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King Super's, a world of care is in store. >> Visit kingsoopers.com/vaccines for more restrictions and exclusions apply seaside for details. [MUSIC] >> All right, boys, offense. Obviously, the offense did not start out very well. They didn't even get the ball back when they should have gotten the ball back and we'll talk about. We're going to have a special team segment, too. Don't worry, we're going to talk special teams because that was ugly and I love talking special teams, obviously. But offensively, guys, the first three drives, if I'm not mistaken, they did not go well and I'm going to look it up here. So Notre Dame's first drives, let's see here, three plays and a punt, five plays, turnover on downs, three plays, and a punt. And that was all for a grand total of 40 yards, okay, in the first three drives. That's two in the first quarter and the first in the second. So, offense did not get started very well. I will pass it off. We'll go opposite direction this time. Ryan, thoughts on the offense? I think that we saw the offensive line have its major struggles today, overall. I think that especially the left side, which, again, man, there's always going to be those ups and downs, just kind of working forward to the back here for a second. But I thought that Anthony Naps, he was okay today, not as bad as last week, it's still not overly good. I mean, like below average, I'd say, Sam Pendleton had a rough one as we kind of dig into this offensive line. I think the offensive line, just in general, played below average. I just thought Riley Leonard showed a lot of progress working down the field. I mean, he forced a couple of pass interference calls. He had the nice throw to Bo Collins. If the first pass interference to Mitch 11s isn't grabbed, that's a beautiful ball and a huge play down the middle of the field. So I think it's progress there. He is a nigma as a quarterback though, because the misses on the short throws, what we call Givneys, is just so frustrating, man. Like it just is, Riley Leonard needs to be a lot better shorts. Like it was just a very ugly game from the short passing game, and that's on Riley, ultimately. I don't think the wide receivers played bad. I think they played okay. I thought they had their moments. I think Riley Leonard let them down and catch and run situations in the short area of the field. I thought the running backs were okay or good, but like they're a victim to the fact that the offensive line didn't play overly well. I mean, that's a very situational thing, right? Riley Leonard is a great athlete. We know that, but the short short to intermediate passing game is just was not good today. It was bad. It was a issue, a major issue, especially in catch and run situations. That needs to get better. So I mean, just overall, I thought most groups played average to below average today. And that's why we saw the struggles. Unfortunately, especially early on in the game, there were just a couple misses, man, where you're just like, that's easy. Like that you like just routine stuff. The outs, the easy comebacks, like you need to make those throws. Funny enough, the Bowe Collins throw was a great throw. The throw in a Mitch 11s was good. He threw in a dig to Chris Mitchell, which I thought was money. He threw an RPO to Bowe Collins, which had pace and was incredible throw. So there was some really good throws on the day. But the short intermediate pass, if you're going to be this methodically driven offense, this offense that just needs to have a bunch of plays to score most of the time and not create a ton of explosives, you have to be better on to give me. So the home runs, they need to be easy, right? Like the freebies, the free throws, like you need to be able to take and make that easy stuff easy all the time. And the Notre Dame offense, Riley Leonard, obviously very much included in that at a high level. They did not make the easy things easy today. They made it very hard. There were penalties across. It was just a very sloppy football game offensively today. And I'll take the point of view from the coordinator position. It has to be frustrating. Mike Dembrock knows football, man. Mike Dembrock knows how to call games. He knows how to make up different schemes. He knows how to attack defenses. Has to be very frustrating to come out with a plan that was obvious to get your quarterback comfortable. And then for him to be erratic with the easy throws. And now you have to figure out, OK, what can we go to now? He's not comfortable, but I still have to get this offense going, right? And I'm trying to get him comfortable long term as I evolve this passing game and evolve this offense, right? And I'm sure coming to the season, this offense is nowhere near where he expected it to be by this point in the season. So I can only imagine, you know, when he goes and looks at the film and starts to prepare for Louisville, and he started to formulate, you know, man, can I trust this? Can I trust these throws early in the game? I have to. We have to go over it over and over again and practice to make sure that it's down. But, you know, I'm sure his play calling is impacted in some way, form or fashion or the formulation of his plan by the offensive line. Not being consistent by the quarterback being inconsistent and by other things, the wide receivers not getting open. I saw a couple of wide receivers run in the same area on a couple of routes. And it's like, OK, I know this wasn't designed to go this way. So it's one of those things where you just feel bad. I feel bad for the offensive coordinator. But you know what? That's why you're that dude. Figure it out. Figure it out. You along with the head coach and the rest of that offensive staff, figure