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Irish Breakdown

Rapid Fire: Marcus Freeman Talks CJ Carr, Bryce Young And Defensive Ends

Today's Rapid Fire topics include:

  • We react to comments from Marcus Freeman that CJ Carr and Kenny Minchey have been splitting scout team reps.
  • We have comments from Freeman on freshman defensive end Bryce Young and discuss our confidence in the strong side defensive end position if Josh Burnham is out this week.  * Which side of the ball do you expect the best performance from this week: Offense or Defense?
  • Notre Dame and Purdue played every year from 1946-2014. Do you miss the yearly rivalry?
  • Which team do you feel more differently about now compared to two weeks ago: Florida State, USC or Notre Dame?
  • Is Northern Illinois more likely to run the table this season or lose four games like Marshall did two years ago?
  • Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, and San Diego State are going to join Oregon State and Washington State in the Pac-12 beginning in the 2026-27 academic year. What do you think of the move?
  • Was Texas A&M a better win or was Northern Illinois a worse loss? Shop for Irish Breakdown gear at our online store: https://ibstore.irishbreakdown.com/  Join the Irish Breakdown premium message board: https://boards.irishbreakdown.com  Stay locked into Irish Breakdown for all the latest news and analysis about Notre Dame: https://www.irishbreakdown.com​ Subscribe to the Irish Breakdown podcast on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/irish-breakdown/id1485286986 Like and follow Irish Breakdown on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/irishbreakdown Sign up for the FREE Irish Breakdown daily newsletter: https://www.subscribepage.com/irish-breakdown-newsletter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Duration:
43m
Broadcast on:
12 Sep 2024
Audio Format:
mp3

Today's Rapid Fire topics include:

* We react to comments from Marcus Freeman that CJ Carr and Kenny Minchey have been splitting scout team reps.

* We have comments from Freeman on freshman defensive end Bryce Young and discuss our confidence in the strong side defensive end position if Josh Burnham is out this week. 

* Which side of the ball do you expect the best performance from this week: Offense or Defense?

* Notre Dame and Purdue played every year from 1946-2014. Do you miss the yearly rivalry?

* Which team do you feel more differently about now compared to two weeks ago: Florida State, USC or Notre Dame?

* Is Northern Illinois more likely to run the table this season or lose four games like Marshall did two years ago?

* Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, and San Diego State are going to join Oregon State and Washington State in the Pac-12 beginning in the 2026-27 academic year. What do you think of the move? 

* Was Texas A&M a better win or was Northern Illinois a worse loss?

Shop for Irish Breakdown gear at our online store: https://ibstore.irishbreakdown.com/ 

Join the Irish Breakdown premium message board: https://boards.irishbreakdown.com 

Stay locked into Irish Breakdown for all the latest news and analysis about Notre Dame: https://www.irishbreakdown.com​

Subscribe to the Irish Breakdown podcast on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/irish-breakdown/id1485286986

Like and follow Irish Breakdown on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/irishbreakdown

Sign up for the FREE Irish Breakdown daily newsletter: https://www.subscribepage.com/irish-breakdown-newsletter

