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Hi, B Nation. Welcome back to another edition of the Irish Breakdown Podcast. It's Thursday, that means we are two days away from game day. Notre Dame comes back home, a place that has not been friendly for Notre Dame so far. Mac teams, home stadium, not a great thing. Notre Dame likes being on the road and playing Power Five opponents or Power Four opponents. That's where the Notre Dame fighting eyes have thrived, but they're going to look to change that on Saturday when the Miami, Ohio Red Hawks come to town. That's Ryan Roberts. We know that dude and we are going to break down our keys to victory for this weekend's game for Notre Dame. And then of course, we will then dive into our predictions, we'll make our predictions for the show and then at two o'clock around two o'clock, I'll be joined by Bill Bender from Sporting News and he and I are going to, Ryan, it's going to be a really good week in the college football man. We're going to preview and make predictions for Tennessee, Oklahoma, Michigan, USC, Utah, Oklahoma State, which is going to be a very good game, I think. And then there's a great Friday night game on it, or I should say a great game, a very intriguing game Friday night between Illinois and Nebraska. Second week in a row, there's been a really intriguing Friday night game. Last week we previewed and made predictions for Arizona, Kansas State, Wildcats got that one done. And then this week it's going to be Illinois, Nebraska. So it's two teams that are three and O right now in the Big Ten and looking to both claim their first conference win. So we'll dive into that in hour two. But hour one is the big show, Ryan. It is the, it is the main event. It is the fighting Irish. If Notre Dame gets Miami, Ohio, the Red Hawks come into this game 0 and 2, which is certainly quite a fall from last season when they, they started on one, they lost in Miami, but then they went on a roll beat since an Addie on the road and had a great season, had a loss to Toledo in the regular season, got a rematch win in the Mac championship and they are the reigning Mac champions. And they're going to look the salvage their season. This is a backs against the wall, you know, nothing to lose type of game for Miami, Ryan. And it's also, it's not an important game for Notre Dame necessarily because beating this opponent, it means you've arrived. But I do think it is a big moment for Notre Dame and certainly a tremendous opportunity for Notre Dame to really get their season back on track. The win over Purdue was great, but now it's about can you string together some dominant performances. 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When you come home and you lose a stinker of a game to a Mac team and then you come out the next week and you beat a big 10 team by 59 points, I have no idea what this team is. Zero idea. I really honestly don't know what this Notre Dame team is except for talented, which is how you can beat a big 10 team by 59 points in a given ball game, why you can go down and text saying M and dominate them in the biggest portion of the game. Like I really have no idea. So like for my own sanity, I think that at least I'll get another game of like, okay, maybe that's what that team is. Maybe this is what Notre Dame football is in 2024 because I'm still kind of, I mean, because I think we saw three completely different football teams in three weeks, like in my opinion, just three different formatted teams, mental teams, like they were just a different component each and every week, which has just been fascinating, but also a roller coaster for Notre Dame fans to kind of follow along with. But at the end of the day, you're coming off of a high beating a team by the way that you did 66 to seven against Purdue. This is a chance to build off of that, right, to be able to stack games. That's what I kept talking about in the post game show this past weekend is at the end of the day, none of this matters unless you're able to stack games and stack accordingly and then show progress each and every week. If you go back and you just kind of have a lifeless mentality or a lifeless approach to this game, then nothing has changed. It is just still this sporadic, just kind of multi personality team that you don't really have a developed understanding of, I want to know who this team is this weekend. I think I'm going to know, I think I know what team is going to come this weekend, but ultimately, you never can know with this football team right now and just kind of been wait and see node C mode to see if I get some more data points on what Notre Dame football is in 2024. Brian, you said exactly what I said and shows early this week. We have literally seen two three different Notre Dame teams. We saw like a top 10 to 15 team that went on the road and beat A&M. We saw a maybe top 50 team get beat by Northern away, maybe. And I only say that because I've seen a lot of bad teams so far this season football. And then we saw a team against Purdue that could beat just about anybody if they play that way on a week to week basis and all faces of the game. And so who is Notre Dame, right? Are they that team or are they the A&M team or are they somewhere in the middle or those anomalies? And we're going to see a lot more of the Northern Illinois game. We're going to find out here, right? And that's what that's what kind of makes this season fun. And it's something that as you project forward, you know, more data points, you get the more confident you feel of who this team is going to be because either A, the Northern Illinois game in a month from now is the anomaly or it's like, okay, this is the roller coaster ride. We're just going to