Bryan breaks down the game wreckers for Notre Dame in its matchup against Purdue, and who the Irish need to be prepared to handle for the Boilermakers.
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. So let's next get into a little bit of a conversation about game records. And then we like to talk about game records on our Wednesday show. And Notre Dame certainly has potential game records and of course Purdue has some as well. So when I look at this matchup, it begins with the Notre Dame offense. And there's a lot of potential players I can look at, but I'm going to look at a couple. And I'm going to talk about game records that should be game records this weekend, that Notre Dame needs to be game records this weekend if they're going to have success. And it starts in the backfield. I mean, right now, that's your best tandem right now. That's the best thing you've done so far this year is when your offense has made big plays, you've gotten the ball into the hands of Jeremiah Love and Jenarian Price. That is where your offense has been as this best. And when you get rocking and rolling, it's with those guys having the football. That means a couple of things. Number one, you've got to lean more into them as runners. Part of that is also being a little bit more, I don't say creative, but multiple with how you get them to football. Doesn't mean that you need to run a bunch of different plays, but some different ways to get them to football within those looks. I think it would be very smart, very smart for Notre Dame to get the football to them in on the perimeter in the past game. If they have a big physical front seven, that means those guys aren't going to run as well against the as you would a unit that's maybe a little bit smaller. And when I look at this match up with the size that Purdue has at linebacker, one way that I think you can slow them down is get those guys chasing the Notre Dame running backs and the Notre Dame speed. And obviously Jeremiah Love and Jenarian Price are that. Yes, just playing downhill. I mean, you can't just play left and right, you've got to go at them at times. I want to see a mix of the outside zone with the inside zone. I want to see some counters. I mean, Indiana State blocked up a counter against against Purdue in the opener that if they had a running back like Jenarian Price or Jeremiah Love, they might have popped that sucker out, you know, out the backside and had success. They didn't want like overload trips to the left, ran counter tray back to the right. And boy, it was one mistackle away from taking that thing for a big plate. And that back wasn't anywhere close to what Notre Dame has running back. So your traditional run game has to be effective. But again, they're going to have a lot of numbers there. You've got to do some things to soften them up, you know, doing some, you know, quarterback power, doing some things where you're running your jet sweeps with them. I would say this is the week where it would be very wise to maybe go with some 21 personnel type looks and get some action there. So these are all things that I want to see maybe do like a sweep action one way with a counter the other way and just read certain things. There's a lot of creative things you can do in the run game. It doesn't put a lot on your line. It puts more on your quarterback to make proper reads in the run game. And you know, so that could be a challenge as well. But there's a lot of things that they need they can and need to do to get those two guys of football. I would say get creative in the past game with them. If you don't, if you don't find ways to get Jeremiah Love matched up in the past game against their linebackers and safeties, I just, I'm not sure what you're trying to do at this point in time. Just when, first of all, he's a dynamic playmaker. He's already proven that second of all, the way that they play defense, they're going to put a bigger safety or a linebacker on him if he lines up out wide, but you're definitely going to have a linebacker or a outside linebacker at, which is basically a defensive end in a two point stance matched up against him in the past game. You've got to find some ways to get him the football in that situation and with price because they're going to somewhat look for it with love. I don't know that they're going to be looking for Jeremiah Price. And honestly, I would steal a page from Northern Illinois with the play that they ran where they ran a jet suite, bring Jeremiah Love on in action and then have Jadarion Price fake like he's a lead blocker. Just run him on a wheel route. See if you can catch him. I would do that. Why not? But that's the kind of creativity that we need to see from Notre Dame to get their playmakers the ball because these two kids flat out our game records. They've already proven to be game records. And this is a game that is built for them to use their speed to make big plays. The more you can do with different backfield actions, you know, where maybe you're running outside zone one direction and you've got your other back kind of swinging back out to the right. Just something to get them thinking their eyes going in different places. And if they crash backside against the outside zone, you can pull that sucker and throw a bubble. And there's a lot of different things that you can do to slow down, produce hard vertical charge, which is what they're going to do in this game to try to slow down their names, run games. So look for these two guys to be potential game records in this game. It certainly needs to be something where the coaching staff is going to do that. You want to take some of the pressure off Riley Leonard, get these two cats going in the run and pass game. And if Riley Leonard's injured and can't go for some reason, which we're told he's practicing, he's going to play. We'll see who knows this could be gamesmanship by Purdue. I don't really believe a lot of what I