Yes, Notre Dame still has a lot to prove in 2024 despite a huge win over Texas A&M. Bryan goes through what we can still learn about Notre Dame, including this weekend, and what this team still has to prove nationally.
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It was one of the more fascinating breakdowns I've ever done of a run game, where the raw numbers were so good. And the efficiency was so bad. So I break all that down. I have about a 20 minute video breaking down sort of the adjustments that were made. I've got I think five or six plays that go through the all 22 breakdown. What A&M was doing that was given their any problems. What they adjusted with. Why they adjusted that way. How it affected Texas A&M and why it worked. And so I have that on there as well. So I was working on that all day today. So I'm doing a little bit of a night show today. Something unique. I'm not more of just reaction to the time constraints I had today. Not going to be something we're going to do regularly. But I do know there's some people that are listening that don't normally get to listen. So we are glad to be able to hang out with you here tonight. But got a lot to talk about today and going to die first into a conversation about sort of what is next for Notre Dame. What do they have to prove. And then part two is going to kind of segue right into this weekend's preview, which is the Northern Illinois Huskies and what to expect and what Notre Dame. Has to has to do against the Huskies this weekend. So a lot going on everybody before we get started hit that like button hit the subscribe button hit the notification bell share this podcast. I've had a ton of sign up to the message board the last couple days. People are excited about Notre Dame. So make sure that you are not one of those people gets left out of. Of what we got going on at Irish Breakdown. So definitely go to boards on our breakdown.com and sign up for 99 a month 49 99 annually. If you want to support us above and beyond the normal thing we do have a booster club option. 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For a whole new way to nug it's got to be Wendy's at participating US Wendy's. So everybody I don't know if you guys heard all this but Notre Dame has basically secured themselves a spot in college football playoff after they went over Texas A&M. That's what I was told by ESPN that's why I've been told by a lot of people that just beating that one SEC team that most people pick between seventh and ninth in the SEC means Notre Dame has smooth sailing to the college football playoffs. So there we go. So we're just going to go ahead and take them next on 11 12 weeks off. Since Notre Dame doesn't have anything else to prove apparently and this is sort of the arrival moment for Notre Dame. Yeah, that's what they're saying but that says as the great Nick Saban has said that is rat poison. That is them trying to build build Notre Dame up so they can tear them down at some point time later in the season this football team still has a lot to prove. There's a lot to improve and and there's a lot we're going to learn about this football team here moving forward and and that's really something that Marcus free the words Marcus Freeman uses to describe the goal the best version of yourself. You know, was a one play one life you know 12 unique opportunities all those different things that he talks about are going to be very important that they get lived out. Here moving forward because while I kind of mock the whole. And the funny thing is they're not really doing it in a way to praise Notre Dame they're doing it in a way to kind of almost talk down Notre Dame well you know they got this win and it may not be that good. But you know they don't play anybody else everybody else stinks etc etc etc. And so then if Notre Dame doesn't blow out every opponent by 40 because I know Notre Dame maybe not that good and etc they didn't beat this team who sucks and that team who sucks and they don't play anybody and all this other kind of stuff so you guys know that's what they're setting up for but for Notre Dame the focus can't be on all of that. The focus needs to be on what Marcus Freeman always says the focus is on which is you got to worry about us you know his team needs to look in the mirror and say we got to worry about us that's what they need to say. Because it doesn't matter who the opponent is and we've said this for a while too. Notre Dame needs to focus on Notre Dame because that's what kind of roster they have. We said it this weekend about Texas A&M it's definitely true of Northern and oil to be true of Purdue and Miami of Ohio and Louisville and Stanford and Georgia Tech and Navy and Florida State and Army and Virginia and USC I hope I'm not forgetting anybody. If Notre Dame plays their game they will win the rest of their games if they play if they're the best version of themselves they will win but Notre Dame still has to prove that they can be that on a regular basis. So while everybody's excited about you know the win over Texas A&M and the Notre Dame players should take a sense of satisfaction from that win. This is no attempt to try to tell them hey that win didn't mean anything it wasn't that big of a win any of that this is this is this is not that at all. This is saying that yes this win was great. You did what you needed to do but it was one win doesn't count for extra points because it was an SEC team. You don't get bonus points because it was on the road you don't get bonus points because it's a 12 no team or mean a top 25 team. It simply counts as one win. It counts the same amount as it'll count if you beat Northern Illinois