It's football season, and you can now get almost anything you need for game day delivered with Uber Eats. What do we mean by "almost"? Well, you can't get a running back delivered, but you can get baby-back ribs delivered. A strong defense? No. A strong deodorant? Yes. The six pack of abs? Nope. Six pack of beer? Yes. Get almost, almost anything for game day delivered with Uber Eats. Official on-demand food delivery partner of the NFL. Order now. Anyone plus and in select cities, product availability varies by region. See app for details. This episode is brought to you by Allstate. Some people just know they could save hundreds on car insurance by checking Allstate first. Like you know to check you have the tickets in you while at first before you drive two hours to the big game. Seriously, you had one job. Now the closest you'll get to the 50-yard line is parking lot D. Yeah, checking first is smart. So check Allstate first for a quote that could save you hundreds. You're in good hands with Allstate. Everything's very. Terms apply. Allstate Fire and Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Northbrook, Illinois. And ball peen Shalalee. The Georgia Tech Florida State game showed us that camp intel isn't always to be trusted and there's a reason you play the games. What unexpected uneven matchups do you think? Could they find the Notre Dame, Texas A&M game? Well the skill match-ups that aren't getting much conversation. A lot of the talk has been about O-line versus D-line on both sides of the ball. Whose receivers play the best? Whose receivers make the most clutch catches? Whose receivers compete for hardest for the hardest for the football? Is it A&M's big kids? Because A&M's got big receivers. Or is it Notre Dame's? Faster guys. Outside of both columns, Nerding doesn't have a lot of great size. Jaden Thomas has girth but he's not a super big guy. He's like six, one and a half. Both causes really the only long guy they have and then you have the tight ends. That's going to be it for me. Whose pass-catchers make the most plays? I think that ultimately is going to determine this game because you have a very good secondary for Notre Dame against a Texas A&M receiving corps who hasn't played great and is in a situation where there's a lot expected of them. They haven't had a great fall camp but just not being great in fall camp doesn't mean you're not going to be good once the season starts. Anyone that's coached football tell you, they've had guys that just struggle in fall camp and then once the lights turn on, it clicks and they're ready to roll. Then there's other guys that are great in fall camp and then you get to the games that matter and they just phew, you know, and they end up fading. It just, it doesn't necessarily mean anything, you know, what happens in fall camp. It depends on what you do on Saturdays. In my opinion, it's going to come down to that right there. That's the thing that we're not talking about. Can on paper, the Notre Dame secondary should lock down the Texas A&M receivers. Games aren't playing on paper. They've got big kids, six, four, six, five, six, six guys. Do those guys just outplaying for the football or not? Can the Notre Dame DBs make a bunch of plays, put Texas A&M in second and third long situations because they're not giving up a lot of those early down completions, you know, force them to be, you know, an inefficient pass offense. Keep them around that 50% mark, which Notre Dame was so good at doing last year. Those are all going to be things that have a huge factor in how good Notre Dame is going to be this year or be in this game is can they force Texas A&M to win with their line, meaning running the football, you know, going into games and having to complete long passes down the field where they've got to protect their quarterback. Those are all things they're going to factor into, but if they're out there making tough boundary catches and outplaying guys for one-on-ones in the football, those are things they're going to be a problem. You know, those are definitely going to be problems. I mean, look, Notre Dame didn't give up a whole lot of passing yards of Louisville last year, but Louisville completed 70.8% of their passes. They were getting quick, short throws that were helping them stay ahead of the sticks. That was a big key in that game. And that's why Louisville was the one team that was able to go out there last year and move the ball and get enough points to really beat Notre Dame with their offense, right? And so those are things that are going to have to do a much better job of this year in a games like that on the road is be really good at forcing a lot of incompletions, keeping them behind the sticks and make them beat you with their perimeter players. But that's also, but if they do, you could be in trouble and then the flip side is true. We think Notre Dame's receivers are going to be better, but we don't know. They've got to now go prove it. And so whose pass-catchers are most impactful to me is going to have a huge impact on who wins this game and like Georgia Tech floor set game to your point. Some of the things we said about Georgia Tech going to the season that we're going to be strengths were strengths in that game and part played into them winning. Haines Kings, a really dynamic runner, Jamal Haines is really good, Eric Singleton's really good. Okay, but Eric Singleton had a good play early, but then after that it was the other pass-catchers that stepped up and made plays. It was the online playing well as the defense playing better than expected and then on Florida State side, it was like, look, we don't know how good the receiver is going to be and they weren't. You know, we don't know how good their linebackers going to be. They were okay at best, but hey, they're good in the trenches on both sides of the ball, but in the game they weren't. So it's going to be very interesting to see how it plays out, but I really think it's going to come down to having to go into this game and say your skill players have to outplay their skill players. That is the thing for the Notre Dame offense that could completely negate any disadvantage you may have in the trenches. Prize picks is America's number one daily fantasy sports app with over five million active members. Prize 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. All you do is pick more or less on two to six player stat projections and watch the winnings roll in. Get in on the daily action with your friends and become part of the prize picks community today. 