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's new from Apple? There's the new iPhone 16 Pro, built for Apple Intelligence. And it comes with the all-new camera control, giving you an easier way to quickly access your camera tools. The new Apple Watch Series X has our biggest display in our thinnest design ever. And this? It's the sound of active noise cancellation, now available on one of two new AirPods 4 models. So quiet. Check out all of the new products and new features at Apple.com. You can even buy yourself something new. See, Apple.com for product availability updates, Apple Intelligence coming this fall. Jesse, are you ready for Ravage Fire? Let's bring this thing home. Let's do it. All right, so now I've been practicing or promising and teasing CJ Carr talk because he is a hot topic of conversation. And I did ask Marcus Freeman about him today during his media call that he had with us. And Carr has been the scout team quarterback so far. He's done some other stuff though as well. So what has the development? What has the role been for CJ Carr so far? He's rotated on the scout team as is Kennedy mentioned has to. So both of those guys have gotten scout team reps, but also reps with the offense. CJ is developing extremely well, right? He's done a good job in terms of what we've asked him to do is the scouting quarterback, but also what he's been able to do with the offense. He studies the game. He's constantly trying to improve. And he's definitely improving. Splitting reps with Kenny Menchie, sometimes scout team, sometimes getting some third team reps, which means you're not getting a ton of reps. So what do you think of that? Honestly, I don't even know what to think about all of the quarterback stuff. You know, like it's like we're sitting here talking about, you know, what offense is working best for the quarterback skill set. We're talking about whether Angeli should be getting in. And now we're talking about, you know, as CJ Carr developing as much as he should be. I think that on the roster right now, going into, you know, knowing that Rylarine has one year left, I would say that CJ Carr, in my opinion, would be the quarterback of the future, assuming nothing else changes. And so I would like to see, you know, him overtake Kenny Menchie in some regards and, you know, potentially even get up to the point where he's, you know, going to overtake someone like Steve Angeli. And I don't know if that happens by the end of the season or what, but it goes back to when you think of a Mike Dembrock offense, I think that of Angeli, Menchie, and Carr, Carr gives you the best kind of, you know, boom percentage, essentially, right? The guy who's going to run that offense the best and be the most potent in that offense. And so I would like to see more CJ Carr development, knowing kind of what is on the brink next season. Yeah. And I mean, I think a lot of people are with you and I don't completely disagree with it either. You know, like, sarcastic red bear to CJ Carr is the future. He should be taking a lot of reps, but that's not what he's taking right now. And like, I guess at least he's getting some third team reps, like running the actual Notre Dame offense. But, you know, like, look, this is, this is what you got because you've got four scholarship quarterbacks in that room right now. You brought in a transfer and then nobody transferred out at the end of the spring. And I know that some people are worried, well, if you move CJ Carr up on the depth chart, then you're going to guarantee that, you know, Kenny Minche transfers or whatever. Look, someone's going to transfer at some point and you're going to have to look, you're not going to keep all of them. You're just not, you know, when that happens, I don't know. Now, it's going to be what's what kind of makes things interesting is the NCAA hasn't made this official yet, but they're talking about getting rid of that spring transfer portal window. So if you're going to transfer, it's got to be in the winter now. How does that affect things, you know, but. I think that CJ Carr is okay for right now where he is because you do have more experienced quarterbacks in front of him, but it's just it's it just seems like kind of a weird little tightrope that they're walking with this thing. Like like going back to when they went to New York with the media and they took the backup quarterback, Steve Angeli with them out there along with Riley Leonard, even though he's a New Jersey guy and all this different stuff. I don't know. Jeff was asking the question, you know, someone brought up the question and we in and we out. Would Steve Angeli win all the rest of the games would CJ Carr win all the rest of the games? I don't think you would either. I think that he would win a pretty good majority of the games because he has a better feel and a better willingness. You know, really compared to both Leonard and Steve Angeli, what we've seen for both of you know, more willingness to pull the trigger downfield, but I think a true freshman. He's better off where he is probably right now. You would like to probably see him start to take more reps at some point during the season, but I don't know how you manage that because of again, the fact that you've got two