it out because there is a formula somewhere in there. Simple, more complex, wherever it is and wherever it settles, there's a formula somewhere in there where you can come together and win games with this team. You have the talent. He's a dynamic. He's a dynamic runner. You know that we've seen that. They're really good inside the red zone. Why? Because that's when his legs really come into play. The issue is consistently getting to the red zone. So, and then Trevor pointed it out. Like, look what happens when you just took Miami, Ohio, their safeties were literally squat at eight to nine yards. Like, man, the both hollers and then the Chris Mitchell post. If they got the pass in affairs, it was like the safety was not even paying attention to Chris Mitchell on the outside. And it was, I'm like, your teams are daring you week after week after week to do it. So, you just have to do it and you have to give your guys an opportunity, the slot fade to Harrison. You know what? Yeah, it should have been on his outside shoulder. He wasn't open now. Wasn't open. Better ball. He could have had an opportunity. But 50/50 ball no matter what. Yeah, but having to go over the back of the defender, I would much rather have to fade to my right to where the defenders not in play. You know, if I have my choice, but like I said, that's, I'm now nitpick, right? So, but that's one of those things like, you know, you have to run a better route, separate, do what you have to do, either stack the guy or like fade. And then the quarterback has to read that and throw it to the outside. But those are things that have to come together. And you have to have an urgency about it. I don't, this offense doesn't have any urgency and they don't have a Jeff Fane. That's like, yo, in the middle of the huddle, forget the quarterback, I'm going to get everybody straight. Like who, because you're expecting a guy who literally just got here months ago, to be that guy, to be the energy. Like his running game is that energy, his plays, our structure are that energy. But the consistency offensively in the energy of where's that coming from? Who is it coming from? And usually in Notre Dame, it comes from that offensive line because the offensive line is usually what you can depend on. Week after week, right? And unfortunately, because of injury, that hasn't been the case. So, you know, hopefully moving forward, the offensive staff can come up with something. Yeah, I guess that Marcus Freeman is comfortable with, you know, moving forward to play to the style of the game that they want to play to as a team. 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. 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You've had Wendy's nugs dipped in sauce, but have you had them covered in sauce? Wendy's new saucy nugs takes the crispy and spicy nugs that you love and turn them up to eleven. 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. I agree. I think you hit the nail on the head with the consistency piece and I think the consistency lack of sorry comes from not just the the play calling and I think it's everything. The lack of consistency with the personnel groupings that are on the field. The lack of consistency with the type of plays that you're choosing to run. The lack of consistency with Riley Leonard, missing a four yard flat route to Cooper Flanagan, but putting a 17 yard dig route on the money to Chris Mitchell. You know, I think that's what's tough for me. I don't like when teams pick and choose when to be aggressive. I understand that there's calculated risks and everything. I get that, but Notre Dame won the coin toss and elected to defer. Like it's stuff like that. You're playing against an O and two team at home. Take the ball drive down the field. I just it's things like that, but then at the end of the first half. You're calling timeouts and using timeouts to try to get the ball back and then and unfortunate penalty happens frustrating right stuff that I know will continue to talk about. But you can't pick and choose when to be aggressive like I've seen a lot of people in the chat talk about your identity and what you want to be be that all the time. Not when it's convenient or when it's like, well, I guess we probably should now if that's who you are, then be who you are. You know what I mean? As far as the offense specifically today, I bring up personal groupings because I look at the third drive of the game. You know, you start out in the backfield. I mean, I think at this point, Jeremiah Love had let's see two. Two touches going into the third drive of the game. And then you start outlining up in the backfield with Aneas Williams, who's a true freshman and Devin Ford on first down design QB run goes for three yards goes nowhere. Jeremiah comes into the game, loses three yards on a rush, and then it's a third yard or a third and 11 draw to Devin Ford. It's like little questions like that that I have that I just don't understand. Next drive you come back out, you have the correct personnel on the field. You have a good use emotion. You have diversity in your play calling you marched down the field to get Riley Leonard into the red zone, which is where he's the best. Right. So it's just it's that level of inconsistency that's tough. I mean, no disrespect to Notre Dame's opponents that they've played so far this year, but I'm sure that we can all collectively agree that from Northern Illinois to what we just watched today, it was more of a Notre Dame versus Notre Dame type of right. And so I think what's frustrating the most for me and Sean and Ryan, you guys both brought it up earlier is you can't consistently shoot yourself in the foot. You know, we brought it up when we were going through gut reactions of yes, 30 yard run cool punched out