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That's seven delicious ways to try the nugs you already love. Pick a flavor, grab some extra napkins, and prepare to nug like you've never nugged before. For a whole new way to nug, it's got to be Wendy's at participating US Wendy's. Tommy guns. Now that the depth chart is official, do you see the coaches keep any specific players on Snap Count's week one? No, not no, I don't. I mean, when I think Snap Count Tommy, just in my head, when I answer this question, it has more to do with guys that maybe are, you know, Mitchell Evans, who's limited, Benjamin Morrison, not limited, but, you know, coming off injury, Howard Cross. No, I don't think any of those guys are going to be on a Snap Count due to injury. What I do think you're going to want to do early in this game, especially, is make sure that you're being very consistent with your rotations on the D line early in the game and receiver early in the game. So that way, those guys don't hit that fatigue point too soon. That's going to be a key, but that's not so much about guys being on Snap Count's as much as it's about managing your rotation properly until the sun completely goes down and your, the adrenaline is worn off and in those, being able to manage that is going to be very important for this team. All right, let's get to some more PA Irish guy with a question here. Much has been made about the defensive lines versus the O lines in this game, which defensive line has the bigger advantage? Well that's a, you know, I don't really know the answer to that question. I can tell you that I believe that Notre Dame has the advantage up the middle against the Texas A&M offensive line. The advantage that Notre Dame has up the middle, in my opinion, on paper based on film is greater than the advantage Texas A&M will have up the middle. I don't know that Texas A&M will even have an advantage against the Notre Dame O line up the middle. Even if Chamart Turner plays inside, he may make some plays, but I think they can make some plays on him. I think Notre Dame is actually pretty good up the middle. The question then becomes the edges and can the Notre Dame D ends who are less proven than the interior guys win that matchup against Trey Zune and whoever starts at right tackle, whether it's Ruben Feathery or somebody else, starts a right tackle. I don't know the answer to that question. Can the Texas A&M edge players who we expect to be dominant, are they going to be dominant, or are we going to see something like we saw in the Florida State Georgia Tech game where they're edge players like we, I thought Patrick Payton and Marvin Jones and the kid from Oregon State, we're going to dominate Georgia Tech on the edge. They didn't have a, those guys didn't have a sack all game, didn't have a ton of pressures in that game, they honestly, and so like it didn't play out that way. And the Notre Dame tackles hold their own, they're not going to dominate Texas A&M ends. I don't see that happening at all. It's just hold your water, don't get dominated. That's the key is hold your own. And if they can hold their own, I think Notre Dame will have a tighter advantage. The same thing is from the other side. If A&M is able to control the Notre Dame edge players and run their off tackle outside run stuff to get outside of the ends, they could, I mean, I, if I'm A&M, I'm running stretch, I'm running toss, I'm running pin and pull stuff where I'm trying to down block on those tackles and try to get that ball up to the second level and create gaps and force their linebackers to make a lot of plays. That's what I would do. And then if, you know, Notre Dame brings their run stunts and pressures, there's a chance you may catch one, you know, catch that linebacker crashing, you see all that whole thing inside and you're out the gate. That's what I would do if I was Texas A&M. But if Notre Dame's edge players perform well and are very forceful against the run, whether they're force or spill players, but just handle your job at a high level, then I think Notre Dame is going to win that battle and has a bigger advantage over Texas A&M because I think Notre Dame at least can handle the inside of the Texas A&M line, which is again, good. Especially when they put some our turnaround there, you got road is Johnson transferred in from Wisconsin, like there's some good football players there. But I don't think they're the disadvantage is more so on the edge can Notre Dame hold their own. That would be a big, big, big part of this question, very big part of this question. And I'm curious to see kind of how it plays out. Salty Virginia peanuts. Is there a point in game week practice when a head coach knows that the team is ready? There can be. It varies team to team and week to week. Honestly, salty, like man, I've had weeks as a coach, this is honest for multiple teams where you go through the entire week of practice. And you're like, dude, we are so ready. We went through days where like the ball would just not hit the ground. I mean, we were that good though in the football. We are so ready. And