other scholarship quarterbacks in between him and Riley Leonard right now. I wouldn't want to have to be balancing all that. Would you? No, I would not. That would be the least fun I think of the whole thing is figuring out how you do that. Okay. There's a chance that Josh Burnham sounds like maybe a pretty strong chance that Burnham is going to miss this week's game with an ankle injury that he suffered last week. He's listed as questionable for the game and if that happens, then you've got RJ Oban as well as freshman Bryce Young behind RJ Oban. And here's Marcus Freeman talking about Bryce Young. You know, we expect Bryce to be able to have some opportunities to help us. RJ's had a really good week of practice and that's what we've needed him to do is to really be healthy and have a great week of practice and I'm confident he'll have a good game on Saturday. But Bryce has got has continuously gotten better over the course of his time here and he could be ready to go at any moment. But I would expect that some point probably be in the game on Saturday. He didn't play against Northern Illinois after he got a couple of snaps against Texas A&M. And what is your confidence in that strong side defensive end position if Josh Burnham is out. Price picks is America's number one daily fantasy sports app with over 5 million active members. Price 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. 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Get in before game one hits and you can predict how many passing yards your favorite college quarterback will hit. For me, I think Riley Leonard's going to go above 2,550 and a half yards, so I'm going to take that one and I'm going to combine it with Quinn Ewers to throw 2,999 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 $10 and I received an instant $10 bonus. If you have the skills, you can play for a shot at turning your $10 into a thousand dollars. Download the prize picks app today and use code IRISH for a first deposit match up to $100. That's code IRISH on prize picks for a deposit match up to $100. 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 palm 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 U.S. Wendy's 3 out of 10. I have not seen anything out of RJ Oben. I thought he looked slow on film against NIU last week. I thought he did a bad job of setting the edge and that's something that Marcus Freeman talked about, especially when the team is trying to, you know, run those stretch, beer type, you know, run place to the perimeter. Someone's got to set the damn edge and either force that guy to go horizontally, you know, to the sideline or, you know, force it back inside where the rest of your defense is at. And so, you know, I need to see a lot out of RJ Oben. And honestly, I thought Burnham has been playing better than RJ Oben, even though he's listed as the second string. And so if Burnham goes down, it's kind of like, to me, the security blanket to RJ Oben, and now you're relying on basically a true freshman, you know, at that point. And so I don't know. When do they maybe decide, you know, is, is Treyori maybe too small to play that true, true defensive end. Do you, do you allow someone like Junior to get into that mix at some point? Because he's probably a more of a true, strong defensive end than a Viper. A little bit bigger body. Yeah, a little bit stronger. I haven't seen him at all so far on the other side. You know, someone who can really, you know, set the edge. But, you know, the whole RJ Oben situation has been, in my opinion, a real letdown. It's a guy that got in the portal. You know, obviously he came over with Riley Leonard. You don't know what kind of influence Riley Leonard had on that as well. But, you know, he didn't play like this with Duke. He was much more effective. I need to see a lot out of him. And again, I think Burnham has been out playing him even as the second string guy. And so if he goes down, it's not a situation that I would feel good about. Yeah. I mean, Salapi Joseph is trying to understand what they saw in Oben to give him the starting job because he looks slow out there. And Josh Burnham has clearly been the better. You know, the best defensive end they've had on that side so far. And Oben does need to step up. It's time for him to kick it into gear. And when you look at the production that he had at Duke, it was better than what Giovanni Jean-Baptiste had when he was at Ohio State. And they're both guys deep into their careers. And you kind of, and they've got the same, about the same body type. But JJB might have been just a, you know, a little bit bigger, but they're pretty similar. And I think that that might be kind of what they saw when they were looking at R.G. Oben. It's like, wow, this is a similar guy. We got to see him, you know, in action last year going up against Notre Dame's offensive line. They obviously felt pretty good about him, but we just haven't seen anywhere near that kind of production. And that's the biggest thing. As people have said, like, Oben needs to step up. He desperately needs to step up, especially in a game like this. Because otherwise, I mean, they'll have to find other options if it doesn't happen. I'm sure they've been working other guys in there this