Notre Dame and Texas A&M both have players that can take over this weekend’s game. Bryan dives into the Notre Dame players that can and must be that type of player, and the A&M players that Notre Dame needs to make sure don’t do that.
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George Clooney and Brad Pitt's new movie, Wolfs, is on Apple TV Plus, September 27th. That's where I want you to be now. So if you want to see George Clooney and Brad Pitt, go to Apple TV Plus. You got to start the story there? Or if you want to see Brad Pitt and George Clooney, go to Apple TV Plus. I am enjoying the show. And if you want to see their new movie, Wolfs. You can't do it, win help yet. I can do it. Do it. Definitely go to Apple TV Plus. The minute is cool. Okay, fine, it's very cool. Wolfs, streaming September 27th on Apple TV Plus. We are. My dad works in B2B marketing. He came by my school for career day and said he was a big row as man. Then he told everyone how much he loved calculating his return on ad spend. My friends still laughing me to this day. Not everyone gets B2B. But with LinkedIn, you'll be able to reach people who do. Get $100 credit on your next ad campaign. Go to LinkedIn.com/results to claim your credit. That's LinkedIn.com/results. Terms and conditions apply. LinkedIn, the place to be. To be. Next couple segments are going to be a little shorter. I'm just going to focus on a game-record conversation. Who are the game-recars in this game to keep an eye on? In each week, I'll try to mix it up a little bit and talk about who those are. But here's where I'm at with my game-recars conversation. I'm going to start with the nerdy-m offense versus the Texan-M defense. I'll talk about both sides. And then I'll go into the nerdy-m defense against the Texan-M offense. And the first one it starts with, this is an easy one when you look at the nerdy-m offense. It's Riley Leonard. I mean, there's a reason you brought Riley Leonard in as your quarterback. And it's not just to manage the offense. It's to be a playmaker. If you brought Riley Leonard in to manage your offense, then I don't know what you're looking for. And so let me say some real quick. A&M guy says, "Are we saying A&M is better because of the stats alone, or are we also accounting for strength to schedule?" It's stats. It's watching film. I don't care about strength to schedule. To be honest with you, and if you want to talk about strength to schedule, A&M played one ACC team last year and got dominated. So it comes into a lot of it. You've been great in the chat so far. And I really appreciate that you're coming here to engage. But it's really about stats and film. This breakdown, we do a show every day, this breakdown that I just did, is a statistical breakdown. It is looking at the stats. There are other parts that we do. Tomorrow we'll do more about keys and execution, things like that. Yesterday we talked into some bigger picture things. This was a statistical breakdown. It's part of the conversation. And when you talk about somebody who's in the chat, talking about Notre Dame does this against lower and fewer teams, and you're telling me you don't have a clue about Notre Dame. When you say things, not you, Aggie Kid. I'm talking about the person that I banned from the chat. So it's not just about stats, but that show, that segment of the show, was a statistical breakdown of the two teams. It's not all we do. There's a lot more that goes into it. And this segment is going to be more about the practical aspects of this matchup, which it comes down to the players, who makes the plays. And for Notre Dame, you bring in Riley Leonard to be a playmaker. You did not have a quarterback last year that could be a playmaker. And here's why that matters. These are the exact games that you bring Riley in, foot Leonard in four. And that's why he's my number one game record for Notre Dame. He has to be a game record. Here's what I mean by that. You are playing an A&M team with a great defensive line. You are playing an A&M team that's got a great head coach and a great defensive mind as head coach. You are playing an A&M team that has length and athleticism and presents some problems for your offense. You are not going to go out in this game and dominate Texan in the trenches. I just do not see that happening. That would be the biggest shock of all shockers. You've got to hopefully hold your own. But the reality is, is that's an area where you do not have the matchup advantage. Last year, when Notre Dame's own line got beat, that was a problem for Notre Dame. And it's always a problem. But you bring a guy like Riley Leonard in to say, hey, listen, we need you looking at it from the coaching standpoint. This is what you're asking him. We need you, sometimes when things break down, to put your Superman cage upon, right? You got to do this, right? You got to pull off the Clark Kent clothes, and you got to be Superman and go make place. That's just the reality of it. These are the games where you need him to do some of that. You need him to provide some of that impact for your team. And when you go on the road and you are playing a top 25 team, and I actually have