forums

Mensah better than Carr

CaneSfan4life87 said:
One of the worst games I ever attended. I don't think ND ever threw a pass in the second half, we just got abused and pushed around. It was so cold in the upper deck, compounded by the fact that we did absolutely nothing to make me cheer for, making the game a miserable one.

I rank this game and the final game in the OB as the top two.
Click to expand...
They were both hard pills to swallow. That UVA final OB hone game was rough to watch.
 
Advertisement
YLCANE said:
Let’s see him win some games against real teams before handing him a heisman.
For all we know he’s the next in a long line of overrated nd Qbs
I’m not convinced
Click to expand...

theuksu said:
Just heard another analyst hyping up CJ Carr. Mensah is a better QB, IMO. And maybe I need to take off my orange and green shades but position by position Miami has a better team.

QB - edge Miami
RB - edge Miami
WR - edge Miami
TE - even (no proven starter on either team)
OL - even (both teams have to fill holes)
DL - edge Miami
LB - edge ND
CB - edge Miami --- Leonard Moore is great player. I'd love to see @Lance Roffers breakdown his game compared to Xavier Lucas'. Overall we have a better starting unit.
S - - slight edge Miami ----Shuler is a better S than Poyser. But if Fitzgerald can add some weight during the offseason he's the best S on either team.

Curious to hear others thoughts?
Click to expand...
Has Carr ever started a college football game and defeated a favored opponent?

I think the only ranked (top 25) team he ever beat was a soft, suspect USC team.
 
theuksu said:
Just heard another analyst hyping up CJ Carr. Mensah is a better QB, IMO. And maybe I need to take off my orange and green shades but position by position Miami has a better team.

QB - edge Miami
RB - edge Miami
WR - edge Miami
TE - even (no proven starter on either team)
OL - even (both teams have to fill holes)
DL - edge Miami
LB - edge ND
CB - edge Miami --- Leonard Moore is great player. I'd love to see @Lance Roffers breakdown his game compared to Xavier Lucas'. Overall we have a better starting unit.
S - - slight edge Miami ----Shuler is a better S than Poyser. But if Fitzgerald can add some weight during the offseason he's the best S on either team.

Curious to hear others thoughts?
Click to expand...
Xavier Lucas still has a lot of natural talent that he has yet to tap into. If we keep coach Harris I would expect Lucas to make a significant leap going into next season. Actually, I would expect the entire secondary to make a huge leap going into 2026 and that should scare the bejesus out of our opponents. I also expect this type of leap from the entire DL, the RBs and to an extent the WRs. The OL will show improvement but that improvement will mostly take place during the season from game 1 through the playoffs.
 
DoctorKrazey said:
I forget the exact number, but I believe something like half of the teams who were ranked in last year’s preseason Top 25 finished the year unranked. Translation: Most of these writers have no clue what they’re doing. I wish they would just wait until we’re 3-4 games into the season to start ranking teams but we all know that’s never going to happen. Preseason polls stimulate debate, discussion, and give old farts like us something to talk about. Being underrated and under-ranked seemed to work out fine for us last year so I’m not too worried about it. What I do know is that the Miami-ND game will be a war. You know they’ll be looking for some kind of sick retribution for last year, but I have no doubt we’ll be ready.
Click to expand...
I know I am late to this thread, but this has been one of my biggest issues with the sport in general.
Ranking committees say”oh it’s just content for the consumer, it’s not that serious”. But then go and use those rankings to influence their real rankings when they come out. And climbing those, as we know for certain teams (non SEC) is hard.
SEC will still have 5-6 in the top 15 despite the narrative changing a little and that further perpetuates the idea that they are good, when they are as average as most other conferences
 
Advertisement
nickster said:
I'm not sure why you guys think so lowly of Carr. He is a **** of a QB that can scramble, he's big, and has an excellent arm. If he stays healthy he'll be at the Downtown Athletic club someday for a presentation. Yes, I know we all can't stand ND but the kid has the goods period.
Click to expand...

I don't think lowly of Carr, I just think there is no basis to put him the elite category as he faced a pathetic schedule outside TAMU and UM, and a couple dozens D1 QBs could do exactly what he did against Purdue, Boston College, NC St, and BSU. Carr faced 3 ranked teams, Miami TAMU, USC, he wasn't anything special in those games. Miami was probably his best performance of the 3, and that was in game 1 when our defense hadn't gelled yet. USC had a midtier defense (51st in scoring), and he managed a whopping 1 TD 1 INT for 136 yds at home.

Do I need to go back and post screenshots of the conversation on this site about TVD after he set ACC records for most 300 yd games in a row in his freshman year to remind folks what happens when you gas up a QB that didn't face real competition? Carr's sample size for 2025 was 3 ranked teams where he showed he was a very slightly above average QB (losing 2 of the 3 btw), and then about a dozen garbage teams where he racked up gaudy stats.

