(upbeat music) - My biggest thought process at halftime, outside of making sure my kids were gonna go to bed, so I could actually enjoy the second half, was, you know, let's see what Mike Dembrock's gonna do. You know, I wanna see now, let's see the adjustments at halftime. Let's see where Notre Dame is coming out, 'cause they're gonna receive, right? We knew they were gonna get the ball first. You know, let's see what they think is working, what they think is not working. Let's see what happens here in the second half. That was my biggest takeaway, because you're right. As bad as we think that they played offensively, and I don't think anybody's gonna stand here and be like that offense that we saw in the first half is gonna win them a national championship. None of us are sitting here saying that, by any stretch of the imagination, right? So it was, okay, what are they gonna do in the second half to change it up? You know, to, you know, they've now seen it. They've seen what Elko wants to do defensively against him. What are they gonna do, right? So here they go, Notre Dame gets the ball. Pass the flan again, nine yards, run, run. Run on fourth down, incomplete to fourth in the flat, which is essentially a run. Run, scramble for 10, and then you get to the fourth down play that should have been a first down that they reviewed, and they said it wasn't a first down, but I think you kind of saw, okay, we think we can run against these guys. We think that there's something here that we can do, and we can use Riley as well to force the issue in the run game. I mean, look, Marcus Freeman said it a half time, well, we're a run first team, and anybody that doesn't understand that hasn't been paying attention. He wants to be a run first team. He wants to be explosive in the air, but he also wants to be a run first team. I think you kind of saw where things were headed in that first try, fellas, I really do. And we can get to the call, you know, the overturned, the non-overturn, whatever, fourth down, turnover on downs, the whole thing, right? But I think you saw in that drive what they were trying to, they wanted to establish something in that first drive. 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. You can now win up to a hundred times your money on prize picks with as little as four correct picks. You can turn $10 into a thousand dollars. I'm a Bears fan, so this one gets me really excited. One Caleb Williams passing yard gets you one win on prize picks every week in September. 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It's controlling the line of scrimmage on both offense and defense, but and obviously it paid off. The two touchdowns Notre Dame scored were both on the ground. So you can look back and say that it worked. So I appreciate that and it goes to the level of consistency that Marcus Freeman has had since he's been here in South Bend. But yeah, definitely look to establish the run game and especially after they started breaking off some big ones and then the call was tough. That was, yeah, that was a fun one. They had momentum, obviously. I think they were moving the football. Maybe not in the big chunk way that a lot of people wanted them to move the football, but this is also a point where I think we learned something about Marcus Freeman, right? Like he was telling his offensive line, boys, I got faith in you that you're gonna be able to get this, right? And it's also, I've got faith in Riley Leonard and he's gonna be able to carry the football and do what he needs to do to get a first down. Look, let's just all say it. He got the first down, okay? And so his faith was realized in that moment. Now, if Jeremiah Love gets that block a little bit better then we don't have a replay and we don't have an issue. Okay, I mean, he might even score to be honest with you because A&M had everybody in the box and there was nobody in the second level. You missed the block, but he still got the first down. Okay, I think going forward on those two fourth downs, I think he was sending a message to his offense. I really do and people can complain and they can say that he should have pondered it or he should have done this, he should have done that. In my opinion, I think he was sending a message to his team and you can do that by the way when you know you have a friggin' amazing defense, okay? That's number one, but I think he was also sending a message to his offensive line and his offense to say, boys, I got faith in you, go get this first down. They rewarded him with it. It was the right call. I mean, they go for fourth down twice, right? It was twice in that drive alone. I don't know if it was more than that part of the game. There was never a fourth down conversion tonight. I can't remember if it was two or three times. There was never one where I said, "That is a terrible decision. "Why are you going for it there?" Even where Riley "got stopped" that we disagree with, right? It was still the right call. It still was, in my opinion, because you hit on a key point there, Vince, is that when your defense is playing that well, you can lean