argued in a lot in the past years that A&M, one of the each season overrated, I'm perfectly fine with Texan being the 23rd team in the country. There's no doubt, as I said, they do have talent. They do have a talented quarterback. They do have decent skill in the perimeter. They are very good on the defensive line in the front seven. They did bring in what I felt was the third best offensive coordinator of the entire off season. I'm totally fine with them being there. They're a legit top 25 team. So if you are going to go on the road and beat a team that's very good defensively, and especially in the front seven, on the road, your quarterback needs to be a big time playmaker. And for Riley Leonard, that starts with his ability on with his legs. And it also starts with his ability to make plays with his arm. He's got to do both. He has to do both. If he can't do both, he's going to struggle to. He's going to struggle. This offense is going to struggle to consistently move the ball. They're going to have to be better in the situation. He's going to have to be better in these situations than what they had last year from a playmaking standpoint. And so that's why he's my number one game record. Real quick response about A&M being exceptional at home. A&M's home wins last year were over New Mexico, Louisiana Monroe, Auburn, South Carolina, Mississippi State, and Abilene Christian. None of those teams were any good. The only team that they played last year that was good was Alabama. And yes, it was a competitive game, but they still lost that game. And Texas A&M in 2022 at home beat Sam Houston State, beat Miami by eight, beat lost to Ole Miss, lost to Florida, beat UMass, and lost to App State. So how difficult you are at home depends on how good your team is, right? So and yes, I do think it's going to be a tougher place to play this time than it was last year, because you've got a better coach. That's the key. You've got a better coach there. And that's why their names playmakers have to step up. 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. 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So I'm going to take that one and I'm going to combine it with Quinn yours to throw 2999 and a half yards. Put those together and bang bang boom baby. I'm going to be a winner. You just wait and see. I'm coming up on my one year anniversary of depositing my first ten dollars and I received an instant ten dollar bonus. If you have the skills, you can play for a shot at turning your ten dollars into a thousand dollars. Download the prize picks app today and use code Irish for a first deposit match up to a hundred dollars. That's code Irish on prize picks for a deposit match up to a hundred dollars. Prize picks run your game. 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 parm or if you're a real heat seeker, try spicy ghost pepper only on Wendy's signature spicy nugs. I dare you. That's seven delicious ways to try the nugs you already love. 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. Riley Leonard's where it starts but he can't be alone. They're going to need their backs to make plays. Here's another reality of a game like this. You're not I'm watching the Florida State Georgia Tech game. Do you guys remember the play? I believe they were running left to right on the screen. They ran an inch they ran an outside zone to the left and and Jamal Haynes cuts it back and when they showed the tight copy it's funny because I because I got the all 22 and I went and I was like is it as bad on the all 22 as it was on TV? It was. There was almost nobody from Florida State like the whole was literally this is the TV screen like there was like barely any like Florida State guys on the house. I mean it was a giant hole. I hope that their name can do that against A&M. It's probably not going to happen. Your holes are going to be about this big when they're there and they're going to close up in a hurry. That means your running backs need to see it and hit it and hit it with good timing and hit it fast. You're going to have a this is one of those games. You're not going to be most likely 60 to 70 percent with efficient runs. It's going to be twos and ones and threes and some minus ones. But when the 50 comes you got to hit the 50. That's going to be the key. So you're going to need Jeremiah Love and Jadarion Price to make some plays in this game. If in here's nothing to you've got to be there's a statement that Mike Elko made when he was the defense coordinator Notre Dame and the defensive line for Notre Dame was struggling in fall camp and they struggled in the spring and and there was a lot of angst from Notre Dame fans shocker about the offensive line and or the defensive line. Hey you're going to struggle and he was like no we're going to be fine. He said that that offensive line they're they're they're human lie detectors is what he called him and when you when you're wrong they're going to make you pay for it. Well in this instance it's it's one of those things where that's kind of how this A&M D line is. If you make a mistake they're going to make you pay for it. What Notre Dame has to do on the flip side is they're not