one that's it. And so the focus is yes we did what we needed to do that weekend now it's about getting better and taking that next step because it look. This like I said this is not a this is not a finished football team this isn't even close to a finished product on this football team I mean and as you break down the film you realize that like goodness gracious. I mean that there's so much of this football team needs to improve upon and you know who else that's true of every team in the country has a lot to improve upon right now. And so Notre Dame needs to make sure that they're not buying into the the false hype meant to distract this football team that's being stated publicly about how you know they've they I heard somebody on ESPN and he was joking he was being kind of funny but kind of laid into you know talking down the schedule and all this other kind of stuff about how you know Notre Dame's the first team to clench of spot and playoffs. And again it was just another it was another you know again he was being funny and I thought he delivered it well but the point was basically saying is like this is the hurdle that they have and nobody else is any good. And so I actually kind of how USC goes through the season and if they start getting a little bit more respect and some of those comments were made before USC. And then I've seen comments since well they don't play anybody until USC. And the reality is is that's why this Texas in game was so big guys. Look I said this to multiple people before the game I don't know if I said this in the show. But it's something that that we talked about in different ways which is if you don't beat A&M. It's not another game on your schedule that's going to earn you respect or that is going to satisfy Notre Dame fans and that's understandable. You lose to A&M you're not going to get respect because you beat Louisville or Georgia Tech or Stanford or Florida State now, maybe USC but that's a team that you've kind of beat consistently in recent years. You won five out of six against USC I think eight of the last 11 against USC. And so there's there's just no game that's going to give you that kind of respect so you got the Texas A&M win what you can't do now is take a step back. Right and and so you have to go out there and prove yourself on a on a week to week basis and become the best version of yourself because I see Andrew Gilmore in the chat talking about Louisville. I think Louisville's really good. Andrew clearly thinks Louisville's very good, but can we all agree on one thing, you're not going to get respect for being Louisville. Right, you're not. You have to you have to look good Notre Dame is now going to have to focus on with just from a they son they they're going to focus on but the reality is is in the eyes of committee there's going to be some, some style points are going to be needed because they're not going to get that respect so it has to be internal. That's the whole point. The push now was about what's inside. And and do you have that competitive spirit where it's not so much about the opponent it's a much it's more about I wasn't the perfect so I can go out and get better. And for Marcus Freeman and coaching staff the reality is is you're going to have to focus on that message also but let's be honest. If this coaching staff has the wisdom that I think that they have, they're going to have to find some things to try to motivate this football team moving forward. And whether it's disrespect from the outside, whether it's internal things that you look at, whether it's, you know, setting certain goals and no matter you might have beat a team 50 to three. But if you don't meet your goals and darn it it's not good enough we've got to go out and get better next week there's going to have to find some ways to sort of motivate this football team for the next three games. Especially as next up this upcoming game beyond just. We have to get better that's got to be the foundation but there needs to be a little bit more to it than that. Because that's I mean that that's what that's what we have to do. And so when you look at this football team here's another aspect of it as well of what this team has to prove. And what what's left on their, their slate moving forward, including this week and it gets Northern Illinois is. This team, this team went out this weekend and did something that that a lot of people, including Notre Dame fans didn't think they could do or. I should say that that may not be a right way of saying it even people that thought they could and would win still recognize that it was the kind of game that Notre Dame hasn't won in the past or a more rational view. Is it's not a game that they've consistently won or won enough. They clearly have won games like they like they had against Texas A&M. But it you hadn't done it against an SEC team on the road because you hadn't really played once and it's George in 2019 and before that I. I think the last road game against an SEC team that Notre Dame played in the next season, I think was 04. I mean, Mike Goolsbee was like a team captain on that team. I believe that that team that Notre Dame that Goolsbee played on back in 04 Brady and those guys was I think the last time Notre Dame played on the road against an SEC team prior to the George game in 2019. And then of course this weekend's game so you know you had that opportunity in what Notre Dame proved this weekend. Not only do they prove they they can win games like that but they also proved that they can handle some adversity. They proved that they can go on the road in the heat. I said I said road game guys they've beaten lots of SEC teams and