"My dad works in B2B marketing. "He came by my school for career day "and said he was a big row as man. "Then he told everyone how much he loved "calculating his return on ad spend. "My friend's still laughing me to this day." - Not everyone gets B2B, but with LinkedIn, you'll be able to reach people who do. Get $100 credit on your next ad campaign. Go to linkedin.com/results to claim your credit. That's linkedin.com/results. Terms and conditions apply. Linked in, the place to be, to be. - George Clooney and Brad Pitt's new movie "Wolves" is on Apple TV Plus, September 27th. - That's where I want you to be now. - So if you wanna see George Clooney and Brad Pitt, go to Apple TV Plus. - You gotta start the story there. - Or if you wanna see Brad Pitt and George Clooney. - Go to Apple TV Plus. - I am enjoying the show. - And if you wanna see their new movie "Wolves" - You can't do it. I'm gonna help you out. - I can do it. - Do it. - Definitely go to Apple TV Plus. - The minute is cool. - Okay, fine, it's very cool. - "Wolves" upstream, September 27th on Apple TV Plus. Where you are? (upbeat music) - All right, Trevor. So let's get into talking about Louisville and why is Louisville a team that you have to be prepared to play good football against? Because I do think this is a good Louisville football team. Before the season, we talked about the ACC. And I said, look, NC State's the team getting a lot of love. They were pre-season top 25 team. And I said, nah, I don't think they're gonna be that good. The team that I think is getting underrated in the ACC is Louisville. And I loved a lot of the pickups they had this off season. I thought Tyler Shuck, I like, if he is healthy, is a better quarterback than Jack Plummer. You know, they went out and got Colin Lacey, who was a really good receiver last year. And he hasn't even played yet. He may play this weekend. He hasn't even played yet. You got Jacobi Brooks from Alabama. Ryan's talking about, and earlier in the post, a defensive lineman they got from Rutgers, who's been a really good player. But then there's also a lot of guys coming back that were really good players for them last year will dive into. And of course, the big thing about it is, I think they have one of the best coaches in college football leading the program, Trevor. And if you've been listening to me for a while, you know that Jeff Brom is on my favorite coaches list and what he does. And obviously we saw him kind of him and his staff coach circles around Notre Dame last year, both from a preparation and then inside the game. Like, now Al Golden did a great job answering that first touchdown drive, but I've never seen an Al Golden defense on its heels as much as it was schematically, that first drive against Louisville last year. It was a masterpiece. Now, because he's a big time coordinator, Al Golden responded and they came up with some things and Louisville only had some points at halftime. But that first drive was a master class. And so you've got a talented football team and you have a football team that's got, you know, good trench play, skill, a quarterback that can make plays on his arm and a really smart group of football coaches. It's a legitimate football team. It's a, they have earned their ranking so far this year. How good will it be when the season's over with? I don't know the answer to that. Are they an 11 and one team? Are they a nine and three team? We'll find Saturday kind of play a role in that Trevor. But this is a quality opponent that Notre Dame fans and the Nurring team need to take seriously. If you get a win this weekend, Trevor, you beat a really good football. Is this Georgia, is this Bama's, this one? No, but neither was A&M. 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For a whole new way to nug, it's gotta be Wendy's at participating US Wendy's. - Yeah, it's a very veteran team. Through the pickups that they made in the transfer portal and who decided to return, I think it's on defense alone, 10 of the 11 starters on defense are juniors or seniors. And through their pickups that they made in the offices and it kind of made up for what they lost. They lost two running backs last year in the to the NFL draft. And obviously Jack Plummer is no longer with them, but they were able to go out and make really good portal additions. And Brian, I think you hit the nail on the head and they are a very athletic football team. And I think that a lot of people get caught up in like just the name Louisville and they're just, you know, they always hover around like the mid teens. This is a good football team, man. This is a team, I mean, I guess I don't have to explain to a lot of people who are Notre Dame fans, but this is a team that could beat you. You know, this is a really good football team and they're very well coached. And I think that's what makes them so dangerous is a well coached and athletically talented football team is scary. So I think they're going to do a lot of different things on Saturday to get their playmakers to ball, especially on the offensive side. Going to be interesting to see if Colin Lacey does play, but even if he doesn't, Jacoby Brooch has been having his way so far this year. And then another guy that kind of came in out of nowhere in the Georgia Tech game was Chris Bell. He had a few good plays after the catch. - That crosser that he, but that sparked them. That crosser for the touchdown sparked them 'cause they went into a couple of plays, but like Georgia Tech had a lot of momentum at that point in time in my opinion. That really sparked them a lot. - Yep. - It did. - And to your point, the quarterback that they picked up, am I pronouncing his last name right, Tyler? - Shuck. - Tyler Shuck. - It's pronounced like S-H-U-C-K. - Okay. - I don't know how they got that out of S-H-O-U-G-H. - Okay. - But yeah, I mean, when he first came up, I was like, Tyler, show? - Show. - Shaw? You know what I mean? Like, you know, S-H, you know, you're thinking though, that, you know what I mean? - Yeah. - Nope, it's Shuck. Okay, whatever. - Well, well, well, regardless, Tyler, Tyler Show, Shuck, Tyler quarterback for Louisville. - Shuck. - Yeah, Tyler Shuck. - This is a Louisville quarterback. And it works for me. - Yep. - Yep. - Whenever I don't know how to pronounce the guy's name, I'd say, yeah, the number 90's a beast, man. - Yeah. - That 