fumble, right? It's okay. Fantastic. We're moving the ball down the field. We're driving it. SAC puts us out of it. You know, now Notre Dame's in no man's land. You can't really go for it on fourth down because it's too far, but you can't kick the field goal because it's out of range. So I think those levels of inconsistencies lead us to being frustrated where the offense is at, which leads into the Notre Dame's offense doesn't have an identity. But the things that they did well today is they did let Riley Leonard push the ball down the field and don't let the stats frustrate you. I'm not here to say that Riley Leonard played a perfect game. I'm not. And I know that any slight of positivity in Riley Leonard's way is just me thinking he's going to go win the Heisman, right? But pushing the ball down the field creates opportunities one on one matchups for your wide receivers. How many times they thought the ball down the field Trevor? Four times, one was a 38 yard touchdown, the three others were defensive pass interference. Good things happen when you push the ball down the field because that's what everybody wanted. So how can people be upset? In that part, in that angle of his game, how can people be upset when he threw the ball down the field four times and four good things happen? I'm just saying, how can you be upset? This is what you guys wanted. They did it for good things happen and yet he needs to be benched. No, I hear you. And I think unfortunately the narrative is it wasn't the good thing that people wanted. It wasn't four deep shots. All right, he didn't go up three yards. That's the problem. Like that's what people wanted. They wanted him to be a pocket passer and they want him to throw the ball down the field bunch and they want him to be a 95% completion percentage quarterback. And that was never going to be the case. Everybody, that was net. Look, as I think it was either Ryan or Sean, apologize, he needs to hit the layups. There's no doubt about it. He needs to hit the layups. But he is progressing because he is throwing the ball down the field and he still threw for 64% completion percentage. He still accounted for 300 yards of total offense today. So, I mean, if a quarterback is responsible for three touchdowns, 300 yards of total offense. I mean, isn't that what you wouldn't normal people be happy with that? A college kid still needs to be coached. Agreed. Who knew? Who knew? Right. The kid coming in to a new system needed to be coached. Right. He's having shaped around his kids and talents so he can come in comfortably and it evolved as a player. Who knew? Yes. Gino Badouli. You still there? I am the senior on the sideline. This is where you come in to play. I do feel like there was urgency and a message put across to him. And I'm into Trevor. Double R. Please jump in on this. It seemed like there was an urgency and a message sent to Riley. We're calling the play throw the ball. This is the first read. That's the look you're going to get. Throw the ball. Throw it deep. Don't even think about it. Drop back. Throw it. The one thing I love that showed me that that was put into his mind, but it got the off sides. He threw it deep. Even check it down. Can you take off running? He took the shot and I'm like, okay. Something's gotten across to him to be a little bit more aggressive. Go ahead. Take the shot. He's going to be a little bit more aggressive. He's going to be a little bit more aggressive. He's going to be a little bit more aggressive. He's going to be a little bit more aggressive. He's going to be a little bit more aggressive. He's going to be a little bit more aggressive. He's going to be a little bit more aggressive. He's going to be a little bit more aggressive. He's going to be a little bit more aggressive. He's going to be a little bit more aggressive. He's going to be a little bit more aggressive. He's going to be a little bit more aggressive. He's going to be a little bit more aggressive. 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He's going to be a little bit more aggressive. He's going to be a little bit more aggressive. He's going to be a little bit more aggressive. He's going to be a little bit more aggressive. He's going to be a little bit more aggressive. He's going to be a little bit more aggressive. He's going to be a little bit more aggressive. He's going to be a little bit more aggressive. He's going to be a little bit more aggressive. He's going to be a little bit more aggressive. He's going to be a little bit more aggressive. He's going to be a little bit more aggressive. I started out with the overview. I'll just hit on it real quick. There's two new starters in the lineup from last week, and there's two new starters. Let's enjoy context a little bit. I think that O'Neill Wagner for me was the best offensive lineman for today. I think that his hustle and play on the backside was very good on several runs. I think that he is continuously growing before our eyes. Shout out to O'Neill Wagner. I think he's playing a good football. Rocco Spindler seemed solid to me, just kind of on the plain view. I'm looking forward to obviously going back because these conversations are always a little bit limited. The left side had a bad day. I mean, it did. Sam Pendleton in his fourth career start, I think had probably his worst game. But again, it's his fourth career start. So I expect him to be better moving forward. And honestly, sometimes failure is good. I mean, we don't want to accept that, but like sometimes baptism by fire and failure can really make you a much better player. He's a red shirt freshman. So I expect Sam Pendleton to play a lot better in the core of the course of the season, but he had a bad day today. And I think Anthony Knapp for the second straight week is showing again why he's a true freshman, starting at left tackle at the University of Notre Dame. There's going to be struggles littered in there. There are some good reps, but I thought overall, yes, the left side was definitely the issue for the Notre Dame offensive line today. 