So how will we know that Notre Dame is locked in and ready to roll against Texas A&M? Bryan dives into what he wants to see early from the Irish on both sides of the ball to know that Notre Dame is ready to play its best football.
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Give it a try at mintmobile.com/switch. $45 up from payment equivalent to $15 per month. New customers on first three month plan only. Taxes and fees extra. Speed slower above 40 gigabytes detail. So one of the features that I do, and I'm going to get the super chats here at the end of the show. So when I wrap this part up, I will get the super chat. So there's several of them in there, and I thank you all for that. But I'll get to those at the end of the segment. There's something I like to do before games where it's kind of a what to look for. And it's a little bit different than like keys to victory. It's different than, you know, match ups. It's more about how they're playing and how they're going about their business to say, okay, they're locked in, they're ready to go. They've done the preparation. They're mentally where they need to be. They're culturally where they need to be. They're fundamentally where they need to be. And it's usually something you can see in the first quarter to two quarter and a half and a half time. That's going to tell me, okay, this team has made the changes, right? And so I'm going to talk about the offense, and then I'm going to tie them into the defense, and then we'll kind of we'll get to the super chats after that. But it's one of those things where it's it when I talk about the Louisville game last year, but you could just tell going through pregame that there was just something that was not right. I remember talking to a former NFL player that was at the Michigan game in 2019. He was down in the field and he and I were talking about 10 minutes before kickoff. And he was like, dude, they're not ready. Like, I don't know what's going on, but Michigan's kids are jumping all around. Every time it rains starts raining hard, they're jumping up and down. They're fired up and their name kids are putting parkers on. They just they don't want any part of this action. They don't want to be here. And what happened? Their name goes out and gets steamrolled. And then there's other games where I'm like, dude, they're locked in. They're focused. They're ready to go. Like I knew they were going to give Georgia a battle. Just watching them in pregame. Just watching the old linemen go against each other and watching the receivers come off. I mean, there was just a there was a purpose to what they were doing. And then you can kind of watch when they come out early in the game. It's like Michigan in 2018 is another example where, look, you come out early in that game and it's just, oh man, they are ready to go. I mean, they jumped all over Michigan. And then there's other games where it's just like, you get a bunch of false starts. Like the Duke game was I wasn't at the Duke game last year because we had, I think I got sick really sick before that game and I had to cancel my flight. But I remember watching just early in the game and I'm thinking like, yeah, they hit a couple big plays. You had that seam route, you had to post that switch seam route to Mitch 11 for a big game. And then you got stalled and Jeremiah Love had to do a fake punt. You ended up scoring. But there just was like early on, you could see the old line wasn't getting a push. You had like false starts on your fifth year senior center. Got like two false starts in the first half. And you're just like, this team's not locked in. This team is not locked in and ready to go. And that's kind of, those are the things that I'm talking about. Those are the things that you look at and say, okay, this team is not locked in and this team is locked in. And anyone that's ever coached the game knows that you got to get a sense early of, okay, like this is where we're at because you have to coach around that. You have to coach like, dude, we are fired up. So let's just turn it on, you know what I mean? Or, hey, we're in a funk right now. I got to figure out how to get us out of this funk. So you're looking for that as a coach. It's definitely something you need to be aware of. Like, hey, pregame, we were just going through the motions. We had like 10 drop balls. You know, you got guys doing bad run fits and half speed drills, things like that. Like, we're not locked in. And now it's your job as a position coach, coordinator, and then head coach to recognize that and do your best to get it to adjust it. And that's what this all comes down to. Prize picks is America's number one daily fantasy sports app with over 5 million active members. Prize picks is the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports. Unlike other apps on prize picks, it's just you against the numbers. All you do is pick more or less on two to six player stat projections and watch the winnings roll in. Get in on the daily action with your friends and become part of the prize picks community today. 