be on all year with this football team. They're going to look like world beaters one. They're going to go out and let's just say, you know, blow out Louisville one weekend, right? And win by three touchdowns. That's going to happen. I'm just making a point. And then play, you know, Virginia later in the year and need a last second field goal to win it or get upset or something like like this is what's so frustrating about this team sometimes. Last year, we kind of thought we started to see this team figured out and then they kind of just not show up one week. Is this team going to be past it? And I had some proposed to me earlier this week, Ryan, a friend of mine said this on the way home from the Purdue game, he said, I wonder if the Northern Illinois loss was so stunning to the team that it was the final wake up call they need that you can never take anything for granted. Sure. Well, I just, but we've been there already the last couple of years, right where it's like, oh man, that's the wake up call they needed. And then it just kind of reverts back. I mean, literally it's, it's, I think it's good, but also a little bit unsettling how much Marcus Freeman has talked about. We need to understand how to handle success, right? And like, yes, that's good that you understand that your team needs to figure out how to handle success. But I'm still worried that in year three, I'm still worrying about you understanding how to handle success. Like that worries me a little bit to be honest, just like full scope. But I think that this is a great week to test that theory because they are, they did just have success. Like you just destroyed a big 10 team, like destroyed them on their home field by 59 points. You just had about as much success against Purdue as you possibly could have had in a football game. So what does it look like the week afterwards? Again, you're playing a Mac team at home. So I have to think that it's still in the back of your mind like, guys, when we did two weeks ago, we need to avenge that. And that was awful. We can't let that happen again. I'm hoping that that's what happens this weekend. But if we're talking about how a team handle success, you just had success this past weekend. So it's not a game able to continue understanding that process. Are they going to stay true to their process every single week? Are they going to be pissed off again? Those things I hope I'm hopeful for, but until we see it on Saturday, I'm not 100% sure what this team is going to look like I'm just hopeful at this time. Ryan, you said it to me before the show started. We were talking about an hour and a half, a couple of hours ago about just going over the keys and just this team and stuff. And your comment was to me was, if this team's not fired up for this game after just two weeks ago getting embarrassed at home by a similar team, now similar team in stature. Same league, they won that league last year, right? It's not so much that they're the same team and how they're built. They're very different teams in that regard, which we'll dive into in the keys to victory. But it's like, if you overlook Miami, Ohio, a team that's 11 and three and look battled Northwestern, you know, that was a competitive game, battled Cincinnati, that was a competitive game, those two are powerful teams, then you're just not a real mature football team. You're just not a real focus football team. If you come out and dominate Miami, Ohio, it doesn't mean you've arrived, but it's another good step in the right direction. And that's why this game is important. So it's not so much like, hey, you win, bring on, Bama, bring on Ohio State. It's not that, right? It's just okay. Maybe they've turned the corner. But as I said before, Ryan, at the end of the day, it's going to be about stringing these type of performances together, because you mentioned, you know, we thought they turned the corner, you know, last year they get embarrassed by Louisville and they come out the next week and blow out USC, blow out, and you think, ah, they figured it out and then Clemson happens, you know, and that's the thing that Coach Freeman's going to have to figure out. And I don't know that we'll fully get that answer this week, but to a degree, if they just kind of come out and sleep walk through this game, it just tells us that you just haven't built the culture you need to really be a team that like Marcus Freeman says, your job is to get the best version of yourself every day. And, and the problem with this football team is we get nowhere close to that from week to week. Some weeks like Saturday, yeah, there's like, here's the crazy thing about the A&M and the Purdue game. Both of those games could have been a lot worse, meaning like there was multiple opportunities for Notre Dame to go out there and make big plays against Texas A&M early and maybe put that game away. Purdue could have been a lot even more worse than it was. But when you are on your game, you're really good. But when you're not, you're really bad. So, so for a team that has the motto of, you know, get the best version of yourself, can they actually start to do that? Yes. I mean, you're never going to be the very best version of yourself week, like this is impossible. No team ever does it. But when the standard is set here and your team is somewhere in this zone week to week, that's how you become Georgia. That's how you become Bama. You know, Georgia had a down week last week. They figured it out in, in, in one, a football game. Exactly. Right. Yeah. Exactly. And, and so that's going to be the key is, can, can you do that? And when you play a team like this, I want to see this team ticked off a little bit. They should still have the 66 to 7 should not have