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 Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get podcasts. Hey, Irish breakdown listeners. It's Matt Liner. I've got a podcast called Throwbacks with actor, Jay Farrar. 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 Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get podcasts. How about we talk about the skill guys for the offense? Let's talk wide receivers and then we'll come back and we'll talk about the running back. So wide receivers fell as your thoughts on the past catcher. You can add in tight ends as well because obviously they were involved in the passing game as well. So thoughts on the past catcher's today. Trevor, I'll let you kick this one off. I know the statue won't reflect it too much, but Chris Mitchell is starting to come into his own a little bit, I think. They brought it up in the broadcast that Chris Mitchell had a really good week of practice and I thought he was getting in and out of breaks really well today. You're starting to see that explosiveness that everybody talked about when he was at Florida International, right? And again, I've said it, you know, like we all have throughout the course of the season, Bo Collins is that Mr. Consistent Guy. I mean, he is slowly becoming Riley Leonard's most comfortable receiver to throw to. I would like to see a little bit more of Jaden Greathouse getting involved, scheming him open a little bit because I feel like last couple of. Yeah, he was he was not around. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's almost when he was trying to collect that fumble and didn't. Like that was the only time I remember seeing him. Riley had a good throw to him on third loan. Yes, he did. It's a really good throw. Yep. No, you're right. You're right. I think some of that just might be me needing to chair my expectations of all of the preseason hype around Jaden Greathouse coming into his own and he's going to be the next. I guess the next big receiver in college football, kind of some of the hype that was coming in around him. When Notre Dame brought in more veteran players who had more snaps that wasn't coming off of an injury riddled season from last year. So some of that might be me needing to table my expectations a little bit with him. But Mike Dan Brock, Sean, to your point is a really good offensive coordinator. I think you could do a few more things with scheming him open, but overall, I think skilled positions today were we're fine. Some of the routes that they were running were a little bit like stagnant. I don't think I I've still never been a fan of and this is with any team. This isn't just with Notre Dame. If it's third and six, I don't understand why we're running routes that are not beyond the sticks. That's just me. That might be a personal preference saying I've always found that to be a little weird. Understand trust in your playmakers to get open and break break something open, but I think that's, I think that's weird. Third and eight running a six yard route, I think is, is odd. Can I shout out Bow Collins real quick is Bow Collins is easily the best receiver on this team. It's not even remotely close right now close his touchdown throw. Good route, good throw, but I really want to highlight that on bow because I put it on Twitter. So there's a thing called a green line or a sight line when you're running a deep ball right it's basically a path to make sure that you're not fading too far inside or you're not fading too far to the outside. I did a great job not fading one way or the other man because when you're going on a deep, a deep ball outside the numbers. It's very easy to lose track of the sidelines sometimes right I thought that was a great route route by bow. I thought he did a really good job maintaining that leverage and that sight line all the way through the route was good throw and easy catch obviously right so I think bow has been obviously the best receiver on this team man and, you know, even when he wasn't at all I thought that I saw number five pretty consistently open so bow Collins is. Bow Collins has probably been the best transfer portal pickup this year right I don't even think it's close honestly like he's been very good for Notre Dame in my opinion. Yeah and speaking of wide receivers I think it goes back to what we said you know the wide receiver position. They have been inconsistent, but yet still they have been infected by the inconsistency at office and line and the inconsistency in the quarterback is all connected man. It's all part of the same poison is true so they seem to be getting better. And since the Texas A&M game both college is definitely from the jump has been that guy. Right and I think Riley looks at him as being that guy and I think Chris Mitchell as Trevor has pointed out they mentioned on the broadcast how his practices have gotten much better and how he practiced this week now. He's starting to emerge right late interception against Northern Illinois was the same post route opportunity that he got today. It was just late and under thrown so he's going to continue to be affected and go Trevor mentioned something I think at the wide receiver position now they just need to lock in the three guys. I understand whoever those three to four guys are going to be let them get into the ball game. Right because right now I have to be honest, I'm Jay Thomas wouldn't be in my top four. He missed a pretty crucial block at one point that I remember that. Oh man on the