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Pick a flavor grab some extra napkins and prepare to nug like you've never nugged before. For a whole new way to nug it's got to be Wendy's at participating US Wendy's. So let's jump into the offense and let's talk about what I'm looking for early from the Notre Dame offense and this is going to be about A&M and then also about looking at it from the standpoint of sort of the season to be honest with you. And the first thing to me and this is more specific to A&M first but also is going to tell us a little bit is I don't really care in the first quarter that the offensive line is necessarily playing well or maybe give up an early pressure give up an early run through you're not necessarily everybody on the same page. That's obviously important but that's not even really what I'm looking at. What I'm more looking at is how they're playing that is going to be so much more important to me because as the game goes on and they get into the speed of the game and the flow of the game they'll clean up some of that stuff that's just natural. But if you come out early and you're not playing with physicality and force and you're catching and you're not moving your feet and you're not using your hands and you're just playing a little bit timidly that's harder to turn that switch on. And when we watched him play Duke and Louisville last year you could see it in the line that these guys are not ready to play as a unit they were not ready to play and it's false starts a part of it you know you're affected by the crowd noise but it was really just about I mean early in that game I think second series fifth year senior center right all those career starts comes off the line and just gets driven into the quarterback put on his back and then the quarterback gets drilled. All right that's not about okay crowd noise or anything in experience that's just about I got my butt kicked and there's way too much of that so that's my one of my big fears about Joe Rudolph. I don't love the way his team prepares in the very limited access we've seen in drills there there was not as much intentionality towards playing really with your hair on fire. And that doesn't mean it's not happening I'm because like I said we saw maybe 2% of the entire fall camp with the little access we got maybe 2%. So it's just a concern that I have and I was talking to my dad about this the other day and listen when you're young you're going to get snap counts wrong when you're young you're going to hold when you're young you're going to give up a run through when you're young you're not going to get quite out of your stance fast enough and the Excaliburton is going to beat you. Those things are going to happen I'm okay with that and you live with that to a degree as long as it's not really really bad moments and bad losses. You know what experience shouldn't have any impact on toughness a desire to play physical football a willingness to fight those things should not be impacted by I'm young okay so it's like look yeah you're young but come off hard play hard hit somebody go for it that that's that's that's where it needs to be like get after it that that should travel right like crowd noise can affect a lot of things it shouldn't affect that it shouldn't affect while you're willing to fight shouldn't affect whether you're willing to play hard whether you willing to drive your feet whether you're willing to use your hands with violence that's going to tell us a lot about this game are they playing aggressive football off front are they playing physical football football off front if they're not it's going to be a long day if they are and A&M's winning some battles I'm going to be okay like look just patience they're going to get a couple things corrected but they're playing hard and that's going to settle in and they're going to make some plays right you guys prepare yourselves for this Notre Dame's offensive line no matter even if Joe Walton Blake Fisher were coming back is going to have plays where they get beat by Texas A&M's defensive line it's going to happen first time it happens I don't want to see you in the chat like oh my god this is just terrible okay if it keeps happening then obviously that's a problem it's going to happen I don't care who they play they could put every fifth year senior that they have on the roster on the field and A&M's D line is going to make some plays that that I can live with early get that stuff corrected but I need to see the intensity I need to see the fire I need to see the force because one of the things that we were told and so he says is Aggie D line that good yeah every deal I mean I don't care look at how good Notre Dame's oh how you know Notre Dame's offensive line was last year against Ohio State played great you had first round pick second round pick how states guys still made plays that's going to happen go look at Alabama in 2012 as good as Alabama's offensive line was Stepan knew it to it Lewis Nick's caparon loose more they still made some plays right they didn't get dominate the whole game they still made some plays they're going to make place that's football you could win this game by 40 and they're still going to have four tackles for loss in a sack that's part of football but you've got to play with force you've got to play with physicality got to move your feet and got to use your hands that's what I need to see early and if we're seeing that I can I'll be okay with some of the mistakes early that'll get cleaned up if they're getting driven back if we're seeing what we saw in the Duke game where a guard comes off and he gets driven into the quarterback the center gets driven into the quarterback or the tackle gets thrown in the quarterback because he's catching and not playing physical that'll be more concerning and that could also then have long-term concerns because it means that Joe Rudolph didn't do what he needed you to fix that from last season and that will be a big concern for me number two and this is more stylistically I want to see that early on Notre Dame's offense is setting the tone for this game here's why this matters short-term and big and big picture short-term I want to see them come out push the