going to make a lot of mistakes on defense in theory but they're going to make some because everybody does if there's a wrong fit by a line backer if there's a wrong fit by a safety if a lineman is supposed to secure the seagap and he slants inside and you seal him when those things happen you've got to see it and you've got to hit it and I think the other part of this too is the running backs out of the backfield could be big and and you know whether that's wheel routes angle routes seam routes screens however the case may be your your two most dynamic weapons in my opinion on offense are your two backs Jeremiah love a jadarion price you have to be able to hit that hit the have those guys hit those plays you've got to be able to hit those big plays with those two guys and then the other one for me when I look at the game records on offense it's going to come down to the two transfer receivers I think Mitchell Evans is going to play well I think Jaden a great house is going to have his success what you're what you what you're gonna have to make some plays in the outside you've got to make plays in the outside and you've got to make plays in the outside vertically the best thing that Notre Dame can do is to line up and say yes you're going to be good here but you have to defend us to the width of the field look Mitchell Evans was great last year slot players at times were pretty good last year but the inability to beat teams on the outside allowed teams to to change how they defended their name they were able to reduce everything and and knowing that they couldn't hurt them outside Notre Dame is going to have to make an early statement in this game in this season by saying you have to hit some plays outside Chris Mitchell both columns are those two guys that have to hit those plays they're going to need those two fellows to step up and say hey listen time is here we've got it the one-on-one is there I've got a win off the line I've got a win at the catch point and hit a couple those big plays I think that's going to be a big part of this game and that can be game records that can be a thing where you're backed up it's third nine you're at your own 25 and you hit that one-on-one down the field and boom it sparked it didn't if you guys watched the SMU Nevada game on Saturday night SMU could do nothing I mean they were just getting dominated and then they hit two big plays I think they were both of their tight end two big plays completely changed that game around they hit two shots down the field and when they hit those two shots it got them it completely flipped the field they couldn't move the ball they couldn't get it in going the Nevada was kicking their butts but they hit those big shots it gave them it flips the field they get a much needed score they got some momentum and now all of a sudden you're rolling Notre Dame's going to need plays like that if they're going to win if they're going to win this game and play the way offensively they need to play and and it really is going to come down to Chris Mitchell and Bo Collins is going to be are going to be the keys to there now there's an opposite argument to this the other part of this is A&M's got some game records as well and what Notre Dame has to do is make sure that the A&M game records don't dominate this game their game record talents but you got to make sure that they don't actually do that that they don't actually make that type of impact in this game and there's three guys that I really look at is potentially being that type of player and the first two are up front and Nick Skauer tennis Chamart Turner are two of the best linemen and they're just going to play all year they're they're both good athletes for their size Chamart Turner's a very athletic player he's probably going to play on the edge at times but you know my expectations you can play more inside in this game with your guards Nick Skauer tends an edge player they both had double digit tackles for loss last year the combined I think they had 16 and a half sacks between the two of them last year their their guys can take over a game and if you get completely dominated up front that can negate a lot of what's going on in the perimeter if you if you were if we're to assume that Notre Dame has a skill player advantage and for the sake of this conversation let's have that let's let's assume that let's assume that Notre Dame has the advantage at tight end against their backers and safeties and let's assume that Notre Dame has an advantage on the outside with Chris Mitchell and Bo Collins and Jordan Fazan and Jane Greuso let's just assume that that type of matchup can get completely negated if you get dominated in the trenches and the game that's always going to pop in my head and I'm old and so I'm going to go old school but I remember watching the 1995 I think it was the Orange Fiesta Bowl between Florida and Jordan is that the end of the 1995 season it was between Florida and Nebraska and that Florida team and they had Danny Warfolk quarterback you had Chris Doring at um at wide receiver but you had a lot of other talented players I believe Ike Hilliard was on that team I believe that right now Anthony