Irish Breakdown answers subscriber submitted questions about Notre Dame football and more on today's show. Some of today's questions include:
* We In / We Out: CJ Carr will remain QB#4 for the entire 2024 season and play no meaningful snaps.
* We in we out: Leonard is a Heisman finalist.
* We In/We out: Notre Dame will have 4 All-Americans this year. Thats both def and offense combined.
* We in/we out: ND defense scores a TD against A&M
* We in/we out: ND beats A&M by double digits
* We in/we out: TEs catch more than 5 passes in week 1
* We in/we out: Tosh Baker doesn’t give up more than 1 sack in week 1.
* We in/ We out Tosh Baker will have a breakout season
* One under the radar guy from both sides breaks out and provides a huge depth piece.
* We In/We Out: Riley Leonard will have over 3500 total yards this season.
* We in/ We out: The strength of the DL and DBs will free up the athletic LBs and the collective expertise of Freeman, Golden and Bullough will find a way to use them to maximum effectiveness.
* We in/ We out: Jack Kiser will be a more athletic Danny Spond.
* In/out This years heisman winner will not come from Bama, Georgia, LSU, Ohio State or Michigan
* Brett McMurphy stated in an “X” post that this year’s champion will come from the preseason top 7 ranked teams saying except for Florida State and Auburn, since 2004 all national champions have come from the preseason top 7 ranked teams. Based on that premise are you in or out that Notre Dame is indeed in the talking to win the national championship this year.
* The defense absolutely stifles TA&M in the opener and keeps their offense under 14 points and under 215 yards. We in or we out??
* We in/We out: Tennessee @ Georgia game in mid November will be for a spot in Atlanta.
* We in/ We out: The defense will have 4+ sacks and 2+ Turnovers in the opener.
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We're driven by this search for better, but when it comes to hiring, the best way to search for a candidate isn't to search at all. Don't search "match" with Indeed. Indeed is your matching and hiring platform with over 350 million global monthly visitors, according to Indeed data, and a matching engine that helps you find quality candidates fast. Ditch the busy work, use Indeed for scheduling, screening, and messaging so you can connect with candidates faster. Changing over 140 million qualifications and preferences every day, Indeed's matching engine is constantly learning from your preferences, so the more you use Indeed, the better it gets. Join more than 3.5 million businesses worldwide that use Indeed to hire great talent fast. And listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsor job credit to get your jobs more visibility at indeed.com/bluewire. Let's go to indeed.com/bluewire right now and support our show by saying that you heard about Indeed on this podcast. That's indeed.com/bluewire, terms and condition supply. Need to hire? You need Indeed. This episode is brought to you by our good friends at NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV. I'm sure by now you've all got back into your Sunday routines, but they could be even better. With NFL Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV, you get the most live NFL games all in one place every game, every Sunday, and you can even watch up to four different games at once with Multi View, one of my favorite inventions of this decade. It's exactly what you need to catch all the action. Make your Sundays more magical and also, YouTube TV is great. I got it this year. It's awesome. Sign up now at youtube.com/bsdevice and content restrictions apply. Local and national games on YouTube TV, NFL Sunday Ticket for Out of Market Games excludes digital-only games. As we continue with some of our we in, we out on this Thursday. A lot of great questions today and a big stream of questions that we got on the new Champions Lounge today for we in or we out. CJ Carr will remain QB4 for the entire 2024 season and play no meaningful snaps. We in are we out. This is the magic question, Jess, that so many people want to know. I'm going to say we out. I think that there is a lot of excitement. There's a lot of anticipation and I think that Carr will continue to kind of exceed expectations and he will be rewarded at some point this season. I think he will take some snaps. Meaningful is like, okay, yeah, he's not going to be the starting quarterback. He will his meaningful snaps still consider, you know, mop up duty at some point. No, like do you consider what Steve and Jelly did essentially getting to play the entire second half in blowout games last year? I consider that still somewhat meaningful because you're not waiting because you let him run the entire offense. So I consider those meaningful snaps. You didn't wait until the fourth quarter when there's eight minutes left to get him on the field. You brought him out there. He let him play the entire second half a couple of different times. So I consider that meaningful like Stymie says, meaningful is his hang up and that's where I think and I'm still I just based on things that we heard Gino Gaudoulli say the other day and we played some of the stuff yesterday. I'm just not convinced that they're like, I do think CJ Carr is the quarterback of the future here at Notre Dame and by the future, I mean a year from now. But I don't think that there's, there's any real intent to try to get him on the field ahead of Steve and Jelly anytime soon. So I've got to be out