Today's Rapid Fire topics include:
* Fill-in the blank...It's BLANK that Riley Leonard made a paid appearance at Dick’s Sporting Goods here in town Friday. It was supposed to be a solo paid NIL appearance, but instead he brought his offensive linemen with him and is letting them get paid in cash and Dick’s gift cards.
* ESPN's Heather Dinich said this about Notre Dame's win over Texas A&M: "That was a signature win for Freeman. I was on the field when they lost to Ohio State last year. This was another fight to the finish, but the Irish got it done this time. Turning point?" Buy or Sell last week’s win over the Aggies as a turning point for the Notre Dame program?
* Fill-in the blank…Here’s what Notre Dame’s wide receiver snap count looked like against Texas A&M: Collins 59, Greathouse 48, Mitchell 32, Thomas 23, Faison 20, Harrison 9. That means BLANK going forward.
* With Jordan Faison out with an ankle this week, we will see more of redshirt freshman KK Smith. Do we expect Smith to be a factor against Northern Illinois?
* What’s your confidence in Mitch Jeter after watching him boot three field goals last week?
* Over/Under... 1.5 punts by Notre Dame this weekend.
* NIU had 60-yard pass play and a 60-yard run play last week vs Western Illinois. Over/Under…20 yards for the longest play they will have this week against the Irish.
* Fill-in the blank…Northern Illinois refers to games against Power 4 teams as “Boneyard” games and they have 18 all-time “Boneyard” wins dating back to 1983.
* Buy or Sell Pat McAfee being good for College Game Day?
Notre Dame/Northern Illinois game props:
* Over/Under 205.5 passing yards, 1.5 touchdown passes and 42.5 rushing yards for Riley Leonard
* Over/Under 67.5 rushing yards for Jeremiyah Love
* Over/Under 31.5 receiving yards for Jaden Greathouse
* Over/Under 48.5 receiving yards for Beaux Collins
* Final game prediction!
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Get 25% off at virtual.com/podcast. Guys, are you ready for rapid fire? Oh, baby, let's go rapid fire on a bright Friday. Here we are. Here we are. So Riley Leonard made an appearance at Dick's Sporting Goods today right here in town. It was supposed to be a solo paid NIL appearance for Riley Leonard. But he said, hey, offensive lineman, come along and he let the offensive lineman take the money. I guess they got both payment in cash and gift cards for the appearance. What do you guys think of that? I think Riley Leonard must be doing well in the NIL if he's already passing along. Given it away. Passing along his gifts to the offensive line. But I know he's got the one with Robak. I know he's got one with New Era. Him and Hannah Hidalgo, I'm pretty sure, are the New Era reps for Notre Dame. And so Riley Leonard, he's going to do just fine in the NIL. And I don't even think at the end of the day it matters to him, right? I think he is just grateful for the opportunity to be at Notre Dame. He's talked before about how he's a man of Christ and that sort of stuff. And I think that goes a long way with him too. Being able to play at a university like Notre Dame and further get his connection with God. And so it's just a smart move if you're Riley Leonard because that's the group who's protecting you. You know it's a young group. And how do you get them to buy in and trust you more? You say, hey, let's come along and take all my free gifts. And so I think it's really smart of Riley Leonard. And I think he's a natural leader. And that's ultimately what you need out of the quarterback position. What you need out of the quarterback position specifically when you're trying to make a run like Notre Dame is this season. The more he can build that trust amongst the offensive line, the better they're going to be. So I love that. I think it was a total pro move at the end of the day. It's like when the quarterbacks and the NFL buy their offensive line with nice new watches or ATVs or whatever it might be while it's not a new watch or anything. It's still something nice. And he didn't have to do it at the end of the day. This is what quarterbacks have been doing since day one, you know, taking them out for a steak dinner, you know, giving them all the credit. Like this is exactly what you do when you're a quarterback. That's called leadership. And everything Jesse said is correct and it's accurate about all his NIL money and everything else. But even if he wasn't making all that money, this is what you do. Yeah, 100% or you, or you go and you take the money and then you take them out to eat, you know what I mean? Like you get them involved. You show them your appreciative like it's leadership. And a lot of times like the NFL quarterbacks who you hear about doing it wait until the end of the season and kind of give the, you know, the lineman of bonus. This is perfect like early season bonus from Riley Leonard and just continue to get that buy in. And all it's going to do is make those guys work harder for you at the end of the day to protect you. Riley Leonard knows where his bread