they've beaten SEC teams away from home they beat LSU twice in bowl games I said road games. Regular season road games South Carolina was in played in the state of Florida and it was a bowl game. But the point is what this game showed me is that this team can handle adversity. This team can handle being the underdog they can handle being disrespected they can handle going on the road in a tough environment against a very well coach football team a very talented football team a competitive football team. And fall behind right you fall behind early you tie it up they take the lead again you tie it up you take a lead they tie it up and then you go down and handle business and put a team away. And there's an expression that we've used a lot here before in the pet or not just a lot that we've done times in the past. And the expression goes like this. It's you've got to prove that you can handle adversity. Once you've done that. You then have to go prove that you can handle success. And what this Notre Dame football team is entering into right now until some level of adversity hits and I don't know that that's going to be possible for the next month until Louisville comes to town. Is you've got to now prove you can handle success. You've got to prove that you don't have that well we got that big win. So now we can kind of coast for the next three weeks now look we've said this right on our end. These are get right games for Notre Dame we've said that and that is true. But you as a football team can't play practice like that you can't think like that you can't focus like that the coaches can't focus like that. You've got to go out and say hey look yes we got this big win that's great. But can we build on it. Can we make sure we don't lose this momentum that we have from this. Can we go out there and stay focused. Stay on track. Keep pushing ourselves. You know I want to see a guy like Riley Mills be excited about the win and then look at the film and say hey I got to get better here. I want to see Howard Cross do that. I want to see Xavier Watts do that. I want to see Benjamin Morse and say hey I only give up one completion for a yard five attempts. I don't want to give up any completions for any yards. I want to see Christian Grace. Hey yeah I made some plays but I got to use better technique there. I've got to make sure I do a better job of playing the ball here and and I want to see Jeremiah loves. Hey I did a great job there but I've got to do a better job you know here and this missed opportunity here. And and I want to see that across the board to where yeah they're happy with the win but they're going to look at it and say man I got to get better. Right that that that might have been good enough for this but that's not that's that's not the best I can be. And that's sort of Marcus Freeman's mantra like we'll say here in this show. You know that's not going to be Georgia. Right like that's not going to be Ohio State you proved what you do when you play that way can beat Texas A&M. You prove that as a football team Notre Dame proved that. But can they go out and then say okay but you got to take it to another level when you play the Bulldogs or the Buckeyes or you know the Longhorns or the Crimson Tide. You know teams like that. Is that performance from Saturday good enough to beat those teams the answer is no it's not but you can't say that as a football coach you don't want to talk about Georgia because you've got Northern Illinois it's. And that's where I think Marcus Freeman's mantra of be the best version of yourself really. Holds right that matters. Because you now have set a target in front of you that's honestly. It's it's it's on it. It's really hard to attain it. You may do it for a game but there's a lot you got to look at and say even an even when you have great games and hey I can do better here. I need to do better there and when your focus is on perfection. There's always room to get better. And that's going to have to be the focus and that's where leadership is really going to come into play now. I'll be honest I'm more confident that the leadership is in place to handle that because of how impactful the leadership was going down to Texas A&M and what everything that they went through down there so. You know it's like a. And you know it just it gets to the point where. The great teams never get satisfied. Christian grace shouldn't be satisfied with the game you had on Saturday. Don Schuler should not be thinking about man I'm I'm the dude. I had a pick I made a bunch of tackles. I was laying dudes out I had a really good game. He needs to be saying how did I miss that play I should have had another play there I should have had a tackle for loss there I got to do better there. I should have given up that completion I got fortunate that that guy didn't have situational awareness and field awareness and ran out of bounds short of the sticks. I didn't do that he did that I got to do better there. You need to see both call and say hey I made that great catch and that's all great but man I can't and I had a really nice crack block on J loves 29 yard run but I can't miss the first crack block. I can't drop that one ball that I dropped I can't miss run this route I've got to make sure I'm doing a better job and that's got to be across the board. And and that's where leadership comes not just from a captain standpoint but in every room to say guys good job this weekend. But we can and we will get better. And that's what this team has to prove because if they can have that mentality. Then you'll still see them on a on a steady growth and let's be honest about something else right. Notre Dame proved against