tempo and attack the A&M defense and there's practical reasons for this number one the more aggressive you are the there's a there's a there's an aspect to where you're actually and you're pushing the tempo you're actually taking steps to somewhat negate the other team's advantage when it comes to line play because we're going to use tempo looking at from the coaching standpoint we're going to use tempo we're going to use most we're going to use ships we're going to move the pocket we're going to take some shots down the field we're going to do some things to soften them up we want to get them on their heels the second part of that is while the D line has a lot coming back that's that's returners and there's some new guys but there's a lot of new on the back end of the defense Tyreek chapels back but I don't know that he's necessarily going to be playing the same position Bryce Anderson's back he's playing somewhat of a unique position there's several guys that run team last year Javan Thomas who I believe is going to I think he's the he's the one I think that's missing the first half because he was kicked out for targeting at the end of the bowl game last year which I think is just stupid I do not think those type of things should carry over in the next season that's ridiculous but whatever it is what it is but there's a lot of new faces in that secondary and there's a lot of new faces at linebacker the more you attack them the more you attack them the more you get going that you know push the tempo that the less you let them communicate pre-snap the more likely they are to make mistakes and the best way to protect your offensive line is to find ways to force them and to make mistakes we're all worried about Notre Dame's offensive line making mistakes for good reason how about trying to make some of those A&M players make mistakes as they're learning a new defense that's going to be a big part of it and that's something that Notre Dame is going to have to find a way to create and create it early if you come out of that game and out of the game or out of the the breaker and you start that game kind of passively you're kind of feeling it out you're not being super aggressive that's going to be a big concern for me big concern for me and it's it's it's I don't know who I'm going to be most concerned about but I remember the 2017 season Notre Dame goes into that temple game got this great online you're going to run the ball down people's throats all year what they do first play the game they play action pass and do a deep ball to echo into me St. Brown and that's what they did I want to see some aggressiveness what they do against Michigan early they're throwing bombs the miles boikin they're throwing bombs to alize a Mac that's on bombs to Chris to think they've had Michigan on their heels early what allowed Michigan to get back in that game once they got to lead bk bk it and they got passive they went away from what was working and they let they let Michigan get back in that game right same thing against Florida State in 2021 when they went on the road to play Florida State Notre Dame was aggressive early fourton one they take a shot down the field big play Michael mayor touchdown they get a lead bk bk it and they let him come back right took their foot off the gas I want to see that this team comes out tomorrow and and pushes the tempo because if they don't that tells me that there's not a lot of confidence in this team one or it's going to tell me that coach Freeman still has his sort of his his hand on the scale of the offense holding things back I don't think that's going to be the case but it's something that I want to see that doesn't and when I mean aggressive that does not mean in an attack the defense that does not mean coming out and throwing bombs that's what worked against Michigan because Michigan was doing a lot of man coverage on the outside you had 264 receivers that's just what made sense that game I'm not even saying coming out throwing a bunch of bombs early what I'm saying is is attack them attack them for width attack them vertically attack them with layers be willing to go at them aggressively it's aggressive aggressive doesn't always mean bombs but you guys will see it you'll know like okay they're they completed a ball they're going with some purpose like get lined up let's go we know the call your coach is telling you what to do you get everybody lined up let's get up there snap and go don't let their D line pin their heels in anyone that's played D line knows this is a slower team I can get up there I can get in my stance I can get my hand in the ground I can get in sort of my my good take off stance and I can come but if you're in a situation where they're going tempo and I barely get my hand on the ground it's hard for me to then convert to force vertically right it's just not it's going to be a lot harder for that so I want to see that tempo early get A&M on their heels that's going to tell me that this is a confident Notre Dame football team that's ready to go on the attack number two I this is going to be a big thing for this game is how comfortable does Riley Leonard look right like he's obviously taking all the reps it was funny somebody asked coach Freeman if he was ready to name Riley Leonard the starting quarterback and his response he kind of looked at him and he was like well he's taking all the reps with the ones right and so he's got a ton of reps with the ones in fall camp but he didn't get any in the spring he didn't play in the blue gold game and we this is the first real live action that we've seen him play and it's a defense and he doesn't always know