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Visit King Super's dot com slash vaccines for more restrictions and exclusions apply seaside for details. I be nation. Welcome back to another edition of the Irish Breakdown podcast. It is Thursday, two days before we kick off Notre Dame and Texas A&M and it is time to do our prediction show. That will be second part of today's show. Part one, we're going to talk about keys to victory on the Notre Dame offense, Notre Dame defense and then part three of today's show. So I'm mixing all around two, one, three, Bill Bender from Sporting News is going to join me and he and I are going to preview and make predictions for some of the big games this weekend like Georgia Clemson, LSU, USC and some others. So without further ado, I'm ready to get rocking and rolling with my staff today and I got my crew today, I should say. I got my guy Trevor Troberg there ready to rock and roll and Ryan Roberts, you guys know that guy as well is going to talk about today's game fellas. So obviously we all know what to stake this weekend. We've been breaking it down. Ryan, you and I have been talking, well, actually you and I have been talking last month about this game back and forth, getting intel, giving intel, all that kind of stuff and it's here guys, right? Like Notre Dame's got one more real practice left before, you know, walkthroughs, traveling down, can't state enough. This is obviously a big, big game for Notre Dame. We're going to talk about, we've talked about it, we're going to get our keys to victory here in a second. But before we do folks remember, hit that like button, hit the subscribe button, hit the notification bell, share this podcast, give us a five star view, sign up for the message board, all that good stuff, but we're ready to rock and roll. Let's get going here with our final Notre Dame Texas A&M preview. Prize picks is America's number one daily fantasy sports app with over five million active members. 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You've had Wendy's nugs dipped in sauce, but have you had them covered in sauce? Wendy's new saucy nugs takes the crispy and spicy nugs that you love and turn them up to 11. Choose between flavors like buffalo, honey barbecue, garlic palm, or if you're a real heat seeker, try spicy ghost pepper only on Wendy's signature spicy nugs, I dare ya. That's seven delicious ways to try the nugs you already love. Take 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 gotta be Wendy's at participating U.S. Wendy's. Let's do it, man. Get excited. What is everybody waiting for? Kyle Field, Saturday night, 730 kickoff. Let's get it going, man. Let's begin, guys. We're going to do our keys to victory. And before we dive into like offense and defense, there's some general ones that are obviously important when you're on the road, right? Win the turnover battle. So we're not going to bore you guys with a long breakdown of why that matters. We know why, right? You go on the road, you can't turn the ball over, especially bad turnovers, and you need to try to force some. So that's obviously part of it. And what kind of Notre Dame fan or writer would I be if for the first prediction show of the year, we didn't have a little shout out to the great loose emoji. When you talk about special teams, fellas, Lou had one general rule. He didn't get into the return this field position that it was do no harm. That was Lou's special team's motto. And that's obviously the key for Notre Dame on special teams at the end of the day. Of course, if you block a kick at a score, those are all great. But the number one key is do no harm. So those are some general ones that we will look at. Let's now dive into the offense, fellas, and we're going to begin here because I think this is the side of the ball where there's the most angst amongst Notre Dame fans for a host of reasons. And so what are the things that Notre Dame has to do in order to have to be victorious to come out on top for the offense to play to high level? And it really starts with this one. And you guys all know where I'm going with it, right? This is a key that we have almost every week. And it's going to be important this game as well, fellas. When you go on the road and you're playing a ranked team in a Raucous environment and allowed crowd, the first thing you have to do, big picture, is get off to a good, fast start. Move the ball, control the clock, put the ball in the end zone. That's Trevor, right now that's key number one for this Notre Dame offense. They have got to get off to a fast start. They have to quiet the crowd and also build confidence. They have to set the tempo of the game, and I think that would be a really good start for Notre Dame. Keep the drive alive, especially with an environment like Kyle Field. I understand what the, what Texas A&M has done over the last