The Louisville matchup is huge for Notre Dame in many ways, both short term and big picture. Bryan and Trevor discuss why this is such an important game and what we will learn about Notre Dame from this contest.
Shop for Irish Breakdown gear at our online store: https://ibstore.irishbreakdown.com/
Join the Irish Breakdown premium message board: https://boards.irishbreakdown.com
Stay locked into Irish Breakdown for all the latest news and analysis about Notre Dame: https://www.irishbreakdown.com
Subscribe to the Irish Breakdown podcast on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/irish-breakdown/id1485286986
Like and follow Irish Breakdown on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/irishbreakdown
Sign up for the FREE Irish Breakdown daily newsletter: https://www.subscribepage.com/irish-breakdown-newsletter
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
George Clooney and Brad Pitt's new movie, Wolfs, is on Apple TV Plus, September 27th. That's where I want you to be now. So if you want to see George Clooney and Brad Pitt, go to Apple TV Plus. You got to start the story there? Or if you want to see Brad Pitt and George Clooney, go to Apple TV Plus. I am enjoying the show. And if you want to see their new movie, Wolfs. You can't do it, win help yet. I can do it. Do it. Definitely go to Apple TV Plus. The minute is cool. Okay, fine, it's very cool. Wolfs, streaming September 27th on Apple TV Plus. We are. 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 a $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. LinkedIn, the place to be, to be. All right, Trevor. So let's dive into the next part of today's show. And we're going to talk about what this game means for Notre Dame. This is a huge, huge game. Obviously, when you talk about it, it's not just the ranked on rank. So we're talking about a game on Saturday afternoon, 3.30 pm. Notre Dame is a six point favorite, which I was a little surprised by. It was six and a half. It's now down to six. And Louisville comes in ranked 15th in the country. Notre Dame is ranked 16th in the country. I was just kind of, and again, I'm not a better. So I don't have any knowledge to bet. It's just more of a gut. I thought it'd be like a three and a half point game. I thought it'd be kind of like the spread where A&M was favored over Notre Dame. You know, like, yeah, it's at home, but you know, the other teams ranked higher and all that kind of stuff. But it's a six point spread. And Notre Dame's coming off of their win. Obviously, Louisville coming off of a 12 point win over Georgia Tech. And it was a very good football game, very back and forth football game. Georgia Tech went up early. Then Louisville ran off 17th straight. Then Georgia Tech came back and tied it. And then Louisville went back ahead. And it was a closer game than a 12 point margin. But I did feel watching it that Louisville was the better team. It wasn't like, oh man, like they caught this break and that break. So like Louisville's first touchdown came on a fumble return. But it was a bad play by the quarterback, but it was also a great play by the Louisville defense. And he made a bad play because they were swarming him. So I was like, yeah, okay, that was a bad play. But you forced that bad play, you know? And then their last score to kind of put the game away was the return of a block field goal. Well, you had to block it first. We're going to return for a touchdown, you know? So I was impressed with Louisville. They hadn't been challenged their first two games at all. I mean, they played two really bad football teams to start the season off. And so they got challenged on Saturday by Georgia Tech and they stepped up and answered that challenge. And so I continue to be impressed by this Louisville football team Trevor. But this is a big moment for Notre Dame. And we're going to look at this really in all aspects. And the biggest one is we'll get into how it impacts the season right now. But the biggest one is this is a Notre Dame team. It's three and one in ranked number 16 in the country. And if you were to kind of take a temperature of the fan base and the coverage of the team, you'd think this team was going through another 2016 season. And I understand why because I don't agree with a lot of it. And I don't agree with the angst of it. But I also understand it because of the expectations that you had on the team. And even in some of the wins, they didn't necessarily look great. Like Saturday, they did not play great football. They just kind of out talented that other team. And so you're looking at this team. So yeah, they're three and one. Yeah, they're ranked 16, but they're not playing the way that they should be. I think some of the reactions to that are a little bit too harsh. It's one thing to be critical of it. It's another thing to go to that degree. But I understand the frustration and that's part of what makes this game so important. Because this is not, and I've said this, there's not a singular game on the season that just wipes out either Northern Illinois or tells us, okay, their name is turned to corner. And the reason I say that is it's not because none of these teams are good. This is a very good football team. USC showed in their loss to Michigan, they're still a really good football team. You know, that was a very well played game. But what it's not so much that it's okay, but we don't know who's going to show up week to week. Like you could beat Louisville by 30 on Saturday and then go beat Stanford by field goal or even lose to Stanford because this is a better Stanford team than the one that beat you two years ago. And I think that's really why I say no one game says that's been fixed. I don't care if you beat Louisville by 50, it doesn't say that. Because it comes a week after you kind of slept, walked through beat Miami, Ohio. And so, but what it does, however, is it starts to I think get that I think a lot of people to turn the emotional corner and say, okay, the more you play well, the more you win, the more the Northern Illinois game is the anomaly. And right now that wound is still real fresh, right? Like this past weekend, I got a new infection in that wound by how they play against Miami, Ohio, right? Like, so it's still healing. I get it. Yep. You got and win this game, I don't care if it's by a point or 40, just play well and show that, hey, you're a good football team, then I think that helps you kind of turn the corner a little bit emotionally as a fan base. But even more importantly, as a team, like, hey, guys, we are a really good team. When you're talking about the guys in the locker room and you talk about, okay, we are a really good team. You know, we are a good football team. And we showed it on Saturday. Now let's build on that. I think that's obviously what's a stake. But if you lose this game, then the toxicity that surrounds your program, I don't know that it goes away the rest of the year. I mean, it sucks to say that, but I'm trying to be realistic. I don't know if you can kind of recover your momentum, the remainder of the year because of what's left on your schedule. And part of that's not your fault because Florida State sucks. And that was what we thought would have been a chance to get a late season top 10 win, those type of things. But, you know, it just, it was never as bad as the emotional reactions we're making it seem. But even the wins are still not as good as what this team should be. And now you get a chance to go out there this weekend and say, hey, listen, we're going to show you who we are. And they are going to show the world who they are this weekend. The only