on him a little bit, right? And you can take some chances as far as being very aggressive on fourth down, but it was the right decision, I think. And honestly, if we want to talk about growth of Marcus Freeman, I think a couple of things that have kind of bothered me over the last couple of years is that there have been some like fourth down calls, both him going for it or choosing not to go for it, where I did question at the time of like, "I don't know if that was the right decision, "whether it worked out or didn't work out. "Like, I'm not sure if that's the right decision or not." But tonight, I think that he made calculated risks, and I was totally fine, especially with that one. Like, even though Riley "got stopped" tech, whatever, I do think that it was the right call, I do. - Yeah, the still picture of that still blows my mind, but luckily that did not force the outcome of the game, which is obviously a very, very good thing, because then Notre Dame, you know, the defense steps up, they allow one first down on the next drive. Essentially, if you go three and out or four and out after that, because A&M goes forward on fourth down, I believe that's the one where they thought that Notre Dame jumped off sides, and so they thought they had a free play, and so he just put it out there. So it was kind of a no play, but Notre Dame clearly did not jump off sides, thank goodness they didn't call it, because with the way things were going, I wouldn't have been surprised if they did. But Notre Dame gets the ball back, fourth down, they take, what is it? Four plays, 63 yards, score a touchdown, great run by Price, obviously. I mean, that move that he put on that kid in the second level turned a five-yard game into a 47-yard touchdown. I mean, it was that juke move, and then the speed to get to the outside, and it was like deuces, like I was like, that's a touchdown. Everybody in the house knew that was going to be a score. I mean, what a relief at that point. I was monitoring the boards tonight, and the negativity when it was six-six was just like off the charts, and then like instantly 47-yard run, and all of a sudden Notre Dame's going to win the national title. Like, you want to talk about a rollercoaster of emotions, but that was, I mean, that was massive. That was huge for the offense, it was huge for Notre Dame, got him in the lead, obviously. We'll talk about what happens next, but in that moment, that was a pretty massive four-play drive. Sean, we've talked about this a ton. We always use the phrase, they move differently, right? Well, what does move differently exactly mean? We saw it on that play by Price. We saw it with Jeremiah Love, who bent one back towards the sideline as well during this game. We saw it with Riley Leonard multiple times. That was an SEC defense, guys. Like, we can talk about the transition and how they need to get better, and yeah, Texas A&M is not nearly a finished product. I do think in a year or two, that Coach Elko is going to have that team hummin. I really do, as far as how he's developing quickly, and how he's going to recruit a Texas A&M, but Nick Scartin is a beast. I mean, he is. Torian York is a really good football player. There are some dudes in that secondary that I thought impressed me a decent amount. The greatest part about that run that you're talking about Vince for Jadarion is he made Texas A&M's best linebacker. Not like a guy that we've never heard of. Like, that was Torian York, who's a freshman all-American lesser, that's a really good player. He made look silly, bent it back to the sideline, and then he showcases the athleticism and the explosiveness that he has. So yeah, you want to talk about Notre Dame bridging the gap or closing the gap from SEC speed and Notre Dame speed? Notre Dame had the speed tonight, guys. They had the advantage on speed in the speed department, and I think that price showcased it on that run. Yeah, no doubt about it. What do you think he would have been without the Achilles? Yeah, seriously. We're watching this kid after an Achilles, which is years ago was pretty much the end of a career, athletically, and the way he's come back from that. I credit, once again, them last year, taking their time with him. He really didn't start picking up carries into the middle of the season, and he spent most of his time on special teams, and you saw him towards the end of the season really come on. That with itself yields to what we're seeing now, the dividends that are reaping now, having the patience within the program to say, we're going to take our time. Of course, it's easier when you have the hope in the backfield that can carry the load, but to see him make that run, knowing what he went through. Vince, we've been to practices when he was over there strictly riding a bike. We saw him going through it in the frustration, and to see this young man have a game like tonight, have a run like that. You have to be extremely happy for him on tonight, and it was funny because he said it. He was amped for this game. Didn't get a Texas A&M offer, said he was going to have upwards to 25 to 30 