couple of years has been a little underwhelming, but I'm sure Alabama in either 21 or 22 don't remember, but the last time Bryce Young went to 2021, I'm sure they weren't thinking much of it either. And one thing that Notre Dame has to be prepared to do is push the ball down the field and don't be afraid to stretch it vertically, start fast, that's what they'll be looking for. There's nothing better in football for when a team goes into a hostile environment that is super loud, and on the first or second player of the game, they have an explosive play and all of a sudden the crowd shuts up, right? Like that is the biggest thing for me. I mean, we can talk about the quality of competition all we want. We could talk about the X's and O's and we could talk about the positional breakdowns as far as who is better here, who is better there. And we will obviously do that during the show, but ultimately it's going to come down to Marcus Freeman and this coaching staff is bringing his team that is very talented into a environment that everyone is going to be loud, 100 plus 1000 people and everybody there for the most part hates you ultimately, right? So shut them up early, create an explosive play on offense, create a big play on defense, whatever it is that stops the crowd from being as Raucous. That is the biggest adversary that you have early on in this game is that you're going to have to play against the crowd as well. They are going to be loud, you're going to have the headset communicator for the first time, right? So like people are going to be talking about that a ton, you need to make the crowd shut up a little bit. I mean, there just comes a level of execution that you have to have early in games and there's a lot of, I mean, it kind of factors into where your mindset is, it factors into your preparation, your focus, all those things. But at the end of the day, it really is about getting yourself into a good early rhythm. Notre Dame last year goes into Louisville. Again, not as big of a crowd, but very loud crowd, night game, prime time, they're fired up. They want to get the upset. Notre Dame gets the ball, actually starts moving it well at first and then what happens? Turnover. Louisville goes right down the field and scores and Notre Dame was on its heels the rest of the game. I mean, just the rest of the game. And you can't have something like that happen in this game. You have to be able to jump out on this team fast. You look at last year against Clemson, Ryan, Notre Dame takes a three-nothing lead. They force a punt, you fumble the punt, Clemson recovers it at the 41, one play later, seven to three. Notre Dame never really recovered from that. And so when you allow a loud environment to get louder and more excited, it's going to hurt you. But also, while you're building your confidence, you're starting to put doubt in the mind of that team or on the flip side. If you will let them get some early confidence, their offense is the concern for them as well. You give them short fields. You let them get into a rhythm with your offense, not putting points on the board. They gain confidence. You put that offense behind the eight ball early, and now you've ramped up the pressure on them. So all these things kind of factor in to why this game is like, if Notre Dame doesn't start fast against Northern Illinois next week, okay, maybe they don't win by as much, but they're going to win. You get off to a slow start against Texas A&M, you might get beat. And so that's why it's an important part of it. And then of course, we always build into the build up on these topics. So what's number two? What's the best way to get off to a fast start and maintain it, right? That comes out of the Notre Dame offensive line. They have to limit pressures, especially in key moments, right? Like A&M, I don't care if Joe Walt Blake Fisher, both were coming back and Charles Jagger saw was healthy and moved to guard and everything was perfect. This defensive line is going to get some pressures on the quarterback. It's just going to happen. You have to make sure they're not the key pressures. You'll third and four. That's the time you got to buckle down and protect them. We looked at this on the opposite side last year with Ohio State. Notre Dame, I thought, did a pretty good job of getting pressure on Kyle McCord last year, not letting him get comfortable. But on that final drive, there were two big plays, a fourth and seven and a third 19. And on both of those plays, Ohio State gave their quarterback time to throw and he made those plays. So it's the key pressures. And in the run game, Ryan, for me, it comes down to this. I'm not expecting to dominate this game. I'd be shocked if that happens. Here's all I need you to do when you've got Riley Leonard, Jeremiah Levin, Jadarion Price. Get a body on a body. That's it. Get a body on a body, man. Hold