am told about this situation right now. But if he can't play and you've got Steve Angeli in the game, which is, let's be honest, that's what their aim is going to do. Whether you like it or not, some like it, some don't, it is what it is. Then even more so what you need to lean into this stuff and get him going. Prize picks is America's number one daily fantasy sports app with over five million active members. Prize picks is the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports. Unlike other apps on prize picks, it's just you against the numbers. All you do is pick more or less on two to six player stat projections and watch the winnings roll in. Get in on the daily action with your friends and become part of the prize picks community today. You can now win up to a hundred times your money on prize picks with as little as four correct picks. You can turn ten dollars into a thousand dollars. I'm a Bears fan so this one gets me really excited. One Caleb Williams passing yard gets you one win on prize picks every week in September. That's right, only one yard gets you an automatic win every football weekend in September. Four weeks of free W's. Don't miss this deal on prize picks because it's gone when September ends. Think Tyreek Hill get more than 90.5 yards in week one. Aaron Jones runs for more than sixty six and a half yards. Cook up hot takes with your friends and win real money this football season when you and your crew run your game on prize picks. Prize picks also has college picks all ready to go for you as well. 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 two thousand five hundred and fifty and a half yards. So I'm going to take that one and I'm going to combine it with Quinn yours to throw two thousand nine hundred and ninety nine 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 eleven. 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 US Wendy's. Game record number two for no name needs to be Mitchell 11 so we saw Mitchell Evans get more involved in the offense last week and that was obviously good to see. Well at least he got more involved in the offense in the first half he didn't do it. I've never gotten the ball in the second half but this is certainly a game where hopefully you can get him a little bit more from him he did play 22 snaps last week. 17 of them were in the past game. We're running past routes I should say so you finally got to see a little bit of Mitchell Evans last week. This is a game where I think could be a huge Mitchell Evans game. And again the way that Purdue plays they're going to do a lot Purdue run some really interesting coverages they do a lot of cover one and cover three. But they also do a lot where they show single high and then they're boundary safe to be kind of down in the box and the snap he'll take off running over top is almost kind of like a cover to. But either way whether he's in cover one or cover two against that look I'm running my tight end at him a lot. I'm going to try to get Mitchell Evans matched up against their linebackers in the past game the three by one pass game to your number two and number three receiver needs to be a huge part of this game. I'm running some flood concept some some corner routes by two and three. Some seam routes some post snap switch stuff some levels concepts with two and three. This needs to be a game where those guys feast. And I guess I should probably include my my number three game records you got to get somebody at receiver going a potential guy to get going is Jaden Greathouse as part of what I'm talking about here. That's possibly Jaden Harrison and certain looks to where you actually do things more with him getting down the field not just running stuff behind the line all the time. But Greathouse Jaden Harrison and maybe this is a week for them to have an impact because there's some really good over the middle of the field match ups in the past game that you can go to and then even using even though if it's not an over the field route. Certainly some things you some out breaking stuff to your number to a number three against match ups that really favor you in the past game so that that's got to be a position and then I'd like to see somebody outside step up and have a big game and not just catching comebacks and tunnels and and that's really all both columns is done outside of one catch and I'm not knocking bow he hasn't got the opportunities to do much outside of that what I'm saying is as an offense you need to give those outside receivers a chance to go make a play. And they haven't really been given a lot of chances to make plays I mean you've seen guys kind of get open over the middle of the field and the ball doesn't get thrown. You've seen him you know Jaden Greathouse yes he missed the ball last week but he did have another opportunity later but you know Chris Mitchell in the first game at a couple shots where he was open and the ball was not accurately thrown or wasn't thrown at all. You know both columns was thrown the ball three times downfield against Texas A&M he caught one caught two of them. And you know one of them was a comeback route but he caught the other go the back shoulder route and then the other one he was he was open and the ball was off target and he get the ball so you've got to give your outside receivers a chance to make plays. And I understand there's always this desire to you know run your system run your system but sometimes it's as simple as like look we're designing this play for number 10 to get the football. Or number 11 to get the football or number five to get the football but you've got to do some things to get your outside receivers going. And I don't want to hear any well you know you get you get him going get him going right we're we're not talking about this isn't Georgia you're not playing Georgia didn't play Georgia last week. We're not talking about no no names talents not as good as people. Even if it's