90's a handful or like Nico from Tennessee. I just pronounce, I just Nico. You know, quarterback Tennessee. What's his name, Nico? Well, what's his full name? It's Nico. That's all I need to know. It's Nico. You know what I'm talking about? - I think it, just like in the old NCAA games, it's QB9, that's how I'm gonna start wording it. But yeah, Tyler Shuck, he's going into a six year college football. And he does have a lot of experience. He takes care of the football. He's a really good quarterback. He was a former top 300 recruit. It's kind of crazy to say back in 2018, but he's been around a lot. And he has shown that he can put the ball where he needs to. So far this year, I mean, yes, Louisville, their first two opponents, they didn't play anybody crazy, but I went back and I watched the Louisville, Georgia Tech game and a lot of really good decisions. He's a smart quarterback. He's not gonna force anything. And now he has a lot of athletes surrounding him. - Yeah. I mean, Trevor, you talk about how they, they didn't play anybody any good the first two games. Well, his highest, his highest yards per attempt average and highest quarterback rating so far was against Georgia Tech, not Austin P, not Jack. I mean, he threw for more yards against Jacksonville State. That's cause he threw 14 more attempts. He was nine, seven per attempt against Austin P, 10, six against Jacksonville State, and then 14, too against Georgia Tech. It's several, I mean, and that's the thing, is they came out of the gate throwing deep. I think it was, he missed a ball, a ball to, Jacoby Brooks got broken up. And then I think it was Brooks that caught the next one. They took another deep shot and I thought it was Brooks that caught it. But, and then of course you had the big crossing route. So it is a, it's, it's another one of those really weird situations to Trevor is actually, I believe Tyler Shuck is a, is a seventh year senior. - Yeah. - But he's had a lot of injuries. He's had two, like he, he got a medical last year 'cause he got hurt in the fourth game. Then obviously you have the COVID year. You got a medical for being, for playing in 2021. You know, but this is a kid that if you go back and look at some of the production he's had him and he was a starting quarterback in Oregon in 2020 that, I mean, you look at during the COVID year, his first four games, he threw for 227, 312, 334, 285, you know, this is a kid that's put up some numbers in his career, you know, obviously started at Oregon, went to Texas Tech, threw for 399 yards a week before getting hurt against Texas. And when that hurt against Texas, he was 9 of 11 for 68 yards and got hurt and was out for the year. Game before that he threw for 399 yards. He comes up back the next year, gets hurt in the opener, doesn't play again for a while, comes back late in the year, throws for 436 yards and a win over Oklahoma and then throws for 242 yards and a touchdown and runs for 111 yards and a bowl win over Ole Miss, this is in 2022. And then last year he throws for 338 against Oregon or Wyoming, throws for 282 against Oregon, did throw three picks, but if you go back and watch that game, he made some, he was the reason they almost beat Oregon last year. And then of course gets hurt again. And now he comes out this year and he's playing the way he is. So this is a kid with a lot of talent, he just hasn't been able to stay healthy. But now he's healthy and very experienced Trevor, very experienced. You know, we talked last week about, you know, we talked about Brett Gabbard and the production he's had. Well, this is a kid that has some, has some production as well in his career as we talked about. This is a kid that in this career has over 5,000 career passing yards, has 44 career passing touchdowns, has also rushed for over 700 yards in his career and adds 10 more touchdowns. So this is a kid that's played, so what is that? It's over 6,000 career yards of offense. So this is a kid that's played a lot of football and no name's gonna have to be prepared to your point. You know, look, if Jeff Brom has a quarterback, his team is scary. I don't care what they have everywhere else. If Jeff Brom has a quarterback, his team can score on you. I mean, you know what I mean? - Yeah, no, 100%. I mean, he's a guy that if you give him the time, he can sit back there and pick you apart. I mean, Georgia Tech learned that. And now they have the athletes at wide receiver to boot, who are good after the catch. So, you know, I know we're gonna dive into this throughout the week, but, you know, Notre Dame's secondary hasn't really been tested yet. And, you know, the pass rush is starting to come alive. So, hopefully all of those things start gelling at the right moments for Notre Dame's defense, but that's gonna be some work out. - And we'll dive more into that stuff tomorrow in Thursday, for sure. Because there are some very important matchups. Trevor, you're gonna write about it at irisbreakdown.com and then we'll also talk about it in some upcoming shows. But, you know, just a little bit more about this Louisville football team, as Trevor mentioned, they are 3-0 so far this season. If you look at their first two games were not even remotely competitive, they beat Austin P in the opener. I think Austin P is 1-3 to start the season, I believe. They beat them 62 to nothing. They beat Jacksonville State 49 to 14 in a game that I did not feel was that close. Now, Jacksonville State is struggling. They're 1-3 so far this season. They got blown out by Coastal Carolina, also lost a road game at Eastern Michigan. Actually, Vince's son was at that game on a visit. That game between, I think it was the Jacksonville State game that he was at. But, you know, then obviously this past weekend they beat Georgia Tech. This was their first true test and I think they answered that test pretty well in this past weekend's game. So, you wanna talk about what their team looks like? Let's bring up some numbers so you guys can get a sense of where they are. Now, again, these are through three games against an FCS opponent and then obviously a not very good power five opponent. And you look at their production so far right there, Trevor. I mean, 47.3 points per game, four, 11 points against. They're averaging 502 yards of offense only giving up 268.7. Now, that is the one stat to me that