week. An interesting one that has been mentioned this week is our Jason Onyé, who played outside when he first came to Notre Dame, but he's beefed up and he's been, you know, more inside. He did play that strong side defensive in last week. It was basically in, you know, against kind of a jumbo package that Northern Illinois had, you know, like bigger body personnel and stuff like that. And that's why they said they moved him out there. So it doesn't sound like they really consider him an option. But I would have to think, you know, if you're ineffective with one guy and you've got to rotate some bodies, I would think that either Onyé or Tuiyala Maka would be the two who make the most sense, just as someone, you know, even if you-- At the edge. Yeah, even if, yeah, just set the edge, hold, be strong. And I think that that's something that Onyé could do for sure. It takes me back to my sophomore high school days where, you know, we played a team that basically was running a triple option at the time, Marion High School, and they asked me to be that defensive in position. And it's really hard because all you need to do is one, set the edge, and two, in that kind of offense, you got to squeeze down the line if the play isn't going your way. You're just squeezing and kind of mirroring, you know, basically one, making sure there's no cutbacks and two, if the quarterback keeps the ball, well, then that's your responsibility. So, you know, to me, that true defensive in position is just, to me, it's so much fundamentals. You just got to be able to do your job. And again, it's not the, you know, the most sexy thing at the end of the day, but just set the edge and squeeze down that line of scrimmage. And I think if you can do that, then like, that's 75% of the battle at the end of the day, because they have, you know, fast and talented linebackers behind them. They have safeties who can come down who are also good in the run game. Just do your job and don't allow the big play to break, essentially. So, which side of the ball do you expect the best performance from this week, offense or defense? I'd have to go defense. I think the defense is the strong point of this team, but they were really good against Texas A&M. They caught a lot of flak this week because of that last drive and, you know, that big play that broke for the touchdown. And even Al Golden said, you know, we were one drive short, essentially. But in my opinion, you know, you held a team to 16 points and you have, you know, Mike Dombrak as your offensive coordinator, you have a ton of talent offensively. You know, holding a team to 16 points should be enough at the end of the day. And I think there's going to be even more of a chip on the shoulder this week. I know Al Golden is going to refine some things and they're just ultimately going to be better. So, you know, I think a lot of people just expect this offense to click in one game. It never happens like that. I think the offense is going to be better this week, but it's going to be nowhere near perfect. But I definitely think they're going to be going to be better. But the defense to me is just what you can rely on gaming game in and game out. Yeah. You're right. This is probably a softball, but, you know, look. I think I gave good rationale to it, though. No, I think you did. Look, again, like this, this to me from a Notre Dame defensive standpoint. And what they're seeing is somewhat similar. Now the running back Maccabee is not bad card. You know, again, a guy who came into college with, with high expectations and a high billing, but he only completed 58% through eight interceptions last year and is only full season playing quarterback. But I don't think that he has it's similar to Texas A&M in that he's a decent enough quarterback, but he doesn't have near enough overall skill talent, especially at the receiver positions around him in that matchup against Notre Dame secondary. So I see this like a Purdue is going to be successful. They're going to have to pound it at Notre Dame. And they did have the most rushing yards in the Big Ten last year, but I don't see that being able to have the kind of success like Northern Illinois had last week. So I think it's the defense. I think they're going to give up a low point total. Again, can the offense score 20 points this week? If the offense gets to 20, Notre Dame is going to win. I will guarantee that. Notre Dame and Purdue played every year from 1946 through 2014. Do you miss the yearly rivalry with the Boilermakers? I do miss the yearly rivalry and I'll give you a couple of reasons why. First reason I've said this before, I'm just going to echo it. Any rivalry that involves a trophy is a true rivalry to me. For those who don't know, I'll give you a quick history lesson real quick. The Chaletli is the trophy I'm speaking about that basically travels between Notre Dame and Purdue. And that started in 1957 when an Irish merchant C-man, Joe McLaughlin, brought over the trophy. And so since 1957, there has been a trophy to basically awarded to the winner of the game. I love those type of games. I love those type of rivalries. I think it means more when you have a traveling trophy. And then to get into more kind of like a serious response here, at the same