question is Trevor, but what story are they going to tell, right? Like, so note, we're going to know who Notre Dame is after this weekend, folks. That's not me taunting. They're going to smash Louisville. That's me saying one way or the other, we're going to find out who this football team is. And it's going to have a big impact on how people are going to feel for the next several months. And maybe that's fair, not fair. But it's a fact, in my opinion. Prize picks is America's number one daily fantasy sports app with over 5 million active members. Prize picks is the easiest and most exciting way to play daily fantasy sports. Unlike other apps on prize picks, it's just you against the numbers. All you do is pick more or less on two to six player stat projections and watch the winnings roll in. Get in on the daily action with your friends and become part of the prize picks community today. You can now win up to 100 times your money on prize picks with as little as four correct picks. You can turn $10 into a thousand dollars. I'm a Bears fan, so this one gets me really excited. One Caleb Williams passing yard gets you one win on prize picks every week in September. That's right. Only one yard gets you an automatic win every football weekend in September. Four weeks of free W's. Don't miss this deal on prize picks because it's gone when September ends. Think Tyreek Hill get more than 90.5 yards in week one. Aaron Jones runs for more than 66 and a half yards. Cook up hot takes with your friends and win real money this football season when you and your crew run your game on prize picks. Prize picks also has college picks all ready to go for you as well. Get in before game one hits and you can predict how many passing yards your favorite college quarterback will hit. For me, I think Riley Leonard is going to go above 2,550 and a half yards. So I'm going to take that one and I'm going to combine it with Quinn yours to throw 2,999 and a half yards. Put those together and bang, bang, boom, baby. I'm going to be a winner. You just wait and see. I'm coming up on my one year anniversary of depositing my first $10 and I received an instant $10 bonus. If you have the skills you can play for a shot at turning your $10 into a thousand dollars. Download the prize picks app today and use code IRISH for a first deposit match up to a hundred dollars. That's code IRISH on prize picks for a deposit match up to a hundred dollars. Prize picks run your game. You've had Wendy's nugs dipped in sauce but have you had them covered in sauce? Wendy's new saucy nugs takes the crispy and spicy nugs that you love and turn them up to 11. Choose between flavors like buffalo, honey barbecue, garlic parm or if you're a real heat seeker, try spicy ghost pepper only on Wendy's signature spicy nugs. I dare you. That's seven delicious ways to try the nugs you already love. Pick a flavor, grab some extra napkins and prepare to nug like you've never nugged before for a whole new way to nug. It's got to be Wendy's at participating US Wendy's. I talked about it after the Northern Illinois game during Purdue week and Notre Dame for them to start this almost recovery process. There's going to be multiple steps in it because to your point Brian there's going to be no game throughout the rest of this regular season where we're going to get to December and we're like Northern Illinois what? What happened? You know, we're always going to remember it. The opposing teams that Notre Dame has on the schedule are going to remember it. Right? So let's just call that a constant. What Notre Dame did to Purdue I think helped buy back some of the team and I'm not here to say that they were losing buyout from the team but what Notre Dame did to Purdue was that you know you go on the road to a big 10 team. It's a rivalry game. It's historic. There's a trophy that you're playing for and you beat them by 59 points on the road. I think that goes back and shows you that you are a good football team again. What the Louisville game has the opportunity to do for you as a program is start to buy back some of the fan base because there is a little bit of no it's definitely not as bad as what some people make it out to be but it's also not where we want it to be. You know what I mean? So that's to me what is at stake at the Louisville game because there's a good amount of people on this team that remember what Louisville did to them last year on a national stage under the lights and there's an opportunity for Notre Dame to come out fired up and I don't want to preach revenge tour because I think there are some players and coaches that are a little bit more disciplined than that for you know this whole season to be about beating Louisville because of what happened last October. But I think there has to be a little bit of that. Marcus Freeman even brought it up in his press conference that sometimes you kind of have to go to that dark place to start finding the Jews somewhere and you know I think if if Notre Dame is able to play the way that we all believe that they can and have shown flashes of them being able to they're going to start the course correct a lot of the mistakes that were made last week against Miami of Ohio and they're going to slowly start putting Miami of Ohio and or uh Northern Illinois in the rearview mirror and it's going to get farther and farther away. It's something you're never going to forget but the fans will win sure fans won't but I do think the team puts it behind them if they play well Saturday and I think that's obviously more important than what we think and what fans think right I know fans don't think that what we think is more important but it's but what's matters is what the team thinks Trevor and to your point and and the the revenge factor is interesting because as a coach I kind of like using that but you got to use it the right way sure you know I'm using it as a little extra motivation like and Sean Davis and I have talked about this I still remember being there last year and watching Howard Cross stand there and watch Louisville celebrate and you're thinking like this is going to be something that that he clearly remembers like he's not putting this aside he remembers this one but then you watch how Trevor's played so far this year and you're like yeah but I don't know if I don't know how much he's kind of taken away from this one you know what I mean like how what is he learning in this one and say but is this the game that maybe it's the wake-up call for him and so there's just a lot of different aspects to it where I'm always looking for a little bit of an edge with a football team and that was one of the things I hated about Brian Kelly is he would he would completely spend all week tamping down that there was anything to play for in this game other than just it's another Saturday and that's a mistake just like it's a mistake about making your entire preparation be about revenge revenge revenge revenge revenge you got to find that sweet spot in there but no name that embarrassed by Louisville last year yeah and and not just with the you know convincing 13 point loss which the game was closer than that for a while but then the the way the game played out in the second half it wasn't that close like first half it was two teams not playing well two great defenses two offenses struggling second half it was you know both defenses still played well but but one offense just completely went in the tank and it wasn't Louisville's you know what I mean and so I do think there needs to be something along those lines with this team but you've got to make sure that it's still about hey you're gonna go in there