is most skewed towards the schedule. Like, and I'm curious your thoughts on this, Trevor. When I look at the Louisville offense and they're moving a ball pretty well on everybody. They only had 326 yards against Georgia Tech, but part of that was because they did have two non-offensive touchdowns. They averaged 7.1 yards per play. So, their total yardage is a little bit skewed by the fact that they didn't have as many opportunities, but their yards, they were still 7.1 yards per play, which is their quote-unquote worst output of the season. That was against power five team. Defensively, they held Austin P to 106 yards. They gave up 290 to Jacksonville State. Georgia Tech went for 410 against them and 5.9 per play. So, I thought that was, the defensive statistics, especially points, is the one thing that's a little bit skewed from the numbers. But, rushing wise, you see it. They're a pretty good rushing team, 190 yards per game. They're very good at stopping the run. They ranked ninth in yards per rush, 11th in yards allowed per rush. They ranked 18th in passing offense, 5th in yards per temp, 19th in yards per completion, 8th in rating. I have only given up two sacks all season, and they are a okay, solid third down team, but a really good third down defense so far this season. And then, of course, they have yet to turn the ball over, which is a good sign for them. So, statistically, obviously Trevor, this is a pretty good looking football team. And even if you say, okay, yeah, two of those opponents weren't very good, they're often still looked pretty flip and good, even against the Georgia Tech team, that's a pretty quality team so far this year. - I agree. I think the thing, the stat that sticks out the most to me is yards per rush, sitting at two and a half. I know one thing that kind of skews that a little bit is I'm pretty sure Austin P rushed the ball 34 times and got 34 rushing yards. So, I think that is one that can be a little bit skewed in there, but that's still, to the point, I think Georgia Tech still only averaged at 2.9 yards a carry, 2.7 yards. - 2.7, yeah. - Yeah, so they are still a very, very good rush defense. And the most successful runner that Georgia Tech had and the most successful runner that Jacksonville State had was their quarterback, which is gonna be an interesting matchup to talk about throughout the rest of the week. But Louisville's offense is very, very high-powered. And they are able to move the ball up and down the field. So, yeah, I mean, this is a very well coached football team that has a lot of skill behind it. Zero turnovers, I think, is a huge factor in that as well. So, Notre Dame's gonna have their hands full. - Yes, and I actually don't think Louisville's playing as well as they're capable of on defense. And their defense has still been pretty good. Their past defenses has been a problem for them so far this year. And we'll dive more into that tomorrow, but their run defense has been pretty stout to your point, Trevor, is, you know, like Georgia Tech's a team that runs the football pretty good. I mean, you know, they were coming out in the game and coming into the game, they had rushed for, see, 190 against Florida State, 225 against Georgia State, 190 against VMI. Syracuse did a good job of shutting them down. I'll held them to 112, but they were at 47 per carry in that game. They just didn't run it that much 'cause they were behind. They ran, they were held the 98 yards against Louisville. They ran it 37 times. And so 2.7 and then you can look at it. They had no, Louisville had no sacks against Georgia Tech. So that was, I mean, that was basically just them kind of shutting them down. Now, one thing that, and we'll dive into this even more tomorrow, but one thing that is interesting, and Jeff Brom talked about this in his press conference, is one aspect about their season so far is the one area that they've struggled to stop the run is the quarterback. So Jamal Haynes, the running back from Georgia Tech that we all are familiar with, he had 25 yards on 12 carries. 17 of those yards came on one attempt. And then their next running back, Treland Maddox had 14 yards on eight carries. Zach Pyron had one yard on two carries. Malik Rutherford had one for one. So their top two running backs had 39 rushing yards on 20 carries. Their quarterback had 58 yards on 14 carries and had a nice big run early for a touchdown. 23 are touching. They had another 20 plus yard run. And then Jacksonville State's quarterback, who's a dual threat guy, rushed for over a hundred yards against Louisville. So they have had success, they have had success stopping running backs, running the football. They have not had as much success stopping mobile quarterbacks from running the football. Now, I know that they shut down Riley Leonard last year, but that was a hobbled playing on one foot version of Riley Leonard last season. It was not, it was the post Notre Dame injury first game back, couldn't run version of that. And so we'll see if that can continue, but they weren't, they didn't get beat like this as quite like this last year. So we're almost see how they adjust to playing mobile quarterbacks. 'Cause they do have a lot of new faces on their defense. And I wonder if that may be factoring into it as well. - Sure. I think a couple of things that's gonna be fun, just about this matchup in general between Notre Dame and Louisville is, the stats almost mirror each other in the most opposite way possible. And I think that's crazy. Like, for example, Louisville's averaging 47.3 points per game, Notre Dame's allowing 9.8. And I think those matchups are gonna be a lot of fun, right? Louisville's offense is, sorry, Louisville's defense is only allowing 2.5 yards per rush in the last two games, Notre Dame rush for 8.4 yards per carry. And then I think 7.5 or 7.4 against Miami of Ohio. So it's almost like the two, some of the strengths that pop out, the eye-popping strengths of these stat sheets, it's almost completely opposite for the opposing team. - A lot of good on good. It's a lot of good on good. I mean, we talk about how good Georgia Tech's run, I mean, Louisville's rush defense is, well, Notre Dame's been a pretty darn good rushing team. I mean, if you think about it Trevor and you think about Notre Dame's performances on the ground, you could make a very strong case that they're running game from a blocking standpoint has been better against the power five teams that they've played this year than it was against the non-power five teams. 