wiped that chip off their shoulder. It should not have. And we're going to find out Saturday, if it did. Yeah. So, Ryan, let's get into the keys to victory against Miami, Ohio, and, and these are going to be specific to Miami, Ohio, but also things that I do think project to the next, you know, to future games. But I do think these are, these are things that you and I have discussed that are, are specific to this game and being able to have success against Miami, Ohio, there's always the big things. Right. We don't need to dive into them. You know, you don't want to lose the turnover battle like you did against Northern Illinois. You want to make sure a field position is something that you, that you handle, you know, know, not a lot of bad penalties and play focus, play hard, you know, in the turnover battle. Right. Those are things that should be assumed on both sides of the ball. But we're going to get specific with what this team needs to do against Miami, Ohio. And we're going to start with the offense. And everybody knows what key number one is going to be. It's a fast start. Don't suck. Yeah. That, that was one was between you and I, we joked, I said, Hey, can we just make the key to victory? Don't suck. Because if they do that, they'll win. But it's, it's start fast and, and we always go start fast and it's all, it's for different reasons that week after week in it. But this week is similar to last week, Ryan, in that you need to continue to build confidence for yourselves. You're going to be in front of a home crowd that's not overly pleased with you still based on what they saw last time and understandably so. Give them something to get excited about number one, get your home crowd excited about this game. This team still needs to continue building confidence. There's aspects of a start fast that I hope to see, throwing the football things along those lines that, that are there offensively, but it's about getting confidence in yourself. And it's about eliminating any thought in Miami's minds that they have a shot in this football game. And, and that's a, that's a big key is, is you need to build that confidence and you need to let them know, Hey guys, sorry, not today, we're still pissed off and unfortunately for you, you're going to suffer the consequences, because I don't think, I don't think a fast start offensively is just based upon the first drive. I mean, we saw them go down and score against Northern Illinois first in that football game. And then it was just tough from there, saying, say an M, they went down and got points on the first drive and then nothing after that. And then just stalled. Like the difference between Purdue and what we've seen in the first couple of games is that I think they may have had a three and out, maybe on their second drive against a touchdown drive, three and out touchdown drive. But, but, but the big pieces though, is that like the, like, if you take like a five drive sample size, Notre Dame was humming last week. Like they were consistently moving the football outside of one drive. They went down and they were scoring points consistently. Like you need to be able to create that momentum early in a football game. I mean, I put it like quite simply, I thought Notre Dame on both sides of the ball and I'll let go this again. We get the defense. I thought they were pissed off last week and I thought that they felt disrespected and I felt like they were urgent last week. I keep talking about urgency. I feel like every single week with this football team, let's come out. Let's change tempos a little bit. I don't need you to be high octane all the time, but like let's get out of the huddle. Let's get going. Let's, let's, let's move it a little bit, right? Like let's not just be the same tempo each and every time. And I thought that you saw a little bit of a changing of the tempo last week, which was good. And I think at the urgency more than anything though outside of tempo was very important last week. Like everything you always say, what's the word that you hear Marcus Freeman talk about all the time? Intentional. This was intentional. Everything last week off mentally felt intentional. It felt like it worked off of each other well, like everything they did running game-wise, passing game-wise, even the misses they had, everything felt like it was cohesive and it made sense. And I understood why they were trying to accomplish what they did last week. I thought it was a beautifully called game by Mike Dembrock last week. I thought he did a tremendous job. This week, first and foremost, let's get the game playing the same, right? The standardized that type of thing. But also, Riley Leonard, the rest of the leaders in this offense, let's come out with some juice, man. Let's go out and make some plays. Like I need to see a guy create an explosive. I need to see a guy get things going. I need to see Riley Leonard drag a tackler for a first down on the first drive and get up and give him a little bit of a first down buddy. Let's get going here. Right. Like that urgency, that excitement to play offensive football. You saw it last week in Purdue and I think that you need to continue to see it because man, it's there. It's just has not been consistent up at this point and needs to become a more consistent focal of this team. Ryan absolutely point the point about starting fast is not your first drive. It's your first sequence of drives. And to your point, by the end of the first quarter, no names up 14 to nothing by the middle of the second quarter, even not even to the middle of the second quarter, it's 21 nothing and it's basically games over, you know, and then they put up another drive together and go up 28 nothing with 210 left, right. So