what they're doing it's not the same defense he's played for the last month how comfortable does he look running the offense getting guys lined up making sure and this isn't even just about executing throws making sure they're not getting any you know false starts because he's properly communicated snap counts making sure that there's no silly penalties like they complete a ball down the field and it comes back because your receiver was covering up the tight end you as a quarterback need to see that right making sure that the the receivers are going in motion at the proper time and the balls being snapped at the proper time that's all part of the quarterbacks job and early on when you're new and you're getting used to things you may not see all of those things and then of course you get into the post snap reads you know is he making quick decisions he getting a ball out on time is he accurate is he hit guys in the right spots that is going to be a big part of this game too now if he's off a little bit early then you know there's there's going to take some getting used to this game but if he can come out sharp you can really go at this team and and be willing to attack and that's where they're going to have success but if he is you know unwilling to throw the ball tucking it run it all the time that's going to be a little bit of a concern for me for this game not down the road this is not one of those big picture problems this is a Texas A&M thing that's that's really where where it was and no Mike Denbrock was not the OC in 2019 Mike Denbrock's last year Notre Dame was 2016 just for the record to respond to a question in the chat so I want to see Riley being comfortable early on that's going to be huge for Notre Dame if he can be comfortable running the show again that doesn't mean completion percentage only that means getting people lined up getting the tempo the way it needs to be getting the motions everything timed up well and then you're also making good decisions with the football that's going to be key and then the last thing for me and this is this might be the most important thing for me outside of the offensive line playing well because this is going to tell us a lot about this game but this is going to tell us a lot about where this team is and it's this right here are the receivers competing for the football one of the things that drove me the most nuts last year was how poorly this receiving corps fought for the ball that's the one thing people talking about they can't get enough to line they can't that stuff was all overplayed that was all overblown they got open plenty of times the ball never came I know some people don't have it in their minds to fathom what that means or how that can be that that's just a reality I've shown tons of clips on it etc etc that's not what I'm talking about what they did a poor job of however and this is where I could understand Sam Hart and Hartman being a little bit gun shy when guys were open is unless they were wide open they did not compete for the ball and Chris Tyree is about the only guy that had any kind of really competitive catches last year outside of maybe jade and great house in the opener and against sensei state very very little fight for the ball they got out play I mean you think of the Louisville game right I'm trying to remember let me pull that game up but I think it was the third or fourth play of the game last season and Notre Dame had actually already converted to first down they were getting close to midfield and so they first play the game completion for four yards second play completion for 10 yards third play completion for 15 yards yeah your first and 10 in Louisville territory after three plays and they throw a go ball to Rico Flores who does not at all fight for the football and it gets picked off like that that can't happen that can't that tells me your mindset's not where it needs to be as a group it that and that's where you're I'll kind of there aren't a whole lot of here we go again moments that I'll have but that'll be one that'll trigger me I'm just being honest with you that'll trigger me I want to see this receiving core fight for the football and that was an issue for Notre Dame in 2017 if you'll remember they didn't fight for the football grade but you go out in that Michigan game in game one and that's exactly they did the exact opposite you got miles boicking out playing a guy for a deep ball you got Alize Mac making a great catch getting drilled targeting guy gets kicked out of the game Alize makes a great catch Chris Fink outplays two guys for the football they were balling for the football 2018 and you knew this team is going to be a problem this team is going you know in the opener yeah there's some things that got to clean up and they made this mistake and BK's got to stop being BK and taking the foot off the gas when you have a lead and Brian pulling special teams let them get all but you knew this team this got some stuff to work out but this team is going to be a problem because they're offensive lines playing well everybody's freaking out they got lost Mike McLinchy they lost Quentin Nelson how are they going to how are they going to play blah blah blah blah and they came out in that first game and they took it to Michigan and and they were the receivers were setting the tone they were blocking their butts off they were competing for the football they were running good routes you said boy if the receivers now playing well this team is going to be a major problem this team is going to be a major problem and that's something that I want to see it's going to tell me the coach Brown has this group mentally