your, hold your ground. Get a body on a body. And if they do that, the skill players should be able to have some success. I mean, I kind of quantified it as this and Trevor, I'm interested to see if you kind of agree on this, but like I, so I quantified it as I don't need the older name offensive line to dominate. I don't even need them to play great. I need them to play clean as possible because that's the thing that I'm most worried about is that when you're talking about six career starts on an offensive line, a starting group and you're talking about a freshman at left tackle and a red shirt freshman at left guard. When you're talking about that much just unknown and uncertainty, I'm more worried about, and I'm glad that we have a center that's played a couple of games, right? But like, I'm more worried about like false starts. I'm more worried about, you know, just, you know, thinking too much and working over a gap when you shouldn't work over a gap and releasing a guy because you think that you have inside help and that you don't have inside help and then he's a free runner like those things, those miscommunication things, those things that just come to come with experience. That really worries me a whole lot more when I'm talking about the amount of starts and offensive line had because ultimately, St Pendleton's talented, right? Anthony Knapp is talented. I'm Neil Wagner is very talented, but it's the first game woes of never playing before than the just little things that kind of get lost in a football game of the false starts or the miscommunication of front that can really do in an offense. So I don't need this offensive line to fire off and get 250 yards rushing for Notre Dame against Texas A&M. I need not a lot of false starts, not a lot of pre snap penalties, decent communication. I just need them to do a solid job. If they do a solid job, I think Notre Dame's offense is a chance to be really good in this game and potentially explosive at times. It's just going to come down to do not be your worst enemy on the offensive line in the front. I think you hit the nail on the head. I couldn't agree more. Clean football for them is going to be the biggest indicator of how well they do. So many people here, Notre Dame is starting a young offensive line and they relate that to talent. And I could not disagree more. You're a full ride scholarship athlete at Notre Dame who is known as O line you. You have the talent to play. The biggest differentiator for me is you haven't been in that environment yet. As much as you can simulate crowd noise and pump in how many, ever many decibels in practice, nothing compares to the real thing. So for me, evaluating their offensive line in the game and seeing how they come out on the first drive is going to see how they're going to play for me for the rest of the four quarters. Hey, Irish breakdown listeners, it's Urban Meyer. This fall, the game changes. Join me. If you want to 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. Jewelry isn't a gift you give just once. It's a way to remind your loved one of a beautiful moment every time they see it. Blue Nile can help you find the gift that says how you feel and says it beautifully. With expert guidance and a wide assortment of jewelry of the highest quality at the best price, go to Blue Nile dot com and experience the convenience of shopping Blue Nile, the original online jeweler since 1999. It's blue Nile dot com to find the perfect jewelry gift for any occasion, blue nile.com. I think you guys hit the nail in the head. The offensive line does not need to dominate. It does not need to play great. It just needs to hold its own and that's it. Like my note that I sent to you guys, it's not offensive line must control the line of scripts. It's not that it's hold up. Yeah, that's it. Just hold up. You know, the phrase that I use Brian was when you have when you when you lose a rep offensive line wise, it needs to be a slow loss, not a quick loss, right? Like Nick Skowrken is going to have a few pressures in this game, right? But if those pressures don't turn to quarterback hits, cool, if they don't turn to sacks. Cool. Like Anthony Knapp, just be good enough to be able to hold on for dear life for a little bit longer. Slow losses is what I want to see on the offensive line because it's also as a quarterback. I don't mind getting hit. I don't. As long as I've been able to complete my throwing motion, hit me all you want. That's the key, right? And then we saw this last year against Duke. I mean, there's ball Sam Hartman stone as he's as he's getting hit in the face. And that's the thing too. That's a little different about this one is because you have a quarterback like a Riley Leonard compared to a Jack Cone, a Sam Hartman who had, you know, obviously great strengths of their own, you don't have to be as dominant in