with the caveat, this is barring any kind of injury on Riley Leonard's part. If Leonard gets hurt, then I think that that changes the whole equation like how many losses do you have? How many wins do you have? Where are you in the season? And what ultimately gives you the best chance to win college football playoff games? That's going to dictate it at that point. Like for me, my answer would be CJ Carr at that point. If Riley Leonard were out, but Riley Leonard is healthy, then no, I've got to be out on CJ Carr getting quote unquote meaningful snaps this season because I think those are, they're all going to continue to go to Steve and Jelly at that point. From Burger 23, I don't know exactly how to say that. Later out on Riley Leonard as a Heisman Trophy finalist, I had to double check the finalist means for players. Is he going to be a top four player in the country? Because you know, like that's, that's probably a mix of what like to at least two quarterbacks, maybe a wide receiver, maybe a running back. The fan in me wants to say in, but the, the realist in me wants to say out, but I don't think it needs to be a Heisman finalist for them to have, you know, the success and sort of things that they want to have this season. So I'm just going to say out, I'm in, I'm riding in on this, I'm, I'm, I'm pushing my chips into on the Riley Leonard chain going into the season. This offense, this quarterback, the whole thing, I think that he is a highlight, real waiting to happen. So I'm going in on Riley Leonard, Heisman Trophy finalist, December, 2024. Put it down right now. Come back and throw up my face, it doesn't happen. That was me. I'm just writing it down. Okay. All right. You know, back to the last question of on CJ card, Tommy, good point, Tommy, all snaps for a true freshman are meaningful. I look at them as like when I like, I suppose the word meaningful is open to interpretation. I look at them as meaningful to the team. Is that kind of how you look at it? Jess? Yeah. Okay. So we're on the same page. Poly 10 29. Notre Dame will have four all Americans this year. That's both defense and offense combined. We interwe out on that. Oh, I'll say in all Americans is so tough, man, because I mean, really, all you've got to do is make it least honorable mention. Yeah, that's what I mean. So Xavier Watts, Riley Leonard, Benjamin Morrison. Those are my three top candidates, unless would you put crosser mills ahead of either one of them? Mine would be Howard Cross, Benjamin Morrison, Riley Leonard, and I think an offensive lineman will also find a way. And then I think an ex factor might be a wide receiver. I'll go in. I'll go in because I think cross and or mills will be in there. And then again, Morrison Watts Leonard. So yeah. And again, all you've got to do is be named to 18 because, you know, like Anthony said, he didn't say consensus. We're not talking about unanimous all Americans and that kind of stuff. You just have to be an all American. So I'll go. Yeah. And I mean, like Jaden Harrison, he's a preseason all American as a kick returner. So like, even though we're not thinking about him as a hugely impactful guy as a wide receiver for the offense, even though maybe he does end up being more impactful than we think, but as a kickoff return, that's still a possibility for him to become an all American there as well. Law dog. Racking up all kinds of questions here. Wow. Notre Dame defense scores a touchdown against Texas A&M. You enter out on that one, Jess out. I'm in. I think that Notre Dame gets a late score. They force Connor Wigman into a bad situation late in the game. And I do think Notre Dame's defense will score. This is somewhat random, you know, whether or not it actually happens, but I'll go in on it right now. I wouldn't go to Vegas and bet on it, I don't think, but I will go in. Next question. Notre Dame beats A&M by double digits. Are you in or out on that? In. I'm in as well. I have a looking at about 10, literally right on the dot. Yep. That's right in my wheelhouse as well. Vince thinks it's going to be a lot more lopsided than that. I know of course he does. Other people who think it's going to be more lopsided than that. I think we need to keep track on counting down to kickoff of all Vince's predictions to see how good or bad they end up being. I can build us a little model. I think that would actually be a fun game. Like just keep track of Vince's predictions. Forget the rest of us. See how see we can come up with who, who was the furthest off on both sides. Notre Dame's score and the other team's score. Yep. We'll call it. Vince's rose colored picks is what we'll call it. Price picks is America's number one daily fantasy sports app with over five million active members. Price picks is the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports. Unlike other apps on prize picks, it's just you against the numbers. 