is buttered. So good investment and pretty cool to hear him doing that. Taking the lineman out there. So Heather Dendich from ESPN after last week's Notre Dame win over Texas A&M posted on X. That was a signature win for Marcus Freeman. She said I was on the field when they lost to Ohio State last year. This was another fight to the finish but the Irish got it done this time. Turning point. Question mark. So my question to you guys. Do you buy or sell last week's win over the Aggies as a turning point for Marcus Freeman and the Notre Dame program? I will buy it as it could be. I mean if they lost this game I don't think it would be a turning point towards the negative but winning the game could be a turning point towards the positive. I mean like she's absolutely correct. I mean they didn't win this game last year when they played against Ohio State. Now nobody's going to say the Texas A&M is Ohio State and I totally understand that. But this is the big game and it was on the road. It was all of those things and we talked about it in pregame. It being the most the biggest game of Marcus Freeman's career up to that point and he won it. So absolutely if this team does what we think they have a chance to do. We're all going to look back at game one and we're going to be like that's kind of where it started man. That's where it got kicked off. That's where they got their confidence and I think so I will tentatively buy it as a turning point. I'm jealous Vince got to go first on this one because I was basically going to say like I will buy it as a turning point if they accomplish what they're supposed to buy the end of the season. I think go out and lose to like Purdue and a week or two then you look back on you say well that game was for nothing right. If they lose any game to me like yeah but your point is still taken. Yeah yeah I just think that you know again Notre Dame has to accomplish what they're supposed to. They have to stay on track think about it you know every game you know game by game and not get caught up in the big picture. But if Notre Dame goes to the playoff if they're undefeated to get that five seed win a home playoff game win a quarter final game and potentially make a run for it in the semi final game. Then I think everyone will look back on and say you remember that win that Marcus Freeman had at the beginning of the season and was fired up in the tunnel. That was the turning point. That was a new era of Notre Dame football and a new chapter in the Marcus Freeman coaching career. So that to me is it's that book is you know still to be written I guess at the end of the day. No I mean it's a way because there are a lot of people who do expect Notre Dame to go undefeated now this season because they beat Texas A&M. But like when you look at it like in terms of to her point to Denich's point about turning point what's the previous biggest win Marcus Freeman had on the road. It is two plus years probably Duke last year right because Duke was ranked with Riley Leonard. So big difference in the you know in the environment and the amount of people there were more than twice as many probably almost three times as many people at Kyle Field last week. I'm very prepared to what there were for that Duke game so this is definitely the biggest road game he's won it's still an SEC team. It is still Texas A&M and a good head coach and Mike Elko but it's it's the big it's it's at a very minimum. It is a road win over a ranked SEC team and that obviously counts for a lot of people because as we know the college football world. 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Here's what Notre Dame's wide receiver snap count looked like against Texas A&M Bo Collins 59 snaps. Jaden Gradehouse 48, Chris Mitchell 32, Jaden Thomas 23, Jordan Faison 20, Jaden Harrison 9 and that means blank going forward. To me that doesn't mean much going forward because I think that there was, I figured that Great House might be the guy to kind of lead in snaps overall but it felt like that they had more confidence in Bo Collins being that guy because of the experience that he provides right like he's played in some big games at Clemson he's played in tough environments and not to say that Great House hasn't but Collins has just done it more so I wasn't surprised by the end of the day to see Collins the lead kind of snap count and obviously, you know, Great House was going to be closely behind because they've talked about how he's going to be a wide receiver that can play the slot the outside, you know, the field position. No matter where it is, Great House can play right. I think with Faison being hurt this also doesn't mean much as well because there's going to be a kind of reshuffling I think KK is going to get to that we'll get to that in a minute is going to get into the mix as well. So, you know, for game one for a game plan that was very specific to Texas A&M I don't think that we should take much into this kind of snap count type situation. I think it's going to be, you