am that they can be the team like am which in my opinion they have done before. I've said this before I don't I don't think am is that much better than NC State last year. I don't know that this am team is that much better than 2022 North Carolina that one 22 game or one nine games. They're better on defense but are they as good on offenses that North Carolina team was. Very questionable. So I think they've beaten teams like this before I do think the magnitude was different. The environment was very different. But what they haven't done is do it consistently. And we're now about to enter a period where Marcus Freeman's got to prove something as a football coach. And we've talked about this with Marcus Freeman. We've talked about this with Al Golden. We've talked about this without Washington. The coaches that are in kind of year three. Yes, you had success in year two great success in year two for certain guys I Washington did a great job last year I'll golden did a great job last year. Year one not so good. Marcus Freeman did some good things last year proved as a coach that he can get his team ready to not only play but to dominate inferior opponents. Like they absolutely prove that last year Notre Dame against teams that were definitely beneath them dominated. They won 10 games last year. Only one of those games was by less than 21 points. And that was on the road against a ranked Duke team just similar to Texas A&M in my opinion in certain ways. You dominant you beat you beat Navy by what 46 Texas State by 53 NC State by what's it 20 24 beat Central Michigan by 24. You beat trying to go through the schedule USC by 28. You beat pit by 50 was it 56 can't believe I'm already forgetting some of the scores from last year it's unacceptable by me. What was the final score is it was it was a 50 of the pit game it was 58 to seven so 51. You beat wake for you beat NC State by 21 beat wake force by 38 you beat Stanford by 33 and you beat Oregon State by 32. Great job. But is that who Marcus Freeman's team is from now forever or are they similar to the team in 2022 that played way down to their competition of times. Are they the team that battled Ohio State for 60 minutes but then didn't battle Marshall a week later. Northern Illinois is not that far off from Marshall in certain areas. And that same team went out and lost to a three and nine Stanford team at home. Northern Illinois is a better football team than that 29 2022 Stanford team was. They struggled at home against UNLV. Northern Illinois team is better than that Purdue was better than that my new Ohio was better than that. So in year three coach Freeman needs to prove that his program is in a place where they don't look down their nose at teams and they think they're just going to roll the ball out and go play. The hope is is that they have enough veteran leadership to kind of pull the young guys along because when you were with you tend to worry about that when you have a lot of young guys on your team. You know because young guys don't quite have that maturity of. You know like hey we got to bring it every day there's a there's a level of hey we've arrived. You know. And so the veteran leadership needs to make sure that that doesn't happen. And so what else is there to prove for Notre Dame what is a game like Northern Illinois mean well it means a lot when you're talking about big picture trying to look at who this football team is. And will they be able to go in and say hey listen we're going we're going we're going to blow that team out. Because yes they did that last year. Sure great. I'm glad they did that last year let's be honest. The teams they played last year were not very good. And I don't just mean not good like they came from a smaller level. What I mean good is they just were pretty bad. Central Michigan was a five and seven football team last year that was coming off of a three point win over New Hampshire and lost by 24 to Michigan State who was not very good last year. They lost by Buffalo they lost to Buffalo by the same amount of points they lost to Notre Dame. So yeah they got to get better the last couple times their name is played a team like this that was good they got they got they either got beat. Or it was competitive Marshall beat him two years ago. Toledo almost beat him the year before that at home. And that wasn't even a great Toledo team. That's a little team with seven and six. So you do have to prove as if you're Notre Dame. That word we're passed to the 2022 stuff that's in the rearview mirror. This is now a team that shows up against those teams that are not that good and just or I should say not that good because I do think Northern Illinois is a good football team but clearly inferior to you. And handle business. That's what Notre Dame is going to have to prove this weekend and I think that's something that's at stake for them this weekend is to show that they can be that kind of team. And I also think that a game like this is very important for program development. And one of the things that drove me nuts about the previous coaches regime was there were so many games against opponents like this where they just kind of just let teams hang around way too long and then they kind of run them off the field in the fourth quarter. And so then you couldn't get your younger guys in the way you needed to. I mean you look at 2021 for example, you had your blown floor state out you're ready to run them off the field. One more stop and score and you can get some of your backups in and they kind of took their foot off the gas and let floor state come back game goes overtime. The hung around with Toledo should have blown them