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Leveraging over 140 million qualifications and preferences every day, Indeed's matching engine is constantly learning from your preferences so the more you use Indeed, the better it gets. Join more than 3.5 million businesses worldwide that use Indeed to hire great talent fast. And listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsor job credit to get your jobs more visibility at indeed.com/bluewire. Just go to indeed.com/bluewire right now and support our show by saying that you heard about Indeed on this podcast. That's indeed.com/bluewire. Terms and conditions applied. Need to hire? You need Indeed. I think it would be very lucky if tight ends account for five receptions in week one. So I've got to be out. Tash Baker doesn't give up more than one sack in the first week, interact on that. I'm going to go out. I think Riley Leonard's ability to evade and extend the pocket will also help this. But I will go out. So you're actually in. You're saying that he will not. Oh, sorry. Yeah. One sec. Yeah. And yeah, so I'm in on that as well. I do not think he will give up more than one sec. I think between, I think he's going to be better than most people are expecting. And as you said, because of the mobility that Riley Leonard has, he'll definitely play a factor in that as well. Speaking of Tash Baker from Jeff, we in or we out on Baker have it a breakout season. I mean, I think we have to go in if this if this team is going to excel in this offensive line is going to come together. I mean, Tash Baker is going to play the most pivotal role in the offensive line now. And you know, that's ultimately again, if you want a good unit, you want a good offense, I think all those things go together. So I'm going to say it. I'm going to say it as well. You know, again, I know a lot of people are concerned because of something that happened three years ago and a couple of opportunities that Tash Baker had in 2021. But I just don't think that he'd still be here with the kind of opportunity that he even has right now if he wasn't considerably better since then. That's not again, as I've said before, that doesn't mean I think he'll be perfect. And he's just going to go out there and and pitch shutouts every week when it comes to, you know, pressures and sack attempts and all that different kind of stuff. But I'm going to go in on a breakout for Mr Baker. This one from cousin Eddie's mobile home. One under the radar guy from both sides breaks out and provides a huge depth piece for Notre Dame in or out on that. I'm going to say, I'm going to say in and I'll give you some names. I think the easing one on offenses to Dorian price. But I think more importantly, well, so this is like the whole breakout again. How do you define breakout? Like how do you define breakout and how do you define under the radar? Because, you know, again, like we talk about these guys so much, it's like, is there anyone left who's under the radar at this point? I don't know who it is, right? You know what? Actually, I'll go Cooper Flanagan on offense. Okay. So you're going to go with a tight end, even though you don't think the tight ends are going to do that much? Well, I think that's naturally how it goes. I think they will progress into, you know, a more, I think Flanagan will kind of go into that role as the season goes on. But I really wanted to say Rocco Spindler, but he's not a guy that's under the radar or someone that's, you know what I mean? But he's going to be, he's going to be a very important depth piece amongst that offensive line, especially if people start to get hurt or, you know, whatever it might be, I think that he's, even if he's not a starter, he's going to be an valuable depth piece. And I think you could say the same probably about Josh Burnham on defense or, you know, maybe, actually, I'm going to go with Boobakar Traori. I think he's going to be a valuable piece and have his sort of breakout moment at some point this season. That's about as under, you know, under the radar as you could get there, you know, like Anthony is saying, Jayden Thomas at wide receiver, and that's kind of where you would have to be if you're going to even name one of the receivers, because I just don't think between Faison, Great House, Collins, Mitchell, like, would you consider any of those guys under the radar? Jayden Harrison is probably another potential as a receiver kind of guy defensively. Antoine says Sneed. You know, again, like Sneed hasn't produced, but he's a five star guy who everyone's been clamoring for, for two years. So is he really under the radar? Like, where do we, you know, how do you, how do you factor that in DK saying KVA and Mike and Gilbert. KVA is a big one. Dude's already been named basically in the starting rotation. That's right. Come on, DK, you're better than that. I've got to go out just because I don't think that I don't think offensively, I can find anyone who really is for you. Yeah, I don't think anyone. I don't, you know, like Jacob is saying Colsey. He's definitely an under the radar option, but the problem with that is he's under the radar because he hasn't shown he can perform. And the fact that he was running third and fourth string offense early on, I just, I don't have a whole lot of hopes that we're going to see some big breakout season from Dion Colsey because there is so much depth and quality in that receiver room now compared to a year ago. So, I mean, he, again, like he would be one of your prime candidates, but I can't go there just because I just, I don't think that that's in the cards for him. So from Matt, Riley Leonard will have over 3,500 total yards. This season, we in and we out on that. So Sam Hartman had 2,700 and he wasn't much of a runner. I think that you can expect an uptick in passing yards from Leonard. I think obviously you can expect an uptick in the run production as well. So for fun, I'm going to say we in. I think it's a good number, but I think let's see, actually, you know what, let me see Jaden Daniel stats from last year. Well, look, Riley Leonard had something like 