Could I be completely wrong about Carr? Maybe- but I'm not sure what I would be wrong about. I didn't say he was a bad QB, just that I don't find any logical justification for ranking him so highly outside his pedigree and the school he plays for. To be fair, I could be equally critical about Mensah, he didn't really elevate his game against ranked opponents in 2025, but Duke was not a particularly good team, plus teams had plenty of film on Mensah to break down his tendencies. ND was loaded and out-talented all but 3 of the teams they played. Teams didn't have much film on Carr, which they will have in year 2.
 
Carr is pretty darn good. Both can ball.

OJ is significantly better than Lucas. You people need to stop it with this. Lucas himself was calling OJ 'him' after one of the playoff games, maybe Ole Miss. It's not a secret.
 
FrancisSawyer said:
Xavier Lucas still has a lot of natural talent that he has yet to tap into. If we keep coach Harris I would expect Lucas to make a significant leap going into next season. Actually, I would expect the entire secondary to make a huge leap going into 2026 and that should scare the bejesus out of our opponents. I also expect this type of leap from the entire DL, the RBs and to an extent the WRs. The OL will show improvement but that improvement will mostly take place during the season from game 1 through the playoffs.
Click to expand...
Agreed. The secondary should excite everyone. Replacing Scott and Thomas sucks, but our CBs were young last year. They're going to be upperclassmen now, and I expect them to bully teams.
 
nickster said:
I'm not sure why you guys think so lowly of Carr. He is a **** of a QB that can scramble, he's big, and has an excellent arm. If he stays healthy he'll be at the Downtown Athletic club someday for a presentation. Yes, I know we all can't stand ND but the kid has the goods period.
Click to expand...


Watched the highlights and because they are highlights you can't get the full picture of him as a QB but you can see what he does well and to be frank he didnt have to do very much. I didnt see very many wow plays out of him. Tons of wow plays from his weapons but he's basically Beck with a better deep ball and less confidence throwing over the middle.

1. Throws the fade/back shoulder well. Raridon and Fields made plays for him. Those throws are just as much plays by the Wr as they are QB but he does put it where it needs to be.

2. Qb draw. He doesn't run much and usually its straight ahead. He also had success with little short roll outs and dumps to the flat near the goal line. Besides that not much else in his highlights that shows elite mobility or legit running threat. He did more of that against us than he did the rest of the year and I think that speaks tp level of competition more than anything. He's capable of running for his life and can make a play but usually to someone that is high-school wide open

3. Deep post routes and wheel routes. Pretty much exclusively how he got the ball down field and usually after the backs had softened the D or against vastly ovwrmatched secondaries. Ball placement was good mostly but again these are highlights so who knows how many of those he missed.

4. For the most part he stays outside the numbers middle of the year he gained some confidence throwing some slants and digs but against better secondaries and LBs he didnt test.

He for real has about 8 throws in his ****nal by the end of the year and with NDs elite run game and ****** schedule that is all he needed. I didnt see many if any examples in his highlights of working through progressions and hitting second reads. Minimal tight widnow throws that werent back shoulders except for a couple diggslants against NC St. He has a long way to go before anybody who knows QBs considers him to be a truly elite prospect. Right now he is a projection not a finished product.
 
Kn[]_[]ckles3o5 said:


Watched the highlights and because they are highlights you can't get the full picture of him as a QB but you can see what he does well and to be frank he didnt have to do very much. I didnt see very many wow plays out of him. Tons of wow plays from his weapons but he's basically Beck with a better deep ball and less confidence throwing over the middle.

1. Throws the fade/back shoulder well. Raridon and Fields made plays for him. Those throws are just as much plays by the Wr as they are QB but he does put it where it needs to be.

2. Qb draw. He doesn't run much and usually its straight ahead. He also had success with little short roll outs and dumps to the flat near the goal line. Besides that not much else in his highlights that shows elite mobility or legit running threat. He did more of that against us than he did the rest of the year and I think that speaks tp level of competition more than anything. He's capable of running for his life and can make a play but usually to someone that is high-school wide open

3. Deep post routes and wheel routes. Pretty much exclusively how he got the ball down field and usually after the backs had softened the D or against vastly ovwrmatched secondaries. Ball placement was good mostly but again these are highlights so who knows how many of those he missed.

4. For the most part he stays outside the numbers middle of the year he gained some confidence throwing some slants and digs but against better secondaries and LBs he didnt test.

He for real has about 8 throws in his ****nal by the end of the year and with NDs elite run game and ****** schedule that is all he needed. I didnt see many if any examples in his highlights of working through progressions and hitting second reads. Minimal tight widnow throws that werent back shoulders except for a couple diggslants against NC St. He has a long way to go before anybody who knows QBs considers him to be a truly elite prospect. Right now he is a projection not a finished product.
Click to expand...


I think a lot of the respect from UM fans might be due to the fact that Carr as a freshman is more capable than Beck as a Senior , and a lot of UM fans are overrating Beck because of UM making it to the title game.

Downvote away everyone. I think Beck was a game manager who threw devastating INTs in mutiple critical situations. If I had to pick between Carr and Beck to be our QB in 2026 I would take Carr.