you get out on Saturday and you don't play that well. And then there have been weeks as a coach, this isn't just honest, honest truth, this just happened one or two times where you go through the week and you're just like, dude, we are just sloppy. We're not making a lot of plays. And then you go out on Saturday and your, I mean, your Wednesday, your scout team kicked your butt and said, I mean, it's just, I don't know, we're going to do this weekend. And then you go out on Saturday and you just dominate it because a lot of it has to do with the mental preparation. Yeah, you were sloppy, your timing you weren't, but your mental preparation was good. You were locked in. You were learning, you were absorbing. And even though the reps didn't necessarily work out in practice, you went out on Saturday and you played great. It doesn't always happen that way. I wouldn't even say that's, that's prominent, but it just, and you don't really know that until you're, you get into the season and you see how the preparation during the week can prepare you. I mean, thought it was like Davos, Coach Swinney said after the, the game in 2022 against Notre Dame, he's like, we had a great week of practice, great week of practice. And then they went on Saturday night and their name just kicked a crap out of them. It just happens at time. I mean, there's games last year where Notre Dame can't remember which game was. There was one of the losses last year and I honestly cannot remember what it was where I talked to one of the coaches before the game and I'm like, yeah, we had a great week of practice. I think we're really ready to, to play well. And they went out and laid an egg on offense. Happens sometimes that way. So I think you probably need to get into about probably half, you know, probably through the Louisville game to have a better chance of saying, Hey, I know now how to better read this team because part of a coach is knowing how to read your team and say, yeah, we were sloppy, but guys were locked in. There wasn't a lot of head hanging. There was communication. Uh, yes, we, we dropped this, we missed up that, but it wasn't because we were lazy. It wasn't because we weren't, we weren't, we weren't in it mentally. We, it just, like we had a, our timing was off, but guys were locked in. Attitudes were good. Communication was good. Encouragement was good from the player level and they're ready to go. And but it's like, yeah, it's got to drop the ball. This guy's fussing at him. The quarterback, she's on that. I'm quarterback's getting on the old line. We're kind of at each other's throats. We're just not locked in. There's a lot of undisciplined going on right now. I don't feel good about that. And then that can kind of maybe play into it more. So it just, it, it takes time to learn your team. It really does. And you don't really know it until you get to see them go out and perform against another team. And then you kind of look back and like, hmm, okay, we're, we're six and oh, we've had four really good games, two sloppy wins, the two weeks where we were sloppy, we were sloppy in practice. We did this. How can we learn from that and apply that to make sure that this doesn't happen again down the road? Those are all things that you factor into it. But it just, it takes some time to have a read on that, right? Because again, you just, it doesn't always, how you practice is how you play. It's not as a team. It's just it from a execution standpoint. You can kind of have an idea, however, if you're not focused during the week, the odds are pretty good that you won't be focused on Saturday. That's the one thing you can kind of learn about and that tends to be a little bit more universal. But even then every team is a little bit different. It really is. And I don't know that they definitely know what this team is going to be. All right, lots of great questions today. John A1 does Riley Leonard break out as a passer game one. It's possible, John. I don't know that I'm necessarily predicting it. I think there's always a lot of game one timing issues with quarterbacks and receivers. And that's true for all quarterbacks and receivers, not just guys that are new or that missed a spring. I don't know that it necessarily, you know, it could, I don't say it won't. But if he doesn't break out as a passer in game one, I'm not going to be panicked over it. I'm not barring a loss, there's nothing that could happen in this game that would make me come out and say, uh oh, right, nothing, nothing, because they're going to get better. And then I pointed out Ohio State, the last time Ohio State won a national championship, they got beat at home by two touchdowns by a team that finished seven and six in the ACC. They still went on one title. When Clemson won a title in 16, a year in which they went into the postseason and beat Ohio State 31 to nothing and then beat Alabama in the national title game, they lost a home game in November to an eight and five pit team. One game does not define your season unless it's the championship game, right? That kind of defines your season. You learn something, but then it's like, okay, your team is an evolution. And I'll say the same thing is true. If they go out and beat A and M by 40, we'll probably have more big over reactions, but it really doesn't mean a whole lot if you can't follow it up with more performances. So you know, Georgia Tech was the better team than floor state on Saturday. There's no doubt. Does that mean they're going to be a better team in October, November? Not necessarily good, but not necessarily. So we'll have to see, see how this one goes, but it's possible. I just my expectations, the past game is going to have some misses early because you do have so many new players at receiver, O line quarterback. I think there could be some timing issues, but