'Cause like right now here's a weird stat to your point. Right now, Notre Dame ranks 18th in college football and rushing at 238.3 yards per game. They rank fifth in college football in yards per attempt at 6.7. Here's a crazy stat for you. If you go to fcfbstats.com, you can actually go by conference, by ranked, by unranked. If you look at Notre Dame versus, if you look at all games versus power five opponents, Notre Dame is third in college football at 280 yards per game in two games. And they've averaged 7.2 yards per carry, which is third. So Notre Dame has actually been much better against their power five opponents than they were against their two Mac opponents. Now they did run for a bunch this year, but a lot of that was Riley Leonard running because they were trying to slow it down. And what's ironic is Georgia, and Texas A&M is number one in rush defense against power five opponents, but they only played one game against a power five opponent and Notre Dame doesn't count because they're not considered a power five. So they ran for 310 yards against Florida. And the next closest team that's played, so A&M's ahead of them, UCF is ahead of them. And then right after them is Mississippi, Purdue and Oregon. And those are the teams after them. But all of those teams, I just, all five of those teams that I just mentioned have played one game against the power five opponent. Notre Dame has played two, the next closest team to them in, that's played two is Oregon State, who's all the way down at 230, or excuse me, Iowa, who's all the way down to 238 per game. And so that's a very interesting statistic to look at. And it goes to your point of, there's a lot of good on good in this game, a lot of good on good in this game. And Notre Dame, ironically, Notre Dame has not padded their stats against the worst teams on their schedule. So far, they've padded their stats against the better teams that they've played 'cause they haven't scored a whole lot against the two teams that they've gone against, which is still just kind of pisses me off. It's like, I got a laugh or I'm gonna cry. You know what I mean? - Yeah, you'll be both of them. - And the reason Notre Dame's not considered power five is because they're not in one of the power five. And I'm not saying this flippantly, but they're not in one of the power five conferences. They're considered an independent. And so teams don't, like they're a power five for all intents and purposes, but they're, 'cause they're not a group of five either, because like they can't get the group of five automatic bid, they have, it's about conference affiliation. And so no, UMass and UConn also are not power five teams because they're not in power five conferences. So it's either, and now it's power four, but this statistics, so it's, if you're not in the ACC, if you're not in the Big 10, if you're not in the Big 12 or the SEC, you're not a power five team. And so Notre Dame for statistical purposes is not considered a power five team, which I just, I only say that 'cause it's funny that A&M's there because they didn't run the ball poorly against Notre Dame, but like Purdue is the top 10 team in rushing offense against power five teams because they ran for 263 against Oregon State. If Notre Dame was factored into that, that number goes way down 'cause it only rushed for 38 yards against Notre Dame, which is again, what's the sole for rushing about last week's performance? 'Cause Purdue ran for 248 and eight yards of carry against Indiana State. They went on the road against Oregon State, rushed for 263 and 8.8 yards per carry, but against Notre Dame, they ran for 38 yards and 1.5 yards per carry, you know? And Notre Dame's gonna need to bring that performance 'cause this Louisville team can run the football. They have three running backs that are averaging over 10 yards a carry. Now, that's one of those ones that's aided by who they played because those running backs averaged 2.3, 2.0 and 2.3 and 2.0 against Georgia Tech. But they didn't carry the ball a lot and they were like 12 to 13, 14 yards per carry against the two previous opponents. But it was a lot of good on good in this instance Trevor, a lot of good on good. Like, and there's some areas that we'll break down more tomorrow where it's like, you know, they're pretty good in this area and Notre Dame hasn't been third down defense. It's pretty good. Notre Dame hasn't been great on third down. They've gotten better the last two games. So it's a very interesting statistical matchup that we'll do our stacking up feature tomorrow. You know, I'm gonna try to convince Trevor to come on with me tomorrow. We'll see, we'll see, maybe pressure them live on air to see if I can get them to commit to it. But, you know, we'll dive more to that breakdown of the Notre Dame rush offense against the Louisville rush defense and that type of thing is we break that down, which is gonna be very fascinating. And we will look at the 2024 stats for that. But this is a good football team. And again, this is a, this is not a team that came out of nowhere, Trevor. This is a team that won 10 games last year and played for the ACC Championship. Yep, like this is, this is a good football team. It's a really good football team. There's no doubt about it. A lot of talents. They know how to push the ball down the field, man. That's right. So Trevor, let's dive into Louisville a little bit and talk about why we think this Louisville football team is a good football team and what we think makes them an effective football team. And we'll start with offense and really, we'll get into the talent here in a second, but when you really start with why I really like this Louisville football team, I will be honest. I have a bias when it comes to their head football coach. I do. I'm not afraid to admit that. I think Jeff Brom is one of the smartest football coaches in the business. And I've thought that when I first started watching his offenses at Louisville, I mean, at Western Kentucky, excuse me. And so that's always going to affect, they're always a team to me that I'm going to be concerned about because Jeff Brom's there. And when they hired him, I kind of felt the same thing. Like