out. You know there are several teams that your USC they should have blown out, you know, maybe they let hang around a little too long. They ended up getting some young guys into those games but they just hung let them hang around too long. Look at 2020. Yeah, they let Duke hang around way too long the floor state hang around way too long. They just you know they didn't blow out Clemson or Georgia Tech the way that they should have they didn't blow out Syracuse the way that they should have. They just they never put teams away the way in the ways they needed to. And it kept them from getting some of the work in that was needed. This needs to be a game where we see either Kenny mention your or CJ car right this because that's got to happen after Steve Angeli gets his time. And so these are games where that's important as well and I don't know how you emphasize that to your veterans but like, you know somehow it. It needs to be understood that hey we saw somebody in the chat ball state a couple years ago so another per vendor built that same season was 2018 I was a playoff. That was a playoff team for Notre Dame that beat ball state by eight. Think about that a playoff team at Notre Dame. Who beat Michigan by seven the week before followed that game up with a eight point win over a ball state team that finished at year four and eight. And lost to Indiana by 28 points the very next game lost to Ohio by 38 points and Toledo by 32 points and Miami Ohio by 21 points Notre Dame beat them by eight. Week later Notre Dame beat a Miami beat a Vanderbilt team that finished six and seven by five and was in a low heat Gilman strip at the goal line of potentially losing that game. Those were the things that were so maddening previously and it was maddening in 2022 under Marcus Freeman last year. They pretty much contraband you know they maybe they could have done a little better in the first half against some of those teams fair fair. But they got to show that they go out there and be that football team that can go out there and just bury a team early. And then, you know, let those guys get behind you and I'm not saying you need to beat Northern or by 50. I'm not saying that I mean you do need to win convincingly though and I like this Northern or team we're going to get into Northern Illinois here in a little bit. And I'm going to kind of give you a talk about some of the things I like and I'll dive more into the matchups tomorrow and, and, and talk about some of the things that I like about this team and, and what they, what they can do and all that kind of stuff. So we'll talk plenty about Northern Illinois including tonight, but this is still a team that when you're a top 10 team, you should beat and beat handily. I'm just just being honest. So, that's obviously another aspect of what Notre Dame has to prove that this weekend, right, and continue to show that you're that 2023 version of yourself. Don't make it. And I'll say this too. It's even more important now. I meant, I wanted to get into this part as well. It's always been important to kind of beat those teams the way you're supposed to to get opportunities to get reps for younger players. I don't, I don't think this staff did a great job of getting guys in as early as they should have last year enough. Maybe that I think that'll tell me there already get some of those guys in now. But this is especially true now in the 16 game playoff era, which is what Notre Dame has to play to win a title. You have to be able to take 1520 snaps off a Howard crosses legs and Riley Mills's legs and Jack Kaiser's legs and Riley Leonard's legs and, you know, Xavier Watts's legs in a game like this. They keep their snaps in the 30s and 40s for the skill players and hopefully in the 20s for your defensive lineman. It because, like, look, what does Jack Kaiser have to prove in a game like this? Nothing. But you also just can't not play them until you've got that game in hand. Same with Riley Mills, Howard Cross, guys like that. Some of the veterans like an RJ open. Maybe I would say I'd want to leave in them more just to get them a little bit more acclimated. But some of those other guys you don't have any to prove in those games. And so, this is a great opportunity for not only team development, but also load management. When you're thinking about projecting to a 16 game season. And if you don't put a team away, then you've got to stay and play to reps and do what you got to do to win that football game. And that's another aspect where going into games like moving forward, if you have a step back mentally, if you have a step back from a focus standpoint, if you have a step back from an intensity standpoint, a chip on your shoulder standpoint. Like, I want to see this team play ticked off all year. I want to say this, see this team kind of takes even some of the quote unquote respect they're getting, and be like, man, you guys are giving us backhanded compliments which some people are not everybody. And I heard Joel Klatt talk about it. I mean, Joel Klatt was very impressed with what he saw from Notre Dame. Other people kind of gave him a backhanded compliment like, yeah, you beat an end but maybe name's not good and the rest of your team, rest of your schedule sucks and so whatever. I'm like, okay, we got something for you guys, but it's also about, you've got to do this to make sure that you're not playing in a necessarily high number of snaps and games where you just shouldn't be playing a high number of snaps. And that's something else that no name's got to prove not just in this game but really over the next three games at four year next five games really if you want to be honest about it when looking at Stanford is kind of that way as well. So those are different aspects of what I want to see from Notre Dame. And when it comes to what this team still has to play for. 