screen on the screen screen to Jeremiah. Yes, he just keeps his block. Yes, love mates still be running. Yes. Oh, is that someone love God. He got smacked right now. The guy that Thomas was supposed to block now most of the time he's a good blocker, but on that particular play he definitely was not. Yeah. So I mean, yeah, when you talk about the inconsistency of why receiver. There are some bright spots that continue to emerge. You love that. I would like to see Michael Gilbert, get an opportunity just his size athleticism, but you know we'll see. Right. And once again, this goes back to what I said about the mind and Mike then Brock he knows what he's doing. But he's trying to, you know, plug holes and still evolve the offense as he tries to kind of like, okay, how can I help out the left side and offensive line right here because they're struggling today. Right. He's good and immediate today and deep ball, but the short stuff. He's not good today. I would love to see a lot of waggle and play action, right. Use his athleticism. Yeah, I agree with Riley Riley really hasn't shown to be that accurate on the run. He was extremely accurate on the run when he was a Duke. Yeah, so now is it meant to for him. These are the things he's aiming the ball for sure. Yeah, he's definitely aiming the ball. He definitely looked his wind up his scenes very long, like a pitcher. It definitely looks like he's aiming the ball. So it has to be meant at this point. And I was sad to see that as he took the field, you know, Notre Dame fans was saying things. It's just like, is that where we are now as a fan base. You know, but, yo, he has thick skin. I think he's a tough kid. He has thick skin and Marcus Freeman. Stuck with him. I'm glad Marcus Freeman stuck with him today. Yeah, I really am. I'm glad he stuck with him. I think this is going to be medicine for Riley Leonard mentally and physically. If he is who I think he is as a kid and a young man. And I think he's going to come out and play really well next week. I do. I really do. I think this whole team is going to play well next week, but that's a different conversation for, which also plays into the hand of why we think there's bigger issues, but, you know, I digress Trevor, go ahead. Did you have something you want to say? Yeah, I was Sean, you brought up an interesting point about like getting some of the younger guys involved. Michael Gilbert, I saw somebody in the chat put in Cam Williams and I think it's weird that wide receivers, the only position group on the team, I feel like where there's kind of a tighter leash on putting in some of the young guys. You know, I noticed that Benjamin Morrison latter half of the fourth quarter wasn't wasn't in and Leonard Moore was there. It would have been really easy to just put out Jane Mickey and Christian Gray and Leonard Moore's in there. You're rotating in a bunch of young linebackers that prior to I mean Kingston is a true freshman getting an insane amount of playing time it's great. You know, you chose to start Anthony Knapp at left tackle a true freshman over somebody who's been a part of the program for the last five years. And he is Williams is coming in on third downs and making good plays. I just I want to know what it is about the wider CB room specifically why they're kind of holding that back because that's that's the only one for me which I think is interesting. But now Sean, I just wanted to touch on that because you brought up rotating and Mike a Gilbert who somebody that I've been waiting to see out there too. And then Carson Hobbs almost had a yeah I don't know how to parse him with a K in the chat by the way guys make sure we spell it correctly of course. Yeah, no doubt about it no doubt let's talk running game fellas let's talk about the running backs obviously Notre Dame was able to put up 270 yards on the ground. And as far as the running backs, love had 60 yards on 11 carries gidarian price had 39 yards on six carries so that's 5.5 and 6.5 yards, a carry respectively. And then of course you had Devin Ford who had five for 21 and then a niece Williams had a couple down the stretch. So your thoughts on on the the ball carriers and I suppose you could, you know, mentioned rather Leonard here because he obviously was primarily a ball carrier and it is what it is so opinions on the ball carriers folks. I mean obviously Jeremiah love is very, he's so quick man it's almost like there's no wasted motion when he's running. Honestly, and I'm, I'm not one to say take carries away from number four in the backfield. I don't know if you guys caught on to it but Gidarian price was running with a little bit of extra something today I don't know what it was but he was. He was hitting holes hard running game as a whole I just think that some of the the run blocking assignments were sloppy today. A lot of a lot of offensive lineman at the start of the play we're letting their face get crossed pretty quickly. That was, it's tough when you run like a zone concept and you're getting your face cross like it's when you're beat there. Luckily, you have to very explosive very quick running backs in Jeremiah love and gidarian price who are able to make cuts pretty quickly in the hole. But more of a personal preference for me but gidarian price felt like he was coming off the ball with a little bit of extra something today, little bit of extra pop so. Would have liked to see him get a little bit more than six touches but I mean run game as a whole I know a lot of people are wanting. You know what's what's this teams identity and what's this teams identity and it is running the football guys. It is and it might not be the outcome that we want I think Notre Dame has an identity it's just not a consistent one. But but Marcus Freeman and and Mike den Brock