you're going to give Jeff Brom, the kind of athlete is able to get, like seriously, this is going to be scary for the rest of college football. But it really does start there. Jeff Brom has proven to be, you know, you could say some things about, okay, see a great head coach, you know, his defenses weren't great at Purdue and his old lines and get all that. It's defense been pretty darn good first two years at Louisville. And that's a more fair conversation to have. What I'm referring to more so is, and I do think he's a heck of a head coach, I'm saying there's, you can have an open conversation about how good of a head coach he is when you look at his record and some different things like that. But what can't be debated is whether or not he's one of the best offensive minds in the game. So I mean, the chat, Andrew Gilmore's been on fire today with great quotes. He said Jeff Brom is like a moral Bobby Petrino. And I would agree with that. He's Bobby, he's Bobby Petrino with a conscience. But I actually think Jeff Brom's an even better coach than Bobby Petrino because I don't think Jeff Brom until now has ever had the kind of athletes that Bobby Petrino had for a long time in Auburn and Arkansas and places like that. This is the first time he's actually had the kind of athletes. He had a guy here, a guy there. You know, he had Rondo Moore at Purdue and David Bell at Purdue. But he's never had this kind of talent he's had at quarterback, running back, wide receiver, all together that he has now. And you see what he's doing with it. But just offensive mind as we dive into the offense Trevor, this is one of the best offensive minds in the business. And that's what our goal is going to be matched up against. And his brothers is offensive coordinator who's also pretty smart, ascending football coach. - Light it. - 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. - Two. (upbeat music) - Hey Irish breakdown listeners, it's Matt Liner. I've got a podcast called Throwbacks with actor Jay Farar 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. - Jeff Brom has always historically done a really good job of utilizing the tools that he does have on offense which I think is a really good trait of a coach. There's kind of that two track mind of you either recruit guys and you mold them into what you need or you kind of do the opposite and you kind of mold your scheme to the guys that you currently have on your roster. And I think Jeff Brom does a really good job of doing both which I think makes him such a dangerous offensive mind in college football, which I love. So yeah, I mean, Louisville, they do a lot of really good things really well. They use a lot of different personnel groupings, man. It's awesome. (laughs) All right, all right, let's do it. I'm in for tomorrow. - Yes. - Let's do it. - All right, come on. - Let's do it. - The thing Trevor, you make a great point about that because like I had a friend of mine, we were having some debates about you know, he had asked me, you know, apparently him and some friends were having a discussion of like let's just say for whatever reason Marcus Freeman decided not to take that coaching job. What I've been happy if Jeff Brom has had coach and I was like, yeah, it'd be static about that. And he's like, but don't you believe in being able to run to football? I said, yeah, I do believe in being able to run. He goes, well, he didn't run to ball produce it 'cause he didn't have the ability to run to football Purdue. They had, he inherited terrible lines and they weren't in a very talented backs. And so like to your point, now his scheme is his scheme, pass game-wise, but to your point though, he tailors it to fit what he does. And I tried to make this point to my buddy. I was like, but go look at what he did at Western Kentucky. They had very balanced offenses at Western Kentucky when he was there. And now they weren't like like the world on fire running for 300 yards a game, but Jeff Brom had plenty of seasons at Western Kentucky where they were pretty good at running the football. And last year at Western Kentucky, he had a running back that rushed for 1600 yards and 27 touchdowns went for 186.4 yards per game, right? Because why? 'Cause that's what he had the talent to do. Now they still threw the ball ton. They had Mike White at quarterback. They threw for over 4,000 yards, but they were a dynamic team that also believed in running football. You go to Purdue. Don't have great running backs. You don't have, your offensive line is a hot mess. And so you say, okay, we got a total football around a lot more. And that's what we're talking about, tailoring to your talent. It's not like, okay, let's run an air raid now because of our, no, it's, we're gonna fit what we do around and tailor it to what we have. And I'm not gonna force feed. We've gotta run the football just 'cause it makes me feel better. And it sounds like a great thing if we don't have the ability to run the football. And but now you see him at Louisville. He's got better players. And guess what? He can run the football. 'Cause do you know how many passing yards Louisville had against Notre Dame last year? Wasn't a lot. They struggled to throw to football on Notre Dame last year. Matter of fact, I think it was like what 145 yards? Let me, let me go look up this guy. It's something low like 150 yards. 104, oh, right, 145 yards. And only average 6.0 yards per attempt 'cause they did throw 24 passes. So they, you know, completed 70.8% of their throws. Yeah, 'cause they were all dinks and dunks 'cause they couldn't get the ball down the field. 145 yards passing, but you know why they won that game? 'Cause they can run the ball on Notre Dame. They rushed for 185 yards against Notre Dame. And the first series was about finding ways to get the running game going. That's what that whole first series was about. And it had Notre Dame on their heels for a little bit. And so he's been willing to do that when he has the horses. Let's talk specifically about what makes this scheme difficult. And a big one is Trevor, they do a lot of stuff that makes you chase in the past game. A lot post snap switches, levels, they run a million crossers and you've only, you gotta get it wrong once. And we saw that against Georgia Tech, they got it wrong once. Guy missed a tackle, Chris Bell takes it into the, I mean, Guy was there, but why did it work, Trevor? 