you're gonna play hard because you know like somebody just said five turnovers have that effect that's not even what bothered me about last year's game what bothered me about last year's game is your offensive line went into that game and physically got their butts handed to them you didn't even compete in that regard you had dumb penalties you know like look five turnovers and all it's true you don't have a hands to the face by your right tackle who should never do that I mean I just that negates a 30-yard bomb that it's it was it was what 17 to 10 that passed to Mitch 11 gets him into scoring range and all of a sudden you go down there and score it's a different different ball game it's the drop pass by Chris Tyree in the end zone when it was you were it was tied 7-7 you had just forced a fumble Cam Cam Hart had just forced a fumble and you got a guy open great play call Chris Tyree open in the end zone he drops it and you settle for a field goal and it was just it was that your team was not locked in your team was not focused your team didn't fight enough in this game and even the defense as well as they played for three quarters they kind of buckled late in that game and gave up a couple big runs and let Louisville bury them so you're hoping and the reason I bring this up because I there's a lot of guys coming back from last year's team still on this football team and I just kind of feel like if you're a true competitor yeah you got to focus on what's in front of you now but if you're a true competitor I got to think last year's game is still in your mind like like when when uh when the Lakers and Celtics played in what was it 80s you know the Celtics beat the Lakers in 84 you don't think that like three years later the next time they played in the finals even three years later that magic wasn't thinking about 84 you know what I mean like of course he was and and so that to me is just kind of if you're a great competitor that's being it shouldn't dominate necessarily everything you're doing you know I've had a picture of of Jeff Brahm on my wall ever since that game no I mean it shouldn't be that that's you know you might need to see somebody about that but there's got to be a sense of man I'm digging deep because I got embarrassed by this team last year like I want to see Rocco Spindler and Pat Coogan come out with something to prove not just because they're now starters and they were backups because they watched film of last year's game saying like what the heck was that that's that's embarrassing I'm I'm I want to rewrite this script a little bit that's where I'm coming from Trevor it because what's the one of the big questions I have this football team is what drive what drives them what gets them fired up should we know that right now yeah they they they got they came out against Purdue pissed off and we didn't and I want to see this team for and it lasted one week one week and then we came and watch this now did it last one week because the players are a little bit too focused on what's coming next week we're gonna find out and I hope that that's what it was which is also human nature right you kind of understand you know what they were little thinking they were thinking about a different team in red and white and it wasn't Miami you know they were thinking of a different team with a with a bird logo and it wasn't a red hawk okay cool then come out back that up so like that's the something else Trevor's I think we're going to learn some about the competitive spirit of this football team by how they perform on Saturday couldn't agree more if if you're a ballplayer man and and you just know that this team where you know it's not the same exact Louisville offense from last year but just like Notre Dame Louisville has a good amount of players that were on that same team last year and for me when I think about it if somebody would have beat me like that sometimes what I do is I put myself in the mindset of the other person and I start to think like what do they think of me you know I'm just a pushover and I'm just you know if I'm somebody like Howard Cross and I'm somebody like Riley Mills and I just think back to man this this offense put up 185 yards in me on the ground almost at will at will especially certain points in the game and and if I'm doing that I take that personally not to take that you know the Michael Jordan quote from the last dance but I do take that personal because the reason why is because I think about what the other offensive line thinks about me it's like oh we're going up against Riley Mills and Howard Cross yeah cool let's just run for another buck 85 again I that that gets to me and so that's how we move them off the line last year we drove them off the line they're not that good they're not that right that guy's not an all-American we dominated him right like I think about Rocco Spindler and and Pat Coogan think Notre Dame had 44 rushing yards against Louisville last year you know if I'm if I'm Ashen Gillette and and if I'm you know TJ Quinn and all these guys on defense I'm thinking to myself it's like oh these guys cool let's just hold them under 50 yards again I should start to take that personally and I mean I could fire it up about him and I think that I take that personally as a fan I think about what a Louisville fan would say to me about something like that's like oh we got you guys you know like it gets me fired up and so to your point I think we're going to start to see how this Notre Dame football team responds to that kind of mindset it's a coaching thing too Trevor and it's like because I mean if you're a human being in your competitor you have that I I hope that Marcus Freeman doesn't purposely push back against that this week and like we've been there like my fourth year as a coach so I was four years removed from college and I'm coaching against my alma mater things did not go well there I was a starter soft red shirt sophomore year coming back the next year they brought in a new offensive coordinator dude dude basically benched me before we even got into full pads because I couldn't run his triple option offense so then we go out to our scrimmage he puts a freshman kid he recruited we out to the scrimmage against a d2 school I outplayed that kid I'm starting in but it was like one of things like the moment we lost a game I was getting benched it was like it was just waiting on me to fail and so I had some hard feelings about that I mean you basically kind of screwed me out of my career is how I felt at the time we played them four years later do you think I was like am I was four years ago I'm not worried about no I was like I'm gonna show you something and so we beat them at their place first round of playoffs by 11 they were undefeated and then their season you don't think that I had a little something extra that we can practice you don't think when I'm coming up at all these plays that we're gonna rip them up that was a play the game I broke it down a couple weeks ago where we were we were doing stuff where I knew that decordinator because I played for him he was the decordator when I played I knew how he played I knew how his defense worked so that's why we were doing twins left because I knew they were gonna go corners over Byron Westbrook's brother was a corner on that team by the way and so we went the new they're gonna corners over knew the safety I played with their safety was a freshman when I was a senior I knew he couldn't cover me still at that day so we did something so like you I was pissed I was I coached pissed that week and we ripped them up through for like 280 some yards again we didn't we didn't