time, I would much rather Notre Dame pick up this rivalry and kick a team like Miami of Ohio or NIU to the curb because if you lose to Purdue, at least it's a big 10 team. And to me, it's not nearly as embarrassing. But when you lose to someone like NIU, a Mac team, someone that you're supposed to roll over as your home opener, it's a lot worse of a loss on paper, right? And you're going to get a lot more national attention for a loss to NIU compared to Purdue. And so we can bring back a good, you know, long-standing, traditional rivalry game, kick out one of those Mac opponents that won it, it should theoretically boost your strength of schedule. And two, if you lose to someone like Purdue, it's not nearly as bad as losing to someone like NIU. I agree with that wholeheartedly. Where to begin? I don't miss the particular year in year out with Purdue because like living in this town with as many Purdue fans as there are around here. I mean, look, they've got Steppchild syndrome and they can get just nasty about it. And that's what I don't miss is just like the, you know, the constant, you know, like just like the chip on their shoulder fan crap and, you know, like Joe Tiller probably played into it back in the day as well when he was still around when they were playing every year. That's what I don't miss about Purdue. I do miss having some of these rivalry games and I think that I got this start up. I agree with Andrew. I miss a nice rotation. Michigan State could be pretty nasty as well, but I do miss Michigan State and Michigan more than Purdue. Absolutely right. Like if you did like a six year rotation where it was like home and home Michigan State, home and home Michigan, home and home Purdue, and then you rotated back through it again, I think that that would be great. Actually, even at Ohio State in there, just regionally big 10 teams that you can just keep cycling between. And again, it's just much better for the fans. It's much better for your schedule. I just don't really see a downside of it. And if we're being completely honest, like Michigan State and Purdue, what have they done in a long time? It's not like you're giving yourself this overly dominant. Like this isn't the early 2000s when Michigan State was good. And when Drew Brees was playing for Purdue, like it's not those type of teams anymore, right? And so I think you can take advantage of the kind of, you know, the current status or the current performance of some of these programs at the end of the day. Yeah. You know, those schedules were different back. I mean, I know that like everyone. Heavy big 10. Yeah, like you look at the schedules now versus back then, and they definitely looked a lot different. I just, I just always felt like having now Michigan was never annually on there, but Purdue and Michigan State were, and there was a healthy dose of even Pittsburgh and Boston College. And I just felt like by having so many of those long standing rivalries on there, those games always meant more to the other thing than they to the other team than they meant for Notre Dame. And I felt like it was hard for Notre Dame to get it up to the same level weekend and week out the way those opponents were getting up for them. So I wouldn't want them all on the schedule at the same time, but I do like the idea of a, of a rotation. Andrew beat me to this. I do agree, Jonathan Smith is going to, you know, get Michigan State back to more of their kind of, you know, regular eight and four, nine and three, ten and two, and maybe kind of a, you know, a really good season every fourth or fifth season. But I mean, Michigan State's been kind of bad for a while now, right? And, but I do think that they're on the right track of kind of recovery. Well, they had that one year and then they gave their coach a big contract. Yeah, and then look how that worked out. Yeah, yeah, really good decision, really good decision. Really good judge as a character apparently. Which team do you feel more differently about right now compared to two weeks ago Florida State USC or Notre Dame? I just have to go with Notre Dame. I think Florida State, you know, has more of a proven, you know, they're more consistent in their bad play than Notre Dame was in really good play and then really bad play. It's like an up and down roller coaster, right? I think USC is more streamlined as well. Like, I didn't, I expected them to have. Yeah, I mean, listen, their head coach is Riley Leonard, it's still USC. They still get good quarterbacks. They're going to be good offensively. The only thing that surprises me is I think they've actually recovered some on defense this season. I think they're moderately better, which goes a long way with how bad they were, you know, in the past couple seasons. So to me, it has to be Notre Dame to go from winning a type of game like they did against Texas A&M on the road in that environment. And then to coming home and laying an egg like that against NIU, I just think it's two completely different, different games and ultimately I didn't expect the offense to look this bad to consecutive weeks as well. It's got to be Notre Dame for me as well, because look, we all felt like they were legitimate college football playoff, at least college football playoff