'Cause that stuff gets your guys in space. You may tackle it four times for four yard games, but the one time you miss, you turn a guy loose, it's gone. And that's something that I wanna see more of from there, they hardly run any crossers at Notre Dame in any kind of levels. He does a lot of that stuff. They do a lot of stuff off play action that's really effective at Louisville. A lot of post snap switch stuff. They do a million different formations. Like you've gotta be prepared for so much formationly. Now they're gonna run a lot of the same concepts out of all those different looks, but they hit different based on how they're lining up. And those are things, like they'll run corner routes like five different ways based on where the receivers lined up, whether it's a true post corner 'cause he's more inside, burst corner, whether it's a deep angle corner, which is I think what Jacobi Brooks ran early in the game, they do so much stuff that makes you chase, but they also run a lot of stuff that makes you turn. And that's what can really get you in trouble as a DB because of the way that they run routes. You've gotta be doing a lot of this. DBs wanna do this once on a play. That's it. And then they wanna run with you. And so like there's a lot that teams that wanna be better thrown in the football can learn by watching this Louisville pass offense, just schematically. And they put you in serious fines. And he's really good at finding different ways to get his best players in favorable match ups, whether it's tight ends, running backs, receivers, whatever, he's gonna find what your weakness is and how he can best exploit it. Sometimes it may be a slot, sometimes it may be a Z, sometimes it may be a tight end. And he's got guys who can catch the ball at all those positions on this offense. - Yeah. And I think that's what, there was a play against Georgia Tech that they ran and they had, it was their second string tight end that they brought back and he was lined up at tight end but he was off the line of scrimmage. And he faked pass pro for maybe two seconds. And it was almost like a broken play, rolls out, quarterback rolls out to the right and finds the tight end late on a drag route. Late drag route, it was almost like a delayed route, catches it, goes for, I think it was, I literally think it was second and 24. And I think it went for a first year. - Well, no, they, was that the one they called back because of the penalty? - Yeah, they called it back because of an illegal man down field. - It was a screen. That's what made even, it was a screen, it made it second and 24 after the penalty. It was, no, no, you're right. It was second and long. And he delayed and they ran a screen but he went just a little bit too far down past the line and caught it past the line. But if he executes that, the tight end excuse of properly, that's a great play call, which makes it even, like Trevor to your point, like if you watch it, you look like it's just like a check down that they turned loose, right? And that's, so like if you guys go watch this play, I think it was their third drive, second or third drive Trevor, second drive. But the tight end is playing left. He kind of looks like he blocks and then he just kind of takes off underneath. And it almost looks like he's like, 'cause a lot of tight ends do that. They'll check pass, bro, nobody comes, this is a check release, you just run across her. But it was a screen. That's why that guy was down field. If the tight end, Notre Dame got called for that against A&M 'cause Cooper Flanagan drifted down field on a tight end screen. It was a tight end screen. And you're just like, of all the weapons you have, your number two tight end, who's talented player by the way, is the guy you turned to on that play. And it worked if he executes it properly. It was a great play call. And like they came out and they were running, I remember it's Notre Dame last year. And again, they had a little extra time to prepare, but they were running like that fake shovel stuff against Notre Dame on the first drive. 'Cause they're gonna do stuff to you on the drive one that you haven't seen, be prepared for it. Now they don't do that for 60 minutes, but early in the game, first couple of series, you're gonna get at least two or three things you have not seen on film from them this year. 100%. And yeah, that was a great play call Trevor, by the way. 'Cause again, like you say, when you watch it, it didn't look like he was necessarily part of what they were doing. But that's why they did what they did, is to set that particular play up. And his offense also is designed to spread the ball around. - Yeah, I mean, Louisville's offense as a whole does a lot of things to get your eyes going a lot of different directions post snap, which is gonna be a little bit different than what Notre Dame has seen so far this year. They've had a lot of trouble with pre-snap motion. And Louisville doesn't do a whole lot of that. The biggest thing that they would do. - It's like the basic stuff. It's like a just one receiver motion and a back out. - Yeah. - But you better believe that Jeff Brahms is gonna add something to that this week. - 100%. - Because of how much Notre Dame has struggled with it. - Yeah. - Well, and what they would do sometimes throughout the game against Georgia Tech is they would motion and change the formation completely. Sometimes that's something that they did a lot pre-snap. So Tyler Shuck would line up in the gun and they would have running back beside him and then two tight ends out to the left. And they would shift, Tyler Shuck goes under center. One of the tight ends lines up as a full back and then they have a tight end over. So definitely interesting to see what they're gonna do pre-snap against Notre Dame. And to your point, Jeff Brahms is a genius. So there is going to be a little bit of a wrinkle of what they do. - And I'm so glad here you say that because that's not hyperbole in my opinion. This isn't let's hype up the coach that Notre Dame's gonna right play. I believe that. I think this guy is like one of the, I've been breaking his film down and see it was at Western Kentucky. I mean, like, oh yeah. - This dude is wicked smart. Like if you're someone who likes offensive coaching and you're someone who likes