ready to compete and that's the big thing is look if Notre Dame barely wins this game by field goal but they compete their butts off but they were sloppy they had a couple turnovers you know had some tackles for loss Riley was a little off target you know maybe throws a pick give up a couple too many big plays but you at the end of the day you win the game 24-20 and little sloppy win don't care don't care because as a football coach I can clean all that stuff up you are never as you're never primed to just play your best football in week one it occasionally you'll have games like that but it's usually against bad teams if you remember Notre Dame against Texas in 2015 I don't know how much better that game could have gone I think Malik was like 17 18 of 21 you ran the ball you're starting running back gets hurt after three carries your next two guys come in day run on on your defensive but that wasn't a very good Texas team I think they went like five and seven that year they weren't a very good team right yeah they they played great against rice in 2000 and what 14 rice wasn't very good right there's gonna be sloppiness but you got to get to win so I can I can live with sloppiness I can live with the receivers dropping a couple balls I just need to see him compete I need to see the old line play hard I can live with mistakes I can live with misses I can live with you know the the timing in the zone plays weren't always wasn't always the best I can live with that I can fix that as a coach I can fix that what I can't fix because I either created the problem or I allowed the problem is if my team does compete that that that's the problem that's the biggest thing in the receivers and the old line of the two areas where that's gonna matter most to me light it hey iris breakdown listeners it's urban mire 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 this episode is brought to you by Honda when you test drive the all new pro log ev there's a lot that can impress you about it there's the class leading passenger space the clean thoughtful design and the intuitive technology but out of everything what you'll really love most is that it's a Honda visit honda.com slash ev to see offers so let's talk about the Notre Dame defense and what to look for from the Notre Dame defense number one my big my biggest there's two fears that i have about this game and and the biggest fear for me really comes down to the size of their offensive line and Notre Dame's defensive line has played big offensive lines before and this group of players have played against big offensive lines before and so i'm it's not that oh geez i'm afraid of big offensive lineman but you also have to be willing to look at it and say yes but just because you have played well in the past doesn't mean you're going to necessarily do the things you need to do in this game to have yourself ready to play and that's what where i kind of come down on it is this is a match up that on paper Notre Dame's defensive line should dominate a&m's offensive line they should they are not overly athletic they're it's new you're going to have three new starters in your offensive line most likely and as ryan pointed out yesterday you're going to have four guys in new places because chase bassantas is going to believe he played right tackle last year he's going to be playing left guard this year and so it's going to be a new look offensive line as well but it's big across the board there's six six three twenty from left to right six six three twenty six six three twenty six three three thirty if the that guy doesn't start the or at that position is six four three twenty five six five three thirty six seven three thirty they're a big offensive line and if your defensive line is not using their quickness if they're catching if they're not playing with good leverage and this defensive offensive line starts leaning on them that's where i can get a little bit concerned about this game so early on i want to see that the Notre Dame defensive line is not allowing the bigger but less athletic offensive line to push them around if a&m is able to come off the line and have some snaps earlier where they really push Notre Dame off the line then that's a concern for me and that could create some big plays in the run game that's it that and that also then what that also does is is it not only creates some some holes but it now makes the job of the linebackers even harder and Notre Dame's got basically three new starters a linebacker Jack Kaiser was a starter last year but he's a starter at Rover he's now playing Will Drake bones at Mike Jaylen's needs at Rover all new King civilian Moss is gonna play he's a true freshman jade knoll is where he's gonna play he's a red shirt freshman you do not want to be in situations where these guys are being forced all game to come up and take on guards and block destruct and get off that way you need these guys flying the football in touch that is going to be a big a big part of this and so early on i need to see that the Notre Dame defensive line is not getting pushed around that's a big thing for me and then the second part of it is is that what ties into that is okay so if you're not getting pushed around what does that mean it means you're getting a lot of early penetration a lot of early disruptions you're getting up fields you're getting in the backfield you're forcing their running backs to make early cuts i've said it a million times you guys know this if you're new to the channel you're going to hear me say it a lot more times one of the biggest ways to slow down the opposition run game is to force cuts as deep in the backfield as