have been consistent in saying hey we're going to run the ball. First and that's what we're looking to do. Riley Leonard went back to back a hundred yard games I said on the broadcast that was the first Notre Dame quarterback to do that since Carlisle holiday. You know and obviously we know how explosive four and twenty four are so run game is a whole offensive line needs to play better because they have a tall order next week against Louisville. But I would say overall running backs look good Riley Leonard look good in the run game. I don't think that's anything new for anybody. Just offensive line needs needs a little bit of cleanup more fire off the ball. For sure. Yeah, I watched a really good Louisville defensive line hold up really well against a really good Georgia Tech offensive line. So you're right Trevor that task next week against that defensive front is going to be a tall and they're going to have to grow up that left side is they're going to take their medicine from the past two weeks. They're going to have to grow up they're going to have to take on the challenge and they're going to have to fight compete. For courts because it's going to be a tall task. I don't know if the defense of line is as good as the one they face their very first start and college football. But yo it's going to be pretty good and all you're asking them to do is compete and hold up. Don't get outplayed. Be simple. Like you said we're going to stretch play just don't allow yourself to get your face to get cross. Just hold up as much as you can and give our running backs and their talent a chance to do what they do. Right. And once again, the running back game is always there. It's always going to look good and spurts. I'm very interested as you come behind me double R because I know you guys talked about it in the thread a little bit during the game. But this goes back to my point with Mike Denver rock man I'm sure he would love to get the tempo man. Right. But it's like yo if you have an inconsistent left left side of offensive line like. Can I trust him if I go tempo or do I need to slow the game down to make sure I try to get them settled down it's just so many things he's having to think about. I think he has it in the game plan to get to it. But sometimes because of the way things flow. He's having to kind of correct things on the fly and get things comfortable and get the offense comfortable so. I don't know if the running game is really going to get to a point. I think. I talked about Jagasau but Ashton Craig and Billy Shroff. Those are two huge injuries. Oh yeah. No, those are huge. Like we talked about. Those two on the inside, especially for the running game. And like you said, Pat Coogan for the most part today in Rocco they were solid. But it was, you know, Billy Shroff and Ashton Craig you lost your two best offensive line along with the middle Wagner who's been solved but those are two guys that were playing really well. Right. And that's when they ran behind the Texas A&M in that game. So, you know, you don't have your closers now on the offensive line in the running game so moving forward. I'm very interested in seeing how Mike Dembrock uses different counters. I didn't see 21 today. That that that that so that needs to be a staple man like what are we doing. That needs to be a staple. Yeah. Flex flex your mind out. Put your door in and back feel vice versa. Like, don't go away from what's going to make your team more dangerous. And it seems like he did that not going to certain motions and formations that they did last. Let me, let me ask you a quick question guys because I, you know, obviously I was watching the game but there were certain things that, you know, I probably missed. So, you know, because I was driving, but when they would have love split out, right, and they were trying to get him the ball on the outside. Did they have price in the backfield or was it empty. It was empty. It was empty. Okay. Okay. And see now Vince. I've noticed now. Anytime he goes, he flexes out. That's like an alert for the defense. He's become that guy for defenses. Like, where's for it. He's become that guy. Well, and you need to use that to your advantage. Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. In the run game, especially. Like, use that. That takes some way away from the box. Yeah. Right. Yeah. I mean, I don't want to, you know, I'll just echo a couple things because I think you guys hit on a lot of the key stuff. I thought. Judeo in price ran with purpose today. And I think he ran with authority. He got downhill in a hurry and he's explosive, obviously. Jeremiah, I just, I think that the defense was kind of keen to him a little bit. I mean, I really do. I think they were kind of sneaking some guys down in the box at times. And I know people in the general like, Oh, it's cool to care for the ball. Okay, guys, or whatever. I think they know that number four is your best player offensively. They've been watching the film the last few weeks too. Right. But regardless, I think that for me, the difficulties with evaluating running back sometimes is it's so dependent on what's happening up front. It really is. So when your offensive line doesn't have a great overall day from a left tackle all the way to right tackle perspective, there are going to be some limitations on how well you run the football overall. So either there were spurts that were great moments the near the touchdown run quote unquote the Jeremiah love, which should also be a meal wagner's touchdown and for being honest for self like it was a great run. You're in price at a couple really explosive runs. There was a lot of good that was in there with the running backs. I think it's just obviously situationally dependent on how the how the offensive line