if they come out and their first game pass in the football, their lights out, I'll feel pretty good about that. I mean, you know, we saw that a little bit from Jack Cone in his first game in Notre Dame. I mean, look, Jack came out and lit the world on fire. His first game as a pastor, he went 26 of 35, 366 yards, 10.5 yards per attempt, four touchdowns in a pick at a 194.14 passer rating. He never had another passer rating that high all year. And so it happened sometimes. I mean, Sam Hartman last year against Navy, 20 to 25, 253 yards, 10.1 per attempt, four touchdowns, no picks. But neither of those teams were that good, right? Florida State finished that year five and seven. Navy last year was, I think they were also five and seven last year. Yeah, they were five and seven last year. So, you know, 2022, they played a much better team on the road against Ohio State. They went 10 of 18, 177 yards, no touchdowns, no I and T's. It weren't as good though in the football, it took them a little bit more time. Now, does that mean that, you know, Tyler Buckner is his performance is more indicative of what we're seeing for my learner? No. I'm simply saying, I don't really know what they're going to look like coming into that game, but on the football, but I expect them to expect there to be a little bit of some timing issues, in my opinion, early on for both teams still in the football. But hopefully that it's not the case for Notre Dame. I just, I'm usually trying to be prepared for because as a coach, you need to be prepared for it because if you are have some timing issues, then you need to have a set of calls that you can go to to kind of get them on the same page. Sometimes coaches will do that early in the game. Hey, we're going to, we're going to get some easy stuff called. So the quarterback gets to get into a rhythm, you know, get some hitches, get some shovels, get some bootlegs, just get some nice, easy rhythm, high lows, crossers, things like that. And just let the quarterback just get into a rhythm, you know, don't ask them to make full field reads on the first series, maybe they'll run a play action post or a play action goal or something that's just a little bit of an easier read and get rolling that way. It's just, it's just, that's partly knowing your team, right? And, you know, that, that we're going to find out if this group has, is able to overcome that in the first game. Light it. Hey, Irish Breakdown listeners, it's Urban Meyer. This fall the game changes. Join me. Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram and broadcaster Rob Stone as we bring you a new perspective on football and culture every week. We will be joined by the biggest name in sports and talk about everything inside and outside of the lines. Let us guide you through a new era of college football. Watch triple option on YouTube or listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get podcasts. Hey, it's football season and you can now get almost anything you need for game day delivered with Uber Eats. What do we mean by almost? Well, you can't get a running back delivered, but you can get baby back ribs delivered. A strong defense, no, a strong deodorant, yes. The six pack of abs, nope, six pack of beer, yes. Get almost, almost anything for game day delivered with Uber Eats. Official on demand food delivery partner of the NFL. Order now. Alcohol 21 plus and in select cities, product availability varies by region. See app for details. Salty Virginia Peanut says if you were, if we assume that Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbshire bias against the Irish, is it nonetheless preferable to have them call the A&M game versus others? You know, honestly, with those two, I don't care as much about them being biased as much as I just don't enjoy them calling it game. Herbshoot's okay, but I just don't think Fowler is very good at calling games. I just don't think he's a great play by play guy. Just just my opinion. I could be wrong. It's just my opinion. I don't think he's a great play by play guy. So that's more of my issue with him is not the bias because I mean, look, if you're a Notre Dame fan, like what's funny is if you go back and watch that, like going message boards after that game is played, I promise you, you are going to have message boards for A&M and message boards for Notre Dame saying how the announcers were biased against their team. It's just kind of how it plays out. I don't think Kirk Curb Street is biased against Notre Dame as much as he just tends to pick themes and he sticks to those themes. Sometimes they're pro Notre Dame, sometimes they're not pro Notre Dame, and it can make him come across as biased. I don't think that I think his issue is to me. I don't always think that Kirk Curb Street's the most prepared, like other color guys are. And so he kind of has perceptions of what he has going in, and he kind of stays on that throughout the game, whereas good color guys kind of let the game evolve and then they kind of focus on what's actually happening in the game. I think that's more of my issue with Kirk. I've never felt that Kirk was consistently biased against Notre Dame as a color guy. I think he has some Notre Dame bias. He has some preconceived Notre Dame, opinions of Notre Dame that I think are a little outdated that he still holds to when he does analysis away from games. But as a color guy, I mean, it's okay. I think his issues are more related to preparation than they are necessarily a biased towards a team. And with Chris Fowler, it's just, I just don't think he's that good. It's not nice to say. I just don't think he's a very good play by play guy. He's another guy that I think just doesn't seem super, super prepared. And a lot of his excitement seems very forced. It's not a natural, like Gus Johnson, his nicknames are