people in the stands. No, I think he said it's close to 40 if I'm not mistaken. So yeah, that was huge for him in front of his people, that was huge. Defense gets on the field, forces a punt, offense goes three and out, unfortunately, almost through a pick, which would have been pretty massive at that point. I mean, I actually kind of give a little bit of credit to Thomas for, he didn't necessarily break it up as an offensive player, but he kept fighting for the ball, which prevented Texas A&M from intercepting it, right? So it's not like they always say, "Oh, he turned into a defender," and blah, blah, blah. That's not what happened, but he kept fighting for the football and prevented the interception from occurring, which clearly ended up being huge, because even in the next drive, that's when A&M goes down the field, puts a touchdown on the board, 10 plays, 65 yards, they almost four minute drive. Then as Ryan would say, and I don't want to take words out of his mouth, but this is where the PTSD, I think hit hard for me personally, it's like, hey, Notre Dame has all the momentum at this point. A&M gets the ball, they go 65 yards, and it was just like a methodic run the ball, scramble for a first down, like just, you know, and then you had the PI on Mickey, and you had another flag with the hands of the face for Cross, so two massive penalties on that drive, and then just runs. I think that's what worried me the most. It was, they were just running the football, running the football and penalties, and then they go down and score, they tie it up at 13, and I'm like, okay, this is not a great place for Notre Dame to be, where were your guys' heads at at this point in the game? I mean, I had that PTSD feeling, because I, Texas A&M, who was a big offensive line that we had talked countlessly about going into this game, they bullied Notre Dame on that drive. I mean, it was all what it is. I mean, Donovan Heines, Howard Cross, Riley Mills, I think Jason Onier was on that drive as well, like they got moved off the spot. I felt like Osbury was a little bit out of sync as far as like his keys, especially on that drive. I think Drake Bohm was a little bit invisible up into that point, and like Jack Heiser was fine for the most part, but like even he was a little slow scraping on that drive in general, so I think that that drive particular, Texas A&M looked like Dave kind of put their head down, and we're trying to make a statement of like, how the rest of the second half is going to go, if you're a Texas A&M versus Notre Dame, because the passing game was not working, so Texas A&M had the resort to Labion Moss and the pretty talented running back room that they have. And so they took it to them, they put their head down, but I think that obviously that was kind of an outlier drive, when now that you kind of take a step and look back, because Notre Dame was able to match physicality, but that drive, I think it was a, they were trying to set the tone physically for me. I think Colin Klein had his techno-vault moment of the night on that drive. Because he had some perfect plays called, he anticipated what Al Golden was going to come with, and he had the perfect counter to what he called, as far as the blitz, and they popped a couple. And the play, I know the one play you're talking about where I believe the guard came through, and Drake just didn't step up as fast and feel as fast as he needed to, and then kind of shed the block and make him tackle. That was the only way that they were going to stop that play. Drake was going to have to make a perfect play, meet the blocker, shed them, and maybe stop them for about a four or five yard game. But yeah, you just have to give credit. Like, the bar said, they bullied them. Colin Klein has some really good calls, and the frustration of Howard Cross. Once again, Notre Dame still helped. Like, at the Texas A&M's best, they still needed help with two penalties. And Drake, and to talk about that, Drake, made a couple of plays on that drive. The one by the gold line, where he scraped that out, and made a good play. Because he came from an outside nine technique, basically, and just kind of stayed, stayed, followed, followed, and then just exploded into the hole to make that play. It was actually, for once, it was actually a really good replay by ESPN to kind of re-show that one. But that was a great play by a young linebacker. I mean, that was a heady play. It would follow the play, and then just like his explosion on that, I think is what really stood out to me. Because he was at the second level, and then just bam, exploded down, met him in the hole, and made that play. That was a huge, that was a game. That was the play right before the touchdown, if I'm out of state. Yeah, it was. It was. Trevor, what were you thinking at this point? Thirteen, thirteen, man. PTSD definitely started to kick in. I'll follow suit there, for sure. But I will say, it's so tough to ask a defense to play. Lights out every single possession, right? And even in the moment, I was, well, here we go again. And then took a step back, and it was like, I