not as good as we thought it was it's still better than Northern Illinois and it's still better than Purdue. You've got and if you don't trust your guys against those two teams how in the world can you trust them against Louisville or Georgia Tech or Florida State or USC or Heaven forbid you get into the postseason getting to the play off and some of the defenses you're going to face in the playoff. You've got to get your outside receivers going and if you can't do it over the next two weeks I don't know when it happens. You can see the outside receivers get a chance to be game records and I'm not talking about just throwing go balls I would definitely like to see that against some of the looks that Purdue shows. But I'm also talking about doing things to get him running doing things to get him across the field. You know where you try to run the coverage off and bring them underneath and get them some ISOs to catch the ball in space. That's what being an OC is about it's about finding ways to get my best playmakers the football in space. That's what it's supposed to be about and right now teams have a good read on your slot fade. Okay so do some stuff with that. You know have some do some different matchups with that maybe instead of you know just the outside slot fade maybe you do something where you do more of a stack. And you know you run the guy on like a pivot under and so now you've got the slot fade if you like to match up you can take it. But now that flat defenders get putting a lot more of a bind right now which we saw against A&M and the video breakdown where he kind of was set between the hitch and the quick option well now you put him in a little bit more of a bind if you run it out of a two by two or or even a three by one where maybe you mix up the match ups a little bit. So you know have some things where hey teams are prepared for this so you've got to have some wrinkles built in to attack them and that's something that we need to see and do a little bit more of this week and that's going to require the outside receivers to get more opportunities. And when those opportunities come need to make them. Everything right now for the outside receivers is relatively quick stops outs comebacks. There's not a lot of deep stuff. We did see a pick on one of the few deep balls but there needs to be more there needs to be some go routes some deep, some dig routes some deep end cuts. You know some things to get them the ball and then they need to be allowed to chase more. You know get some cross or some over some clear outs things like that so I want to see a little bit more. I just want to see more vertical stretch and less of the horizontal stuff from their aim this week that's true of Riley Leonard's a quarterback and that's true of Steve Angeli's a quarterback I don't care who the quarterback is. That is absolutely needed this week and I think it also puts their. They're off their team in a bind and this this if you can't get play action going against this team that I don't know when you ever get it going this is a. This is a this is a week built for play action passing because you do have some match ups that you can exploit. I would like to see you know some 12 personnel even stuff where you can get get going on the outside. You've got to be careful what you do against 12 personnel because they will play that single high safety over the top. But there's certainly some opportunities to get the play action game going this week against Purdue and I want to see their name take a chance at that. And then the last one for me and this is important. The interior of the offensive line. And this kind of ties in a little bit to who the game records are for Purdue. The interior of the Notre Dame offensive line has been okay so far this season. Got some good moments. Not great moments that unit needs to be better. And it needs to be better now. And this is a game for that because this is a big physical and experienced interior Purdue defensive line. They're not super super athletic. They're just big and they're physical and they're experienced and they play hard. They will they get a very good push. They like to drive offensive lineman off the ball. And that's how they like to blow up the opponent run game is to just get that really hard inside push. And it's going to come down. They're going to have a lot of times where they're going to basically. It's almost like a bear front where you're going to have your guards in your center are both covered either pre or post snap. So say almost like a bear front because I haven't seen Purdue just line up like that a ton. But they'll do a lot of stuff where you've got your center covered. You've got one of your guard covers and then post snap. That guy's in a four eye inside shade of the tackle but he's going to crash inside and take on that other guard. That means it's big boy football week for your interior offensive line. And if this if this unit's going to have a breakout this needs to be the game because if they do have a breakout. The interior of the offensive line plays really well. Then the Notre Dame run game should be able to create some gases and some slashing opportunities in the run game against this team and then also. It's going to be very important. They're going to hold up against the pass pro. Now Purdue doesn't do a ton. Like I said on first and second down of of bringing a lot of pressure. What they like to do to create pressure from what I can tell late last season is obviously that they're going to let their edge players get after the quarterback. Which they did last year but also they like to use their interior defensive lineman to just push the pocket back and get in the quarterbacks face it's not that they produce a lot of pressures. But they just they're trying to make you uncomfortable by pushing the offensive lineman back into the pocket. And then they kind of rely on that to be a way to have to have pressure