3,600 yards in his, you know, his healthy season at Duke in 2022. There we go. That's a good number to go on. So, I mean, I think that he is good for, good for at least that number this year. So I'm in on this because the, you know, again, like Mike Denbrock bringing him into this offense, the dual threat quarterback and all this stuff. I've got to be on on Riley Leonard, at least hitting what he hit a couple of years ago at Duke. Yep. Totally agree. Josh, totally in on that. Josh Phillips, good under the radar breakout candidate, Adon Schuler. That's a really good one for defense. I think that I think we're going to see Adon Schuler this season. So I will go. I'll go with that. But again, I think it's just tougher to find the offensive, the true offensive candidate from N.D. Bet. He's got a couple here. The strength of the defensive line and defensive backs will free up the athletic line backers and the collective expertise of Freeman, Golden, and Bullah will find a way to use them to maximum effectiveness. Interact on that. I'm going to be in on that because, I mean, as a linebacker, a good defensive line ultimately frees you up and allows you to perform better and then obviously having good defensive backs behind you ultimately is going to help both of those. So I think this question was just kind of laid out as more of a statement. That's just how I think that's going to naturally happen for these young linebackers. And I think that's why they have probably more comfort with playing a group of them. And this is actually a really good point because we've talked about the linebackers and having a great set of defensive linemen in front of you and having a great secondary behind you, especially when you consider you've gotten a racer like Xavier Watts sitting there on the back end as well. I think all of those things can definitely help this young linebacker core and give the triumvirate that he's talking about here between Freeman, Golden and Vola, it gives them confidence that they can go with their plan that they're talking about of rotating five linebackers with four of them being more younger and experienced guys outside of Jack Kaiser. So I think it's a great point and I am in on it. I like it and really thought of it in those terms, but I like it. He also wants to know for inner out on Jack Kaiser being a more athletic Danny Spond. And I don't know if you remember Danny Spond, but I think that's a pretty good comparison. Danny Spond was a pretty good athlete, but when you look at the fact that Jack Kaiser played quarterback and safety in high school, you just look at that athleticism right there. I think that I'm in on that. I like that. Jack Kaiser, a little bit more athletic Danny Spond. I like that. I do like that. Hesberg Mafia. This year's Heisman winner will not come from Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Ohio State, or Michigan, no Alabama, TBD, LSU, no Ohio State potentially. I don't even know like right now who's like the top preseason Heisman candidates. Probably Dylan Gabriel. There's probably at least a running back out there. I just feels like this is the big five though. Like you could ultimately, you know, bet on one of that. I'm just going to say, I'm going to say in on this that it will not come from this group. Yeah, I don't like I think Bama's got a lot going on this year with you know, first time head coach, obviously the talent's going to be there. Georgia, I don't think so. I don't think so with LSU, like I said, I think Ohio State is maybe your best shot at that situation. See, I'm out on LSU. I'm out on Michigan. Those are the only two for sure. Like Ohio State, I put them, you know, like is the Kansas State guy really that good and all that stuff, you know, like as good as they say. I guess we're going to find out here pretty soon. I'll go out because like the way the Heisman's have gone in recent years, it's just been some, someone's come off the completely off the radar compared to where the season started. Riley Leonard is a good fit for that, you know, kind of mold this year. So I'm not saying he's going to win it, but I did say he's going to be a finalist. But I'll go in on this. I'll say that it won't come from that group. When it comes to towing, seeing is believing. That's why Chevy Trucks Advanced Camera Technology offers up to eight available cameras for 14 unique views so you can focus on the view that really matters. Chevrolet, together let's drive. Learn more about Chevy Trucks at Chevy.com. Safety or driver assistance features are no substitute for the driver's responsibility to operate the vehicle in a safe manner. We the vehicle owners manual for important feature limitations and information. Okay, so Joe says Brett McMurphy stated in an ex post that this year's champion national champion will come from the preseason top seven ranked teams saying except for Florida State and Auburn since 2004, all the national champions have come from the preseason top seven ranked team. So based on that premise, you enter out Notre Dame is indeed in the mix to win the national championship this year. Yeah, I'm going to say in and I think this is this goes more than just off a preseason rank and you know, trends and all that stuff from previous years. Visiting Notre Dame has an excellent defense on paper. It just needs to go out and do what it's supposed to. And I think that they have the ability to have, you know, look at how good they were last year. And I think the defense is going to be at