was on that team I'm actually pulling up their stats now yeah Chris Doring was a thousand yard receiver Ike Hilliard was on that team right now Anthony was on that team Jack West Green was on that team that I mean they were they had such great skill players but they got annihilated by Nebraska why because Danny Warfolk I think they had like an early score after that could do nothing because he spent the whole game on his back and it completely negated your your perimeter advantage in that game completely negated it Notre Dame has to make sure that they don't do that and the two guys that can do that to them are these two players and you know J.G. White Town and Defances B are they really that good who did they play against that was really good well number one I mean Samar Turner played in the SEC last year he's not a guy that that transferred in from from you know Texas A and I he's not a guy that transferred in from Hamie Sam Houston state he's a guy that was there you know he he is that kind of player and they had a lot of other guys that made a lot of production last year so I'm gonna I'm gonna push back on that one number one he had you know he's a guy that last year you know again ten and a half sacks in a season didn't play in the bowl game that's that's pretty good production for a kid in the SEC there's no doubt about that and then Miami game that they lost he did have a sack in that game he had a sack against Auburn two and a half sacks Arkansas he had a sack at Tennessee one and a half sacks against South Carolina a sack against Mississippi State so he didn't exactly have production in in bum moments against bad teams you know he's a guy that has a legitimate talent you know Nick Skowertons a guy that if you go back and watch his film against teams like Ohio State and Michigan last year at Purdue he more than held his own in those moments as well so this isn't a guy at Nick Skowerton who who patted his stats against terrible teams he had three and a half sacks against Virginia Tech or excuse me three and a half tackles for loss against Virginia Tech he had three tackles for loss at Nebraska two tackles for loss at Michigan and if you go back and watch that game they were not garbage minute tackles for loss they were in real situations he had a sack against Ohio State two sacks against Michigan a half a sack against Iowa had a sack against Syracuse sack against Virginia Tech he never had a single game with more than two sacks and the reason I bring that up is because sometimes you'll have guys that get a lot of sacks then they do it all in one game if you guys remember when Jerry Tilbury back in 2018 for Notre Dame had eight sacks led their team with eight sacks that year well I believe half of his sacks came in one game against Stanford and four against Stanford he went the next six weeks without recording a single sack when you look at Nick Skowertons production it's it's week after week after week after week after week he's producing in the Big Ten so I think both of those guys play against good competition and are good football players you've got to make sure that they don't dominate the game but Nick Skowertons gonna have a tackle for loss or two he's probably going to have a sack you've got to make sure that they're not bad sacks if you're at your own if you're you know your own 42 yard line and it's third nine and you've got to try and he gets a sack fine you take the sack you punt the ball you let your defense work what it can't be is that sack when you're backed up and you've got to pump from your own two and now you're you know they're flipping the field they're getting the ball at midfield it can't be a sack that is is resulting of turnover where they get a short field it can't be a sack that knocks you out of field goal range or get you out of scoring range it's you've got to avoid the bad sacks sacks are going to happen in this game you got to you got to avoid the bad ones and that's going to be the key for Notre Dame is is in this game is don't let them take the game over that's the key don't let them have the drive killers and that's gonna that's we're going to be the other one for me is Tyreek Chappell right he's a very interesting player because he's not your typical Mike Elko fit and one of the things that I look at this matchup is I don't know where he's gonna play they list him as a starter at one of the corner spots but then they also listen as a starter at nickel does he play outside does he play nickel if he plays in the nickel that creates some matchup problems for Notre Dame because I believe I actually like him in the slot I didn't see him playing the slot last year I only saw him outside but I think his game fits the slot really ways a physical player he had to play last year I think it was against Tennessee where they ran a little white that wide now screen that they run and a corner's blocking him and he's a strong kid he kind of holds the guy in with one hand and then reaches out and grabs the receiver the other hand and just doesn't let go and you know he's a tough kid against the run he's a physical corner he doesn't have great long speed that's why I kind of like him in the