know, just like any offensive game plan I think it's going to be dependent on, you know, what the goals are for that game and what they're trying to accomplish. And I think that, you know, Bo Collins was that guy because he had the most experience. It doesn't mean anything to me a whole lot I mean they probably, you know, at certain points they probably had their best blockers in the game as well, you know. And I agree with Jesse I think they trust Bo Collins a lot. And I think he gave them a reason to trust them at the end of the game. And so he was in the game a bunch and I think Great House is still going to get a bunch of snaps he's going to be on the field a lot Chris Mitchell's going to be on the field a lot, you know what I mean. You know, unfortunately we're not going to get a whole lot of clarity on it over the next few weeks because the next few weeks aren't all that competitive probably. So, you know, we should probably compare the snaps between like A&M Louisville Florida State. Oh, we will. It's going to be a thing. I've decided that it's going to be a thing. Hey, because apparently people love the snap count stuff and I didn't realize it. Okay, so so I am into the pro football focus and that you know that's where I got all the numbers from so it's you. We're going to we're going to do some snap count stuff. All right, and we'll kind of compare, you know, different point like are they up are they down and you know just all that kind of stuff. It'd be nice and we have a couple of other data points as opposed to just one game. Yeah, I just feel like to me. It's pretty obvious that Bo Collins is the guy you said it Vince who they trust the most. And I think that there's some comfort with Riley Leonard and you can just see like someone someone on the beat I think it might have been Matt Freeman like during training camp tweeted. This is a video of Bo Collins when he was a high school kid camping at Notre Dame what he looked like running his routes and just his body and the whole stuff versus what he looks like now as a grown man basically four or five years later. Like he, you can just see that instinctually because of all the games that he has played in and because of the specific position that he plays you know that size with the bigger body. I just feel like, I feel like there's a lot of trust in Bo Collins and I just between Collins and Great House the two guys with the most snaps I think that those two guys are going to end up being the volume guys in this receiver core over the course of this season and other guys are going to make some plays here and there that doesn't mean that they're not going to see the ball, but I just really feel like Collins and Great House and the Great House is obviously a little bit younger but he's got that big body and the versatility that Jesse talked about and I just feel like those two guys Collins and Great House are going to end up being the volume reception guys for this team and that's, you know it's again it's still early. So we'll see exactly how it plays out but that's that's kind of the vibe I got just watching because again like so much of it comes down to trust who does the quarterback trust who does the offensive coordinator trust who does the position coach trust and the two guys are definitely at the top of the list right now. So as Jesse mentioned Jordan Faison is going to be out this week he's got an ankle injury unfortunately that he suffered last week could be out for this week and next week we will kind of wait and see how that plays out but with him out. We'll see more of Redshirt freshman KK Smith. The guy that we said hey he could possibly get in the game versus A&M and he ended up not getting in the game but we have a lot of confidence in KK. We'll see this week we had a plan to say okay we have six guys that we know at any point can be the starter beyond the field. Seventh and eighth at that point was KK and Micah and with Faison being down KK will have a increased role but there's a lot of confidence from Micah Gilbert on down to everybody in that room and we'll see I think we'll see them on Saturday for sure. I mean we're as he kind of alluded to or we're probably pretty if the game plays out the way we expect we're going to see a lot of different guys out there but what kind of what kind of factor Vince do you think that KK Smith could be. Well it's so hard to say just because of the way this game is going to go I mean you know he is a Jayden Harrison type of guy right so Jayden Harrison got what 10 snaps in this game and a couple catches something along those lines. That would be something similar, wow the first team is out there. Once they start putting in the twos and stuff like that obviously I think his workload increases and things like that and I'm anxious to see what they do. Once they get the second guys in there they still running the offense are they just running it up the net you know all of those things and so, you know he'll have an impact but I don't think it'll be huge. The majority