like, I know that game got out of hand fast in a set the final two minutes, but it was 28 to nothing even before the pick six in the long Jadarion price run. That game was over Purdue knew it was over. That's why, you know what I mean? That's why you saw that the game go the way that it was. It needs to be that kind of game where you don't let like Notre Dame, if Notre Dame makes a stop, even if they get one first down, but then they make a stop, if they make a stop on Northern Illinois in that first drive and they punt the ball and they get the ball near midfield, that game could have got out of hand fast, but you, but they went down and scored and then you didn't answer offensively and then Northern noticing, hey, we got a shot here and the more confidence they got, Purdue knew pretty early. I mean, even though, even when it was 14 nothing, you could just see the body language from Purdue that they were like, uh, we're in trouble, we're in a lot of trouble in this game. And when the offense gets humming, I think that also gives the Notre Dame defense a lot of kick, a lot of fire because they weren't sharper in the game. But when the offense kept rolling, they were like, Hey guys, our offense came to play today. Let's go all out and you just saw them be more aggressive and attacking. That's another key reason why a fast start matters. Right. Well, and I was going to say is that I think that's the perfect point leading into it is that one of my biggest criticisms over Coach Freeman and just kind of his philosophy overall to date and to this point was we always talk about complimentary football, right? But I feel like it's always the offense complimenting the defense all the time. Let's play great defense and offense does what it needs to do when we get the job done when I'm always like, Hey, why can't it for one time be the defense that complements this offense? Right? Like why can't the offense be the main ingredient to this victory? And I think that we saw that last week, again, that was a change. That was a difference of opinion, but like offensively played great defensively played great. But I do think in the early portions of this game, like the first quarter and a half, it was like that offense is playing great. They're playing at a great level and I felt like the defense was feeding off of it and a good deal. So I just want to see that offense come out with urgency and that intentional intentional aspect to kind of how they're approaching the game because if they do for once, I would like to see a cohesive team where offensively and defensively they're coordinating off of one another, not one more than the other. So offensively, again, I just think that the fast start will set the table for a defense to be excited. But overall, I just think that the offense has still questions to answer on a week-to-week basis and I think that they could do it with a fast start. 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, where we'll be talking all things sports, but also so much more. We'll give you the behind-the-scenes stories from my days as the quarterback on an iconic college football team to Jerry's Days as a star on an iconic TV series. So subscribe to Throwbacks on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts. I also think momentum in this game is important, Ryan, going into next weekend. So when you want to talk about, they shouldn't look past this opponent, we will, because we don't have to play on Saturday. I think this another week of confidence in this offense for themselves and then for the defense is going to be much needed heading into next weekend's game against Louisville. There's no doubt. Let's get to key number two, Ryan. This is a very important one. The outside receivers must step up and play well. When you look at this Miami, Ohio defense, they're going to do a lot of different things for Notre Dame. They're going to mix up some of their looks, but they're going to be a team that I look at them, they're trying to force the ball to the perimeter. They are going to play a lot of cover three and early downs, especially after what we saw from Notre Dame last week. We saw it against Northwest, so against Cincinnati, Ryan, on first down, they're going to bring their safety down in the box and play cover three, cover one looks and they're going to say, hey, we're going to slow down the run game. Then as you get into like second and long, they may mix up their two high looks and then a third down, they'll either go mix up man and zone and bring some pressures and those type of things. But in early downs, it's going to be cover one. You're going to get some off corner looks where you're going to have to be effective. So what we're going to need to see from the receivers, Ryan, on the outside, both Collins, Jayden Thomas, Chris Mitchell, Kecke Smith, Jordan Faison, whoever's playing outside, this is a week where you have to be effective. There's a couple of different things to that, Ryan. Number one is you've got to win, you're going to get someone on one, you've got to win. These are two long corners that are pretty smooth fluid athletes that you and I both like on film. The sophomore is a real smooth fluid kid. The freshman's like six, two, very long guy and you're going to have to, they're going to make you compete for the football down the field. But the thing that I look at, Ryan, is you've got to come off the line with some pace. The mistake that some receivers make against off coverage is they come off kind of three quarters and telegraph breaking routes. And that allows those corners to plant and drive. You've got to come off with urgency. Talk about this all the time, Ryan. How many times last we talked about the receivers coming