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. 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I don't know that I'd feel great about the offense coming in this game because I don't know what it is, but offensive team sometimes when they come off really good games kind of sleepwalk the next week. And I always think about the Virginia game in 2015. So on the opener and you just destroy Texas and I mean play about as perfectly as of a game as you can play. I think Malik Zayer went something crazy like 18 of 21 for over 300 yards and three or four touchdowns and they ran all over Texas. I mean they played a in a lot of ways not flawless but about as close to flawless as you can get in an opener against the team, you know like a brand like that. They came out the next week against Virginia and they just kind of let Virginia hang around and they had some misses of things they shouldn't have missed on and just didn't play it the same fire and focus they did the week before against Texas and that same team that absolutely annihilated Texas on the opener 38 to three, kind of hung around with Georgia Tech you know you have a lead then you let them get a couple on side kicks and then you know I think it wasn't the UMass game something like 28 to 20 with like, I think a minute, two minutes to go in the first half and see I'm actually looking at score up now. I think CJ pro site or CJ Sanders returns a punt for a touchdown. Yeah, it was 28 to 20. No, it was 21 to 20. No name was winning 21 to 20 against UMass who was 0 and 2 coming into that game who was terrible coming into that game. So 21 to 20 with a three over three minutes left UMass punt CJ Sanders runs it back 50 yards makes it 28 20 and then Notre Dame scored his touchdown was six seconds left to go up 35 20 and then they rolled in winning 62 to 27. But you had CJ pro size, you know, scoring a touchdown in the third quarter like that game, that game should have been 42 to seven and half time but you let them hang around because you weren't low focus you weren't locked in you weren't doing the things that you needed to do. You basically just beat them on talent. Will Fuller who just dominated people that you're only had four catches for 57 yards against UMass right I mean those are just things where you weren't locked in you weren't focused the way that they were when they played some of the better teams on their schedule. And that's going to be something where this team won't be able to kind of have that sort of sort of mentality so you're kind of look at it from a, I didn't love what we saw from the offense from an execution standpoint and efficiency standpoint there's a lot of things a lot of clean up penalties wise and timing and tempo and all that kind of stuff but it's kind of a blessing in disguise when you're projecting forward because they're not going to be in there like the old line is going to maybe feel good about themselves for like a day because of how they finish that game but then when they go and they probably did is yesterday if not yes I mean Sunday if they didn't do it then they did a Monday, they're going to go through the film and realize oh my gosh we got to get a lot better. Same thing with Riley Leonard same thing with the running backs and receivers. So there's there's going to be a little bit extra something behind the coaching staff this week about hey yeah we did what we needed to do to get to win and that's something you guys deserve to be praised for but guys fellas this ain't good enough for what we're trying to get to that you guys can and should play a lot better than that so I think I actually feel like they're going to have a chance to kind of come out clicking this week but you kind of need to have a lot you got to get better at you know as a team you need to show more discipline with the penalties and that's certainly true on offense. But Notre Dame's offense has to get better in a hurry because you know there there's certainly a better team than Purdue but Purdue's no slouch this year. And yeah you've got a couple you know three get right games here two get right games and and then a gaming it's Purdue which is a game you should win but you know not a game you can sleep walk through and win convincingly but you've got a team coming into town remember it's going to be a really good football team that you're not going to you know if you score me you scored 20 against them last year and lost by 13 you're going to have to be able to score and put this team away and so they're going to have to get better in a hurry and there's some area obviously there's some areas where they have to get better. The offensive line still needs a lot of work from a chemistry standpoint. There's a lot of work needed from an execution standpoint this is yes they almost doubled their career starts from last week but they still only have 11. You know there's a lot of room for improvement there. Timing in the past game is really needs a ton of work. Riley Leonard and timing is kind of twofold timing is the quarterback's progressions going through the pocket Riley was way too fast going from read to read last week. And I felt like there were times where if he would have stuck to the read for another second he would have had some guys come and open that he could hit for big plays and so he's going to have to that's an area of improvement for him that he's going to have to focus on this week. Receivers going to have to do a better job winning at the