nickel because he's a tough kid I think he could present you some issues in the slot and and he's a guy too that that could be someone they bring on some corn you know some edge fires and things like that he's the one DB that I look at and say you know he could he could take some guys out with how he plays and you've got to make sure he you don't let him do that you've got to either you know run good routes against him and make plays against him but then also do some things that maybe if he is playing a lot of nickel which is kind of and I believe new for him I don't remember seeing him and I broke down maybe five A&M games from last year didn't see him at nickel in those games if he is playing a lot of nickel you've got to do things to put him in stressful situations that he hasn't seen before and that's where nickel is a lot different than playing outside outside kind of everything's inside of you and nickel you've got to have your head on a swivel because things are be coming from outside and inside you know motions have a much bigger impact on a nickel and they do an outside corner and so I would do some things to stress him and if you don't he's the kind of guy who can make some big plays and really hurt your offense. 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 Ryan Reynolds here for mid mobile with the price of just about everything going up during inflation we thought we'd bring our prices down so to help us we brought in a reverse auction year which is apparently a thing mid mobile unlimited premium wireless have it to get 30 30 bit get 30 bit get 20 20 bit get 20 20 bit get 15 15 15 just 15 bucks a month so give it a try at mid mobile dot com slash switch 45 dollars up from payment equivalent to 15 dollars per month new customers on first three month plan only taxes and fees extra speed slower above 40 gigabyte retail so those are my game records for the the match up between the Notre Dame offense and the Texanum defense those are some players that I think Notre Dame is going to have to have step up in this game and those are some guys that A&M is going to they're going to have to prevent from A&M from taking over and and those are those are aspects of it that you look at and we'll get into the offense well next but before we do folks hit that like hit that subscribe hit the notification bell chair this podcast give us a five-star view and as always sign up for the message board at boards that are straight down.com so let's get into the next part of this match up and that is the game records on the Notre Dame defense against the game records on the A&M offense and this is going to be a a big one as well because to win a game like this you need to do two things one somewhat negate the advantages they have and if it if they're great on the D line you've got to not let them dominate you there even if you lose the battle you've got to make it to where you win some you know you may lose the war but you're gonna you win some of the battles right that's probably a better way of saying it because if you win some of the battles but lose the war means they made more plays than you did but with your skill talent you also on some of those wins you made them go you made some big plays the other side of the ball is you know is where you say okay the other part of winning this is you've got to then dominate the areas where you have the match up advantage and that's going to be a big part of this game and so there's some there's this is where the game records kind of come into conversation and it really begins here with Riley Mills we know who Howard Cross is Duke knows who Howard Cross is the offensive line coach for for Duke for Texas A&M is the offensive line coach from Texas from who was at Duke last year he remembers Howard Cross having 13 tackles I think four attack three and a half tackles for loss and a couple sacks in that game a sack in that game he remembers Howard Cross making the strip at the end of the game that knocked Riley out and Leonard out basically ended there any chance they had it at competing for the ACC title last year they're going to have a plan for Howard Cross they're not going to let Howard Cross beat them again that means Riley Mills has to step up and be a game record I've said it a million times you guys have heard it I know I'm a broken record on things like this but it matters as a quarterback as an offensive coach if my team got dominated up the middle there wasn't a lot we could do and if if Notre Dame is going to really dominate this matchup the way that they need to they've got to dominate up the middle and I think Riley Mills is going to play a big role in that when Riley Mills is on his game he's unblockable I mean we really is the problem is he's not always on his game is he going to be on his game this weekend against Texas A&M we're going to find out but he's a game record to me that needs to step up if Riley is is the player he's capable of it makes it very hard to defend stop Howard Cross it also makes it very hard for you as a staff as an offensive staff to not only stop him but then also have the linebackers not win on the blitzes and the pressures that they bring stopping