off of the urgency. You got to eat up that cushion as fast as you can, because if you can get them to pedal, then your outcuts, your comeback routes, those are all money and you're going to be catching the ball with space. And here's the other thing too, Ryan. On the flip side, if you're not doing that, not only, you're not catches, but now you run the risk of your quarterback throwing a pick six or an interception because you didn't do your job of driving that guy off the line. And I've had that happen with my receivers. So there's got to be some urgency, but there's going to be opportunities to catch the ball and make plays in the perimeter. And then also there's some in-breaking route stuff that I think could really be effective in this game with the outside receivers, some dig routes where you can kind of get underneath that safety behind the linebackers. This is a game where the outside receivers have a chance to make plays and they've got to get that part of the offense going. It was very mediocre. Last year, it's been kind of okay. So far this season, both cons made a couple of plays here and there. Jayden Thomas has made a couple of plays here and there. But overall, the outside receivers haven't really stepped up and made a ton of plays. It's not all their fault. The ball has got to be thrown to them, but they didn't play that great the last couple of weeks either. And so that's going to be a big part of it. The way that Miami plays, the structure of their defense creates great opportunities for the outside receivers to feast a little bit. I mean, I think that this is the nature of the Miami Ohio defense, which is a solid group. I mean, it's a group that fundamentally is going to be in the right spot a lot of the time and have some relatively consistent players on all three levels. But if you're playing against Notre Dame right now, even after they just scored 66 points last week, if I'm a defensive coordinator, I am saying I'm playing a lot of man coverage and I'm getting extra guys in the box because I know Notre Dame can run the football. I know that you have dynamic runners in the backfield. I know that your quarterback can run. So I'm going to try to get an extra defender in the box when I can. And ultimately, the wide receivers have not shown me enough. And the passing game has not shown me enough through three weeks that I say I'm worried about them consistently winning one-on-one matchups. Like they just haven't shown me that ultimately. And I think that Miami Ohio is going to do that as well because they do play a decent amount of man coverage. They do try to get guys like Ty Wise down into the down as a blitzer in different spots defensively. They're going to try to sneak an extra safety down in the box and run some cover three. Like they're going to try to do those types of things. And I believe that Notre Dame, until they prove that they can win those matchups, there's no reason for a defense to change. Like there's no reason. Ultimately, they know what Notre Dame's strength is. They know what their weaknesses are. The minute that a guy or guys like Bo Collins, Chris Mitchell, KK, like Jordan Faison, if he plays outside, like whoever, the minute that those guys showcase that they can win those games, that's when the defensive philosophy going against Notre Dame changes a little bit. And until it does, there's no reason to change it ultimately. Bo has made some nice plays early on and he's been the best receiver in my opinion in three games so far. You need him to win his one-on-one matchups. You need, I don't know where Chris Mitchell's been. Like I have no idea where Chris Mitchell's been. Let him get in and get an opportunity to make a big play, KK, Jordan Faison, Jane Thomas. It doesn't matter to me, ultimately, who the best receivers are on this team, but until they're able to win outside the numbers. Because ultimately, I know Jaden Greathouse hasn't been great through the first couple games of the year, but for some reason I have confidence that he'll figure it out because I think he's a smart, savvy football player and I think he'll find some zones in the middle of the field to be able to make some plays eventually. But even that, things are going to get a lot more condensed. If you can't figure out how to threaten teams outside the numbers a ton. So Bo Collins, Chris Mitchell, KK, Jordan Faison, Jaden Thomas, those guys need to make some plays this week to start losing up these defenses. Because until further notice, Notre Dame is a running football team who struggles to throw the ball outside the numbers, throws the ball down the field. You have to prove them wrong eventually and hopefully this is the week they start to prove that wrong. Ryan, the other thing about this too is this is actually a Miami defense that's been a pretty good pass defense the last couple of years. They ranked in the top 30 last year in past defense, they gave up under 200 yards a game. And so far this season, they're only giving up 182 yards per game and 5.7 yards per attempt. And you know, they've done some good things defensively and part of it is is because they do have a, we're not going to give up the big play type of past defense. I mean, they held Northwestern to 5.9 yards per attempt. They held Cincinnati to 5.5 yards per attempt. Now those aren't very good passing teams, but Notre Dame hasn't been a very good passing team yet either. So this isn't going to be a drop back and chuck a deep ball game type of game. That's just not, but there are some shots to take. This is more about efficiency, finding those openings in the intermediate parts of the field, getting your guys in space. I do think there's some opportunities to create some. I think the deep shots