line of scrimmage this week. They're going to have to do a better job being a little bit sharper having a little bit more sense of urgency is rock runners they're going to have to do a better job of consistency and blocking. That's some really good blocks on Saturday really bad blocks on Saturday. And then timing is also you know Riley getting a better feel for okay when and how to get the ball out and where to put the ball and those type of things so certainly a lot of a lot of need for for that they have to be more aggressive. In the past game I want to see that this upcoming week. I want to see them find some vertical answers so that's certainly something that Notre Dame still has a lot to prove here over the next these next three games. Efficiency in the run game I'm going to show you guys something so I'm just going to give you a little taste here. Of the breakdown I did for Notre Dame's game against Texas A&M so this is just a small sample there's four graphs like this plus about a 20 almost a 20 minute video breaking it all down. But I broke down every play and and type in all the data and I break the game down and as you look at that sheet right there. I included Jadarion prices 37 yard run in that I took out the hole that Cooper Flanagan had. And I explained there in the breakdown but here's the deal when you look at those numbers. The raw numbers are great 29 carries 204 yards 7.0 yards per play per carry two touchdowns along a 47 but then that final number is the efficiency numbers those are basically plays where you win. A good performance not a great performance but a good performance is when you're at about 60% efficiency. Notre Dame was at 37.9 efficiency in that game. You look at their success on first down yeah the numbers look great 17 carries 134. Right but then look at the efficiency 41.2. That's not where you need to be third down 0 for two on third down. One of two on fourth down you need to be perfect on fourth down now you and I would argue that they got that fourth down spot but that play could have been blocked a lot better and not been put in the hands of the officials. Certainly certainly could have done that and that's something that no name is going to have to get get better at so while there was a lot of there was a very good step in the right direction these numbers show that Notre Dame has to get a lot, lot, lot better. So I did want to give a little sample this is just to let you guys know this is premium board member stuff only I'm just giving you guys a little bit of a taste here to bake back up the point that I'm making but this is a much more thorough breakdown. And as I said there's also a 20 minute video with with clips all 22 clips from the game and all that kind of stuff so that kind of shows you what I'm talking about though right. I mean that that shows you the air they the errors they just they got to get better. And there's still a lot of work to be done and that's what the focus needs to be on this for this football team. And here's thing too they show that they can start they can finish really well Notre Dame controlled the, like I was talking to somebody, they asked me about how the environment was at am I still great environment I mean loud crowd into it. The chance are kind of weird but it's also partly you love you love the excitement they have and, and, and I mean the press box was shaking the whole game I said well it wasn't shaking the whole game it was shaking for the first 54 minutes of the game it wasn't last six minutes, because the last six minute no rain dominated. And now you need to show that yes, you can do that. But you got to learn to start faster as well offensively because yeah, it worked against A&M. But it may not work against Georgia may not work against Ohio state may not work against Texas may not work against Alabama may not work against Louisville may not work against USC. So they're going to have to be a much better team in order to be able to dominate the way that that this team should and could dominate offensively. So there's a lot to get better on that get better at on that side of the ball. And then finally defensively, you know, look, it's good early when they played a really well in a lot of areas, but three areas that I want to see this team still get better at when you talk about what can they do to improve and and get better as a football team and continue to make a big statements. Number one, get better tackling this Northern Illinois game is perfect for Notre Dame. Because yes, it's a game you could control, but there's there's two to three kids on this Illinois offense that are legit good. And I'll dive into it when when we get into the Northern will break down, but there's some kids that running back, they got a kid at receiver, and they got a kid at tight end that are good football players, really good football players, and not just Mac level players, like not what I have them transfer Notre Dame, no, but they could play for a lot of teams in the power five level, and they're going to put you in some stressful situations schematically. So this is a great game to get better at tackling and they're going to need that for the, you know, for next week against Purdue and they're definitely going to need that against Louisville and USC down the road. So that's this is actually a great opponent for you to improve on the thing that you were probably worst at on Saturday, which is tackling. And the reason I say this is a good opponent for that, because when you play a team that's just not athletic and not very good, you can get a false sense of security on who you are. Yeah, we tackled all them, but, but they're not very good. The