (14.0) 2024: Beaux Collins (11.0), Jordan Faison (9.4) 2023: Tobias Merriweather (16.5), Jordan Faison (13.0) 2022: Braden Lenzy (12.9), Jayden Thomas (11.0) 2021: Kevin Austin (14.7), Braden Lenzy (14.6) 2020: Javon McKinley (13.0), Ben Skowronek (12.0) 2019: Chase Claypool (13.0), Cole Kmet (10.2) 2018: Miles Boykin (15.1), Chase Claypool (11.8) 2017: Miles Boykin (19.6), Equanimeous St. Brown 15.0 2016: Kevin Stephenson (17.), Equanimeous St. Brown (12.7) 2015: Will Fuller (15.1), Corey Robinson (11.7) 2014: CJ Prosise (13.2), Corey Robinson (12.4), Will Fuller (11.8)