the pocket against pass pro. Like you said, keep a body on a body. If I, if I'm Sam Pendleton and I get beat by Shamar Turner, as long as I stay on him, Riley Leonard can sidestep that either go run or get the ball out or whatever the case may be. It's when I lose that guy that that's when you get into trouble. And that's what would happen last year, Ryan, is they would lose at the line of scrimmage and then the guy go running by him and they're getting free runs at Sam Hartman. That's what this line cannot allow to happen. And that's going to be a bit key to this game because I do believe that Notre Dame has a, a pretty decent advantage from a skill versus skill standpoint in this matchup. They can't let this be the great negator and that's going to be a key part of it. So what are some things that Mike Denbrot can do in order to help with a fast start and help protect the offensive line? Because if your goal is saying we're just going to go out and run duo and inside zone right down Texas A&M's throat, all game, I don't know if that'd be a great strategy again. And Joe, well, coming back, this is a top 15 run defense last season, Tommy Reese would disagree with you, probably would, he probably would. But it comes down to what are some things you can do within your philosophy to have success, guys. And one of the things that they're going to have to do is get Texas A&M on their heels. What does that mean? Well, push the tempo, which is something that, that comes naturally for Mike Denbrot. That's what he believes in. This isn't going to look like Chip Kelly, 2010 Oregon, right? But we're going to see a little bit more pace. It comes down to properly using motions and shifts to go out the defense. What does that mean? It means not only doing things that give you leverage, it's doing things to make them think, doing things that make them communicate. The more they have to communicate, talk, pre snap. The more success you're going to be, Ryan, you played linebacker. If you're sitting there communicating and you're talking to the guy next to you as the balls get snapped, you guys are behind. Now you got to go make a play. You know, those are obviously very important things. An inside out attack, yes, you cannot abandon between the tackles, but be willing to get the ball outside. Use your alignment, you, you know, the A&M is going to try to do this to you. Use your tight ends, your motions, your backs, your receivers to create some extra, extra spacing in the run game, get be willing to get the ball outside, attack them with your screen game, be creative with your screen game, change your launching spots for your quarterback, right? Don't always be right there behind center. Everything you can do and then obviously with the read zone stuff, there's a lot of different things that that that Mike Elko has in his toolbox Trevor that maybe you didn't have last year because and this isn't Riley Leonard's better than Sam Hartman or it's just different style. There's a lot of things you have in your tool belt at running back that you didn't have last year against this kind of team. Again, not that these two kids are better than Audrick estimate. They're just different. Ryan, Audrick was a guy that that or Trevor, Audrick was a guy you needed to kind of get a push and get him going, right? These are guys are just, just like I said, stay on them. Do things schematically to get him in space. You weren't going to design a bunch of things to get Audrick estimate the ball on the perimeter in your passing game. So there's a lot of things that he needs to do that if you can get them on their heels, that's a way to not only get off to a fast start to protect your line, but it's also a way to slow down that pressure. And that's really where Mike Dembrock is going to make his presence felt Trevor. Absolutely. Do whatever you can to get your playmakers into space. We have heard nothing but great things about Notre Dame's talent, athleticism, length, speed at the skilled positions. Mike Dembrock does a really good job of utilizing those with different skill sets. We've touched on it before that Notre Dame, it feels like finally has a receiving room where it doesn't feel like they have five guys with the same skill set just with different names. And now it's time to go out and showcase what they're able to do, look for a references in a couple of shows, but look forward back in 2014, they will get the ball into Will Fuller's hands very quickly. Look for Dembrock to game playing around a speedy pass rush for Texas A&M, especially with the younger offensive line. I'm thinking quick, quick now screens to Jaden Greathouse could be in the future for sure. Ryan, let me just bring up something along that line as I kick it to you. Yeah. You think of that 2014 game, remember the big concern Notre Dame fans had going into the music city bowl where you