The 2026 season is yet to begin, yet college football players are already being touted for the Heisman Trophy award. Notre Dame quarterback  CJ Carr was one of the standout performers at the Manning Passing Academy, outshining many of his peers. And based on the ease of his program’s schedule, Urban Meyer has a seat booked for the college football quarterback at the Heisman Trophy Ceremony at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Appel Room, New York.

“Now, I go back to this also, the schedule you play. I’m not going into Notre Dame’s schedule. I love Marcus Freeman, I love Notre Dame, those cats are going to be favored by double digits until they get to November when they play Miami,” Meyer said on The Triple Option podcast to Mark Ingram II and Rio Stone. “So, CJ Carr is set up for a potential trip to New York.”

While other college quarterbacks are tipped for a successful 2026 based on their abilities, the coach they will be working with, or the wide receivers in their teams, CJ Carr’s main advantage is the easiness of his schedule, as far as Meyer is concerned. It sounds ridiculous at first, until one considers the fact that the last Heisman Trophy winner, Fernando Mendoza, also thrived off a similar schedule pattern. Indiana began the season with so much ease, having favorable non-conference matchups in the first half of the season. They had blowout wins against Kennesaw State (56-9) and Indiana State (73-0). And what this did to Mendoza was to stack up his records before the more difficult Big Ten games came knocking — though he proved himself as a big game player as well.

With Notre Dame football not belonging to any conference, they have games against six ACC opponents, three Big Ten opponents, and three other teams from other conferences. The Irish face Wisconsin, Rice, Michigan State, Purdue, North Carolina, Stanford, BYU, and Navy, before playing Miami. Meyer considers Miami their first real test of the season, and they play the Hurricanes as their ninth opponents, giving CJ Carr the advantage of building his stats before the real test comes.

CJ Carr is coming off a decent 2025 season as a redshirt freshman, and Meyer expects even more in 2026. He finished the season with 2,741 passing yards, 24 touchdowns, and six interceptions. He also added three rushing touchdowns, posting a 169.06 passer rating.

The fixture against Miami is a game at Notre Dame Stadium, with the Fighting Irish having the home advantage. But beyond the home advantage, the Irish would be heading to the game boiling with fury and revenge from the occurrences of the 2025 season. Notre Dame was set for a College Football Playoff appearance in 2025, ranking two spots above Miami, who were No. 12 at the time. Unfortunately, BYU Cougars lost the Big 12 Championship game, which placed Miami and Notre Dame at loggerheads, both having 10-2 records. Eventually, the head-to-head record between the two teams was the ultimate decideR, as Notre Dame came up short in their Week 1 game in 2025. If revenge means anything for Notre Dame, then a win against Miami is the likely outcome.