the two tackles is key to success for Texas A&M which means not being stopped and dominating her keys for Notre Dame and I believe Riley Mills is the biggest key for that if he goes off A&M is going to have a very tough time moving to ball go watch the game against USC last year the edges played well the back I mean everybody played well for Notre Dame but Riley Mills and Howard Cross were just unstoppable and especially Riley Mills he was tremendous in that game and he because he's six five he's a good athlete and he's really long and when he gets up in the in the pocket and he gets those big paws up life gets real uncomfortable for quarterbacks and we saw that last year against USC when Riley Mills just absolutely dominated the USC offensive line and I mean my wife it's kind of funny my wife who did photography for that game and she has like five different photos of Riley Mills trying to tackle Caleb Williams and I went back and looked at him because I'm like at least all from like one play they were from all from different plays he made life really hard on Caleb Williams and when you look at that game Riley Mills had four pressures in one sack Howard Cross had five pressures that included a sack and another hit on the quarterback like that's the kind of production you want and when they were dominant then that also opened up opportunities for the linebackers to get run to have run throughs and get pressures on the quarterback and so that's going to be a huge huge key for this game the next one is going to be the edge players and I don't know who it is it doesn't have to be RJ open it doesn't have to be but tell who it doesn't have to be boob a car doesn't have to be Josh Burnham doesn't have to be Bryce Young doesn't have to be Junitrola Maka I don't really care who it is but Notre Dame's edge players have got to be good in this game they've got to make some big plays they've got to be game records in this game A&M is going to run a lot on the outside and this isn't just about rushing a quarterback the way that A&M is going to run there is run to football with with Colin Klein they put your defensive ends in a lot of binds a lot of tough situations you've got to be strong against the edge you've got to be great edge setters you've got to be great at getting off crack blocks and down blocks you've got to get to the football you've got to rush the quarterback this is going to be one of the most stressful games the defensive ends play all year with the scheme that A&M that A&M is going to run with Colin Klein if you don't have the ability to to dominate at the point of attack or at least win at the point of attack consistently then they're going to gash you and they're going to run the ball on you and you cannot let that happen and then of course when you get into passing situations they need to make place they absolutely have to make plays and that was a big part of last year's USC game as well as good as the inside players were and they were great Javante Jean-Baptiste had six pressures in that game Buba Cartreori came in literally for two plays and he came in for one pass play and on that one pass pass play he had a sack that's what you need to do if you look at the pro football focus numbers against USC last year Notre Dame had 33 pressures in that game they had 14 total hits on the quarterback you've got to do that in this game you've got to have that level success in this game and if they're playing well then the linebackers get a feast that's really what it boils down to when the linebackers struggle to get to the quarterback a lot of times it has to do with the fact that the defensive line is just not playing at a high level and the D line plays at a high level the linebackers are going to eat that's what it boils down to so I don't have any linebackers here on my my game records conversation because yeah they're important and they got to play well we'll talk about them a little bit tomorrow but I don't need them to dominate this game I need the boys up front to dominate this game that's what that's where if Notre Dame's going to win this one that's what's going to happen and the other part of the game records for the Notre Dame defense is going to be Christian Gray look Xavier Watts all American Benjamin Morrison's a dude A&M knows that right they've got they need somebody step up and make a play they are going to go at Christian Gray they're going to they're going to motion at him they're going to try to throw deep at him they're going to throw screens at him they're going to try to run their their their buck sweep and toss sweet plays at him they're going to try to make him be a dude in this game and if he's not a dude then they're going to they're going to make some plays if he is a dude then they're going to struggle they're going to absolutely go after Christian Gray in this game I have no doubt in my mind that they're going to go after Christian Gray in this game which means he's got to be ready for it and play well like think about this how do you have success throwing the football on Notre Dame if you can't beat Benjamin Morrison and Xavier Watts which most people can't but then Christian Gray's