had like a new look offensive line, your old line had been kind of getting your butt whooped all year, got Malik Zayert quarterback. What did Notre Dame do in that game? Lot of jet motions, jet sweeps. The first touch out of the game, Trevor was a tunnel screen to Will Fuller to get the ball in the perimeter. Those are all things they did to kind of negate that. And then once the offensive line got rolling, then they kind of took it to USC. Now, that was a little bit of a different, I mean, LSU, it was a little bit different. You know, Mike Maglinci was making his first career start, but he was a red shirt sophomore, not a true freshman or red shirt freshman. But those are things that they did to get early confidence and they were able to stay in that game in a game that a lot of people didn't think they had a shot at, right? Yeah. Well, CJ Pro size had that long, the long touchdown of the game right? So yeah, I mean, there's, there's ways fundamentally to get the ball on your playmaker's hands. And I think that Mike Dambrak has showcased that, like, if he has a team that has a dynamite passing attack, he can fold into that. If he has a dynamite running deck, we've seen that literally at the University of Notre Dame, right? So he has those, he's a very versatile play make, play caller, who's called him a playmaker and maybe back in his day, he was, but not anymore, versatile play caller. But I think that for when you look at this offense, this is the first Notre Dame team that I can remember in a long time. I don't think this hyper, I don't think this hyperbole at all, but this is literally the first Notre Dame team at the skill positions that I can remember in some time, where if I put in all the second stringers, quote unquote, onto the field, I would be like, keep doing what you're doing. Like, I respect the same results. And that has not been the case, man. There's been some years where it's like, if one wide receiver gets hurt, if one running back gets hurt, if one quarterback gets hurt, you're like, snaps, son, we suck. You're done. You're done. Let's like 2022, you lose Tyler Buckner, you're holding on for dear life all year, you know, I mean, if we just go by the depth chart and let's say in theory, there is a play where and God forbid where there's a hamstring issue, I know that you want to bring back some bad injury. Let's say, let's say this, Ryan, let's say it is a, there is a mass equipment issue at your skill positions, right, all three starting receivers, all starting running back. So Jeremiah Love, Jordan Faison, we're just going off the depth chart. Jaden Greathouse and Bo Collins are off the field, Ryan. Who are you trotting onto the field at that point in time? And I was going to illustrate it like this, and I wasn't even going to go deep into the running backs because we already know that like Jeremiah Love, Jadarion Price are both really talented. But like just that wide receiver, if all three had to come out for whatever reason, and you're telling me that I have to run a full offensive series or full half of football with Jaden Thomas and Jordan Faison and even Jaden Harrison, the slot just based upon what, what, what it's, or Chris Mitchell, whoever that you're throwing in a disease, it's, it's a long day, right? I mean, like you have more than enough playmakers. This is the deepest wide receiver room that Notre Dame has had in five, ten years. I mean, like it's been a long time and your depth at that point in time, your depth is Cam Williams, Micah Gilbert, Dion Colsey, Logan Saltatte, Oh, and by the way, you do have a lot of tight ends. You can throw the ball too. I mean, and what, and what other years in the recent past would a Cam Williams not be on a too deep? Like, when would that happen? When would that happen? And same with Micah Gilbert. 100% correct. 100% correct. And I mean, the last couple of years, we've been, you know, crossing our fingers, wishing upon a star that, you know, that Dion Colsey would finally break out. And now it's like, well, if he does, great, if he doesn't, they're fine. It's a, it's a completely different thing. And that kind of ties into the, to the final key to victory, in my opinion for Notre Dame guys. I, I, I don't believe that Notre Dame is going to be able to come out in this game and just consistently go on eight play drives, run the ball down their throat, quick game them to death, nickel, I'm diving up and down the field and score a bunch of points. They're going to have to generate some big plays in this game. And, and part of it's obviously your talent, but this kind of plays off of getting them on their heels, you know, using your motions, using your leverage, use some post snap switch concepts, which worked against Duke last year, which works, I think, especially against this team this year, because of not only their personnel, but also the fact