mean, up until this point, they've been pretty locked down, for the most part. But again, that PTSD in the back of your head, it's like, well, I've seen games before where Notre Dame's defense is pretty locked down until they very much aren't. And then it just starts to cascade, and happy that they were able to, I mean, call it the Outlier Drive with a couple of assists from Notre Dame penalties. So, you know, very, I don't want to say I was feeling uneasy. I don't think the world was on fire yet for me at that point, but it was very much a, all right, offense. Let's see. Let's see what you got now. Oh, man, I was the dog meme with just like the fire in the background. Like, that's why I was feeling man. Thanks for burning, thanks for burning in my head. Yeah, I'm a little bit more positive vibes out of me this weekend. So I think just naturally, I think I'm erring on the side of good things, but no, there was definitely a little bit of, well, this was going really well. And here we are again. And obviously it ended up working out in our favor. For sure. No, it was definitely a moment of elation and like, okay, I've got faith this defense isn't going to let them score a touchdown. So that touchdown, the Notre Dame score is huge. Like the, here we go. You know, they need one more nail in the coffin. Call it a day, you know, fire up the jet. It's time to get back to Indiana. Like that was my thought process. And then they just kind of had that methodic drive down the field. And it was like, okay, they just put one in the end zone. What does this offense have to respond to that? If anything, right? Because frankly, I didn't want to go into overtime. In that stadium, you know what I mean? I didn't want to have to do that. Like that is not where my mind was. Now there was still obviously time left on the clock. There's more possessions to come. Notre Dame gets the ball back offensively. They were, they did okay, but they ended up punting. I believe it was a, let's see, one, two, three, four, five, like a six play drive. There was a false start by Pendleton in that drive. You know, and it was a bad one because the noise in there, I'm sure, was deafening. You know, he jumps off on a third and 13, makes a third and 18. And then you get the wide receiver screen to Great House to kind of cut it in half. Obviously you pun at that point, it's fourth and nine. You kick it away. The defense, three and out, ball back. And now we get to the biggest drive of the ball game, right fellas. I mean, Notre Dame goes down the field. And this was the, you know, it was, it was a bit of a rider letter drive. It was a, you know, it was a love drive. It was, I mean, it was culminated obviously in the 21 yard touchdown run by Jeremiah Love. But that was also coming back from a big, a big timeout, right? And so eight plays, 85 yards, go ahead, touchdown scored. I've never felt that kind of relief in a very, very long time. So fellows were going from the, the burning in the background, emoji for, or meme for Ryan to now they're up 20 to 13 thoughts on the drive. Ryan thoughts on, you know, just the whole situation at that point being up a touchdown. 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. So I was working on a recap piece for after the game. And Vince, I started writing it very positively. You'd be very proud of me. The game, the ball got back to them, you know, less than the 20 yard line, a little over six minutes left and Notre Dame put together this fantastic drive. Very, but it's kind of fictional to me, man. Like it did. I wrote it and I'm just like, I'm going to have to erase this whole thing, right? Like, I'm just going to have to start this from scratch. And this is what I'm talking about, though. This was the moment that felt different. We always talk about different. They look, they move different. They look different. This feels different. Like, what's different? It's not different until it, it actually is, right? And I think that that moment was one of those where as a person that grew up in the, that was born in the 90s, I'm a 1991 kid, where I've never seen a Notre Dame national championship, you always hear about the people that did live in the old golden era. Talk about, oh man, that team like went in the biggest moments. You knew they were going to come through and coach Holtz and all these guys. And they're that you just knew it. There was a subtle confidence to them. And I have never experienced that personally, right? Like, I haven't. I started, you know, really watching in the Bob Davey era, and then into the Thai willing cam era, and then Charlie Weiss. And then Brian Kelly, like, I've never, outside of maybe 2005 to in small snippets, I never remember going into a football game or having that moment at the end of the game, where I'm like, Notre Dame is a better team. They're going to win. Like, they're just going to flat out win. Like, they're, their backs are against the wall. People are counting them out, and they're going to win the football game. Like, that just does not typically happen. And that was a moment of realization for me, because