of what you'll see out of KK Smith is when the starters are out there I think he'll get you'll see him out there. How much of an impact he has I don't think is going to be super you know noticeable I would say like he's going to maybe going to have a catch or two. I think the most you'll see out of KK Smith is potentially when Stephen Jelly is quarterback and that that's assuming I was thinking the same thing. He gets in there so I think that's when you would want to see KK Smith and I think that's naturally what's going to happen as well is yeah some some nice you know quick slants some some check downs letting KK Smith kind of operate in space with Stephen Jelly and quarterback Vince's face was caught in a yawn on the screen there. Oh no and it was hilarious. I try to stop the car. It hit me fast and hard. I'll just I won't say a whole lot because I think you guys both pretty much covered it I do think that his biggest impact is like once Steve Angeli and some of the the the twos are in there that's probably when he's going to have his most opportunities. But the guy is a speedy guy. So again like I was saying with Chris Mitchell earlier this is a game where Chris Mitchell's speech should really be pretty obvious and maybe some some deep opportunities there it could happen with KK Smith depending on how many early reps he gets in out there as well. Mitch Gita hit three field goals last week. Couple of 46 yarders included. What's your confidence in him after seeing that performance last. I mean to me your confidence has to be 10 out of 10 he's in a hostile environment pressure situations and the guy was nails and you know I love this question because I felt like we didn't nearly talk about him enough or bring him up during the week he hit some critical Especially when other day I needed to respond to get some points on the board. And again he looks like a seasoned vet out there right he didn't look like the moment was too big. I thought he executed perfectly and you know the the the the kicking game becomes magnified and close games like that and I think that's what they're going to need. You know especially as they get into maybe against you know Georgia Tech Louisville USC into the playoffs etc like you need a kicker that you can rely on and so right now I'm 10 out of 10 confident. He hasn't shown me otherwise. And I was really impressed with the way he was able to stay composed in that environment and hit some big kicks. My confidence level of Mitch Gita going into the game was about a nine and a half and now. Wow. Look I know he didn't look the greatest in practice but his in game stats are unbelievable and I don't see how putting on a different helmet would change that. So I had a lot of confidence in him being a gamer. You know he he's proved it in SEC play. Again not that that necessarily matters because you're a kicker and right you know but the environment does the environment matters and he's been in some hostile environments before so I had a lot of confidence in him going in. And he just proved me right so I appreciate that I'm bumping into a 10. I'm just going to be honest mine was probably a six because basically the lingering impression that I had is what we saw of him at the end of the spring and a little bit in practice and he wasn't like especially in the spring. It's terrible. He wasn't very accurate. Yeah, he was just downright but and that's, you know again I know that he's got a body of work and we saw all his numbers from South Carolina but it is a change of scenery and it's a different operation and the whole thing. I personally and I just want like this guy lost it you know like what what's what's going on but I would say it is definitely a 10 right now after seeing that last week when you're able to bang a couple of 46 yarders and go three or three and you know be able to put the game away at the end because you could say it was a meaningless field goal but it made it a two possession game and made it virtually impossible for Texas A&M. That was from that was far from meaningless to me because you know one thing can go wrong you can throw a pick you can fumble the ball and you know you want to be up to possessions period and a discussion so that was far from meaningless to me I think that was the most pressure pack field goal he had in my and there were people you kind of heard it where people were like well do you do you put the field goal team out there do you risk a block and all that stuff. You know like there's just as much of a risk of a block pun if that's what you're going to do instead or a fumbled snap on any given snap no matter what like there's yeah I mean there's risk on any play so I had no problem with running the kicker out there and and doing it the way they did it. Especially if you have the confidence in them that we do. Yeah. Yeah you absolutely let him kick it. Yeah. And someone did say it might have been on the message but again it'd be between the message boards and our chat you know during the show. The fact I'm