kind of forced, right? But you know, Mazarati Marv, like that was plucking my last nerve watching the Ohio State Michigan game last year. It's like to just call him by his name. I don't need to hear Mazarati Marv every time. But like I feel like Gus Johnson, the reason I like Gus is because he genuinely feels like he's excited and he loves his job and he's excited about the game. Like I love his excitement. Like I do. I just think he's like a fan up there that loves watching football and basketball and loves calling and loves his job thinks he's in a, you know, I just, I enjoy watching him call games because I think he enjoys what he's doing and he's usually pretty prepared. But then he also is great at setting up his color guides and I don't know that Fowler and Herb Street necessarily have that same, you know, kick it to me, set me up, hit the home run kind of thing that that other other people have. But I enjoy when Gus gets fired up, I do. When Chris Fowler gets fired up, it just seems kind of forced and doesn't seem super excited. So I just, that's, I do think Chris Fowler has another name, anti another name bias. I do. But I don't care. It doesn't bother me. I just, if you're good at your job and you, you know, you have an anti another name bias, whatever, doesn't bother me. I just want you to be good at your job. And that's what I care more about. And that's why I can, I can live with Gus Johnson and Joe, I think Gus Johnson and Joel Clatt are great. I didn't used to like Joel Clatt. He's gotten so much better as a color guy in games and he's so much more prepared than Kirk bias, Kirk, Kirk Street is, in my opinion, as far as just knowing the teams and going with the flow of the game and breaking down X's and O's and things like that. And Kirk is, but they're just a great team. They like play off each other really well, Joel and Gus do. I don't feel that way about, about Chris Fowler and, and, and Kirk, Herb Street, or just, they're just kind of two personalities from ESPN that they've turned into the, the team, to go to team and I just, you know, that's just kind of how I see it. So I could be wrong, but that's, that's my view. Salty Virginia Penis does the selection of nap for left tackle surprise you. It doesn't surprise me now because we've kind of anticipated for a couple of weeks. If you would have told me before camp started that Anthony Naps going to start left talking I'm like, dude, you're nuts. There's no way. I mean, who got hurt? I'd ask you, who got hurt other than Jags, who got hurt? You see what Jags is going to get hurt. Okay. Who else is going to get hurt? I would not have picked that at all. So a big picture, I'm surprised like that I was I surprised today when the depth chart came out. No, I wasn't. But if you would have released the depth chart day one to have the left, I'd have been surprised. So I think I hope that makes, I don't think no, I'm not surprised at all. I thought if Jags all got hurt, Anthony Naps would be the guy. Nope. Nope. That one me. I was not that guy. So yeah, I'm surprised from it. I'm surprised about it in that regard. PA Irish guy. What growth have you seen from head coach Marcus Freeman in terms in the team's through, okay. I'm sorry. I'm not quite sure what you're asking there. I apologize. My heads, not in it today a little bit. I apologize. Salty Virginia peanuts, one of the strengths and weaknesses of A&M's defensive units. offensive line, this guy is kind of playing together for the first time. Their opposite end, if Chamart Turner plays inside, their opposite end is, we'll see how good that can be. If Chamart Turner is outside, they're going to be big and powerful on the outside, good pass rushes on the outside, inside good gritty players, but not any difference makers that you should necessarily give you problems. They've got very good depth on the defensive line and can throw waves at you, which makes them very good. Line backer. I'm curious to see who starts opposite Tori Nework at Line backer. I think Tori Nework's a very good football player, a very good athlete, physical first size. He's young. He's a true sophomore, but he did play a lot last year, finished second on their team in tackles with 74. It was also tied for second on the team in solo tackles last season, and he's a good football player. I mean, he's a good football player. He's a little undersized, even still as a sophomore. Not so much girth wise, as much just like not super tall, not super long, kind of like a JD Bertrand type of guy, but very instinctive, very athletic football player. Don't know a lot about what's going to be beside him. And I think that's a bit of a question mark for them. They line back her along with him and the depth at the position. Counterback is a shaky position for me and as I evaluate Texan M, Tyrek Chappell, if he plays, is he an outside guy? Does he play nickel? How are they going to use him? He's probably their best cover guy. I'm very curious to see what position he plays because the nickel is very important in Mike Elko's defense. And so do they do they view him as being a guy that they want to get inside and play a lot inside be active? Do they want to have him as the boundary and be there? I'm very curious to see kind of how that is going to play out. When I look at that secondary, I think their safety position is good, but especially kind of coming down and playing the run because they were a great run defense last year. I do believe that there are some things you can do to them in the past game to take advantage of their secondary and their corners. I think if there's an issue with Texas A&M as far as like a match up advantage where you've got to be able to make some big plays, it is going to be getting your best past catchers against their secondary players. That's going to be a big, big part of this