throw that much and I remember walking across a sideline players dumped water on me because they knew they knew I wanted it that week and there was a lot at stake and the head coach my head coach I played for a guy that I respect we have a much better relationship now Sherman Wood than we did at the time but he came up he's like I told him all week you were gonna have something for him and they needed to be ready for you and they weren't I said you're darn right but you know I'm saying like that's because I was still pissed that's a competitor in me I'm gonna show you what you missed out on by not doing right by me now this is a different circumstance because this team just embarrassed you but something the chat said you know like the narrative about Marcus Freeman is how good of a coach is he really because we watched Jeff Brom coat circles around him last year where's your competitiveness too that's why I don't want to see him tamp this down I want to see him kind of I like the pissed off Marcus Freeman that's my favorite version of Marcus Freeman as a coach not as a human being like I don't want him to come on my house pissed off you know what I'm saying like yeah I'm no I'm catching the L on that one you know what I mean but it's it's I like the pissed off coach version Marcus Freeman because when he's pissed off his team place pissed off and when this team place pissed off Perdue found out when this team's got a little bit of an edge to it it doesn't go well for you and and so to me that's that's what I want to see him okay y'all that y'all want Jeff Brahms coach y'all think Jeff Brahms the man all right let me show you what I got and and so those are just those are all things where if this team has that competitive fire you know I mean you don't think the first time Nick Saban went up against Kirby Smart there was a little bit of extra something in that week of preparation for him and vice versa and that's what I'm saying is if this team doesn't come out and play like they're a team that got embarrassed by this team last year then that tells me there's a much bigger problem in this locker room on the flip side if this team does come out and play with fire and does bring it to Louisville and show all the things we know they're capable of that tells me there's something burning in there Trevor they just got to figure out how to kind of turn it up a little bit more regularly and that's why I say we're going to learn a ton about this football team because it's it's partly about this squad but it's also partly about what are you developing as in your culture with this football team and and it could be something as maybe this team felt so good about themselves that they need these type of challenges to really step up to the plate that's a theory but it's a theory that we're going to get tested this weekend so there's so many so many different ways that you look at this and say man we're going to learn so much about this football team so much about this football team based on just how they play just the energy to fire all those type of things and that's why I say this is a big game and we haven't even gotten to the implications for both teams in this game which we're going to get into next but that's my thing is Trevor we're going to learn a lot about what you have in here on Saturday from a coaching standpoint and from a player's team like you don't think Al Golden like I gotta think Al Golden's the kind of guy I don't think Al Golden got to where he is now without having a little bit of fire we played tight end back in the 80s those dudes were tough like they were excited I mean I know he caught it but those dudes had a bad hole I gotta think he's like you know Jeff Brom did a couple things on me last year I don't like it I'm gonna show Jeff Brom I mean I gotta think that there's got to be something and I know the coach I know we're just focused on okay that's fine you can say that you need to say that there's no reason to give Louisville bulletin more material give me all the hey look man it's just another game we got you know we're worried about Notre Dame and to a degree that's true but I gotta think that there's a little something there and and that's what I'm saying is like I just I want to see that because if the coaches don't have it then guess what the players won't have it either and so that's why I say Trevor man right now we're gonna learn a ton about this football team and and who they can be and who they are absolutely we're gonna learn a lot about this team and what's right here and what's right here yeah we're good we're gonna learn about who they are as a program as a whole I want to see everybody from top to bottom fired up on Saturday right I want to see the sideline going crazy I mean I remember back in 2022 when when Notre Dame was playing Clemson at night and they get the blocked punt and the sideline erupts like they just caught a Hail Mary for a win right like I want to see some of that I want to see a team that is starting to inherit the mentality of what Lou Holt said we're Notre Dame and you ain't and I want to see a football team that starts to I guess to to go off of what Marcus Freeman preaches to his team to start challenging things and not just internally like challenge the stereotype of what Notre Dame football is right challenge that narrative of what's been laid out before you guys and and now is the perfect opportunity to do it because I think there is a little truth to yeah sure you can go beat Purdue by 59 points like you did nobody's gonna be like they're back you know that you could go and not allow a touchdown to Miami of Ohio and win by 25 points at home nobody's gonna look at that and be like yep Notre Dame's back baby the Texas A&M week Notre Dame is back now you have the opportunity to go out and do that I want to see the Marcus Freeman that's getting in the face of his offensive lineman in the tunnel before the game getting ready to run out there because it was real Trevor right like that's the thing is that wasn't faked yes that was real yes like I want to see that authenticity from him I I need to see that and I think the team needs to see it the fans need to see it because that's going to show everybody that it's you know what like this isn't a guy that's just gonna lay down you know it's it's almost like that leave no doubt moment and remember the titans of like yo hey they're not getting another yard on us that needs to be the mentality mindset yes yes yes and that's what I think the team needs that's the next step in this recovery process that we've talked about after the northern Illinois you now have the skill set mindset of yes we're we're Notre Dame we have the skill to compete with anybody in the country now it's a mindset shift of we have the skill to back it now we need to play like nobody can touch us and that's what you have to do that's how you have to prepare right not just play that's how you have to prepare I mean the best teams that I played on Trevor coached on and the best teams I've coached again state was almost like they weren't even going into the game thinking about you they had like they're like I always I like to use Larry Bird references but you know there's the there's the story about how Larry Bird went into they were in a west coast trip and Larry they're going to play Portland and Larry Bird basically says I'm gonna play left-handed this in this game so basically like outside of free throws he basically did everything left-handed for the first three quarters and he scores like 47 points and you talk to his teammates and it's like you take the trash talk aside that that it's he needed those