already be aji like he's got two new kickers this year you know place kicker and a punter new holder new long snapper new short snapper the you know they all the all the operations are completely different. And they were pretty sharp out there. Yep. Exactly the night. Green it was a good it was fun to watch. So I'm going to work a punt question over under one and a half punts for James Rendell against Northern Illinois. I'll go over one for the starters one for the backups I think you'll naturally get one maybe towards the end of the game and I know Vince is going to be mad at me but I don't think the offense is going to be immaculate and score on every drive. I want them to but I don't know if it's going to happen so I lean more towards the side of air and I like I said kind of one for each group I think at the end of the day so give me give me the order over. I'm taking the under for James Rendell but I'm going to take the over for actual punts in the game because remember there's a 30 year old who's probably going to get a chance to punt in this game. That's a good one. I didn't think about it that way sitting this with the back alley captain. Right. Yeah. Goings is going to get a punt and I think he's going to get a couple actually because I had the second and third like I think they're going to end up with two or three quarterbacks and so eventually Northern Illinois is going to be able to stop them. Are you telling me it's going to be CJ card time or Kenny Minci time. I'm not saying either one depends on how they want to do it but I think they find a way to get three on the field. And I don't know that they're going to be able to lead scoring drives depending on that look if Northern Illinois puts their backups in then you still have, you know, the differentiation of talent. I don't know what their name still may score but I'm still taking the over but I just don't think it's going to be Rendell. I just, I can't see it being CJ car out there. I just, can you imagine what, you know what the reaction is going to be if you throw CJ car out there and he leads a touchdown right away from. I'm not saying that's why you're not putting him on the field but I just don't see him going. We'll talk about. I know. Northern Illinois had a 60 yard pass play and a 60 yard run play last week against Western Illinois over under 20 yards for the longest play they will have this weekend against Notre Dame. That's tough. I'll take the over. I think it might accidentally get 20 yards. So I'll take the over. I got to go over as well. No defense is perfect. There's got it. They're bound to hit some sort of, you know, busted play, maybe trick play that they've been, you know, scheming up for their first drive of the season so they can maybe find some points or sorry first drive of the game not season. But it's just, that'd be a lot to ask of a defense so I'm just going to go over because I think naturally that's what's going to happen. I'm going to go under. I'm going to say under at least when like the starters are out there. So maybe I'm cheating a little bit like I'm not going to rule out something happened late in the game when you've got some second and third string guys out there and I'll say when the primaries are out there, I'm going to go under 20 yards as long as play that Northern Illinois hits. Fill in the blank Northern Illinois refers to games against power four teams as bone yard games. They have 18 all time what they call bone yard wins dating back to 1983. This is a pretty cool concept at the end of the day right when you are a max school you're not in the power for power five you got to have some external motivation so when you go into a game like Notre Dame, you know they you should never think that you're going to lose and I think they definitely don't think that and I think they know that they're a they underdog and their coach is going to sort of buy into that. And that's why you have something like the bone yard type situation so you get that recognition of going in and upsetting someone because that's that's what it is bone yard wins are just upset wins. At the end of the day so I think it's a cool concept I think it's something that's fun to get that the players you know to get some of that extra motivation at the end of the day. It's frigging great. You know when we were going around to different max schools and stuff like that they all had some sort of something that depicted their power for wins. Yeah, and I love probably how they're like they rate those right. Oh 100% it's like Austin College for example last year to open the season. It's like look we can play with the big boys you know what I mean come here you get to play with the big boys you know that kind of a thing and so I dig it man I think a lot of these you know power not power the group of five teams. They're extremely creative with a lot of the things that they do and I appreciate it. I like it a lot. Creative was actually going to be the word that I was going to use very creative to like to go in