I wrote down the positive outlook and what should and potentially could happen. And then Notre Dame did it, right? And like, in that moment, those realities clicked. The, what I perceived to be a fictional reality became the actual reality. And I'll be honest, guys, I left this game, although it wasn't perfect. And Notre Dame needs to get better and, and, and things need to move forward. And this is not the team that we're going to see all year, hopefully. Yeah. I believe that this team can be different. I do. And we could talk about the preseason hype and the preseason optimism. But until you have that moment that, oh, this might be a little bit different here, then it's not real. And tonight it felt real. And that was the moment that drive that I think could be a jumping off point for this team. Yeah. I don't want to get too far ahead of myself, because it's game one. But there was something that felt mythical, unreal about that moment that quickly did become reality for me. Double R, you want to know how special that run by Jeremiah Love was? They pan to the sideline. He's sitting next to Deela McCulloch. And Deela McCulloch was looking at the iPad, like, dude, that's crazy. Like the coach is sitting next to him. I'm like, do you see what you just did? Because literally the hole was like, I don't even know if you can call that hole. It was like a crevice and how he got small. And on one leg was able to land and immediately shift and get right back to top speed. And then power through for the touchdown. Like you said, it's just different. It's just different. And Ryan, we've had the privates of watching him and covering him since his junior year of high school. And saying, this kid is different. You have to get this kid. He's different. And to see it finally coming to fruition on a larger scale, because we've seen, you know, the big run he had early in the year last year, the movie had in the sun bulb catching the pass out of the backfield for the touchdown. You see this in pieces, right? But today to see him and Jadari go back to that, right? One run gets called back and then they go right back. And the next one gets a big run. That's the excitement, like, oh my God. Like Aldrick was just a battering ram, right? He was just a battering ram. This is different from the running back position, which is why I was ready for Aldrick to leave. I know most fans are like, oh man, I wish Aldrick could come back. And I was like, no, let him go. Because what we have coming behind him really has the chance to be like next level. And not next level against the majority of the schedule. I'm talking on next level when we face Texas, next level when we face Georgia, next level we face Alabama. We, OK, now we step on the field with some real difference makers, some real gap closers. And like Double R said, fortunately, I did watch the 88 championships. I kind of hold on to that. But, yo, it's been a long time. It's been a long time since we had that type of feeling. And it's tangible, right? Double R. It's not like just hope. It's literally like tangible now. Like you know it. You really believe it. And it's a cool feeling, guys. I do this one game. I'll take this over the loss. I'll take this over the loss. No doubt, Trevor. It's nice knowing that all of the talk about how fast and how long and how athletic this team is came to fruition. And that's what that final drive told me, which is awesome. In my lifetime, I have not seen in a game of this magnitude with this much on the line in this environment, the Notre Dame team was better. Like they were the more athletic team. Typically, we were on the flip side of that coin. And in a lot of times when we talk about, well, we won that game because Notre Dame was just more athletic. That's not against Texas A&M at night at Kyle Field. That's at home against Virginia, right? That's on the road against an NC State team who on paper should have been better than what they were. But it wasn't this. And to me, that's what that showed. I was telling my buddy that I was watching the game with. Guarantee a lot of the conversation on that sideline was, you know, Denmark or Goudoulli going over to Riley Leonard and saying, hey, it's your time now. This is why we brought you to South Bend. It's time to go. And, you know, the first five plays all ran through him. An unsung hero of this game to me was Bo Collins because the wide receiver room has been scrutinized for the last couple of years. If you guys just don't have that guy, you don't have the playmaker. And I know his stats won't jump off of the page for you. To me, Bo Collins was Mr. Reliable tonight. And then on that was that 24, 28 yard jump ball, the 50/50 ball. First of all, I can't tell you the last time I saw a Notre Dame quarter back, just throw up a 50/50 ball as like. That's for sure. And that's for sure. And, you know, Notre Dame's guy went up and got it because he was just better. Yeah. The shove at the end, the fan in me was very hype about that. Because that's like, I'm better than you and now I know it. But from a schematic standpoint of, we've shot ourselves in the