The Notre Dame football team has talked quite a bit about how everyone on the squad knows that there are big expectations, but they are focusing on just doing things right. The team also knows that after losing their first two games of 2025 and eventually missing the playoffs, the Irish have a much smaller margin for error than other teams. Earlier this week, quarterback CJ Carr spoke with Rich Eisen and summed up their approach for this fall in a concise motto.
Carr started by saying that he doesn’t think Marcus Freeman will talk much about how the Irish missed the playoffs in 2025. Instead, the quarterback said he believes his coach thinks that last season should be left in the past.
“That was last year's team,” The Notre Dame star said. “And, you know, this year. We have the phrase, 'leave no doubt.' And so we're going to try and come into the building every day and be the best version of ourselves, our 2026 Notre Dame football team.”
At the same time, Carr believes his teammates will focus enough on what happened last year as a way to make sure they don’t get out of the gate slowly like they did the last two years.
CJ Carr tells @richeisen Notre Dame strength coach Loren Landow, who used to work with UFC athletes, has told Irish players, “the best fighters never left it to the judges.”
— Tyler Horka (@tbhorka) July 16, 2026
ND left it up to chance by losing two games last season. Time to leave no doubt. pic.twitter.com/2uLOlcyetg
CJ Carr explains Notre Dame football’s ‘Leave No Doubt’ motto
“We're going to use some of the pain that we had from last season and being left out and losing two rough games at the beginning of the year, tough ones to lose.”
“You know, we're going to use all those lessons that we have learned to propel us forward this next upcoming year. And we're really excited for it. We've been working. We're in summer ball right now, just trying to get, you know, one percent better every day. So we'll see. We'll see when that time comes.”
The “leave no doubt” motto is one that Freeman has talked about whenever he’s been in front of a camera this offseason. Carr said that some of the other coaches have their own version of the same kind of motto, especially the strength coach, Loren Landow.
“I think our strength coach, head strength coach, Coach Landow, was big into the fighting game early in his career. And sometimes he'll bring us in the huddle and talk about how the best fighters never left it to the judges. And in a way, that's kind of what we did last year. We left it up to chance. And so, yeah, I think 'Leave No Doubt' kind of encapsulates all that.”
Notre Dame seems to be prepped from top to bottom for the 2026 season. If the Irish do lose this year, it won’t be because they’re not mentally prepared for every game they play.
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