possible if when i was coaching running backs the ultimate goal for me is we weren't making our cuts until we were at or past the line of scrums we were standing on our outside zone track all the way till we get to the line and then boom we're cutting vertical maybe a yard behind because it opened up maybe at the yard sometimes past the line of scrimmage if you're running you know power schemes or things downhill schemes like hey i want to be making that cut on inside zone near the line because you got a push and i'm not having a cut i'm just kind of working right back off your backside so if you're not getting pushed around well then the counter to that means you're getting a lot of early penetration you're getting a lot of early disruptions and and that's going to be a big key for me in part of the reason is obviously you're holding up against their offensive line but the other part of it is is if you are getting a lot of early penetration a lot of early disruptions a lot of early pressures it's going to get them out of rhythm and it can be hard for a first time a team playing their first game in an offense to get into rhythm if they start off out of rhythm because they don't have that toolbox or the mental rolodex of being in this offense for a long time to necessarily know what buttons to push your offensive coordinator doesn't know as much about this unit of players as he did his k-state group last year where he kind of knew what buttons to push he knew will Howard he knew dj giddens he knew the tight ends he knew what the offensive line was good at so with they got into an early funk he kind of knew okay this is what we go to to kind of get rolling that's not there in game one of a new staff and and so you want to get them out of rhythm early if they don't get out of rhythm early and they get into rhythm then the opposite is true and so that's why it's very important that the defense get a lot of early penetrations and disruptions and don't let and then get into the rhythm and that's going to tell me that this defensive line is as good as we think it's going to be that there's no steps back and it's also you know we're going to get a chance to see if these linebackers can make a lot of plays that's one of the things we talked about like guys there's going to be mistakes from the linebacker core that we didn't see last year just is but that doesn't mean necessarily that they're going to be worse they got to make more plays right that's a big key and if they're able to do that then I think they'll make more plays the second part of that the third part is to me is is ties into this and that's that the linebackers are playing aggressive and being being as disciplined as possible one of the concerns I have about a group of linebackers and I'm not necessarily as worried about this with Jack Kaiser but again we need to see him play this position more regularly but with Drake Bowen with Jaylen Snead with Jay Nausberg, Kingston William Rossum these are new roles for them and yes I love Drake's high school film and we've seen him in practice and in some mop-up moments and he had a big safety against Oregon State last year and those are things are all great but now you're in a starter role you're in a more prominent role are you playing aggressive or are you struggling to get into the speed of the game right and then what is how golden dude to try to kind of fix that right is okay is he able to go out there and and make some of the calls some of the decisions and to allow him his group to really get rolling downhill and do they play with some speed I can live with some mistakes from the linebackers if they're playing a hundred miles an hour what I will will will not be good is if they're still making those mistakes but then they're also giving up four five six eight yard gas runs because they're not playing downhill they're they're thinking too much they're not playing fast so that's going to be a big thing for me early that tells me the linebackers are locked in they've got the reps they're aware of what they're doing and they're playing downhill I can again can live with a bad run fit if it's you're doing everything hard because again I can correct the bad run fit or the safety can make me right on a bad run fit it's hard to it's the worst thing for a safety trying to fit off of a linebacker is when a linebacker's catching four or five yards downfield that's where you can kind of get in some trouble and then the last one for me is I just want to see the secondary play sound football the the thing that when I look at this matchup the only there's only two ways that a and m can really move the ball consistently and beat Notre Dame with their offense not so not turnover related not short fields not specialty but their offense goes out there once in the game is if they're ripping up big plays and that's going to come because the D lines getting beat at the line of scrimmage and they're giving up big plays in the secondary you've got some new faces Christian Gray's new Jordan Clark's new Rod Herds new and Don Schuller's not new to the team but he didn't play any really any meaningful snap last year outside of the bowl game so are they making are they playing sound football look if they're playing sound football then the talent takes over if they're not playing sound football then that's when you let an inferior group make plays on you and that's a concern so you know your body position isn't where it needs to be so you know you don't play a a go ball the right way and even if the guy doesn't catch it you could call it for passing or fairness because you're not playing sound football you weren't where you