playing to his potential honestly how do you stop that Notre Dame team at that point time or how do you move it the answer is you struggle I mean we saw that little Ohio State Ohio State with Marvin Harrison and Jackson Smith and Jigba for a half and a mechic bucca and and all the players they had the last two years scored 21 points and 17 points against Notre Dame why because they couldn't throw the ball and some of the throws they had in 2022 were about CJ Stroud just saying you know like I said about Riley Leonard there's just a couple throws with CJ Stroud said okay got to take the Clark Kent you know costume off and be who I really am and that's Superman right I mean he made some plays you're just like tip your cap to that kid right there because there's nothing you can do about that there's no coaching point that you can say do a better job here there just the only way you can stop that is if you know to play and you beat him to the spot I mean just it was it was going to be hard to do and when you look at Christian Gray this year he's going to be that guy that they go at they tried to test Benjamin Morrison in 2022 and he ate him up they're they're going to test Christian Gray the same way this year and he's going to have to step up run game wise and throw in game wise that's what say it's it's not just like I have no doubt that Christian Gray is going to be a very good past cover guy this year I have no doubt if if I'm wrong I'll be shocked what where I'm concerned about losing Cam Hart more than anything else is Cam was a phenomenal perimeter run and perimeter screen game defender he was so good at that well this is a game where they're going to do a lot of that at you can Christian step up and be a force player on the on against the run can he handle that those type of situations with the perimeter screens that's what I need to see and if he plays as well as I think he can then I think then I think A&M's gonna have a hard time scoring I really do if he does it then it might be a little bit tougher let's talk about let's end this with the other side of the coin here and that's A&M and honestly there's really two you could talk about Connor Wagner there's really two there's two players that I look at and I say this is these are guys that that really concern me as potential game record players and they both play receiver the first one for me is Cyrus Allen he's a kid that transferred in from Louisiana Tech you know there's there's I know Carter Correls and I were on the show the other day and I don't know if he talked about it last night with with Sean but one of the things we talked about when we're talking about the receiving core is he did have some drop issues at Louisiana Tech and I went back and looked at that and he did he had seven drops last year but and that's fine but here's the deal you live with that if you're a coaching staff because he's a playmaker last year at Louisiana Tech you had 46 catches for 778 yards 16.9 per catch four touchdowns he's from the same league as Chris Mitchell the year before in 2022 he only had 22 catches but he went for 500 yards at 22.7 per catch and he had four touchdowns so in two years the kid has only caught 68 passes but he's got eight touchdowns and he's averaged around just under 20 yards a catch and you've got to make sure that you don't you don't allow him to do that in this game you cannot allow him to come out and be that down the field game record and if I'm going to and he's a guy that has done it at times against power five teams in 2022 Louisiana Tech started the season off playing at Missouri and Cyrus Allen had five catches for 121 yards and two touchdowns you can't let him do that to you if you're Notre Dame and and I'll be honest the one position on this defense that I'm most concerned about is nickel and I think Jordan Clark's a solid player I I I'm concerned against matchups where he's he's playing faster players and how can he handle that and then when you look at this particular defense or this particular offense the slot is a very important part of this offense he will have some stuff designed for him tomorrow on Saturday and I know like you know there's a chance we may see like Terry busing that role and things like that but the Cyrus Allen kid is the one that that concerns me because he can be that game record where you have one missed tackle on a slant or a screen and all of a sudden it's a 40-yard game you know there that he's the kind of guy that can can you know in a in a post-nap switch or maybe the outside guy runs like an inside takes the post out do sort of like a wheel route come off that guy on the outside get some kind of gold concept there he's a kind of guy where you can scheme up you know sort of some backside clear routes and you can bring him on a stack motion and then he runs a deep over route behind the backers in front of the safeties where it's just you versus the nickel running across the field you know he can win in those situations and that's where my concern is because I don't think that A&M is a team that's going to be able to move the ball consistently gets Notre Dame and just up and down the field but they have a shot to