challenges that was him challenging himself saying say I can do it you know what I mean like because you're always looking for those things to kind of fire yourself up you're always looking for those little extra edge things and so it's not even like hey we want to go out against Miami Ohio and and and they're not that good it's like okay then don't let it be about that let's say hey let's see if we can score 60 in back-to-back games and play with that kind of fire because we want to show people this and and that's the thing that I do do get a little bit concerned about with this football team is they're not as internally motivated as I think great teams need to be sure now that doesn't mean it can't change but that that's part of the issue is they do need some of that external motivation and this week you have it yeah and if you don't tap into that then it's just kind of like I don't know who this team really is right or no it's actually it's hey we now know who this team is and it's not good and they're gonna have to fix that part but if they do come out it's a step in that it's just another step in the right direction but it's a chance for a much bigger step this week yeah against this global football team because like you said Trevor man if you're a competitor you don't you don't you don't just move on from that you don't I mean I'm watching Notre Dame come out last year in Stanford and and Marcus Freeman is trying to destroy that team you don't think that factored at all I mean what do you have to prove against Stanford I mean you know you're not going to the playoff they're terrible but yeah but you're out there trying to not I'll say run it up because I don't think he was running up just like you could tell they wanted to bury that football team I'm watching him against Purdue a team that a school that fired him with his third string quarterback in the game throwing bombs yeah right like like that's a mindset thing that's why I say I like the pissed off Marcus Freeman so I have to think and and I have to think that that he's going to give us all the right phrases in the press conferences and say all the right things and he should Jeff Brom is not someone you want to give bulletin more material to know folks I'm gonna tell you that right now and because Jeff Brom is someone who respects Notre Dame but on today in practice tomorrow in practice Thursday in practice I want to see a little bit of an edge from his football team and I want to and it starts at the top and then you know Mike Denbrock also a little bit chippy Mike Denbrock I'm trying to come here to average 28 points a game against Mac teams you know what I'm saying like and and I think this team needs that and and we're going to find out how well the players respond to that this week and I'm excited to see what they're going to be because let let me ask you this do you feel like if they come out of this game and play really well now really well against Louisville can get you 10 point win right so it's not so much about the margin where you just you're just man they were they were the more physical team they were the more fired up team like yeah Louisville got their plays because a they got really good players and b they got really good coaches yeah I've said this before I think Jeff Brom's one of the best coaches in college football and you're seeing look how bad Purdue was before they hired him look at how bad Purdue has been since he left yep and then you look at what he did you know what I mean while he was there I only only went eight and four I'm like dude took Purdue to the big 10 title game in this era yeah you know what I mean like two years ago yeah he's a great coach so it's it's it's not a game you expect them to win by three touch them I mean could they sure of course they could I mean Purdue beat Ohio State by four touchdowns I mean stuff happens right sure then but it's it's it's more so about you just you play well you're clearly the better team and I thought that about the Louisville Georgia Tech game I mean Georgia Tech battled their butts off they played hard but it was obvious kind of from early on that Louisville was the better team and they played like the better team and and if you I feel like if you see that from this team on Saturday you go into the buy you now have a whole extra week to let that soak in and you feel like okay now let now we we hope that this team can kind of come out of that break with that much needed momentum that's what you're hoping for on Saturday but I will say this I have no concern about this team coming out flat on Saturday because the one thing we can say about Marcus Freeman is his teams never come out flat in these types of games say well what about Louisville last year or me Clemson last year uh Clemson was unranked well I should say this I should say this there's only been one exception to that where his team came out flat and that was Louisville last year but Clemson last year was an unranked team minus eight starters that was clearly a not a folk no name just thought they were going to roll over that oh yeah now they've lost some of these games but they didn't come out like 2010 2022 against Ohio State they were cause it was clearly the better team but no name played hard in that game even the Duke game last year the offensive line stunk but the defense played their butts off in that game right I mean Mitchell Evans went off in that game Audrick I mean if the offensive line just play solid football against Duke last year that's a 20 point win that's how bad they were I didn't think the team was flat because I thought the defense shut Duke down the only game where they did the only exception was the Louisville game last year and that's why I kind of feel like I expect them to kind of you know I expect to at least see a little something you got something to prove you got a lot of people doubting you right now you have something to prove and I want to see if that's the case but it's not the only storyline this weekend Trevor there is absolutely post-season you could say I don't want to talk about playoff but we're going to talk about playoff now now as a part talk about the playoff you can say well Notre Dame's not a playoff team and right now they're not because they're the 16 team in the country but if you're going to be a playoff team this is the kind of game that you need to win and this is true for both teams because like for for Louisville you've got two chances getting a playoff you either win your league or you have a resume strong enough to where you can be the second team maybe third team in the ACC to get in the way the ACC is played so far this year I don't know that you're going to get a third team in it's going to be tough and for Louisville this is one of those things that does it this weekend does two things for for them number one if they can win this game it's a huge resume builder for them hey we went on the road and beat a top 25 team at their place right so now Louisville gives himself a little bit of a of a buffer if they were to drop a game between now and the end of the season right where they now still have a pretty good resume the other part is is it gives the ACC a much needed boost because the ACC is it got actually it's a pretty big wins this off this this season you know you look at Texas A&M going on I mean not excuse me Miami going on the road in pounding Florida you know you look at you know they've had but they've also had some pretty bad losses North Carolina getting blown out in a basketball score by James Madison this past weekend I mean they've had some rough Virginia Tech getting beat at home or actually going