and they're two edge guys last year. The kid that's at Texas A&M and then Kyra Jenkins who's now linebacker. They combined for 92 pressures last year. So now you're going to have to figure out ways to kind of get, you know, get that going will help is obviously a guy that they're going to use for that this year. And then they're going to like I said they're going to try to use their interior defensive lineman to get a lot of pressure and we saw that in the opener. You know, Cole Brevard had three pressures in the game, Jeffrey and Bob had two pressures in the game, Jamari Jenkins had a pressure in the game so their interior had several pressures in this game and they're going to they're going to get after it. So Notre Dame is going to have to be prepared for that. And, and have a game plan because they're not they're not super easy to run on on the perimeter as far as their tackle their edge players. They're big long guys, but you can do some things to if you can get a push up the middle that allows you to get a little bit of a stretch and open up some holes and put those edge players and some binds and that's where I think Notre Dame can have some success. And then when you look at defensively I've already talked about the guys that I'm concerned about for Purdue. I'm concerned about Will help who had I think two sacks last week several pressures in the game. Six five six six kid 250 really quality athlete big power player on the edge, athletic power player, and then the details, they're going to be very aggressive. Trying to get into their names lineman push them off the ball and not letting their name get any kind of push. That's going to be a big part of what they do so Notre Dame is going to have to be prepared to handle them. And then the last one's Dylan, the safety who was a freshman all American last year he's a preseason all American this year, had six interceptions last year as a freshman, they asked him to do a lot. He plays a lot of center field for them. He'll play off the hash quite a bit he's super instinctive he'll come down in the box at times they'll they'll roll the other safety back and bring him down and allow him to to kind of rob a little bit in over the middle. The guy that that Indiana State just avoided last last week I mean just flat out avoided him. But in 2023 teams didn't avoid him as much because he was a freshman, and he did pretty well he had a very good freshman season. They don't put him in a lot of a lot of man covered situations. You only give up 16 catches last year. Actually only give up five catches last year according to pro football focus for 86 yards because again he's just not the man and coverage a lot. He's a guy he does a lot of the over to the top stuff coming down stuff taking away the alleys and things along those lines so you're going to have to be prepared for that you can't lock in on an outside receiver I keep talking about throwing the ball outside. You're going to have to do some manipulating with his with him with your eyes as a quarterback. If you just drop back and lock in on a perimeter route, he will read that and fly over these big tall long kid. He will fly over there and get to that football so you're going to have to be smart. You're going to have to be trust your reads though with some conviction this week but then also be smart to use your eyes to manipulate their deep safety and make sure that you're not you're not taking them right to where you want to go with the football. That's going to be a big thing because as he showed last year he can certainly record game with his range and instincts on the back back of the defense. On the other side of the ball. Let's look at the Notre Dame defense and it's very similar to what my concern is with Purdue. It's got to start up front. You've got two defensive tackles that that people considered rightly so one of the best defensive tackle combos and college football coming back this year and simply put they haven't played like it. Devon played like a one of the best defensive tackle tantrums Howard crosses out a couple good plays against A&M Riley Mills had a couple good plays against Northern Northern Illinois, but outside of a couple flashy plays. They've been very mediocre so far this season. If you just grade them without content context they've just been very slightly above average. If you then graded in the context of what the expectations are and what they're capable of they've been well below their standard so far this season. And they're going to have to play a lot better because this is a game where you're going to need them to be at their best. Absolutely need to be had them be at their best and everybody everybody likes to use Riley Mills is the whipping boy Howard Cross hasn't been any better neither of those guys have done a dang thing so far this season. And and that's been a huge disappointment, huge disappointment so far this season. And I don't know what the reason is I don't know if it's because they, they, you know, a little too much hype maybe they thought they were better than they were maybe teams have have, you know, been looking at them and saying, Hey, this is the case and, you know, look, Howard Cross hasn't been banged up as much as he had a hamstring injury over the summer. So they limited him. Like, there's, there's no excuse for any of those either of those guys to play poorly. They both need to be better and their name needs them to be better. So they're, this is a game where it's like, Hey, here's nothing too about those two guys, one guy's a preseason all American, one guy's a captain. And they're giving you nothing that you would expect at least nothing relative to what you expect from a captain three year starter and a guy who's a preseason all American. Right. Like, that is the most disappointing thing about both of those guys is you expected so much, they're considered leaders. Mills was named a captain. Everybody thought cross