Bill Connelly Nov 10, 2026, 07:00 AM ET

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Bill Connelly is a writer for ESPN. He covers college football, soccer and tennis. He has been at ESPN since 2019.

Notre Dame's CJ Carr is an excellent quarterback. He is asked to drop back to pass only about 30 times per game, and his stats are therefore simply solid -- he's eighth in QBR (84.4), and projected over 13 games he's on pace for about 3,100 passing yards and 30 touchdowns.

Here are some pretty good recent statistical comps: Indiana's Kurtis Rourke (3,042 yards, 29 TDs and an 85.1 QBR in 2024) and Ohio State's Kyle McCord (3,170 yards, 24 TDs and an 83.8 QBR in 2023). Those are solid players, and I think Carr's upside is even higher than theirs. He's unsackable, he's smart, he has won 18 of his past 19 starts, and he's coming off the best performance of his career in a win over top-ranked Miami.

With four weeks remaining before the Heisman Trophy vote, however, Carr is also now the betting favorite.…