contenders a week ago with a chance to grow into national championship. But all bets are off the table right now. We're really trying to figure out what they are because even for a Florida state team with a couple of losses. I mean, they still lost conference games like those were ACC games. Like at least, at least you can kind of not write them off, but you can justify them to some extent. They were against power five teams and in your conference USC nice went over LSU. I'm not completely sold. I want to see exactly what they're going to be once they get into big 10 play for the first time, just how physical they can actually be with somebody. So it's Notre Dame for me as well. It would go Notre Dame, Florida state USC would be my ranking in terms of how differently I feel about them. That's a good point, Jeff Notre Dame had fewer question marks in those teams coming into the season and a lot of returning talent with a good schedule. So I agree. It's got to be Notre Dame. Is Northern Illinois more likely to run the table this season or lose four games like Marshall did two years ago. I'm going to be optimistic, but also rational at the same time. I want Northern Illinois to run the table. We all obviously like, if they can go on and be the group of five champion and make the playoff like that is, you know, best case scenario, but they have a good amount of work ahead of them. But if you look at their schedule, I don't think it's totally unattainable. I think, you know, to me, they're sealing at this point, or sorry, their floor is eight and four, and their ceiling could be upward of, you know, eleven and one, ten and two potentially, right? Like, I think if you look at their schedule, the hardest teams that they have left are NC State who isn't looking as quiet as good as I think people thought. And I think that's an interesting matchup that will happen not this week, but next week. And then I think Toledo, just because they're always the top of the Mac, and then Miami of Ohio, really, because they just won the Mac last year, but they're off to an O and two start themselves, right? And so, again, I think this is a team that ranges from like eight and four to ten and two, but they're going to lean more so on the ten and two side, because I do think, based off what I saw, they're a really well coached team. They know how to go out and execute a game plan. And I think that this type of win kind of gives them the confidence that they could need for the rest of the season to say, you know what, we can go toe to toe with anyone, right? It doesn't matter who we're playing against. We've proven to ourselves that we can win some of these tough, big games. And we just owe in one, but their losses to Northwestern. So it's like, oh, okay, well, you know, look, they lost to a power five team, but look at Northern, like, like you, you want the answer to be they're going to run the table. You look at Marshall a couple of years ago, they quickly became everyone's darling, just like Northern Illinois has become the curious part about this whole thing like Purdue had to buy last week, the week before playing Notre Dame. Northern Illinois got its by this week. They're not going to play this weekend. So they can kind of ride that emotion a little bit, but then how are they going to deal with it once they come back. And I think that maybe, maybe that catches them a little bit of a break that they didn't have to turn around in a week's time and play right away. It's right. Like NC State should be the toughest team that they play the rest of the way, but I think it's more likely that they lose four games, then run the table. I don't think that they will end up running the table. I just, I think that they'll, they'll kind of get caught up in this whole thing and I wouldn't be surprised if they lose a couple of games in a row, somewhere along the way. One of the, the stinky thing about this and, and what kind of probably played to Northern Illinois is advantage, but will kind of maybe trip them up down the road is they got the advantage of playing. And again, this is not an excuse Notre Dame should have won this game no matter what, but I think it's a lot easier to pull off something like this early in the season when there's not a lot of tape out there. I think Notre Dame, you know, yes, they can game plan but you don't know to the extent of what it's not, it's easier to game plan for a team when there's eight games a film compared to, you know, one week of film right and, and I think that goes the same way for Notre, and I you defensively for, for doing what they did against Notre Dame off because Notre Dame only had one tape out there and instead of maybe trying to mix things up or add some wrinkles I think Northern Illinois just kind of looked at the Texas A&M game or like hey, these are the things we need to do well and if we can execute, we can win this game essentially right and so I think that plays, that ultimately is what's going to hurt Northern Illinois as the season goes on because more of that kind of, again when I would say gimmicky kind of stuff right like it's more on tape and it allows defensive coordinators to also see what other teams did to necessarily start preparing for it. That's exactly right. And that