on the road and losing to Vanderbilt so they've had some rough losses so far they need this kind of win to to hopefully reinvigorate their their reputation a little bit because right now it's looking like you're going to get one guy in you know what I mean one guy in or one team in and if you're going to change that these are the kind of wins that you need so both teams right now Trevor are in a situation where this game is going to have huge implications on what your resume is going to look like at the end of the season I don't think Notre Dame is going to have the overall resume to get it attended to especially if you lose this game well I think this game could all the only way Notre Dame gets in it with two losses including this loss because this may end up being the best team you play all your rankings wise may it's going to be them USC or Texas A&M right now they're ranked second highest behind USC but you look at it and say two losses against this schedule of what it's turned out to be because of how bad Florida State is I don't know if that's going to get you in unless there's just a bunch of three lost teams you're competing with so they're not completely eliminated out of a 12 team situation if you lose this weekend but it becomes incredibly difficult like they're going to need so much help the rest of the way like so much help it's almost like you're going to have to back your way in at that point in time kind of like you know what was it two years ago with Ohio State you know Ohio State kind of they got lucky getting in because it was like you know Clemson lost late in the year Tennessee lost late in the year like USC lost late in the year remember they lost if USC beats Utah in the pack 12 title game Ohio State is on the cod 4 playoff in 2020 now they made the most of when they got there and took George down to the wire but like they needed a lot of help to get into that and Notre Dame would be like the 12 seed version of that if they have two losses and so you're talking about by the end of September your season's basically for all intents and purposes of who you want to be as a football team and as Andrew Gilmore points out it'd be your second home loss right and so you say okay your season's all but done when it comes to reaching the goals that you should have as a football program that is not a good place to be when you're in year three so I think from a resume standpoint Trevor this is a huge game huge game for both of these teams and that factors into this matchup as well because Notre Dame can make both teams have a chance to make a giant statement this weekend with how they play Hey Irish breakdown listeners it's Urban Meyer this fall the game changes join me Heisman Trophy winner Mark Ingram and broadcaster Rob Stone as we bring you a new perspective on football and culture every week we will be joined by the biggest name in sports and talk about everything inside and outside of the lines let us guide you through a new era of college football watch triple option on youtube or listen on apple podcast Spotify or rev you get podcasts Hey Irish breakdown listeners it's Matt Liner I've got a podcast called throwbacks with actor J for R we'll be talking all things sports but also so much more we'll give you the behind the scenes stories for my days as the quarterback on an iconic college football team to Jerry's days as a star on an iconic tv series so subscribe to throwbacks on youtube apple podcast spotify or wherever you get podcasts absolutely the playoff implications are huge on a for for Louisville on a conference level and for Notre Dame at a national scale I think we can all agree that if Notre Dame runs the table and goes 11 and 1 they're in the playoffs it's just a question of where dropping a game to Louisville not only does it make it I mean I don't want to call it impossible because nothing is impossible in sports we've seen so many things happen just makes it so hard for them to get into the playoffs I just for fun I went through this morning and I looked at who's ranked ahead of Notre Dame right now and I looked at the rest of their schedule and I will say it is doable like there is a lot of potential losses in front of people yeah oh yeah I mean Michigan still has left to play I think they still have to play Nebraska they still have to play Ohio State they still handle Oregon Oregon you know LSU still has to play Bama they have to play Oklahoma at Oklahoma they have that you know so there is a scenario where that happens but that's not something that you want to bank on because I you I think you brought it up in one of the shows that we did post northern Illinois and you said that you had a buddy or somebody that you were talking to that said now that Notre Dame is lost to northern Illinois their destiny is kind of out of their hands and to which somebody's got that to me and I said you know if Notre Dame runs the table they're gonna it's almost impossible for there to be that many teams with zero or one losses ahead of them just because all the teams that are going to be contending all play each other that was my goal yeah two losses and now he and I are on the same page absolutely excuse me I mean it's I mean even looking at the top four I mean Alabama still or top five Alabama still has to play Georgia and Tennessee right they still have to play LSU who still ranked ahead of Notre Dame I think they have to play Missouri who's also ranked ahead of Notre Dame so there are going to be some losses that come organically on the schedule ahead of Notre Dame but that's not something that you can bank on because by no stretch of the imagination do I believe that the committee is going to put a nine in three LSU team above an 11 and one Notre Dame team I'm just not going to believe that's not even a conversation we need to waste time on they if they're 11 and 1 they're in totally like I know there's people that but they're in but that one diff game difference is the difference between okay you're a nine in eight seed and you're out it's one game and so it's good that your season's not over with after one loss you have time to overcome that but two losses and you're done I mean it's going to be like like if Georgia goes nine and three against their schedule they they should get in over 10 to 2 Notre Dame team if Notre Dame loses this game because what what are the wins that Notre Dame can point to and say hey you know like hey we're a really good football team based on what well I mean did you see what we did to Virginia did you see what we did to Stanford did you see what we did to that that three two and seven Florida State team and they came to our place no where if Georgia loses let's say Georgia loses this weekend to Alabama loses at Texas and loses at Ole Miss they would still have a win over Tennessee they would still have a win over Clemson yeah which are going to be two better wins than anything Notre Dame can have if they lose to Louisville yep right so yeah yep I agree which is which is just what makes this game again now if you're going to tell me that that I'm sorry some of the comments today if you're going to try to tell me that a 9-3 Georgia team gets in over 11-1 Notre Dame team you're smoking something that's not going to happen it's not going to happen all right so just I know it's like some of you want to be upset if Notre Dame's 11-1 they're in the playoff the only question is is where they're going to be seated right so just if just guys stop but 10-2 Notre Dame against 9-3 Georgia because 11-1 Notre Dame means they beat USC on the road they beat Louisville they're in but you lose this game and this is why this game