this to bone yard wins because they're obviously the Huskies you know so you got your own yard and and that whole connection. And you're right like anytime I do like when I'm preparing for a basketball game and you get the game notes and Notre Dame is playing one of these like a Mac level school or something like that. There is always part of their notes that says you know first what the current coach has done against like the group of you know five group of our power five power four type programs. And then of course you know something like this as well that dates back like what they've done all time I mean that's how they measured. Yeah, and I think that that's part of how they sell themselves to recruits like you can come here and we're still going to compete with the big boys and girls. First you on that stage. And it'll be competitive. Yeah, exactly. Okay, so we've come to the part of the show. I don't know how this is going to go. I want to have the Pat McAfee conversation here. Because it's the three of us and I think that we're going to get some distinctly varying opinions on this. Do you buy or sell Pat McAfee being good for college game day and we're going to start with the chin rubber there. There you go. You just want to start with the negative guy I think we're going with this. I think that my answer is going to surprise you though. I think it's actually good for game day because he has a hell of an audience people like to watch him and his antics. I will say that I'm 50/50 on McAfee. I enjoy some of the stuff that he does. Some of it's over the top and I get annoyed. But I think it's good for college game day and I think it's good for college football. And just ask the Texas A&M kid who finally hit a field goal. It's good for him. He made $15,000. Yeah, and they let him. He got a re-kick too. Yeah, and I will say this. I think that that segment is friggin awesome. I love the field goal kicking segment because gee, I wonder why. Well, you need to get it. It's easy. That's all I'll say. People think kicking is easy and it takes a hell of a lot of work to be a good kicker. And I think that that's fantastic. So I actually like his show. He's very upfront with the fact that he's not an expert. You know, that kind of stuff. And then you're just ruining that. You're ruining this whole question. Like, I was not expecting you to go this direct. Like I said, 50% of the stuff he does annoys the crap out of me. But I do find him entertaining at times. So I think it's good for football. 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 podcast, Spotify or wherever you get podcasts. I buy it because he brings a different, he brings a different dynamic to that set. And it's, and it's something that none of them have. Right. And I think that allows them to enjoy themselves more and bring kind of a lighter side to college football. He sits right next to Saban. Exactly. But guess what? Nick Saban loves the guy. I think he's the definition of the fan that a lot of people have in them at the end of the day. He brings out the fan and a lot of people. And I think like hearing him sing, you know, what was it like take me home, you know, West Virginia last week and then at the SEC Championship last year when you start singing one team's fight song and then, you know, stands on the table and completely, you know, changes direction and that sort of stuff. Pat McAfee is authentic. He's true to himself. He's going to give you the same thing every week. And again, I like the diversity that he brings to a set that is relatively, you know, outside of Lee Corso. It's, it's very kind of buttoned up. You know, this is how you're going to do things and analyze their shirts on. Yeah. Yeah. Like when I watched him take the shirt off, it's like, we really need to see Mac. Right. But at the same time, I was like, this guy's a punter and it's like, he said he puts his arm around saving shape. You know, he's got no shirt on. Yeah, that's right. That's where it goes over the line for me. It is. I did find it very curious the way they have that table set or the desk set up. McAfee sits right in the middle. Like he's like the host. He's like the center square. Yeah, it's like McAfee's in the middle and saving his next to him. And then you got Reese Davis. You got Fowler and Desmond sitting on the extreme outsides on opposite ends. It's, I was really struck by the fact, because usually you would just put the host like Reese Davis would sit in the middle, then everyone else is basically an ant, you know, like it. And that's kind of how you would go, but they've got Davis sitting off to the side. I mean, I agree, obviously with with a good chunk. Like, I think people forget that part of the business is being able to entertain. And Pat McAfee obviously entertains and he does keep that, you know, that, that set loose. He keeps Nick Saban a little bit looser. Saban's on his show during the week with him as well. Herb Street is said like he was getting a little bit burned out. Maybe as long as he'd been