is part of the deal when you play these early season games as you're going to see some stuff that hasn't been put on tape or, you know, like, again, I, I, I do think Notre Dame should beat Purdue. I, I, like my gut tells me it's going to be a relatively close game, you know, until Notre Dame figures out some things offensively, which we'd cover pretty extensively this week and here today as well, but there is, you know, Purdue's only played one game and it was against Indiana State. So there's a pretty good chance that they're going to try to throw some stuff out there that Notre Dame hasn't seen before, considering they have only played one game and they won that game very handily, 49 and nothing over Indiana State. So I think that there's going to be some stuff that, that Al Golden hasn't seen so far on tape. 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. Hey Irish Breakdown listeners, it's Matt Leiner. I've got a podcast called Throwbacks with actor Jay Farrar, where we'll be talking all things sports, but also so much more. We'll give you the behind the scenes stories from my days as the quarterback on an iconic college football team to Jerry's days as a star on an iconic TV series. So subscribe to Throwbacks on YouTube, Apple podcast, Spotify or wherever you get podcasts. So Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State and San Diego State are going to join Oregon State and Washington State in the Pac-12, beginning with the 2026-27 academic year. What do you think of this move? Yeah, I think this is a smart move. I believe, you know, we were kind of having this conversation last year and, you know, kind of maybe deciding what would happen with the Pac-12 will eventually disintegrate and fold into, you know, the group of five slash the power or do they find other teams that regionally make sense to kind of join them and form this new sort of, you know, Pac-12, right? And I think Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State are all programs that kind of fit geographically and also, you know, fit for teams that I think have developed into kind of solid, you know, football programs over the last few years, right? Like, even, you know, BCS era Boise State made a run. And I think Colorado State is, you know, developing as a program as well. Like, look at what Fresno State did against Michigan in that game week one. Like, they had Michigan on the ropes. I don't think that any of these programs, I guess, are a slack. And I know San Diego State has been a team that's always kind of on the edge of the top 25, even though they're not in a group of five conference. So, or sorry, a power five conference when the power five was still around. So I think, I think it makes sense. And I am interested or I'm excited to see, you know, what the Pac-12 kind of develops into now how they redefine or remold their conference. Yeah. I don't know how excited I am about this. There's six teams in the Pac-12. Like, I guess it's better than nothing if you're Oregon State and Washington State. How much stature it's actually going to give you, you know, like everyone probably would have loved to have Boise State. A few years ago, like Jeff is saying, I think Callan Stanford should return now makes sense for them because the ACC is going to implode. I mean, I don't think the ACC is going to implode because the, you know, the, the buyout is still there. If anything, the ACC added these two teams to help kind of protect themselves from imploding should either Clemson or Florida State actually be able to work their way out or, you know, pay the money. To get out. Callan Stanford, you know, part of the reason for, you know, like why, like Callan Stanford made this move to the ACC one to save themselves. They had some other options, but that, you know, like the academic thing is part of what has prevented teams like Boise State, for example, from coming into the pack 12 in the past, Callan Stanford want to keep, you know, like their, their academic standing and at the end of the day, they just feel like they're too good for some of these other schools. So I don't think they're going to return to the West until, you know, like maybe they do get through this year, the next couple of years and go, man, we're really tired of all this travel. Yeah, and you know, so maybe that does push him back there, but you know, at least for now, based on what they've always kind of tried to prop themselves up with before. I don't think they're going to make that move. This is a good one from Tommy. It's the state university conference or the suck for short as you see. I like that. Not bad. I do think it's a new group of five conference, basically. And, uh, Steimy says the pack state conference back. Didn't get this question in earlier from Brent. I forgot that I had this in here. Was the A&M win was A&M a better win or was NIU a worse loss? Sorry, my dog was literally, you would think that we were being broken into. I would say that the NIU is a worse loss than the A&M win. I think if you if you flip it, and Notre Dame lost to A&M, but be NIU, there would be a lot more kind of, like the national conversation would be, well, you know, Notre Dame didn't quite beat A&M. That was kind of expected because, remember, they were