in this game are not, I think there's some outside go up ball opportunities and certain looks, especially when they come up and play cover one, some post snap switch type of stuff. But this is going to be a game with the outside receivers are going to have to be really good with their out breaking routes, but then also be smart and get into those openings over the middle of the field efficiently. We'll talk more about first down pass game here in a little bit, but the outside guys are going to be part of that number three, Ryan. This one's pretty easy. Be bullies, right? Be bullies in this game. This is an undersized defense. It's not a very big defense. I mean, I literally coached an FCS team that had bigger details than this defensive line has. Now they're quick and they're pretty good athletes and they penetrate and it's just going to be like their quickness against Rocco Spindler size, he's going to have like 70 pound advantage on one of those kids, but they're going to be quick and they're going to penetrate. But you need to be bullies. Matt Salapek is a heck of a college linebacker. I mean, he's, he's that typical Mac kid that just smart, you know, quality athlete for that level, instinctive, makes a ton of tackles, but he's not a very big guy, you know, and you look at Ty Wise has got some good size and he's athletic, but he's not an overly, he doesn't have Matt safe, you can put Matt, Ty Wise and Matt Salapek into one player. That's a, that's a pretty dark football player. You know what I mean? But this is an undersized defense that has been very susceptible to a good ground game, which is partly why they've gone to the defense. They're going, if you go back and look early 20, 23, they were trying to play a lot of two shell and teams were just ripping them up on the ground and they were kind of forced to go to a bit more of a single high safety look in order to get extra guys in the box to be able to defend the run better. I mean, you look early last year, Ryan, they gave up over 250 or 250 yards or more in two of their first three games against the run since an ad he got him for 273 in Miami got him for 250. They didn't give up over 170 again until late November against Ball State and held Toledo to minus 100 in their in the championship game. So they had to alter their structure, but Notre Dame just faced a team whose entire game plan was built around stopping the run and they just ripped them apart. And so it really comes down to you got to push them around, man, watching Cincinnati and there's a couple snaps, Ryan, where they're just taking their details and just driving them four or five yards off the ball. We need to see a lot of that from Notre Dame in this game. They need to be bullies and if they can get a push, then I think the run game gets going. And it's just like every other week, Ryan, look, whether it's Miami, Ohio or Miami, Florida, whether it's Georgia State or Georgia, if you get these running back some space, they're going to do some things. And that's going to be the key for the offensive line. The best duo on this defense for Miami as far as left comparing levels is the second level easily. I mean, Salapek and Wise on the second level is a linebacker. It's like that's the best pair they have on this team. I mean, both kids were incredibly productive last year. Salapek is more of the true Mike while Wise is a little bit more of the playmaker, like you're going to put some all over the place a little bit. He's a little bit faster, more explosive or actually a lot more faster and a lot more explosive. Real quick, Ryan, just I want to put I want to put numbers to what you're talking about here real quick. So last year, Matt Salapek had 143 tackles and 74 solos, eight and a half tackles for lost three sacks. Right. So again, a lot of it was tackles and stuff. Ty Wise had 122 tackles, 61 solo. So he had a lot more assisted tackle, but he had eight sacks in five pass breakup. So you talk about what you're that's what putting some some numbers to what you just said is one guys just that around the ball, Mike linebacker, the other guys that disruptive attacking force fumbles, tackles for loss, you know, pass breakups, things like that, the disruptive kind of guys wanted to give some numbers to that. Yeah. Well, the worst thing that linebackers hate is cloudy vision when you're playing on the second level. And the best way to create cloudy vision for an offense is to be able to drive guys off the ball on the on the front line and to be able to cloud that vision. And ultimately, like this is the formula that Miami, Ohio has always kind of gravitated towards under coach Martin is they like the penetration chain style interior defense lineman. I remember when they had like Doug Kosten a few years ago that was landed up playing with the Jaguars for a couple of years, but he was 62, 280 pounds soaking wet. Like he was not a big dude at all. He was just first step quickness, one gap. Like that was what he was going to ultimately be. It's a little bit of the same things. The big advantage that you have is you know that Sam Pendleton when he gets inside of you, like that dude's going to, it's going to do something, right? He's a physical dude, Pat Coogan's a big body as a center. And then you have Rocco Spindler, who his whole game is predicated off of moving dudes being physical, right? So you have the advantage physically. I just want them to actualize that ability they have because we've seen it in moments, but being able to consistently drive off, staying low, maintaining good leverage, you have a chance to run on this team all day. I mean, you do because it's just it's going to take one guy getting displaced in the cloud the vision of Salopec to be able