game. Can you get your tight ends? Can you get your slots? Can you get your perimeter guys matched up against their safeties and outside corners? And can they win? That's going to be a big question mark for me. And you know, a lot of new faces like they got a kid Bryce Anderson is a really good football player, I think. You know, he's a guy that had a lot of success for them last year as a run defender, very good run defender, a very good downhill guy, but he can be taken advantage of in space and he can be taken advantage of in the past game. Can Notre Dame do that? That's going to be a very good question. But that's the area where you're going to have to be able to go at them early in the game, in my opinion, is the secondary. Jim Halloran, your thoughts on Marcus Freeman's comments about the old line going against a pretty good Notre Dame D line. Do you think he hears the disrespect? I don't think he views it as disrespect. I think he's he's viewing it as like, Hey guys, our guys are going to be prepared. We're going to go against a very, we've gone against a very good defensive line. And I mean, this is something that I've said in the show plenty of time. So I don't know if he if he views it as disrespect as much as he he hears the fear, he hears the concern. I'm not sure he's been made aware of and not even just, well, hey, fans are panicking about this, but he gets asked that question all the time when he's talking to boosters, when he's talking to people on campus, when he's talking to media people, when he's talking when he's doing interviews on places, he hears that stuff all the time. And so I'm sure he's very aware of it. And also, you know, a little bit of his like, Hey guys, it's also building up the confidence of your line. Hey, fellows, you're going to be okay on Saturday. You've been going up against one of the besty lines in football all fall camp and you held your own. Okay. So have that confidence going in the game. I think it's more about that than it is about responding to the quote unquote disrespect that maybe he's feeling coming into that game. I think anyone that that is talking about that AMD line against the Notre Dame O line is not being disrespectful. It's an honest evaluation. I mean, you should have an honest concern about how the Notre Dame offensive line is going to hold up against the A&M defensive line. You've got six career starts going into the starting lineup, going into that first game six. You have three guys that have never played a meaningful snap of college football going into that game. And you're throwing them into the, you know, against one of the best end combinations of college football potentially. One of the best D lines of college football in a very loud, raucous environment. You know, I'm worried about false starts and holds and different things like, you know, not getting off the line as quickly as you need to because of the crowd and the snap count and all this other kind of stuff like those are legitimate concerns. I don't think they're disrespect and I don't think coach Freeman takes it as that. I, if, if knowing him, I would view it more as knowing the offensive line is going into a buzz saw helping them understand, Hey guys, you're good. Don't you got this. You've been going up against one of the best D lines in all of college football and you look, look what you've done. Like, there's nothing they're going to throw at you that Riley Mills hasn't thrown at you or Howard Cross hasn't thrown at you or Buba car hasn't thrown at you or Josh Burnham hasn't thrown at you or RJ open hasn't thrown at you or brought, Hey, you're worried about a big old long athletic freaky defensive end. Well, we got one named Bryce Young and you handled him in fall camp. You know what I mean? So I'm not saying that they did. I'm just like, that's the, the message that you're giving. And I think that's really what it boils down to. I didn't banami has our Notre Dame team swagger change from 2012. Manti scared to, to we actually believe we can win. I don't know that Manti was scared. I mean, I saw that quote. And I've heard that before, look, I didn't cover the team that year. So I really can't tell you what that team's psyche was. I can't look, the game that I care more about is 2017 Miami, right? You, you're going to this 2022 house state. You're going to these loud environments and your offense doesn't play well. I care more about that than 2012 Miami or 2012 team going into down to Miami to play Alabama. I'm just, I got to see how this team handles that, guys, because like, look, they could look great at it all fall camp, but then you get in that environment. I keep telling you, getting that environment, some guys flourish and some guys get hit into mouth and they fold. I don't know how Anthony that's going to handle that environment. I don't know how Sam Pendles is going to handle that environment. Yeah, they've done great in a practice field. Are they going to be able to handle it in life situations? I don't know. I hope so. I don't know. Same with a meal Wagner. So they're swagger right now is great, but lots of guys have swagger until they get hit into mouth. And that's true for Texas A&M. I'm sure Texas A&M is super confident in their team right now too. Everything I'm saying about Notre Dame's confidence, the coaches are confident, the players are confident. You're probably going to go on message boards of their team and hear the same thing. It really, who has that when the, it gets real on Saturday night, that's going to ultimately be what matters. Archer four, five, two of all the most intriguing week, week one matchups, which game do you think will be the most fun to watch as a neutral fan? I think it's going to be USC and LSU is because you said fun. I don't think Georgia Clemson is going to be overly fun. I think it's going