Mensah>Carr>Beck
 
DoctorKrazey said:
I forget the exact number, but I believe something like half of the teams who were ranked in last year’s preseason Top 25 finished the year unranked. Translation: Most of these writers have no clue what they’re doing. I wish they would just wait until we’re 3-4 games into the season to start ranking teams but we all know that’s never going to happen. Preseason polls stimulate debate, discussion, and give old farts like us something to talk about. Being underrated and under-ranked seemed to work out fine for us last year so I’m not too worried about it. What I do know is that the Miami-ND game will be a war. You know they’ll be looking for some kind of sick retribution for last year, but I have no doubt we’ll be ready.
Click to expand...
Every year.
It gets real funny after you get past the top 7 or 8.
I'm going to start a thread in August to see who can pick the 12 teams in the pre-season poll that won't be ranked in the final poll.
 
Advertisement
Handsome Squidbum said:
I think a lot of the respect from UM fans might be due to the fact that Carr as a freshman is more capable than Beck as a Senior , and a lot of UM fans are overrating Beck because of UM making it to the title game.

Downvote away everyone. I think Beck was a game manager who threw devastating INTs in mutiple critical situations. If I had to pick between Carr and Beck to be our QB in 2026 I would take Carr.

Mensah>Carr>Beck
Click to expand...
No reason to down-vote. It's a reasonable take.

On the season he was 2-3 on GW drives if you count the SMU INT as a drive.
Our offense scored 4 TD's through the first 3 quarters of 4 playoff games.
Beck had 2 true TD passes in those 4 games. Both vs Ole ****. One was a WR screen to Mali.

This is no disrespect to Beck. I love the guy.
He got us to the Natty. 'Nuff said there.

I'd like to think we still field a top-5 defense next year. IMO we'll be top 10ish.
We'll need a player like Mensah to have us in the top-10 on O as well, and to get us to that game in Vegas.
 
Handsome Squidbum said:
I think a lot of the respect from UM fans might be due to the fact that Carr as a freshman is more capable than Beck as a Senior , and a lot of UM fans are overrating Beck because of UM making it to the title game.

Downvote away everyone. I think Beck was a game manager who threw devastating INTs in mutiple critical situations. If I had to pick between Carr and Beck to be our QB in 2026 I would take Carr.

Mensah>Carr>Beck
Click to expand...
While I don't disagree with your take on Beck. I didnt see enough out of Carr last season to think he would have been an upgrade.

Honestly I think the opposite. At the end of the year there wasn't very much to prep for in regards to the ND passing attack. It was very straightforward and not creative. He was never forced to evolve as a passer. Had Miami had the luxury of seeing his tape I think we would have dusted him even more than we did in game one.

I think ND is very lucky they didn't make the playoff. With the film Carr put out I think any of the better defenses would have exposed him in the playoff. He didn't have to play any one with a pulse all season and that allowed him to coast.

I'll be watching closely to see how his game progresses. He won't play anyone worth a **** until the Irish go to Provo but even BYU isn't much of a challenge on paper. They did not look like they were on the same level as a TT team that was average at best on offense and got exposed in the playoff themselves. It wouldn't shock me if they overwhelmed BYU on talent alone.

Which would be great. Riding high, feeling themselves then the bully comes to town to punch them in the mouth.
 
NJshoreCane said:
No reason to down-vote. It's a reasonable take.

On the season he was 2-3 on GW drives if you count the SMU INT as a drive.
Our offense scored 4 TD's through the first 3 quarters of 4 playoff games.
Beck had 2 true TD passes in those 4 games. Both vs Ole ****. One was a WR screen to Mali.

This is no disrespect to Beck. I love the guy.
He got us to the Natty. 'Nuff said there.

I'd like to think we still field a top-5 defense next year. IMO we'll be top 10ish.
We'll need a player like Mensah to have us in the top-10 on O as well, and to get us to that game in Vegas.
Click to expand...
The biggest fault with our offense last year is we just weren’t able to stretch the field vertically. Our defense was insanely good and bailed us out a bunch, especially in the playoffs. Time after time they came up big. It seemed like our entire philosophy with the passing offense was throw a quick slant or screen to Mali and let him make something happen. I believe I saw a stat where Mensah led the nation in deep passes last year so with him behind center, and the excellent additions at WR, should make for a much more explosive offense in 26’ and I’m definitely looking forward to it.
 
JHallCanes said:
Youre entitled to your completely wrong opinion

God bless or whatever
Click to expand...
JHall, I want you to be completely right in the worst way. I just think that the national Notre Dame Hype Machine is going to be on Overdrive going into that game. I also assume that both teams will take care of business going into that game. Thus the hype surrounding the Catholics vs. Convicts rematch at South Bend.

It will be as if the game last August 31st didn't happen. The Stupid Money will flow into Vegas like a river.

I also think we'll win by 10, because Mensah has more tools in his bag than Carr, as others have pointed out on this thread. My point was that I think ND is going to be favored like Indiana was this year, and that they shouldn't be.
 
Back
Top