to spring a big play. And we have seen this. So like the first three weeks, Brian, I would say like the thing about Jeremiah Love and Jadorean price compared to what you have with like Audrick estimate, right? Audrick estimate was more of an efficient runner. He was always going to get three. He was always going to get five. He was always going to get six. Like you knew he was going to get that you are a little bit more feast or famine with the running backs you have now because they're more predicated on big plays, right? Like there was going to be. Jadorean, right? There's going to be some negative ones at great point, because I think that love with the 210 that he now has on his frame or two or five feet. He's also getting more patient, you know, especially against Purdue, Ryan, there was time for he just said, you know what, I'm going to get four on this play. Like that's the read early against A&M. He was kind of let me pop one. I think he settled in Jadorean. I think it's still trying to, I don't get a lot of as many carries. I'm going to try to score every time. It's touched down to carry ratios pretty good, but yes, you are correct. They're not the 240 pound running back. They're just going to put his foot in the ground and pound, pound, pound, pound, then break one. Like Andrek was last year. Jeremiah is much more can get three when there's three there can get four when there's four there can get one when there's one there like he's been more efficient, but overall they're much more the team. They're still to do with that's going to break a 70 yarder, but then maybe, you know, they do a little bit too much and they get negative one, right? Like that's just going to be kind of their game. Jadorean price is like the perfect outside zone runner, like because just one cut and he's going to be able to explode vertically, like that's his game, ultimately. But with that in mind, I do want to see more efficiency. And I think that this is a team to get more efficient with because again, I think that if you give Jeremiah love six, I think he can make nine. If you give him one, I think he can be a five. I think that Jadorean price could do a lot of those same things as well. I really want to see a little bit less of a fester famine against an inferior opponent. I want to see more efficiency, especially in this type of game. And it starts with the big guys up front because yes, the tackles are still undersized from a weight perspective, but ultimately your interior, the offense line now is not undersized. Like that is a big interior offense line. You have the clear advantage up front in that regard. Ryan, just some notes before we move or some data for before we move on to point five and run game wise, I had noted him under 50% efficiency in both of the first two games. They were 66.7 against Purdue. And they were this is what the first team offense and Riley Leonard, they were 61.5% efficient on first down 71.4% efficient on second down. So about 60, 64, 65% because you had twice as many first down runs, but like that's, that's the thing is you got to build on that. You have to build on that. You were over 60% running left. You were over 60% running right like that. That's what you're referring to. It's yes, it's great to get the big runs, but put yourself in second and six and instead of second and 12, look, you can go first and 20 and pop a 70 yarder against Purdue. That may not work against Georgia. It may not work against Texas and Ohio State and Bama. That's the whole point. So it is that efficiency there now second and two. That's when you might start popping some of those big runs. So it was a good first step, but when only one of your three games is that way, that's the number that's different. That's the anomaly. And to your point, if they can come out and be more efficient and just pound this team and then break the big runs, I mean, they may just come out and break big runs early. I mean, good certainly see that, but it's also combining that with just, and it's not about the running backs. I want to see this offensive line come out and do what they need to do. So I'm going to see them show the maturity for a young group to come out and say, listen, we're going to play bully ball and just beat these guys up and I'm not talking about running the ball a million times. I'm going to talk about their style, the mentality that the line has. Number four, Ryan, and this ties in a little bit to the first two keys and that is early down pass game is where you're going to get a chance to hit some shots and make some big plays. I want to see them be willing and effective throwing the ball on first down in this game. That's going to be a big part of it. I thought Riley Leonard was a lot better on third down last week. He went three for three for 48 yards, all three turned into first downs. Even something simple is the Mitchell Evans throw on third and long. He hits them right on the hands outside allows Mitchell to catch it and turn up field and make people miss. If that ball's behind Mitchell's getting squared up and it's, you're not converting. So you're doing your job on third down. I still want to see a little bit more first down efficiency. It was better. Last week, Riley went five of seven on first down for 42 yards, Purdue was giving you some quick stuff. You took advantage of it. There's going to be some opportunities again for early down success because that's when you're going to get Purdue with their thought process of stop the run, stop the run, stop the run, stop the run, first and second down, especially second down and short. If you get some early first and some good first down gains is where I think this pass offense has a chance to really take advantage and