to look a lot more like the 20, 22, 21 Clemson Georgia game, which was like 10 to three and neither team scored an offensive touchdown. It won't be that bad. It'll be closer to that than like Georgia Ohio State from the playoff a couple of years ago, in my opinion, two really good defenses, two teams that like to run a football. It's going to be a, you know, not a blowout. I don't think it's going to be a blowout. I don't think it's going to be a super high scoring game. Maybe it does. I don't think it is. I think LSU USC is, is two really good offenses, talented offenses and two defenses that were a hot mess last year that hired good coordinators, but those coordinators have a lot to work out so I could see it being a little bit more high octane and throwing the ball around and running the ball on each other and a bit more of an entertaining game. So that's kind of my expectation for that one. I think that one is going to be very interesting and honestly, I'm very curious to see how Florida and Miami plays out. I'm very curious about that game. No, not a lot of people talking about because it's assuming that Florida sucks they're going to be. They might. I really want to see how that game plays out. Very curious to see how that game plays out. Good question, Archer. I got a super chat from Irish. Hey, Shaw 12 was what was the best you have seen Notre Dame in an opener, meaning the entire operation ran well for me. I would have to go with 89 against Virginia. What turned out to be a for 1989 against what turned out to be a pretty good Virginia team. Yeah, that was at Sean Moore, Herman Moore, Chris Slade. I think Terry Kirby was on that, that 89 team, let me go look that up. I believe Terry Kirby was on that team 1989 Virginia stats. I know that Slade was. I know that Herman Moore was. I know that Sean Moore was. Yeah, Terry Kirby was on that team that year as well. So Herman Moore was their leading receiver on that team. That was a really good football team, really good football team. I think it ran in 10 games that year finished, I believe 18th in the polls, really good football team and their name smashed them. Best I've seen Notre Dame in an opener is probably, you know, I'm going to take into account like somewhat the magnitude of the game and the quality of the opposition. Maybe the best I've seen Notre Dame in an opener would probably be Texas 2015. Wasn't a great Texas team, but it was still Texas. And Notre Dame just came out and just steam rolled them in that game. And, you know, 38 to three, it was Malik Zair's first start. You know, he comes out and he performs great in the game. You know, touring Folsom's supposed to be your starting running back. He gets hurt on his second carry. You've got a converted receiver, the steps into the performance. He does well. Josh Adams, I think scores in his first career carry. Malik goes 19 of 22 for 33 and 13 yards, three touchdowns. Malik didn't even run that much in that game. He only had 16 yards rushing. CJ went for 98, Adams went for 49, decks went for two, two 24, touring at a third carry for touring, three for 19, you know, they couldn't cover Will Fuller, Jaylen Smith, and the defense is overwhelmed. Texas, they only had 163 yards of offense. Think about that. Notre Dame outgained Texas in the opener, 517 to 163. This isn't playing against Rice, who they blew out, you know, the year before in the opener, you know, this isn't playing against Nevada, who was a decent team when they had Colin Kaepernick, but not, not a great team back in '09 when Notre Dame just blew them out. And Notre Dame had a lot of mistakes in that game that Nevada didn't take advantage of in my opinion. I mean, you go through some other openers back then, Purdue, they were not, they were sloppy and in 2010, 2011, they lose the South Florida, 2012, they were pretty darn good against Navy. That was a pretty good one as well. Temple, they were a little sloppy in 13, 14, you blew out Rice, they weren't that good. Looked great against Texas, lost the game, opened in the next year, you know, looked pretty good against Temple the next year, not great, not as good as you did against Texas, 18, they looked really good against Michigan. I thought that Michigan game, if they would have closed Michigan out better, then that game probably be number one. But I thought offensively they came out early and just, just overwhelmed Michigan early, but then Michigan battled back and made it a much more competitive game, a much more competitive than it should have been in my opinion. So I'd probably have to go back to Texas 2015 of recent memory, I'd have to think through some games. I remember Brady Quinn in '05 against Pitt, I don't know if it's like the best I've seen them play, but it was the most surprising, you know, I don't know that I expected that team to be as good as it was. So I'd go 15 Texas, it's probably where I would go with that one. Alright, let's get to some more here real quick. Got up here from, let's see here, Iden Benami, who you got, the U or Florida, I mean right now I'm going with Miami, but I think I could see Florida giving them a game. I could, I just, Miami's gonna have a lot of new guys, we saw this with Florida State, all those new kids, they just didn't play great together in that opener and struggled to really pull away. So I could see Miami being closer than people think, I could even see Miami getting upset, but I think that game's gonna be, that game's gonna be a very, more maybe an interesting game, competitive game than maybe some people think it's going to be. Alright, let's get to got M. Costrib, the last time Notre Dame started a freshman at left tackle, it turned out pretty well. Well technically, the last time Notre Dame started a left tackle was Joel, and that turned out well, obviously, but remember, they started a