would be a captain and they've come out the first two games and outside of a couple plays here and there from the both of them, they're not giving you a whole lot. And, and that's incredibly disappointing. And I hear people. Oh, it's because they're undersized small guys. This is the same group as last year. They're actually bigger than they were last year. When you look at the guys that are playing this isn't about their undersized. This is about they're not playing well. And I don't know if it's them. I don't know if the defensive court, defensive line coach is not getting them prepared to play if it's a little bit of everything. But the fact is this group is not playing good football. They're not playing hard. They're not playing with great motor. They're not attacking the football. There's a lot going on here and Al Golden's got to find some answers. He's got to push the right buttons with motivation during the week, but then also with play calls. Let these guys maybe attack a little bit more, but there's just there's a lot missing. It's not just that. So let's get more technical with it. The the twists that Notre Dame does are super slow and not timed well. That's understandable with the linebackers because they're new. They're young. But the fact that you've got defensive linemen that are struggling to handle twists and stunts when they're the same guys as last year, that's unacceptable. And Ray, are they not undersizing the rotation? No, they're not undersized. There's plenty of teams that are that way. They're not. There's one guy that's undersized. But again, it's the same guys as last year. They didn't play this poorly last year. That's the whole point. So if it if being undersized is the problem, why wasn't it a problem last year? That's the point. You're looking for excuses and the excuses aren't their lack of size. The excuses, they're not playing well. Because they were the same. They're the same size they were last year. They're not playing well. And their size wasn't the issue last year. It is this year because of why? Why is all of a sudden they're just happened to be playing bigger teams? That's not the case. They're not playing well. They're not playing hard. They're not playing focused. And they're also not being turned loose. So there's a lot to go around and they're going to have to find some answers. One answer I would like to see is playing armo mukamor instead of Donovan highness against teams that want to run football a lot because otherwise when you put Donovan in, you need to let him attack more and they're not. But there's a lot going on here, but this is the game that you've got to get them right. This is the game where they've got to be. They've got to get back on track. These two kids and if they don't get back on track this week, you start to kind of ask yourself. Okay. Are they going to? I mean, look, you, you just lost to Northern Illinois. Your team captain, your preseason all American. Are not playing like either anywhere close to that. If they don't, if they don't have some intestinal fortitude and pride to say, look, we're going to have this week and we're going to ball. Then you have to start getting to the point where I don't know if it's going to happen the way that we expected it to happen the way that it was last year. And I see all these conversations about well, I'd like to have bigger D linemen. Okay, great. That's fine. But that has nothing to do with the issue that Notre Dame is having right now because it's the same guys as last year. They're a year older. There should be a year stronger. They're not playing well. You've got to find your answers. Why? Because you're not going to go out in a portal and get a defense 320 defensive pack tackle for this weekend's game. This is what you've got. And it's the same guys you had last year. So you got to find some answers. Well, Rubio's hurt Rubio missed several games last year. That's where you got to go. So at this point time, those two kids have got to step up and be game records this week. And if they are, Purdue is going to have a very tough time offensively. Very tough time because a lot of the stuff that you like to do in the run game if you're Purdue. It doesn't work that well if you're if your interiors getting blown up. They like to do a lot of wraps. They like to do a stretch. They'll run some like kind of it. It's inside zone but it almost kind of looks like mid zone. But a lot of the stuff that they like to do the counters the misdirections things along those lines. All that stuff is predicated on winning the battle inside. And if Notre Dame dominates inside like they should, then you're going to struggle. And somebody said, you know, I think my name is missing JJ B in the ring. I don't agree with that. Josh Burnham has been very good in the run game so far. This is up the middle. Their problems are up the middle. Their edge has actually been decent. Against the run. Their problems have been up the middle and at linebacker. And that's where they've got to get better. And that leads me to the second one. Drake, Bowen and Kingston, Villianma, also the two Mike linebackers need big games this week. You're going to have to be instinctive. They're going to have to attack downhill. They're going to need to not only do it on their end but you're going to need to trigger them a little bit more this week as the coordinators. This is a big week for your middle linebackers in the run game but it's also a week where they're going to try to go at you in the past game. They're going to try to get your linebackers isolated into throwing game with backs out of the backfield with high low concepts over the middle with their tight ends. So your middle linebackers are going to get threatened a lot. They've got to have big games. If Drake and Kingston could kind of bounce back neither of them played very well last week. If they can bounce back and be better, then they can be game records in