matters it's not just two losses they'd have a better shot getting in by beating Louisville and losing to Stanford because at least it's still have the Louisville win the committee has shown over and over again that they care more about who you beat than they do who you lost to Clemson was a number one seed a number one seed in 2017 where they lost to a four and eight Syracuse team right but they had the wins they had the wins that's why this game matters Trevor because you lose to that you don't have a whole lot of chances to have resume building wins I would argue you've got two this in USC that's it yeah that's it and that's why I say you can't afford to lose this game I mean like 11-1 Notre Dame in 2021 with you know how many ranked teams Notre Dame had beaten by the end of the year do you have any teams that they had beaten that were still ranked by the end of the year the answer is zero yeah zero and they were the number five team in the playoff rankings number five right so but you lose this game now the sudden Trevor your chances to get so what you're hanging your hat on GI really hope A&M keeps winning and GI really hope USC keeps winning that's not that's not necessarily a playoff resume you're going to need a lot of three and four lost teams at that point time and that that's going to make it a whole lot harder so that that's the practicality of what's at stake here Trevor I'm sorry I'm just I should I got to stop responding to the chat because some of the stuff that's almost like you're like hey let me see if I can say something that triggers Brian today let me see what outlandish thing I can say today and and I think I fall for it way too much but 11-1 Notre Dame is in and not only are they in they're hosting they're hosting you know what I mean yeah so um that's kind of that's kind of my my conversation that's where I'm yeah no I hear you man I hear you completely and in this game it's it's tough to look at as a coach and as a player you want to take it as a one game at a time mentality because when you start to look forward that's when you don't really prepare the best but you do have to come into this week of saying this is an important game not only for what happened last year and not only for you know what's happened to you so far this season as a team it's big on a national scale for you this game for Notre Dame keeps the hope alive of we can still control our own destiny and that is what is at stake for Notre Dame and for Louisville that it's almost it's weird it's almost like the opposite it's more like staking your claim for Notre Dame it's more like having to like restake your claim because let's call it spade a spade here Notre Dame started out the season as the seventh reg team in the country and then moved up to fifth so you know it's two different narratives going at it here um but both are big for for each team for Notre Dame you know getting out of here with a win is is going to be crucial it's it's important and so what let's let's wrap it up here Trevor what what are we talking about with this game what's at stake for this game practically speaking resume builder big time resume builder uh in within this season big time momentum third win in a row right you know three and all against power five teams the good news for Notre Dame is if they win this game the best part about the remainder of their schedule no more mac teams now I understand why Notre Dame fans hate playing mac teams because Notre Dame it struggles with mac teams apparently it's the craziest thing ever you struggle to beat a bad ball state team in 18 you barely beat Toledo in 2021 you didn't play great against central Michigan last year you got beat by Northern Illinois and you didn't play very well against Miami, Ohio so and then you went out and beat Texas A&M by 10 on the road and you beat Purdue by 59 so it's like maybe you should just start playing all your games on the road against power five teams maybe that's what Notre Dame should do but I think this game does in fact however get some of that momentum back for the team forget what we think as analysts and fans just for the team I don't think that that you look back if they win this game and say hey listen we've put that stuff in the rearview mirror we're now becoming the team we're capable of and that that's certainly what's at stake for this football team and then also big picture we're going to learn a lot about the culture and the heart and soul of this football team to Trevor my how they play on Saturday because there's a scenario in which they play their butts off and lose and I've I we will have to come to the grips with this team is not who that we thought that they were but still say but I'm not so much as concerned about the future because this team was prepared blah blah blah blah they just played a really talented football team that just made more plays than they did but they fought their butts off they got to fix this they got like but if they come out and they just don't play hard like they did last year against Louisville then you start to say there's there's something much deeper at stake here that hey fix the quarterback position fix the detackle position fix the receiver position fix the old line hey they had this injury it comes down to look you could put your third team out there and you're going to get beat by Louisville right but did they play hard that's more of what I because I can recruit better players and I can you know but but if my team's not playing hard that's a me problem as a football coach and that's why I say is is that's just as a that's just as because there's also a world in which you out talent Louisville but don't necessarily play with the kind of fire you need to go out there win that game and they're the ones making mistakes and even though you won it's like okay yeah they won but I'm still seeing some things that may concern about who this football team is so it's not just the results important but it's how you get there is also going to have a major impact on it and on who this football team is so that's kind of where I'm out with this Trevor any last thoughts on the magnitude of the I'd say this too there's also some recruiting momentum needed yeah because they got they got some some big-time players coming on campus this weekend from the 25 and 26th class and they got a couple very important visitors coming into town in two weeks when Stanford comes and visits and so you know there's a lot there's a lot there too they need this for momentum in a lot of ways in my opinion Trevor last one this before we move into the breaking down Louisville yeah I mean just real quick it's it's to your point there's more implications to this game than just what gets added to the win loss column right it's how you win it's how you go out and present yourself as a team and as a program and I think this is going to be a big momentum push forward for Notre Dame because if you go in and you take care of business convincingly not take care of business the Miami of Ohio style I'm talking about take care of business the Purdue style like what you did two weeks ago to the Boilermakers in West Lafayette in their house there was after the first drive there was no doubt in my mind who was going to win that game it was just going to be a question of how much right and if Notre Dame comes in and like I said in the post game show for Purdue it was very business like you came in pissed off you came in ready you had a mission you know what you knew what you were going to do as a team you knew how you were going to do it you went out and executed it was fantastic you hop back on the bus and you're back home