needed to be you're you're being too handsy you know you're not trusting your technique you're not trusting your footwork your hand playing all that so you get your will grab you on a slant route because because you didn't play it right or you overplay something a guy beat you for a slant route and he's catching and running a guy out plays you for the football because you weren't in the right position you know you went too high on a on a man covered outside go ball and so he's able to back shoulder you with ease because you didn't play it right you have a bad fit in the run game you're supposed to fit here you fit over there or you don't fit at all you're in space and you don't break down and come to bounce guy cuts off you for a big gain those are things that the second it's if the secondary is playing sound then they're going to be fine because they're just they're better but if they're not playing sound text saying him is good enough to beat you if you don't play sound football that's really what this bowl is now to is if Notre Dame plays their game just play good sound football have some aggressiveness to you you do you they're gonna win because they're the better team if they don't and they make mistakes they're not good bad run fits they're not disciplined on the back end they're not being aggressive up front they're offensive lines catching again their receivers aren't competing for the ball they're not being aggressive they're trying to win a 13 to 10 football game that's how you get beat and that's what Notre Dame is going to have to avoid if they're going to have a chance to win this football game so before we get out of here folks I did have some super chats I wanted to get to and Rob Ozgood with once is prove thank you for the super chat prove look for prove to the naysayers that their name belongs to look for don't just win dominate don't hold back let the offense loose and enjoy there's a lot in there I agree with but to me I don't know that Notre Dame beating Texas A&M necessarily proves a lot of naysayers wrong because most a lot of them will just simply say well A&M's not that good they were overrated again you know but but you know I care more about the perception that Notre Dame fans have than I do about what ESPN's agenda driven reporting and analysis thinks about Notre Dame I really don't care it's about what's our perception the realistic perception that we have what's the team's perception of itself those are things that matter a lot more to me Michael Rogers with a super chat thank you very very much Michael Michael predicts a 37 to 10 Notre Dame win I love it very very much AST12321 with super chat thank you very much if I told you only two stats that Notre Dame gave up four sacks and one turnover with no other information is that a win or a loss how decisive would that be they gave them four sacks and had one turnover that wouldn't be enough information for me I mean one turnover I can live with four sacks oh okay what were the sacks was it third and nine Riley running around and they sack them late was it was there an end-of-the-half sack was there a you know take a sack on third and seven at midfield because nobody's open and you just take the sack and because you were coached if it nothing's there you can't get open get free take a sack all right whatever you know if there's a sack on second and five and it's now third and ten and you convert third and ten okay sack sucked but there's just not nearly enough there's not nearly enough in that for me to know if it's a winner or loss I'll say if they give up four sacks and have a turnover it's most likely going to be a more competitive a very competitive game but whether it's a winner or loss that that I that I could tell you now I'll say this if you flip it then I think that would be a very good sign for Notre Dame if you flipped it and Notre Dame had four sacks and forced a turnover I'd feel a little bit better just because I just think that this Notre Dame team with the kind of quarterback they have can overcome four sacks and a turnover in this type of game because I think their defense can dominate and and so that's that's why it's a little bit of a you can call it hypocritical but why the same stat being true for the other side would make me feel a lot better Riza what a super chat thank you very very much Riza Texan M is a mid tier SEC team at best this year we should win the question is how we look doing it if it's a nail biter or we lose it's an issue if we win convincingly it just means no name be what we think they have the potential to be this year I'm going to disagree with part of that I don't care if it's a nail biter Alabama had a nail biter with with with Texas A&M last year and went to the college floor playoff and gave Michigan the toughest game they had all year so you know in 2021 Alabama lost to Texas A&M at Texas A&M and went on to play for the national championship you know beat Georgia in the ACC title for the or for the SEC title you know so look to me it just no I don't I don't need them to win convincingly for to not be about I just need to win Riza I just any kind of win like Mart you're not going to beat every team by 40 and especially in an opener would it be great if no name's convincing has a win sure I but for me Riza you know respect you love you I just I don't see it that way personally I just care about winning I do not care about all that other stuff I really don't I don't care about margin of victory I don't care I mean it's it's great if it happens right like I'm not going to dismiss a convincing win that would tell me something as I said to them to show but if they only win by a