that these guys are all learning a new defense, a very different defense from what they ran in the past, very different shrug, shrug, coverage structures, things on those lines. Can you do some things to kind of create some, some minuses? I think back to Mike Elko's first year at Notre Dame, what was one of the big, the big factors that for Georgia in beating Notre Dame, they had two really big plays. One was on a go ball to Jevon Weems late in the game. And you guys remember that jet sweep to DeAndre Swift that got outside for a big game as well as the only really big game they had to flip the field in a 20 to 19 ball game. Those two big plays turned out to be huge for Notre Dame. So Ryan, when you look at this post snap switch, attack vertically, go after the seat. I mean, there's all types of ways you can go with this, but at the end of the day, Notre Dame is going to have to be able to generate from a coaching standpoint and a player execution standpoint, some chunk plays in this game. And I'm just talking like one or two, I'm talking more like four or five, just big play opportunities that completely change the, the flip the field, change the tempo, change the momentum quite the crowd. It serves all types of purposes. It's a must in this game. Well, I don't think you recruit guys like Jeremiah, love, Jadarion price and bring in guys like Chris Mitchell and Jane Harrison to not create big plays, right? Like that's literally the whole reason that you bring in those types of guys. And then I would also say, even just like conversely to what Texan Amis trying out there, we know that their defensive line is super talented and very good. We know Tori and York and inside linebackers probably going to be a star, but the secondary is the spot that I look at and say like, there could be opportunity there, man. Like Tyree Chappell is a solid player. Ray Sanderson is talented. They got a couple of young guys like Des Ricks and a couple of transfers that came in that are like talented players. But like overall, Chris Mitchell, Jane Harrison, Jane Greathouse, Bo Collins, you should have opportunity Eli Reardon, Mitchell Evans, Jeremiah Love out of the backfield, like there should be a lot of potential to make explosive plays, especially in the passing game because I do look at the Texan and secondary and I'm just like, that's easily the weak spot of the defense. I mean, the first level is great. The second level is good with Tori and York and then the third level question marks, right? So Notre Dame needs to make some big plays, especially in the passing game. And another thing too, it feels like they're the overall vibe of the offense is changing. In years past, especially last year, when Notre Dame needed a big play, they were almost looking for the right opportunity and it was almost like a paralysis by analysis. Just waiting to see if you're able to establish enough of a run game to go play action behind it, have a deep cross with Chris Tyree. They hit that a couple times throughout the year with Mike Denbrock back in South Bend, it feels that Notre Dame is going to be, for a lack of better words, more on the offensive to create those opportunities instead of waiting for them to happen, which I'm excited to see on Saturday night. Well, it's one of, I mean, Trevor, it was like they would kind of poke and prod and wait for their moment, right? Where Mike Denbrock has preached in practice and in different situations. Hey, we're going on the offensive, right? We're going to not poke and prod and wait for that one or two big play opportunities. We're going to go on the attack. We're going to just come at you, come at you, come at you and generate those plays. And the big thing to me that also is going to help this game, I'm actually someone who's not like abandoned 12 personnel. I'm like, look, you got Eli Reardon and a Cooper Flanagan on your depth chart along with Mitchell Evans used 12 personnel effectively, but there also comes an aspect of this where you've got to spread them out too. You've got to make them defend the entire width of the field, something that no name is not done. And I believe it's something you can do with 12 personnel, especially with a guy like Mitchell Evans and a guy like Eli Reardon, who can stretch the field in different ways. You've got to be able to do that. You've got to hunt. And that's something that they didn't do. They would kind of, you know, set up traps to maybe get that one where these guys are like, we're hunting, we're hunting for those big plays. And the one thing that Mike Denbrock walked into was a roster that has plenty of those type of players on it. And not in theory, not, hey, he did this in high school. There's not a guy that no name is counting on tomorrow that hasn't done this at the collegiate level. Right? They're starting, you know, well, the transfer X receiver has generated