the underdog in that game, right? I think it is way worse to come home and lose and lay an egg like they did against NIU. And I think if we're talking playoff chances, all things considered, Notre Dame would have a better chance if those losses were reversed as well. So I have to go with the NIU loss being worse. I have as well. I mean, you still beat an SEC team on the road in that environment. Everybody wrote you off and then you lost to a Mac team. So I think NIU has to be worse. Question from Andrew, do we think that the new, you know, the Pac-12 would try to pick off some AAC teams or Sunbelts? An interesting question, like, how much do they care about geography? Because, like, most of the Sunbelt is so far out to the east. I mean, you do have some Texas schools and Louisiana schools in there to lane from the AAC would probably make some sense because you do have, you know, like New Orleans and you've got some academics there, you know, again, like, I don't know how much that even matters anymore. But at least in terms of it was a school that was just in a New Year's six bowl a couple of years ago. So it would, you know, like, that would make a little bit of sense. But really, you start adding all these different, you know, I realize you need some numbers and stuff like that. But I do think at some point it just becomes an over glorified group of five, you know, like, how seriously are they even going to be taken? What kind of stature, you know, are the other powerful conferences going to give them? I truly believe with the portal, these things are going to level out. There's always going to be an opportunity for some of these, some of these guys to be a starter somewhere. And even if that means going to school like Fresno State, Boise State for a year or two and then hit the portal again to go back to maybe a more big time school. But I'm, you know, it's just like Idaho, right? Like, I saw this quote the other day and said, you know, if you come to play to Idaho, why not come for two years instead of one? Because after your first year, you're probably going to get hit up, you know, in the portal and get, you know, maybe like $100,000 in terms of NIL money. But if you wait and have another good year, then that paycheck is going to get even bigger by the time some of those schools come knocking. And so again, I just think with the transfer portal and NIL and it's just kind of, we're just getting into this new beast of both of those things. I just truly believe that, you know, some of these, you know, lesser colleges or, you know, non power four or five, whatever you want to say, schools that were kind of more so looked down upon. I think that the playing field is going to become more equal, especially as things go on. And so, you know, I don't, I don't buy it as, you know, basically, you know, these things kind of disintegrating or turning into maybe a lesser of a conference because I do think a lot like some of these teams are going to start to get better. Or at least be more competitive. Well, they're going to have to just by the fact that they're going to be moving into conferences and, you know, they're going to have, you know, like competition and all that kind of stuff. Sophie just says, Eastern Washington maybe makes the jump up that could be an option for them. I mean, they're going to want to get more teams in there at some point, how selective they are where they come from, all that kind of stuff. At least it's a move for them right now. Six is better than two. So at least they'll have six teams here in the very near future. Of course, the Mountain West is not going to be very happy. They're going to be cashing their big checks because I think it's like an $18 million buyout to get out of the Mountain West, which is still a much more feasible check than anyone in the ACC would have to pay to get out right now. Well, that's going to do it. I told you we had a lot to cover today. And I think we covered nearly two hours worth. Yeah, I think we covered quite a bit of it. So good stuff. Don't forget, I be count down to kick off will come your way tomorrow night. We record tomorrow afternoon and we will have it up. I think we got, I think I had it posted my, you know, a little after seven o'clock, maybe something like that right around seven last week. So hopefully in that ballpark, as long as we don't have any complications. Thank you very much. Gents and ladies who might be out there as well, Jesse switching from Paul Skeens to his Cody Pelinger hat, just as the show. Appreciate everybody for being here and we will talk to you later. Have a great weekend. Enjoy the game on Saturday. And again, I be count down to kick off comes your way Friday night. So look for it dropping, whether it's on YouTube or your podcast platforms as well. Also, there's a bonus coming your way on YouTube tonight on the Irish Breakdown YouTube channel. And in the podcast, there is an interview with Purdue insider Nathan Baird. We covered some of the produce stuff. So you will find that there on both podcast and YouTube. Jesse, I will talk to you later. Everybody else. Thanks again. Hit the like button before you leave. I have a nation support stock. [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [BLANK_AUDIO]