on game day with just all the different stuff. But when McAfee came on, he's the reason that he stayed on. So I think it's pretty cool. And like, you know, like, again, he's not going to be everybody's cup of tea. But the guy was an NFL punter. And I think that's important to remember that was a punter. Like, how many punters go on to any kind of media career. Yeah, you know, and he has, he has turned this thing. He's, you know, just kind of put it all on himself and built this little mini empire and it's led to not only his own show being on ESPN every day, but obviously being part of game day as well. So I think it's pretty incredible. Just the path that he's gone on to get there. I was, this obviously wasn't on game day, but I was, I was texting you guys when they were in Ireland a couple of weeks ago and week zero. And he was in that pub with Saban sitting next to him in the pub. And the man was just an animal with the Guinness. He would, they would bring him a glass of Guinness like a full pint of Guinness. And he wasn't just, you know, like taking a drink or two, set it down. Every glass they brought him was just straight down the shoot and he did six in the first hour of the show, just like that straight down the shoot for what I understand he had to step off the set for a little bit and collect himself, but well, they were saying to, I mean, if they would have let us do that on our old show back in the day, Vince, like, I wouldn't have minded that on a Friday afternoon. He just, he just takes it to another level, though, like I, like he was a, he was black, practically blacked out, man, like he was. There was a guy from like an Irish football club sitting next to him. They start the interview and like five minutes into the interview. He reintroduces himself to the guy. That was, but you know what, the next day, they're doing game day and he's back to normal. He's back to normal. You wouldn't know he'd never happened the day. Yeah. He's like, who knows what happened after that show was over either. You can rally. Oh my goodness. It was funny listening and talk about, because he was in West Virginia the night before the college game day at Texas A&M and he said he got in so late. He had a sleep on the bus waiting to get up to do college game day at Texas A&M and he said, you know, Texas A&M were practicing or doing their, you know, like rally cries or cheers the night before. And he said from the bus, like he could hear it was waking him up. So it's like, to me, the guy is an animal. He's just all over the place, doesn't need much rest, can drink all these beers. He's kind of envious of him. He's like getting older and he's not slowing down by any means, so. All right, game props. Let's do some player props, Riley Leonard's official over under 205 and a half yards. And two hundred five and a half passing yards and one and a half touchdown passes over over. Yeah, over over. I agree. I think there's going to be an emphasis on throwing the football. I think so too. I'm not. I'm not entirely confident because, you know, again, like last week, skewed me a little bit, but I think he's going to get over on both of these as well. His rushing yards, 42 and a half is the number. Even if he's not running the ball a ton, I still think he could get a couple big ones, right? And so. I don't know. And actually, I think the competitor in him is going to want to run some of these, but at the end of the day, I think they're going to be like, listen, you don't need to run. You don't need to take extra hits. You know, let's focus on maybe passing the ball. So I'm going to talk myself into the under on this one. Well, to be, I agree with you, Jesse, but to be contrarian, I'll take you over. He just breaks one run like that. That's what I'm worried about. Just one big one. And that's what I'm seeing is really all it's going to take is probably one runner to run past, you know, the 90 percent. And he's like, okay, I won't run anymore. Right. So I've got to go over on that as well. Jeremiah Love, rushing yards, 67 and a half. Over way over. I think he's going to hit a hundred yard game. I think so too. I think there's a chance both him and Price had a hundred yards. I wouldn't doubt it. Price doesn't have a number on FanDuel. It was only, it was only Leonard and Love for the rushing. Receiving numbers, Jaden Greathouse, 31 and a half over over. Yep. He had 26 last week, Bo Collins, 48 and a half. I think he's going to get his fair share too. I think that's really, you know, three, four catches. And again, if this offense is going into little, you know, at least the first half and maybe the third quarter, I'd like to say the over as well. Yep. Take it. Book it. Only thing that makes me question it is again, like who they're playing and the fact that you might see some other guys get more involved in the past game, whether it's Chris Mitchell or Thomas or whoever it happens to be. But I'm over on Collins number as well. The line right now, as we speak, Notre Dame favored by 27 and a