creative past concepts and not gimmicky, creative, there's a difference. gimmicky's like you put your two offensive linemen out in the hashes and you're doing, you know what I mean? Like, no, this is creative, not gimmicky. And there's a big difference and it's fun to watch, dude. - Oh yeah, I mean, you don't go out and beat the third ranked team in Ohio State by 29 points 'cause you get lucky, right? Like Jeff Brom is a genius when it comes to it. Like for all the people that hear those terms tossed out about like they need to scheme their guys open more, go watch a Jeff Brom football game, man. Like he does that. He knows the different ways to get the ball into his playmaker's hands. There's a reason why Rondo Moore absolutely tore Ohio State's defense to shreds that year. And it wasn't because he was breaking 19 tackles on every single play. It's because he was schemed open. He was put in favorable match-ups. That's what Jeff Brom is able to do. - But it was, here's nothing too is, what did they do to Ohio State that game that had Ohio State a little bit off balance early? Is he went away from what they kind of normally did? And how did he do that? They ran the ball. I mean, people forget DJ Knox had a hundred yards rushing that game because they were doing things to get them off balance in that game. And to your point, Rondo Moore was making dudes miss 15, 20 yards down the field. But he was also, but here's the thing about some of the him making people miss when he was making people miss, that's part of the game plan. It's get your guy in space against them. This is exactly what we've been talking about with Notre Dame's running backs. Design ways, blocking ways to get them in space. Because if they get them in space, you're gonna have a hard time bringing them down. And we A&M had a hard time doing that. Purdue had a hard time doing that. Every team that they play, I mean, Jeremiah Love, the run he had against Northern Illinois, the problem that we people had was like, they probably should have carried the ball more in that game, especially with Riley Leonard not being able to run that game because of his shoulder. And that's the thing is like, yeah, okay, we have Rondo Moore. But why was Rondo Moore in space so many times getting the football in ways where they weren't on him? They had to try to close on him and tackle. You don't think Ohio State's game plan was like, hey, we may want to not let Rondo Moore go off. It wasn't like they had no clue who that guy was until that, you know, we never heard of Rondo Moore. He just kind of, it's not like Timmy Smith in the Super Bowl against the Broncos, you know what I'm saying? Like where like he wasn't even part of their whole team until, you know, Super Bowl was kind of his breakout party. No, everybody in the country knew who Rondo Moore was even before that game. He had already had, look, he was a freshman on that team. He already had four 100 yard games before that against Northwestern, Missouri, BC and Illinois. And he had eight for 85 against Nebraska. Ohio State knew very well who Rondo Moore was coming into that game. And there's still nothing they could do about it 'cause Jeff Brom coached circles around their defensive staff. And that's always the fear with him. Now, I don't know that he's going to necessarily be able to do that to the degree he did that night against this defensive coaching staff, but he can do enough to beat you because we just saw him do it a year ago. You know what I mean? And so, and he's got weapons. You look at the Louisville roster just overall. I do think Tyler Shuck is a more talented quarterback than Jack Plummer. He's a better athlete and he's got a better arm, better release, better ball placement when he's healthy. I think their running back room is not as good as last year, but it's still good. I don't think their offensive line is as good as it was last year, especially their tackles. I've actually been kind of disappointed with the play of their line, especially against Georgia Tech. But their skill talent is even better than it was overall last year. Like receiver, tight end. Like Dan, good receivers last year, Jamari Thrash was a good player, but this receiving core is even better. And they haven't even gotten Colin Lacey back yet. Like imagine what this offense is going to look like when Colin Lacey comes back healthy. Now, they did lose Jade on Thompson to a season ending injury. He got hurt against Georgia Tech, but he was their number three receiver, not their number one or number two. Like so far, Bell and Brooks and Bell have been their top receiver so far. But when you get Colin Lacey back, good Lord. That's not even... And their running backs this year are kind of like complimentary pieces where last year they had like legit, like a legit one, two punch. Last year at running back with Jordan and I'm forgetting that Isaac Garendo, right, who both got drafted last year. I don't think there's good there. I don't think there's good on the offensive line. So they're having to scheme a little bit more for run game success this year, but they have a more mobile quarterback than they had last year. But Trevor, I don't know if you agree with this, but I just think their overall pass catching skill and pass game skill is just better than it was a year ago, in my opinion. - Yeah, I mean, it's completely elevated. And I touch on it a little bit in the article that we're putting out tomorrow, but it's what they are now lacking in the run game that they are missing from the 2023 season. They're making up for in their pass catchers because they are, like that part of the offense has now been elevated. Jacobi Brooks is a freak athlete. Like one thing that I don't think it's talked about enough is his ability to make people miss in space as a six foot three, 195 pound wide receiver. Like he's not just a big bodied guy that they throw fades up to. He is a really good athlete. Same thing when they get Colin Lacey back. Is he for sure out on Saturday's questionable? - No, they are a Brom set. So when he originally got hurt the timeframe, the beginning of the six to eight weeks was this week. Was the beginning of when the window for his return would be. Brom said yesterday that he's, they're gonna try to get him going and it'll be a game by decision. If he's healthy enough to play, he's gonna play. - Sure. - And, but