reason it matters that, you know, Artorio Brown and the kids that they have Trayvon Rudolph and guys like that for Northern league football players that make you work is because if you're shut them down, you kind of had to do something that then builds for what you've got to do against even better opponents down the road. So that's a very, very important thing, in my opinion, for this Notre Dame defense. They also have to obviously the linebackers still need to continue to grow and develop more consistencies needed. Tons of flash plays like if I took the 10 best plays that we saw from the linebackers, you know, Jaylen Steve flying out to the flats, Jaylen Steve crash in the backside on a goal line play, Drake Bowen blowing dudes up, Kingsville, I'm awesome making plays in space, blowing dudes up, Jack Kaiser being where he needs to be, Jayden Alsbury blowing things up. You'd be looking at a lie by his way and they played great. And it's okay. Well, now let me show you the 10 worst plays of linebackers and you're like, man, they got to get a lot better. And that's a good place to be. Guys, when you hold a power five team, it's a legitimate top 25 team to 246 yards of offense and only it's 3.6 yards per play. And you look at as many things and their names got to get better at. That's an I mean, that's a great place to be, but you still have to get better. And so the linebackers have to get better. And then I want to see the D line make more plays. This is a very experienced Northern Illinois offensive line. It's a very good Mac offensive line. And you're going to have to work. You're not just going to be able to walk out there and and say, Hey, let's let's go do our thing and just roll the ball out and they're just going to they're going to, you know, cower to you. This they've got some size on that O line at certain spots and their veterans, I think for returning starters, they're they're a good Mac offensive line. One of the better Mac offensive lines in 2024. So the D line is going to have to be on top of their game. So when I look at Notre Dame and you ask, what's their still to play for? You know, what do they have to prove? Everyone's anointing them as they're they've locked the playoff berth and all those kinds of nope, they're not there yet. You had a great win, but you've got to have 11 more, which means there's a lot of a lot of room to get better, a lot of need to get better. If this team is not only going to make the cost for a playoff, because here's the deal, guys, the goal is not to make the playoff. The playoff is a means to an end. You can't get to your ultimate goal if you don't make the playoff. That's kind of that focus. You got to get there. But what you're building towards is not to get to the playoff. It's not, you know, that, you know, the ladder from the program, you know, starting in defense, place at the table, you know, smash your head into a window, because that's the moment you've quote unquote arrived. It's like, okay, well, you've arrived, but now what are you going to do? And the whole thing that we've all talked about Notre Dame goes 12 and 0 and losing the first round of playoffs. Are any of you really feel like, Hey, this team turned a corner? No, we've seen we've done that before. We've seen that before, right? We've been down that road with Notre Dame with 12 and 0 and 2012. Got their bus kicked in the postseason. When 12 and 0 and 2018 got their bus kicked in the postseason. Went 10 and 0 in the regular season in 2020. Got their bus kicked twice in the postseason that year, right? So it getting to the play off isn't the ultimate goal for Notre Dame. That might be whatever he's talking about now. But even if Notre Dame does have a much easier path to the playoff than most top teams, and I think that's fair to say, I think Notre Dame's path to the playoff is probably cleaner than just about every team in the top 10. But that doesn't mean A, that it's easy or B, that you can just kind of roll the ball out and win all of them. Because if you win 12 and 0, go 12 and 0 just because you're better than everybody else, but you don't actually develop as a team, then you're going to find yourself falling short once you actually get to the playoff. And in getting a home playoff game is going to be great, but that's just step one towards the ultimate goal. It's not the end all be all. And that's why you need to improve. You can't rest on what you did against A&M. It just was a step. And that's going to be a big thing. And that's what note certainly what Notre Dame has to prove. And that what is what the focal point should be for Notre Dame this weekend when they go to play Texas A&M or excuse me, when they go play Northern Illinois. So I'm going to get to speaking of Northern Illinois, I'm going to get to a breakdown of the Huskies next we're going to dive into into their season and kind of who they are and what they've done. And then a pull up some stats here of this football team and talk about kind of what I like. And some areas where you know, just give you an overview of who they are. And I'm going to use last year's stats to kind of show what they did last season, talk about, you know, what they do offensively and defensively and get into those type of things. And a little about their personnel. And of course tomorrow they're in the middle week rundown. I'll dive even more into that with some of the stats breakdowns of different things tomorrow. So we'll dive even deeper into it. But here next I'm going to give sort of an introductory look at Notre Dame's next opponent, which is the Northern Illinois Huskies. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [BLANK_AUDIO]