is playing in front of you. No, good point. And obviously we talked about the offensive line and they had some good moments, obviously in the run game and they had some iffy moments and. But you know, more of the iffy moments for me offensive line wise is in the past game, you know, I mean that there's there's guys starting there because of what they can do in the run game. And more often than not, they did all right and they're they're obviously competing against a loaded box and they're competing against a defense that's bringing the house to try to attempt to stop the run totally get that. And Notre Dame still ran for 270 yards. So, you know, at the end of the day, there were issues, obviously running the football, but they ran for 270 yards and and again, it's not all about the stats. I realized they were trying to get one and a half yards when Riley Leonard broke a 50 yard run like, you know, so that adds 50 yards to that 270 right. And I completely get that and we, you know, when we're talking about defense, we're all take away that big play. Okay, we can take away that big play. I get that. Right. I'm okay with that. But there, there's still issues that need to be worked out there still needs to be more consistency, you know, up front. And you know what, and ball security let's just say it right ball security is a bit of an issue right now. And when if Riley Leonard is going to run the ball the way they are going to run Riley Leonard he needs to be able to secure the football better, even after a long run and getting attacked from behind. You can't let that ball pop out right because they're probably going to go down and score on that drive and it was a 40 plus yard run. And then you lose the football can't do that. You can't do that. And Jeremiah love you can't, you can't lose the football at the goal line like that, because if Emile Wagner didn't fall on that ball they're going to review that. And it's going to be Miami ball. The only reason, in my opinion, the only reason they didn't review that is because Notre Dame fell into a ball. They're going to be upset about that as anybody with the last name of Wagner, like that. Absolutely. I would be pissed right now. I mean, brother, I totally agree. Totally agree with that. But, but look, they need to be able to secure. And then, you know, let's, let's just for fun. We'll just add the special teams in here to the offensive side because I don't think we're going to have enough to make a complete segment. So we'll just add the special teams into this part, because we're talking about ball security and the first opportunity that an offensive player had a chance to touch the football. They turned it back over on that punt moth. So, let's talk special teams fellas. I will start off with the positive because I've been banging the punter. Yeah, that sounds terrible. I have been, I have been ripping the punter this entire year about how he's been terrible. He has not been good. He's averaging less than 40 yards a punt. Well, they finally allowed him to just boot the football straight ahead and not do roll outs and, you know, all of those different things. He's just booting the football and he looked great. And when the one time that he needed to pin him, he did what you're supposed to do as a punter. You hold the ball up and down. You kick it so it has the backspin and he pinned them deep. Like, let's go, man. Finally, they let the punter do what he was good at and why he got recruited in the first place. And so, punting, two thumbs up. The rest of the special teams. Can I cut you off real quick there? I'm done. This is the negativity in my heart as a Notre Dame fan, but when I was watching James Rendell boom these puns, my only thought was, why the heck were we asking him to do something else? That was my point. But like, yes, James Rendell can boom it, dude. Thank the heavens that we got to see what James Rendell could do today. But yes, we had the block in the back on the reverse to Jeremiah Love. We had a muffed punt, obviously, for Jordan Faison. We had a, a, well, that was old, right? It was just a bad hole, I think. I think this hat was fine. I think the hole was bad on that field goal, obviously, where Mitch Cheetah, she made a really athletic play and I was like, Oh, that's not how you draw it up. He did the best he could under the circumstances, obviously. But like, yeah, that was doomed from the get go. He had David Sherwood for a second too. I mean, he's not, I know he's not into timing up passes perfectly. But for a second, he had David Sherwood. But now the snap was low, but definitely able to be handled. And it was just, it was, it was botched from, from the start. But yeah, no, I agree. Rendell, it's, it's funny what happens when you start to simplify things and play to the strengths of people on offense, defense or special teams. But special teams, yeah, James Rendell had a, he had a breakout game today, guys. So how about it. And can we also talk about the coverage team as well? Not great. They're way too many return yards, way too many missed tackles in the return game or being in the punt and kickoff coverage game. Actually, the kickoff coverage game was fine because he just kicked out of the back of the end zone every time. But the punt return or punt coverage team was just not very good. I mean, I was not impressed with that. Guys not staying in their lanes, you know, missing tackles. You know, there's going to be a game. And we talked about this before when I was talking about punting. There's going to be games where field positions going to come into play and that could very well be in seven days when they play Louisville, where field position could be very, very important. Those return yards, man, that, you know, I hate the term hidden yardage because