this game. And then the last one for me is Christian Gray. This is a team that is going to attack the perimeter with their passing game a lot. They're going to put Christian Gray in a lot of binds. They're going to go at him with their RPO game. They're going to go at him with perimeter screens. They're going to go with him with like where it's the guy on him. So this is a Christian's author just a little now screen he's got to come up and charge. They did that first two plays of the game against Indiana State and corner came up on the first one misses and the guy goes running for a big play. They're also going to take some shots against him down the field. And he's going to have to be prepared for it. They're going to run some play action post shots. They're going to take some goal balls. They're going to try to hit him with double moves. They're going to go hard at Christian Gray this weekend. And he's got to step up and he's got to be a dude for Notre Dame this weekend. And I thought Christian was solid this past weekend against against goodness gracious. I'm northern northern Illinois. If I thought Christian was solid this weekend. He wasn't great. He was, he was good. I mean, they only caught I think one ball on him for let me see here two yards. I haven't done my breakdown of that yet but he's going to get tested this week because they've got big tall six two six three six four receivers. And they're going to try to take advantage with some shots down the field off of double moves play actions things along those lines and Christian Gray is going to get tested. He's going to have a chance to have a big impact on this game. So there needs him to be a game record this week. 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 liner. I've got a podcast called throwbacks with actor J for R will 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. Speaking of that, you know, when you look at their game records, I don't know that offensively. They have any players that that necessarily scare me just because they're a great talent, but they do have some size. And there's a couple guys that that when I when I look at this matchup that get me a little bit. Just concerned in similar fashion to the way that I was concerned about the matchup against Texas A&M, which is they've just got a couple bigger guys that you worry about. You know, can they go at you and be successful and obviously I talked about them earlier Leland Smith who six four almost 220. And then you got Jamal Eddy, who is a guy that two years ago at FAU caught 39 passes for 570 yards. The Leland Smith kid is a, he was a, he's a Juco transfer. He's in his first year Purdue. He's a big kid. I worry about them on the perimeter with the screen game with the downfield game the vertical game. I think it was Eddy and was open on a poster out for what should have been a long touchdown. And the quarterback just missed them. And, and they're going to go at those shots again for Notre Dame. And, and so that's a concern. And then the other one is the tight ends, the tight ends against the Notre Dame linebackers if I'm looking at this game and I'm looking at my tight ends if I'm Purdue. Caught eight balls for 92 yards in the opener and a touchdown. Max Claire and then drew by the bibber. Decent players, the Claire is a good football player led their team and receiving in the opener. They're going to get some matchups against the Notre Dame. I would, if I was a coach, I would. I'd look at the linebackers and say, Hey, I'm going to get my tight ends matched up on them in a lot of different situations. And, and also as a team that likes to blitz. There's some things that I would do with some high lows over the middle involving my tight ends to try to catch Notre Dame in a blitz. Or if I can get one of those guys going I could maybe get a catch and run with one of my players so the tight ends are the other one and then the final game potential game record for me is Hudson card. I think he's a good quarterback, you know he's not a great, great player but he's a good player. He's got a nice arm he's experienced he's a good athlete, you know last year he rushed for five touchdowns 203 yards. He's a guy that can, you know, can scramble a little bit but I'm more concerned about him not so much scrambling but more so just you over pursue a run late and opens up and he takes off runs for 10 to 15 yards. Those could be some really early in the game plays that you think you've got him stopped on third and seven. And then he steps outside of the blitz and then takes up that crease and he's, he's gone for first down so that's that's the final one for me. There's no, there's nobody, there's nobody in this offense that I look at and say that guy by himself is a problem, like Ontario Brown for Northern Illinois last week. Some guys that we'll be talking about for teams like Louisville and Georgia Tech and play USC coming up, but it's just they're just a solid all around unit that plays hard. They've got size so what I think is smart about what Ryan Walters is done and what this offensive staff has done is they don't have a lot of speed, and it can be kind of hard to recruit a lot of speed to Purdue. So what they've done is while they try to build the rush the right way. They've said okay well what we can do is we can get size. And so we can attack you a size and that's exactly what they do. So when you look at produce receipt offensive line again good size line 318 300 305 316 300. They got tight ends are 64 to 46 5 245 and their receiving core is this is the size of their receiving core 63 215 64 to 19 63 187 64 to 14 61 185 61 200 that that's their receiving core and then they're running backs. And so this is a team that has a lot of size and they are playing to that so far at least they did in the opener we'll see what they do moving forward but they did a really nice job of playing to that. We can block, we can get down the field, that's