make some big plays and completely flip the field big plays and get points off big plays Notre Dame can't allow that and the guy that the two guys that most concerned me are these receivers first one being Cyrus Allen and the second one being Noah Thomas you know I like Noah Thomas he's not a burner but he's you can't teach six six can't you can't teach a huge catch radius he's a kid that that is of developing as a player he's still young he's still learning I think this is only that he's going to be a junior this year I believe I could be incorrect on that but I think last year was a sophomore season and he's a guy that you know kind of emerged a little bit last season had five catches for 51 yards and two touchdowns as a freshman in 2022 comes out last year 29 catches 359 yards five touchdowns a lot of quick stuff I don't think they use them overly well he's a guy to me that I want running vertical stuff comebacks outcuts go routes post routes deep overs where I'm just going to say hey one-on-one throw it up that's that's what I'm concerned about you know jade walkers a guy that you got to be concerned about I had moose Muhammad on my preseason second team all opponent squad he's a got to look at the reason I'm going with Noah Thomas in this particular matchup is because my concern is if you're very sticky and coverage like Notre Dame is there's those situations where you get that 40 yard game because that guy's just six six and he outplayed you for the football that's my concern if you hit a couple of those plays I think of the play that javon weems had against Notre Dame in 2017 when Georgia came to Notre Dame and beaten their name by a point one of the big plays of that game was that go route that they hit up the sideline where Notre Dame was in pretty good position I forget who the corner was on that particular play but he was in pretty good position but javon weems just went up and outplayed him for the football that changed the game right Georgia didn't consistently move the ball on Notre Dame that game but they made that one big play down the field and that changed things a little bit you can't let those plays happen and Noah Thomas is a guy that I'm concerned about is can be that type of player and you can't allow him to have those type of things so that's something that that I'm a I'm excited about uh Notre Dame being able to have the talent to stop but I'm not excited about because I know those type of things can happen and so I'm I just it's like you know you can see that's where my angst comes from it's just those those one-on-one plays where you just get outplayed for the football and and they just go make a play on you you've got to try to limit those they may hit one or two but you can't let those happen more than that and um we're gonna see if Notre Dame would stop because those those are those are I mean those are that's the game records for me that's really it the other stuff it just comes down to don't make mistakes like a running back hitting backside on an inside zone where you had a bad run fit that's not him being a game record that's you making a mistake these are guys that that to me are just they can outplay you for the football they can out run you to the football they can out run you to a spot or just out jump you for a pass those are the plays that I look at that that get you concerned because if you start just getting beat on stuff because you can clean up mistakes that bud run fit guy cut it back for third year again okay get on the board you make you make the correction and you don't make that mistake again but of a six six guys just out playing you for the football three or four times like okay I don't know how you scheme that okay we got to have safety help out okay but now you don't have that help down the seam so you know they run a play action pass and your safety is screaming off the hash to get over top because you keep giving aside and that's when that seam brought to the tight incomes wide open and boom you've got a big play there because if you're going to do something to take away something I'm beating you with I'm going to have answers for how I'm going to attack you based on how you take that away and that's when you start getting in trouble if you can stop them and shut down those plays then I don't know how to move the ball outside of you just making mistakes and so those are my game records for the Notre Dame and Texas A&M game so I hope you guys enjoyed that I'm curious who you guys have as your game records go ahead and throw those into the chat who are the Notre Dame players that you believe have a chance to really be those those game records for Notre Dame and who are the players for Texas A&M that that concern you the most in regard to them being game records for the Aggies will be a very very important part of this type of game so hit that like folks hit that subscribe hit the notification bell we're going to go to the buy so hold next so get ready for that we're going to rock through those and have some fun with those some very very good submissions and that of course as always folks sign up for the message board 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