it's not hidden. It's right there. But that opportunity that you give up to the other team in the field position game could really come back to haunt Notre Dame. They really need to get something figured out, you know, when it comes to that. And then they finally get a return. They have to, they have to get a reverse to get a good return. You get a block and a silly block in the back that would have nothing to do with the play, by the way, they were already handing the ball off heading in the other direction and you get a, you get a push in the back like. Guys, you got to be smarter than that. You did negated a huge play. Now you're backed up against your own end zone again. So, just lots of issues with special teams right now. Lots of issues, guys. Well, I'm just happy that my practice notes are not being looked at as a lot now. Because after the first practice, we were like, Oh, James Rendell is 4.5 on hang time kicking it 45 to 50 yards consistently and. After last week, it was like, Oh, people are saying, like, I thought you guys said it was good. It's like, when we watched him kick traditionally, it was good. Right. And lo and behold now, he kicks traditionally. I think it goes back to what he said, and that I believe his first cut. He, that's going to be important because he flipped the field. Exactly. He, if he can flip the field for Notre Dame and they obviously Marcus from him wants to play to his defense, right, and not turn the ball over. He becomes a great importance, especially as the, you know, summer turns into fall and then into winter conditions and then South then. Sure. That's going to be paramount. That's going to be paramount. And to see him down off his foot Sean, his foot was something different that we've heard the first three games, my friend. I mean, he averaged 47 point three yards a punt and had two over 50 and put him inside the 20 twice twice. That's what you can ask. That's what you want from your honor. Yes. But the problem was he wasn't doing it. The first three games. Look, at this point, seeing now what he can do in a game. I'm not even putting it on him. That's squarely on the shoulders of the, of Biaji squarely on his shoulders, because you were taking him out of what he was doing what he does well. Wait a minute, Vince. That sounds familiar to possibly the quarterback as well, like this, like you're asking him to do certain things. Let him do what he's good at. Oh, that's been the issue over here as well. So, I don't know, man, maybe they just had a vision for a lot of different things that they felt like would take each group. But it's not about your plan, man. It's about the players. What are your players able to do best play to that. It's very simple. It's really simple. And, um, hopefully they continue. It seems like they're getting better at that. They have the recognition last week. Marty Biaji talked about it. Marcus Freeman even talked about it. Monday, like we're going to find a way to get him comfortable. Right. And it looks like they got him comfortable. Yes. Right. So that's great. Just kick it. Exactly. Just kick it. So now, but it goes, Vince is inconsistent. Once again, this is the team this year against Purdue. They almost blocked three points. Right. Right. Right. The punt returns were really good. Multiple guys had punt returns, I think, of eight yards or more. And then. Rendell struggled. So you have these highs and special teams, but then you had struggles and special teams. And so now Rendell is really good, but then you have everything else. And, you know, the block in the back was. I could have let it go, but nothing to do with the play. Like nothing to do with it. But in that situation, Junior has to understand, just put your hands up and wall them off. If you just wall them off. Right. Exactly. Cause he did the two hand shove in the back and it was like, it's like you have to call it is right in front of you. You have to know if I just get in his way, he's not touching Jeremiah. Right. Exact 100%. 100% agree. Another positive. They did block the field goal. Right. Yes. Yes. So, they all credit to that block in that field goal. And that was huge in the moment. Right. I mean, at that time, I can't remember exactly what the score was, but at the moment that felt like a big play. Right. And so, if we're going to knock the special teams because they didn't play well as a whole, we got to give them credit as well. So the positives, the punter and block in the field goal. And the negatives were pretty much everything else. Does that sound about right for special teams, guys, that kind of summarize that one. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. All right. So that's going to do it for analysis of offense and special teams, since we're kind of in the middle of it here. Make sure you hit that like button, that subscribe button, that notification bell. Share with your family and friends. And, of course, jump on the boards, boards at Irishbreakdown.com. We will also have a pun for the review tomorrow night at seven o'clock. And that is when Brian will be able to give his kind of first time thoughts on the game. So, if you're, if you're here to hear from Brian, that's fantastic. You'll hear from him specifically tomorrow night. And then he's got to obviously a bunch of written content over at Irishbreakdown.com that you can, you can check out. So make sure you are, you know, hit that notification bell so you know them when we're going to be on. So again, seven o'clock tomorrow for a pun further review. [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [BLANK_AUDIO]
Vince, Trevor, Shaun and Ryan break down the 28-3 win over Miami (OH). The crew breaks down the offense as well as the special teams.
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