what we're going to do, and they leaned into in the opener and I fully expect them to lean into it against Notre Dame because that's what Notre Dame is struggle with so far this season so I'm, I'm very curious about this match up from that regard So if Notre Dame shuts this Purdue offensive down, offensive team down, it's not a huge accomplishment like holy moly defenses back on track but it's a good sign, because this is at least a competent offense with some match ups to give you some problems and experience it at important places. So it's going to be a test and then of course on the other side of all, again a very veteran team in the trenches, a little younger on the outside they've got a true for actually their starting corner tearing is a true freshman that was supposed to be in the 25 class that reclassified the 24 like nobody talked about he was like a really highly ranked guy coming out of high school. So for Duke kid from Tennessee reclassifies and goes to Purdue, and he's starting for them already. So they've got some youth on that side of the ball vitamins only. He's a true sophomore, I think a true sophomore but Grant was a top 100 recruit coming out of high school and silent Purdue nobody talks about it because he reclassified so he's 6263 big kids so there's there's a lot, there's some youth in the secondary for the most part this is a veteran football team at the positions of matter trenches quarterback, linebacker tight end. They've got some very good experience so they're going to be a challenge for Notre Dame unless Notre Dame brings their a game if Notre Dame brings their a game this game won't be close. But we haven't seen Notre Dame coming over close to bring their a game on on offense and they did bring their a game. It's a B plus game against Texas A and M on defense. B minus C plus D game on defense. So they're going to have to be ready to really bounce back and it's it's going to be an emotional week for Notre Dame. You know everybody that loved them and told them how great they were last week things they all suck now. You guys are jokes booing them when they come up field and I mean again I'm not a big fan of booing personally. I get it. I get it. I get it. I mean it's one thing to lose. It's a it's one thing to not play well. It's another thing to not play hard. And I know that's what bothered me for Saturday this past Saturday and I'm sure that's what bothered a lot of Notre Dame fans who spent like I get into the games for free. I don't have to pay to go to games. I don't have to pay for parking. I don't have to pay for food. I don't have to pay for my seat. I get for free. If I spent $100 on parking hundreds of dollars on my tickets and I'm sitting there watching this team not play hard. I'd be pretty pissed. And so I get it. You know again personally my personal opinion I'm not a fan of booing just for poor play but I get it. And so you know there's a there's a lot that this team is going to have to overcome this week mentally and emotionally to get physically and mentally ready to play. And if they don't this is going to be a dog fight and a game that they can lose. If they respond well then they can don't know that they will they can come out and hammer them. And I don't want to hear this stuff especially now that they're all paid. Look guys I get that they're paid now being paid doesn't make you more mature as a 19 year old than being not paid. These are still 18 to 21 year olds. Right now of course that that means that you're old enough to to do certain things you're old enough to go fight in a war you're old enough to be drafted you're old enough to you know all these type of things but these are still 18 19. I don't care if a kid's 18 he's making a million dollars he's still an 18 year old. He's just an 18 year old who's very physically gifted doesn't mean because you're physically gifted doesn't mean you're more mature than a typical 18 year old doesn't mean spiritually spiritually you're more advanced than the typical 18 year old doesn't mean emotionally you're more advanced than typical 18 year old. So this notion that now they make money you can be even harsher on them I don't accept that at all. You've got to be able to get these guys prepared and again I know what you're talking about booing and I understand booing whether they're not paid or paid it's about effort. But these are still some of these these are kids, as I mentioned another name's got nine starters on their offense that are freshman or sophomore olds but which means a lot of those guys are still teenagers. Okay so you guys if it makes you feel better to convince yourself that they're grown ups and professionals now just because they make money you do you. But these are still young people. The point is not to say you can't boom or whatever the point is but to say they're not going to handle everything the way that we would as adults. Who are 40 year olds and we've been through some stuff. And so that's what makes this a challenge this week for Notre Dame is you've got to figure out how to get this group of players that and a lot of them are very young to bounce back mentally and emotionally from what they did this past weekend. That's the key, because if they don't handle that well if they don't bounce back well this is going to be another tough game. It's going to be a very tough game. If they respond well and the focus is there, then I think this is a game they win convincingly. That that's kind of that's kind of where I'm at on this matchup so I'm going to get into Bice a hole actually I'm going to those are game records I'm going to get into Bice a hole here next. But we for we do folks do me a favor hit that like button hit the subscribe button hit the notification bell share this podcast give us a five star review. We appreciate that and of course as always make sure that you sign up for the message board at boards at our breakdown.com. [Music] [Music] [Music] You