half. And their point, their point total, 37 and a half. Northern Illinois point, point total, seven and a half. The overunder for the game is 44 and a half. So keep those numbers in mind as we do our predictions, who wants to go first. Jesse, I'll go first because I don't think mine has been made official yet. You two are just going to regurgitate whatever you put out in the in the article earlier. I've been posted. Are we out there? It is out there. All right. I'm going to go. Notre Dame 44, Northern Illinois is zero. I think that they're going to pitch a complete shutout. I don't think it matters defensively who is out there for Notre Dame because we said this earlier in the week, they rotate so many people that they already are getting in second and third string type of guys right so I think we might potentially see some four string but those guys are going to be, those are guys are going to be playing for Northern Illinois at the end of the day, right? And so I just think that Notre Dame is going to handle business. I don't see them. Listen, if they give Texas A&M's offense fits, then they're going to give this offense even more fits. And I'm confident to say that Notre Dame defense kind of handed Texas A&M some points, but they had some bonehead penalties early on that led to some points for Texas A&M and if they can clean that up defensively, I don't see why Northern Illinois should score in this game. So I think they cover. I think they take, you know, hit the over on their total points and I think Northern Illinois is definitely under a 44-0 game. I just have to ask you, Jesse, because we talked about the odds on this yesterday plus 430, the odds for Notre Dame to get a shutout. Did you lay something on that? Yeah, I have 100 on Notre Dame to cover 29.5 and 25 on the defense to put on the shutout. 29.5 is what you got. I took an alternate spread to get like plus money on to get a little bit more money. Got you. Got you. Okay. Vince, your prediction. I'm taking over all that because I feel like, I mean, my prediction is 49 to 10. And so if I'm going to say it's 49 to 10, then that's over for Northern Illinois on points. It's over for Notre Dame on points. It's over for the combined points and Notre Dame's covering. So I have to stick true to my word, right? Because that's what I think is going to happen. So I think points are going to be easy to come by for Notre Dame. I think the 10, you know, probably comes later on in the game. I agree that this defense shouldn't let Northern Illinois score while the first team is out there. But I think Notre Dame subs in before Northern Illinois does and maybe they get a touchdown. Maybe they get a field goal. You know what I mean? So like, I think they're going to score. But I don't think it'll be by very much. So 49 10 is my prediction. See, I still think that it's early in the season. I'll golden stubborn enough. I don't think you're going to see no name backups until maybe the fourth quarter. I think defense, you're going to see backups when Marcus Riemann says, I'll put the back. That's also fair. Yeah, I don't think he's, I don't think he's going to try to protect the shutout and, you know, that kind of thing if it's at that point. But yeah, like, I do have 45 to 10 Notre Dame winning. So I am over on all those now. I'm not completely even confident that Northern Illinois is actually going to score a touchdown. But I feel like I just like. I think this one like how this game goes is largely going to sort of determine how I'm going to predict the next couple of games, basically, you know what I mean? Like, if, if Northern Illinois doesn't find the in zone or if Northern Illinois does get shut out, I think that's, that's it. Not quite the statement is holding A&M to 13 points, but it's going to be a pretty big statement of its own. So I just, like a lot of guys are going to play in this game, obviously, and I think it's going to be a big offensive day and a turnover filled day for Northern Illinois and their quarterback Ethan Hampton. I'm trying to see if I can find usually on FanDuel. There's a winning margin and I would definitely take Notre Dame to win by like 40 plus, but I can't find it anywhere. All right. Sorry to let everyone down. That's okay. Well, that's going to do it for this show. I be count down to kickoff. Hit the like button. I guess, you know, like, we just asked that you hit the like button. There's nobody in the live chat, like usual. And of course, if you're listening on your podcast platform. Give us a review, rate us, and of course, you know, follow the podcast, you know, follow it, but hold the subscribe to it for the whole thing. We appreciate you post game show coming up after the game Notre Dame and Northern Illinois, of course, kickoff and 330 Eastern time post game show after and we'll be back against an eye on Monday. I be count down to kick off. Have a great weekend. Enjoy the game and we will talk to you then on Ivy Nation Sports. [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING]