in three hours right so that's the mentality that I want to see Notre Dame come out with from everywhere from the head coach down to whoever's handing out towels on the sideline come out with a purpose and play fired up and if they're able to do that I'm 100% convinced that they can walk away with the win because Notre Dame's roster from top to bottom you can make the argument and I do believe that they're more talented than the rest of the opponents on their schedule Notre Dame is a very talented football team now it's just a question of can you channel all that energy and and and come out fired up to not just play talented and just kind of be better than everybody else but feel and know that you're better than everybody else it's what I want to see man and and what we're saying is not playing like you did against Purdue where your clearly better team is not going to end with a 40 a 59 point win over this football team 100 right that that's not what Trevor's saying it's more about where you could because a 59 point win over Purdue and you play the exact same way against Louisville could only be a 10 point win or a 17 point win but you're still clearly the but that's that's the point is like you're maximizing your potential against that football team that's what that's what it means you know like against Ohio State that may only be a field goal difference in the game but it's about you came out played your game you took the that that was the thing that was the most different about that game and every other game their name is played so far to the degree to a degree I think against Texas A&M I saw this but definitely not true against the two Mac teams against Purdue Notre Dame came out as a football team and they took the fight to Purdue in every phase of the game yeah they did not do that against Miami Ohio they definitely didn't do that against Northern Illinois it was all dinks and dunks right and and we saw a little bit against against A&M I thought we saw a little bit of that where they were trying to be more aggressive in that game but the last couple games you get into these situations where it's almost kind of like what Marcus Freeman said well you know they're they make no that's that's playing to not screw up and and make a mistake and get upset by this team right that that's that mentality but when you come out and you take the fight to them get them on their heels this is our house that kind of thing to your point if Notre Dame plays their A game and Louisville plays their A game Notre Dame's 4-1 now if Notre Dame plays their A game the odds of Louisville playing their A game are slim that that's that's that's the point right that's the point yeah yeah the biggest difference from a mentality standpoint for me and it's very slight but the way that I look at it when when Notre Dame came out against Purdue it was very much this is what we're going to do try and stop it versus the Mac teams that they played it was very much like let's see if they stopped this and it was very it was very passive it felt like let's just kind of I don't want to say throw it against the wall and hope that it sticks but it was very like let's see if they stopped this for Purdue everything felt intentional everything about like this is what we're doing good luck trying to stop it and for the two Mac opponents that Notre Dame played it was very much like try and stop this I guess like let's see if they do so very slight very different but the mentality goes a long way so that's going to do it for this part of the show Trevor we're going to dive into actually looking at Louisville next but before we do folks do us a favor hit that like button hit the subscribe button hit the notification bell share this podcast give us a five-star review and I'm going to say again if you have not done so you are missing out by not jumping on the message boards at boards at ours break down calm guys it is it's truly a great deal it's $4.99 a month that's not a sign up and get this great rate that is the rate that we have there were $49.99 for a year if you're someone who's always said hey I've always wanted to support our breakdown but I'm not a message board person you can still join the message board there's ways that you can actually just read our content and not get all the other stuff which I can always talk you through but it's also the best way to support us if you're someone who wants to support our channel financially so you go to boards. oursbreakdown.com and check all that out got an hour long breakdown of every past non-screen pass play scramble sacks incompletions completions all of it in that video and it's the reason that I was up until like five o'clock in the morning last night finished that took the whole day to get that done but I think it was definitely worth it I hope you all think that it was worth it but you're definitely going to want to check that out $4.99 a month or $49.99 for a year you can also join one of the booster clubs and if you get the booster club you get some cool IB merch for free if you join the the shamrock or blue club you get a free IB club mug that only goes to club members Trevor doesn't have an IB club mug I don't have an IB club mug even my grandma who I had bought 10 mugs for because she always asked for him she loves drinking her coffee out of him she doesn't have an IB club mug and trust me if anyone was going to get one that's not in the club it'd be my grandma but she doesn't have one and if you join the gold club you not only get the IB club mug but you also get an IB club gold club t-shirt color of your choice and style so you can definitely definitely that and then as Andrew Gilmore said I love the the spirit you can ratio my post on the board he's taking it in good spirit Andrew I appreciate that man but funny is Andrew you've been one of the more positive people the last week that's how that's how crazy it's gotten man there's you're one of the you're one of the apologists now man what are you talking about but in all seriousness it is a great community we not only talk nor any football but we talk we have prayer court crest on the board for people and family I've put prayer requests on the board other people put prayer requests on the board because we are truly a community we're not just a a message board that talks nor any football we do stick into any football we don't talk about a lot of other non-stuff but we're a group of people that help each other out and um you know it's it's a it's a I'm proud of the community I'm I was frustrated this last week because of the constant negativity but that's about football I'm fresh about the football stuff if I if somebody put a post up and hey I need help the people that are just doing non-stop complaining about knowing football answer the bell just like that and step up and that's why I love this community even though we're not seeing eye to eye on football what makes this group special is when it comes to our lives we step up for each other and that's been one of my favorite parts about this community but uh you know the the chat is like that as well but the the that community is a whole different animal whole different animal and um very very excited to to see how that's grown so you're going to check that out only at boards. That hour's breakdown.com [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] At King Super's 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 Super's Pharmacy so come and get the protection you need while protecting those around you. King Super's a world of care is in store. Visit king supers.com/vaccines for more restrictions and exclusions apply seaside for details