foot a lot tonight. The last thing I needed to see was the ref that was standing behind him, throw out the, throw out the hanky in his pocket. But it, but all of that. And then you cap it off with that run by Jeremiah Love, which should have been a two yard game. Let's be real. And, and what he was able to turn that into after that drive, I sat back on the couch and it was like, so this is what it feels like, that your team is just the better team. And we always talk about Notre Dame closing the gap and getting to that point. I think we have now, I don't want to say overcame that gap. I'm not ready to say Notre Dame is just like Texas and Alabama. You know, but it is, it is closer because in years past, even if we would have, even if Notre Dame squeaks out of wind in years past, it's not by double digits. Look at the Florida state game in 2021 that went into double over time. And I don't think Florida state in 2021 was the team that they were last year, when we, when we had played them. So it's, I think that's the overall difference. And I think that's really exciting to see. And can I say one more thing, Vance, is that like that also that drive? And we haven't talked about it enough, I don't think tonight, just because of how we're kind of doing the show a little bit differently. The offensive line grew up, right? Right, right in front of our eyes. Really did. I mean, because like Anthony Nat battled all night, but like in the first half, especially you saw like Garroton got him a couple of times. Like it just, it's just going to happen. And then it was a reason they put him. I mean, they put scoured and on him almost every single time on purpose. I mean, yes, no doubt. Yeah. Yeah. That would have been the match of your assault all night if you could have dictated it all night, right? Yep. Yep. Sam Wilson, I thought was mostly really good in the run game tonight, but like he had a couple of hiccups as far as I don't think recognizing different pressure packages upfront. He probably should have slid and kind of just help in different directions, but like that's again, teachable stuff. But regardless, this offensive line looks like it could be an issue, especially early in this game. And in the biggest moment, when you're tied 13 all and you need a drive, they came out and played against Skartan and Shamar Stewart and Shamar Turner. I mean, those guys were invisible that drive because Sam Pendleton did some great things. Anthony Knapp did some great things. Emile Wagner. I feel like I didn't really notice Emile Wagner tonight, which is a very good thing for the most part, right? And Ashton Craig and Billy Shrout. I really felt like that was a drive late in that game where you saw, yes, they're young, six-year starts, blah, blah, blah. No Trevor loves that line, right? Coming into this game. But this was a moment where we saw everyone's been waiting anxiously all offseason. Is Joe Rudolph going to turn this thing around? Is he going to be able to think? Well, he got the best out of those guys in the most part of the game. So like it's not a finished product. You don't know 100% how good the offense line is going to be. But I saw progress tonight. And I saw the team battled, but I saw it offensive line. I think grow up right before our eyes. Completely agree with that. Completely, I don't want to step on you, Sean. You got something? No, I just wanted to say, A.W.R. I think we could leave Joe, Coach Rudolph alone about getting rid of that one guy that went to Penn State and going after Nat, I think we're done. I was actually just looking at the Penn State roster. And I saw a good old Kayla Brewer on the roster. We kind of brought back some bad memories. But yes, I think we can let go from now. We can let it go, Double R. We all know it too, it's far too long. Now it's like, okay, it's time to let it go. Yeah, that's a big win for Joe Rudolph on multiple levels. Collectively it's a group. Yeah. How they grew up and adjusted in that game. How they fought those two youngsters. And Anthony Knapp is a huge win from evaluation. Closing the deal and recruiting and then developing and having that kid. Vince, look, you watched the film more than I do and you watched the line more than I do. Look, we know everybody else was like, really? Freshman? And we're like, if they say he's better, it's believable. Right. I mean, it's believable. Like, we've been there. You paid attention. I've heard you talk about it. It wasn't far-fetched. And one of the things I said last week, he just did this at LSU. He did it with Will Campbell. Now, Will Campbell was highly touted, more highly touted, but he just did it. First year, transfer quarterback left tackle through freshman. He just did it. So he knew what he needed to do. To have that young man position to play the best he could. And that is the benefit of having Mike Denver in this game. It paid huge dividends in multiple ways, in my opinion. So I just want to go through this particular drive and what they did, right? So first and 10 quarterback run nine yards, right? And that was a heck of a run. That's the one where he kind of