field goal oh great go now now go go go get it done right keep winning because that's all the matters just just win they'll clean up some of the stuff that comes out of this game mistakes oh line will get more experience you know new guys in the secondary will be much more experienced as they get deeper in the season Riley Leonard will be much more on the same page with his teammates the coaches have a much better feel for what they're doing we'll have answers and we'll have solutions to what their aim is going to be doing looking at it from like you know as a coaching staff that's what I'm saying like look I just win we can fix all that other stuff that's how coaches look at it just get that early season win and then we'll clean up the other stuff and get it fixed I'm just telling you that's that's how at least that's every coach I know is that way and that that opener against a good team just get the W that's all it matters and we'll fix all that other stuff and then we'll have we'll have more convincing wins later and just get that W that's what matters to me appreciate the Super Chat my man uh D may sack what a Super Chat thank you very much if you're looking for your sign to sign up for the boards here it is sign up start of the season is a perfect time to do it go Irish I agree with you completely completely Joe Papidi with a Super Chat thank you very much Brian I loved what Golden said in the presser basically it was if we play with fundamentals we'll be fine Irish win 31 20 go Irish he's absolutely right when you're the better team just don't beat don't beat yourself right just do your job and do it hard that's it I mean when you have the better players the only way you lose a game like that is if you don't do your job you don't play well you don't play sound you have dumb penalties dumb mistakes you don't play with physicality you let yourself get your butt kicked physically I mean Louisville was not a better team than their name was last year they were a better team when they played though because their name had a lot of dumb mistakes a lot of all starts you have a you're you're down what was it 17 10 I believe is when that play happened and or actually it was 7 to 7 and you throw your defense forces a fumble you throw a slot fade I believe is what it was into the end zone bad ball worst catch by Chris Tyre catch attempt by Chris Tyre of a not a very well thrown ball you drop it you're selling for a field goal so instead of 14 7 tons of momentum Louisville now views it as a win and a moral victory because they turned it over and forced you to a field goal they take a 17 10 lead over Notre Dame Sam Hartman throws a great ball down the field to Mitch 11 for a 30 yard gain comes back because hands of the face by your right tackle that's just not doing your job like all you had to do is use the technique that I've taught you to use every single day since you've been since I've been here in every single offensive line coach Harry he stand taught you that Jeff Quinn taught you that every single coach has taught you you don't put your hand in someone's face right that's just not doing your job and then all of sudden that 30 yard gain that gets you in scoring range gets called back you don't score next thing you know the routes on like it's stuff like that just just do your job just do your job if you do that you win and and winning is all that matters in this instance so he is correct that's a great observation by coach Colton Raymond Hart when the Super Chat go Irish thank you very very much Raymond I appreciate you and then dim Whitland with the last Super Chat a win is a win and we appreciate you Brian great show today go Irish I thank you very much I think that's a great way to end today's show so that's gonna do it for today's show I'm gonna go finish packing and get right ahead over the airport I'm gonna be heading down there today for this game I hope all of y'all have a safe safe weekend enjoy the game enjoy all the games this is some great games on on tap this weekend so I'll be certainly tuned into my tv tonight when I'm flying I'll have my little computer screen up play pay for the internet so I can watch some games and then of course have some fun watching the games tomorrow so again make sure tonight we will publish the we won't be live tonight but Sean will publish the count down to kick off tonight and then of course the post-game show tomorrow with Vince Ryan Roberts Vince DeDario Ryan Roberts Trevor Trowbridge and Sean Davis will be joined for that and then of course Monday we'll be back Sunday night or Monday night we'll do our upon further review on Monday night not not Sunday like normal because I'm traveling on Saturday and we just weren't sure if you know you never know what travel if I could get back in time to do it so I may put something up Sunday night just depends on on kind of how my travel gets back and and how I'm feeling after breaking the film down on the flight and those type of things so but that's why I should always you know not only like this show but also subscribe to this show and turn your notification bells on so when we do put videos out you'll see it so thanks for being with me today sign up for the message boards boards on our spakedown.com if you want to become a a big time supporter of us you can join the booster club if you do join the booster club get some cool IB merch that you get for free so I appreciate you all doing that so anyway that's a boards on our spakedown.com have an awesome rest of your week and we'll talk to you guys again very soon on the iris breakdown podcast so so so so at king 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