find some big plays. I'm not saying I want them to come out and throw it every time, but I think early down pass game success is where I want to see this offense get rolling. This is not a week where I want to see them come back and throw a bunch of bombs. I don't know that that's fits what Miami does. Miami wants to not let you do that and I don't think it's needed. I think getting guys in space, that is something you can take advantage of this week and I want to see them. That doesn't mean you don't take some shots because there are some opportunities there, but you've got to kind of find those and probe for those. But the intermediate game, the horizontal stretch game, there's going to be some opportunities. And I would like to see Notre Dame, they've been running a lot of four Vergs, the first couple of games. We didn't see that last week. It wasn't really needed last week. But early downs, cover three, cover one, I don't be surprised if we see some of that stuff. And then the wrinkles off of it, you know, looks like four Vergs bring that outside guy under and then maybe bring her cross around. I mean, there's some different things they can do with levels that I think could have some success against Miami Ohio, Ryan. But a lot of that success is going to be on first and second down or needs to be on first and second down. I mean, if I'm Miami Ohio, again, like going back to their perspective, you know that this team is more talented than you. I mean, just listen to coach Martin's press conference, right, where it's just like he's just guessing up the Notre Dame the entire time, right? I know he's got love for Notre Dame, but like he knows how talented this team is. And if you're the Miami Ohio defense, what is the only way that you have a chance to slow this team down and to really decimate them offensively is to win first down ultimately. Like you want this Notre Dame team to be second and nine, second and 10, second and 12, third and eight. Like you want them to be working against the sticks consistently and how do they do that? I would be shocked if they're not super aggressive on first down, right? Like tie wise, blitzing, different variations of blitz, twists up fronts, slants to different variations. There's going to be a lot of things happening in first and second level on first down to try to create negatives ultimately. You need to create some positives on that first down. Second and ones are your friends, second and fours are your friend, third and twos are your friend. Those are your friends in this football game because Miami Ohio is not stupid. Coach Martin is a very good coach. He's very intelligent. That whole coaching staff is good. And they are going to come and they're going to say if we create negatives on first down, that is their best opportunity to get the game out of the comfort zone. They're only hope and that's why the early down pass game has to be effective because you got to make them pay for those type of things, right? And look, here's the question that I have. So far this season on first down from what I saw in film, a lot of off man, they have two long corners. I think they're trying to play a lot more off man. I'm curious if they try to do more press this week because of no names and ability to really threaten teams outside. Like, do you really want to just give up the quick game? You know, that type of thing. And if Notre Dame does, again, that goes back to, okay, now's your chance to go make some plays because if you can, if you can pass the ball effectively in this game, I do think that's a good sign of things to come because we talked about this against Northern Illinois and they didn't have success. This is a quality set pass defense schematically and I like the corners. I do want to see, I'll say this, Ryan, I do want to see in some of those early downs get me some safety on skill matchups in the past game. That's where I think Notre Dame can really feast in this game. I would even take some screens, man, like some bubbles, tunnels, like whatever, on first down. I mean, there's going to be a lot of pressure and a lot of blitz. Like, let's get the playmakers in space ultimately. So even if it's on a traditional, you know, drop back that people want to see more of, like I will take Jordan face on, in a, on a screen for a potential big play. I will take Jeremiah Love and some variation of that. I think that you need to be smart with first down, especially on the other side of it because I do think that Miami is going to be very aggressive and tie wise as a kid that I've been told from NFL scouts that at 240 plus pounds is probably going to run 4.5. Like he is a, he can run man. So do not let that kid get a runway, do not let him get his closing speed working against you. Prove him wrong ultimately on the second level. So that type of stuff I would be open to as well. So we're going to move on to defense next, but before we do folks, hit that like button, hit the subscribe button, hit the notification bell, share this podcast, give us a five star review. And if you've not done so, make sure that you sign up for the message board at boards. That Irish Breakdown.com. Thank you. Bye. A King Supers Pharmacy Care is making it easy to get vaccinated. Care is helping you stay protected from flu, COVID and RSV. Seasonal vaccines are available seven days a week with evening hours. Care is giving you a shot at staying healthy this season. Walk in whenever is best and get multiple vaccines in one visit at your local King Supers Pharmacy. So come and get the protection you need while protecting those around you. King Supers. A world of care is in store. Visit king supers.com/vaccines for more restrictions and exclusions apply seaside for details.