got stood up almost at the line of scrimmage and just kind of forced his way for nine yards. Then love had a negative four. And then possibly Riley Leonard's best throw of the night. And you guys correct me if I'm wrong. Number one, he had time to throw it. Number two, it was an out route that he put exactly where it needed to be for Great House to get the first down. On a third and five, he threw it as soon as Great House gets out of his break. I mean, put it right in the bread basket. I think that was his best throw of the night because he had time. He stepped into it, made a great throw. So huge third down play there. Then you get the first and 10. They go right back to the air with Collins and that big catch on the sideline, that back shoulder, right? Then you get another quarterback run for 12. Then you get a love run for 18. Then you get a love run for one. Go to timeout. Go to the commercial break. He come back and Brian spoils it for everyone and lets us know that love scores a touchdown from 21 yards out. So and just so everybody understands what that means is we had our group chat going and all of a sudden we see let's go with a bunch of exclamation points. I'm probably two minutes away. I felt like from the actual play being run on my TV, but obviously I knew something good was coming. So it was okay. It was still just as exciting, frankly. But yeah, Brian spoiled it for us on that one. It was pretty funny, but you know, big runs, big throws. As Ryan said, the offensive line grows up on that drive. Notre Dame goes up 20 to 13. Now the only negative as I'm going through all the worst case scenarios in my head at that point was crap. They left too much time on the clock and A&M's got a ton of timeouts, right? So it's like, okay, still plenty of time for me to be freaking out and watching this game and for all the bad stuff that I have seen over the years to happen. And again, did not want to go to overtime in that stadium in that moment, right? So Notre Dame kicks off, A&M gets the ball, born out, huge pass breakup by Christian Gray on that fourth down at that point. Everybody just kind of exhales. And then of course, Mitch Jeter puts up a field goal just to seal it and just prove that the kicking game actually matters in football, which I love. And boom, we all celebrate and get ready for the show. So boys, how are we feeling at that point in the game? Touchdown, foreign out, field goal, ball game. It's fantastic. If I were to write down how I wanted the game to end, that's how I wanted it to end. Outside of maybe a pick six instead of a field goal, just to really put the icing on the cake. But no, it was good that the team finished the game the way that they needed to, which I really appreciate. For whatever reason, this is also, it was also kind of like a, I don't know, like a little submoment of PTSD for me. I felt good about it, but I felt like I shouldn't be yet, because triple zeroes weren't on the clock, you know what I mean? And so once we, I don't know, once I saw what happened in the chat, I typically keep my phone turned the other way. When I'm watching games, just in case somebody else texts me or you know, now this group chat or ESPN likes to send me notifications before stuff happens now, before I get to see it, which is great. So I just don't really get on my phone a whole lot. But Notre Dame finished out the game the way that they needed to. And it was so nice. And I know we've been talking about it all night, but in every scenario in the second half, where they needed to do something, they needed to get a stop, they needed to answer. They needed to go down the field and do insert whatever they did to win the game here. They did it. And they did it emphatically, and they did it with their more athletic football team, which is really nice to say, right? All right, boys, that's going to do it for our recap of the game, kind of a new segment that we're rolling out. So we'll check and see how we think we did on that and see if we're going to bring that back next Saturday after the first home game of the season. But so that's going to do it for our recap. Make sure you hit the like button, the subscribe button, the notification bell, share with your family and friends, all that fun stuff. And of course, boards. irisbreakdown.com. If you want to ride that roller coaster of emotion with all the board members, you know, in the chat during the game, ride that roller coaster, baby. It's the best money can buy. I'll tell you what. So hop on over at boards. irisbreakdown.com for all your excitement during game day. And then of course, all the recap and then predictions for the following week. That's the best place to get it, fellas. No doubt about that. [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] And that's that podcast hosted by Mark Surperman and myself, Algaldi is the top rated podcast covering the Washington Nationals with an episode appearing the morning after every that's game. That's that podcast is proudly part of the Blue Wire podcast network available on all podcast platforms and at bluewirepods.com. [MUSIC PLAYING]