big plays on the road in an SEC stadium. Chris Mitchell did that last year at Arkansas when he, you know, went for six catches in 157 yards against Arkansas last year. I mean, so you have those type of guys. You have players. Jeremiah Love, we've seen him do it. We've seen Jadarion Price do it. We've seen Jaden Greathouse do it. We've seen Jordan Faison do it. We've seen Bo Collins do it. You know, we've seen Jaden Thomas do his thing. He's not a big play guy, but he's a as far as like yardage. But what we've seen from Jaden Thomas is he's a big moment guy. And that's a part of this as well. So plenty of weapons and I didn't even get into the tight ends, plenty of weapons at those positions. And then of course you've got the quarterback is that Riley Leonard is going to have to be a facilitator in a lot of these big plays as well. But he's also going to have to create his own as well in this football game. But but the more he can facilitate those big plays, get the ball where it needs to get to on time, accurately make good decisions. Then there's less pressure on him to be the playmaker. And that's going to be an important part of this game. Ryan, before we move over to the defense, what are some? Are there any other things that as you look at this game, you say this is something the Notre Dame offense is going to have to do besides obviously we talked about fast starts. We talked about the offensive line has to hold up. We talked about, you know, using all your repertoire to get text animals, heels, and then creating big plays, any other things from the Notre Dame offense that you're going to have your eye on to say, hey, look, this is going to tell me this team is ready to roll in this game. I mean, you mentioned it already briefly there. But I really think that Riley Leonard, although yes, he needs to be an extension or a facilitator in the passing game. You brought him in to be playmaker, man, like he came in to be a guy and there's going to be a moment in this game, whether they're up, whether they're down, whether it's in the late four stages of the fourth quarter, whether it's in the late stages of the second or the first half, whenever it's going to be, there's going to be a moment where texting him sells out. They have good coverage across the board. And Riley Leonard is going to have to make a big play with his legs. Like there's going to be that moment. And when he has that opportunity, name to make it because ultimately that is a backbreaker for defenses. We have Mike Elko on that side of the ball, obviously, I know Brian's favorite Jay Bateman will be calling the defense technically, you know, with the air quotes up there. But we have what should be a really good defense with a really great defensive mind at the helm. And ultimately you're going to have to break their back at some point, man, because at some point, if Nick Skowert's in, should more Turner's, should more Stewart, David Hicks, all these dudes have kind of just put their, you know, they're kind of just pushing to create big plays in the backfield and all of a sudden, Riley Leonard keeps it and then he breaks it for a 25 yard big play in a third and seven conversation, then that's a backbreaker. So I think Riley Leonard is going to be a huge key in the biggest moments of this football game. How about you, Trevor? We talked about it a little bit when we were covering the offensive line. One of the biggest things that I'm going to be looking out for is eliminating pre snap penalties, drive killers, things that kill momentum, control what you can control and that is one of them. All of the positive things that we're hearing about Mike Denbrox do offense and it's going to be aggressive and looking to push it down field and an increase the tempo is fantastic, but Notre Dame has to do a really good job of not playing out of control. And to me, one of those signs is false starts, whether it's on a wide receiver, whether it's on an offensive tackle or a tight end, interested to see how Riley Leonard handles all of that communication, making sure that everybody is set before the snap. Marcus Freeman, Mike Denbrox, they touched on it in a press conference at the end of fall camp where they noted that from the beginning of fall camp to the end that it increased severely in a positive direction. But have to make sure that in a game scenario that those are eliminated because that's on the road. That is what kills drives. Yeah. So we're going to move on to the defense next fellows, but before we do everybody hit that like button, hit the subscribe button, hit the notification bell, share this podcast. Give us a five star review. And when this shows over, run over to boards@arspreakdown.com and sign up for what we got going on there on the premium, the premium board at our, for our spray down. [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC]