you also have to be like, okay, if he's not, do you really wanna, I mean, you're in a good enough position to where you can still go win a football game with what you have. - Sure. - But they're gonna try to ramp him up. Part of me, you prepare like he's gonna play. They've on Notre Dame, you prepare, 'cause if you can, if you have a game plan to shut him down also, then you can handle whoever else is gonna replace him. - Yeah. - But I would prepare like he's gonna play, is what I would do if I was in the other day. But yeah, he's questionable for the week so far. As of right now. - Okay. But yeah, man, I mean, they're running back room. It's very much a stable right now. And I don't mean, like it, I think they mentioned it in the Georgia Tech game that they will just feed the hot hand. They don't have a guy that's like, hey, this is our guy. And then we'll bring this guy in on and down a distance. They, I think they played four different running backs by the time there's 13 minutes left in the second quarter. So they do have like, their first two guys are, they're not, they're not crazy athletes. I do know they have a true freshmen. His name is escaping me right now. - Yes. - But you're talking about Isaac Brown or Keywam Brown. I think Isaac Brown is in Florida. Number 25. - Yeah. - Yeah. - That kid is fast. He's shifted man. So he is kind of their change of pace back to bring it in. But first two guys, they have an adapt chart. One of them transferred in. It's not a, not crazy athletes, but still, still effective. And Jeff Brown will want to establish the run game, especially after what Notre Dame did against Miami of Ohio, so. - Yeah. And it's also interesting too, 'cause like Don Cheney's listed as a starter, but he actually has fewer carries. He's actually, see, fourth on the team of carries. So Keywam Brown has their most carries. He's got 19. And then Maurice Turner, who's only played two games. And Isaac Brown, who's the kid you were talking about, have 16 carries. Now Maurice Turner did not play against Georgia Tech. And then you have, like I said, Keywam Brown has 19 carries. He's their extra leader in carries. But he's only had nine. Like here's, this is why we're gonna go at this point, is they have five guys on the roster, five running backs with at least 13 carries, so far this season. And if you look at it, the most that Isaac Brown had was eight. The most that Duke Watson has had is six. The most that Keywam Brown has had is nine. The most that Maurice Turner had was 12 against Jacksonville State. And then the most that Don Cheney had was 10 against Georgia Tech. So of all those running backs, only two of them in a game have gone over 10 yards, or 10 carries in a game. Or gotten two 10 carries in a game. Because they spread it, like you said, they're gonna spread it around. And if somebody's hot, then they're gonna do that. Now against Notre Dame, I would expect him to do some things with the two faster backs to try to create big play opportunities. 'Cause I think he knows in this game, you're gonna have to create some big plays. We saw it last year. He took that first drive right up down the field. And then after that, it was like, if you can't get a big play, you're not scoring on Notre Dame. And the next two touchdown drives when the game was in doubt, both were fueled by big plays in the run game. And so he knows he's gonna have to create some. So you're gonna see something with a back on a screen, a back on an angle route, a back on a wheel, up something with it, trying to get the tight ends loose, some kind of throwback, some kind of, they're gonna do something to try to generate big plays. And I think the pass, the running backs and the tight ends or the position where, if I'm looking at this team and knowing Jeff Prom like I do, those are the two positions that I would be most concerned about trying to catch you with something in this game. And again, what else does that do? That gets those guys and match ups against your most inexperienced part of your football team, which is your linebackers. And that's the thing is Jeff Prom is not only gonna say, "Hey, here's what we do." He's gonna look for your weak spot and look to exploit it in a lot of different ways. And as Northern Illinois proved, if you can do things to get the Notre Dame linebackers thinking and guessing, you can create potential missed opportunities or mistakes by them. And I think that's what we're gonna see with it. He's probably one of the best in the business, in my opinion, about finding ways to hurt you in the areas where you're least effective. And he can find your soft spot and say, "Okay, that's how I'm gonna make you pay for that." So, yeah, somebody said, "We got a crush on Jeff Prom." I'm like, "Football wise, yeah, I do." I mean, I've never hidden that fact, ever. You know what I mean? So I will own that. I will absolutely own that. But it also, if you are able to shut this offense down, it speaks volumes about how good you are on defense. Last year, I think they were a little bit easier to shut down just because I thought their quarterback was limited, and although they had good receivers, they weren't scarier receivers. Not Jamari Thrasch gets a big play. But they were about scheme last year, Trevor. Like, that's how I thought about Louisville last year. They were just good 'cause they were coached well. This year, I think they have a chance to be good 'cause they're coached well, and they're a lot more athletic in my opinion. And that's what makes them dangerous in my opinion. This year's version of this football team would have been a much more difficult match-up than for Florida State last year than what they faced in the ACC title game. It was all about, man, that's a great job by Brom. I said this a lot. You give him the weapons that this team that he's playing has, and it's a different conversation. We still won 10 games last season. So, heck of a football coach. We'll dive more into the specific match-ups here. Like, in tomorrow's show and then Thursday, but we're gonna get into the defense next. Let's do us a favor, folks, before we do slide over the defense. 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Bryan and Trevor break down the Louisville offense and discuss why it is such a tough group to defend.
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