different left tackle out, start the season, Blake Fisher, and that didn't go well, because he got hurt at halftime, and then it took them a while to figure out who was next. And that obviously was a concern, they put Michael Carmody in there, he struggled, they put Tosh Baker in there, he struggled, and eventually Joel won't step in and handle the job. So the fact that you're already down to your second guy does raise some concerns, if something happens to Anthony Knapp, or he doesn't play well, where do you go? But yeah, to your point, the last true left tackle to start from Notre Dame, the most recent was Joel Walt, that turned out really well, really well. Sean Kelly, with having the veterans on the number two O line, how short should the guys leash be? It should be not short, honestly, the only way that I would make a move early, now first of all, you guys know my stance, I'd be, I'd be ready to rotate in certain situations. Like, I won't, I don't know that they're going to do this, but like, I wouldn't be afraid to have Rocco Spindler every in their every third or four series at left guard, and be okay with that, but you need to be prepared to kind of have them come in if those guys are just getting overwhelmed. They're just committing a lot of mental mistakes. They're clearly the moment has gotten to them, you look in their eyes and they're just like, you know, Oh my gosh, what's going on? There's a hundred thousand crazy screaming people. This is a whole lot different than practice than you, that leash is short. If the leash is short because they're just not necessarily playing well right away, I would, I mean, or what's the leash like if they're just not playing well right away, but they're, they're mentally locked in, it's like, okay, I'm going to have a little bit longer lease, let's get them into the flow of the game and, and see how they do, but it really just comes down to kind of reading their eyes and reading their reactions. If they're just overwhelmed by the moment, overwhelmed by what they're doing, then you're going to have to make a move, but I would hope like, like you took off all camp to come to this decision, you don't change it in a half. And that's kind of my stance on that. And I also don't want those guys looking out over their shoulders thinking off, I, if I give up a sack, I'm going to get benched. You want them just playing football and, and that be the focus, holy walnuts, Brian, I love the thought of playing your most talented lineman, but any hesitation with a starting offensive line averaging six, four and a half, three and a two pounds across the board. I'd be lying if I said that there wasn't some, some level of, of, of a concern about the lack of size, it, it doesn't hurt you in a ton of games. The problem is this is one of those games where I can hurt you, because I do think tech saying him has some really good size, especially if they, if they start some more turner at end. I'm actually somebody just sent me what they expect to be the, the anem depth chart apparently got tweeted out. I'm going to see where they have F. Chamar turner, D tackle and Chamar Stewart at the end. Chamar Stewart's a big guy too, but he just isn't as proven. But their D line is 285, 300, 300 and 290 across the board when they're starters. And then back up wise, they've got a 310 pounder, 300 pounder, 310 pounder, and 350 pounder in their depth chart on their defensive line on the inside. So there's some size there. And so yeah, that's a concern. And while Georgia Tech didn't have the biggest offensive line when they played Notre Dame, or when they played Florida State, it was still bigger than what Notre Dame's is. And I'm, I'm pulling up Georgia Tech's depth chart from that, from that game against Florida Tech. I think their biggest guy was 315, but they were, they were 65305, 66315, 64310, 64310, 66315. So you know, not huge, but again, 305 to 315 across the board, you're going to have a lot more average size. And Notre Dame's not going to have that. So yeah, that's a concern, but the other thought is like, yeah, but this is a really athletic line and what's, I mean, here's what I'm trying to get to. What are they going to call? Are you going to go out there and try to run duo down Texanum's throat all day and run, you know, power O and, and run quick wraps and just try to bully ball Texanum? That's a bad idea. If you're going to say, look, they're big and, but we're athletic and we're, we've got some strength here too. So we're going to run our zones. We're going to, you know, inside, outside zone, we're going to move the pocket. We're going to do these type of things. Take advantage of our athleticism. You have a better advantage. And of course, as a Bronco fan, whenever somebody's like, are you worried about the size of the line, my immediate thought goes back to the 1997 Super Bowl when the whole lead into the Super Bowl was Gilbert Brown and Reggie White and his massive offense, defensive line going against the smallest offensive line in the NFL. And then I watched that small offensive line just bully Georgia. I mean, Green Bay, the whole game. You don't always know, but I mean, on paper, I'd be lying to you if I said it wasn't accurate. Now, I also don't know if the weights are the most accurate because Notre Dame has not updated its depth chart since like beginning of the summer. And so I've been told by some people that Emil Wagner's are about 300 pounds now, but he still listed it 290 on the depth chart. So it could end up being smaller than that or bigger than that. It just depends. But I would think that Anthony Napa weighs a little bit more now than he did beginning of the summer, but it's not going to change it a whole lot, to be honest with you. So that's kind of my thoughts on that. [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC]