least on, you know, same on par. And I think the offense is definitely going to be better. So I think ultimately that gets them, you know, I, yeah, I think that that gets them in the talking to win the national championship. I agree as well. We, you know, we both think they're a playoff team. They're going to be in the mix to be in the playoffs. And that's, you know, that's, that's really, you know, what it's about, you know, there are some things that we obviously have to see from Notre Dame, but there are going to be things that we have to see from every team as well. And the narratives are going to start to shift a little bit once the season starts. But Notre Dame is a playoff team. They've got a national championship caliber defense. They've got a national championship caliber offensive coordinator and quarterback. Biggest question is going to be how exactly that line performs. We're going to find out a lot about that offensive line in week one at Texas A&M. But I'm, I'm, I'm in on this because they're going to be in the playoff and we'll see just how, you know, sort of a playoff worthy in terms of what kind of, you know, what kind of run they can ultimately make after a couple of weeks of the season. But I'm in on this for right now. ball peen chilely the defense absolutely stifles Texas A&M and the opener and keeps the offense under 14 points and 215 yards in or out on that. Um, I'll be in on the points potentially. I'm not going to be in on under 215 yards. I think that's to have to, have to, have to, have to task for a team that has as much talent as Texas A&M. Yeah, I'm out because I, I do think A&M I'm, you know, like the, the number I've kind of had in my head for a while is in the 17 point range right now 215 yards. I don't know about, you know, that, like, just the, you know, game flow, the way things go, all these different things, things can happen at the end. But I'm definitely out because of this combination because I do think A&M gets a little bit more than that. Rule 34 artist coming back saying Leonard isn't a championship quarterback. Well, who thought Joe Burrell was a championship quarterback before the season started, you know, who thought, who thought most of these, who, whoever thought Stetson Bennett was a championship quarterback, you know, I think that you can go down the list and find a lot of those guys. Riley Leonard is a very talented quarterback and, you know, there are, there are a lot of other factors that go in to being a championship quarterback beyond just who you are. One, I think he's got a great skill set and he's a great match for Mike Denbrock's offense, but like Stetson Bennett at Georgia, he's going to have a championship caliber defense helping him out as well. And that's going to play a big part in whether or not Notre Dame is a championship caliber team. So I think, you know, again, I'm saying, I think that he's, he's got the potential to be a Heisman Trophy finalist this season. And if you're doing that, then that's championship caliber football. So I'm still, I'm still in on that on Riley Leonard DJ Tennessee at Georgia game in mid November will be for a spot in Atlanta in around on that. Oh, I am not, I'm not sold on Tennessee completely. I don't think that on it for that reason as well. I'm not, I'm not sold right now that that Tennessee is at that level. I think that they could be potential playoff team out of the SEC, but I don't think that they are anywhere close to Georgia level right now. So I've got to be out on that too. DK, rule number 24 or 34. No excuses, troll like a champion. We've had more of them popping in here recently. That's okay. It's all right. Third and seven duo, the defense will have four plus sacks and two plus turnovers in the opener in or out on that. I'm going to say out, I think there will be, I like more of like a three and one, three sacks and one turnover. Yeah, Notre Dame didn't necessarily pile up the sacks last year. I think that I agree with what you're saying. I think that there will be one crucial turnover, Texas saying, and we'll commit in that game. I don't think it's just going to be like free runs at the quarterback all night. Excuse me, that kind of stuff. But Notre Dame's going to be very disruptive. The offensive line is going to be one of the biggest questions that Texas A&M has going into the game. And it's kind of interesting that, you know, for both sides, the offensive line is one of the bigger question marks and the defensive lines are going to be two of the bigger strengths that they have as well. So I'm out as well. So we do have a few questions kind of still left hanging in there. Unfortunately, we're not going to be able to get to the rest of them though tonight, because like I said, we are on a time crunch this evening, because Jesse has places to go. So, you know, teams to see, teams to see, that is right. So, I'm trying to think of, hang on here, just a second. Are you, did you tell me that you have tickets to all three of the, the Cubs Guardians games? This, like early, like this first part of this week? All three. I don't think you were very happy when you came home last night though, for you. I was not. It was a back and forth. It was a good game, but I got home late and I was not thrilled with how that game quite ended. All right. So, like I promised, we will like the questions, the we in and we out questions that we didn't get to tonight, we will get in tomorrow's show. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [BLANK_AUDIO]
