Notre Dame at Texas A&M : Preview & Prediction | QB vs Former Coach | Cover 3

um all right uh one more at least before we get out of here it is going to be the night cap it is going to be Notre Dame's visit to Texas A&M um but you think Riley Leonard's ready to go I do okay y are you confident in Raley Leonard's ability in this match so uh so Taylor who we had and calls a lot of Mountain West games he did our Mountain West preview on our little Friday uh special show which we're trying to make those be a little Evergreen because I realized like releasing a Friday show if you're talking upcoming weekends games is tough it's like okay like the shelf life on those is poor so I'm trying to find 12 guests for the year that have like some meaningful commentary that will last maybe like 10 days maybe 12 days after so you guys can just hit save you know bookmark it maybe on that kind of Sunday afternoon Dead Zone after you've watched Us and nobody else is out yet you know fire us up and go a little back toback cover three for you but Taylor was at the Manning Camp uh and I remember texting with him at the time and he thought that Riley Leonard was moving around extremely well so that because that was something I was monitoring Leonard for those of you guys don't know his sack of voidance when healthy is like Anthony Richardson level that guy is hard to get on the ground he he's really great natural movement I think he's a really good player like I know some of the NFL draft guys are not as high on him for college purposes I don't care all right like I know Conor Wagman's higher on these boards I would take Riley Leonard over Conor Wagman for college purposes is seven days a week all right I just think he's a better player for the college game um I think Notre Dame's receivers are way improved can either side block one another I I don't know um the Irish are are going with what a true freshman a red shirt freshman and three sophomores of some red shirt variety it's six career starts across the five offensive line starters I mean that can have an impact you remember Florida last year at you call on the road in a lot of environment too yeah that's going to be tough but also it's a new offense for A&M I think they're going to be really improved on offense over what jimo ran last year but Notre Dame's defense is extremely well coached they don't beat themsel well last year they only hit him in on the field so I guess they did then but generally like Al Golden's a really good coach man and that's that's one of my highest rated Corner combos in in the country they get Watts back I I I think they have a lot of athleticism and linebacker I I don't know like who can score more it's an interesting game yeah I I to me the most interesting part of this game will be we we talked about Notre Dame's offensive line how will that look no experience very loud Stadium I'd expect quite a few false starts particularly early in the game but for me on the other side of the ball like I don't know who whether it was Jimbo or Bobby last year whoever the hell was in charge of that offense like Texas A&M could not run the ball effectively last season and with me with Colin Klein coming in with just the change in that offense what will it look like and will they be able to run the ball because I think that you're gonna have to figure something out against this Notre Dame defense because I think their secondary is very good I think that they have a good pass rush and I think if you're gonna try to slow that down and try to give your passing attack a chance you're going to want to run the ball against this team which they were also very good against the run so it's not like that's guarantee that you're going to be successful doing it but I think you kind of have to try it and establish it and get something going and if Colin Klein has able to bring something to this offense that makes them far more effective than they were last year when I think they were aund and something in success rate like 80s in explosion rate running the ball I just that's the one thing that they were able to do at Kansas State of course they had like you know will Howard and Avery Johnson and they had some very good running backs there and I don't know if Texas ANM quite has that same kind of personnel at the quarterback spot it's just I think it's a must have for the agies if they want to win this game comfortably I'm not saying Notre Dame can't lose the game if they don't run the ball well but it's it's important I think for the Aggies it's gonna be a deciding factor I think one of the Dynamics and we've talked a lot about it I'm sure everybody has is the Mike ELO versus his former player like who has the edge Phil um Riley Leonard saw those defenses every day in practice I think it clearly favors favors the coach like there's a higher football IQ level there that's been studying the game that's watching a lot of football and you know granted rile Leonard's really good and he's seen some of those I just don't know if the recall is going to be there to know what to exploit those types of things but butd is right the avoidance the dynamic running ability that Riley Leonard has that's where I wonder if Elco has a bead on where does he like to escape the pocket you know does he like to like to reverse out does he like to step up and then go does he like to always go to his right those types of little Tendencies I think are where will have it coached up um I am chip and I did our pick segment yesterday I'm kind of nervous because I feel so good about the agies and this one and I think maybe the one thing that I'm overlooking is Notre Dame's defense you know defense travels or yet I don't have a good answer for like okay so how does Texas A&M dominate on offense I don't I don't have I don't have that part and I as& by a mile coordinator Advantage I don't think so the other thing too is Conor Wegman I'm a little bit concerned that he's potential guy you know like there's players that we see short flashes and either sometimes they get exposed over time or sometimes they can't stay healthy he has been a guy for a couple Seasons now that couldn't stay healthy and that concerns me somewhat there's something you can't do about injuries it just happens it's a rough game but kind of curious like what's like as much as you know and I know SEC media days that were I think Jordan Rogers is out there saying he's the best quarterback in the SEC and he might be in practice and in glimpses of it but what's the best game he's had against a good opponent like there aren't many you he played Old Miss pretty well a couple years ago but I just had I don't know so like I'm putting some faith that Conor Wegman is going to give you the best version of him which I think is you know a dicey proposition just making that assumption on the uh CU yeah Danny said Danny and I both um discussed the Elco versus Riley Leonard both sort of Leaning that if you're to match it up but this is just the second time in an FBS game since 2000 that a quarterback and a head coach who are on the same team one year are facing off against each other the next and it happened last season do you want me give it to you or does he want have want to take a guess former Cincinnati quarterback Ben Bryant LED Northwestern to a 24-10 win against former Cincinnati coach Luke fickle so if you believe the Luke fickle Ben Bryant theorem lay it I mean Notre day money line the quarterback always gets the last laugh if you believe that Ben Bryant Luke fickle theum it's only happened twice since 2000 but it did just happen last year uh that stat of course coming up you know 12 hours after Danny and I were like Elco noses Den sees and well the other thing too and we mentioned this yesterday on the show you might have perfect call you might have the perfect coverage you might have you might think you have stopped his one tendency he is pretty Dynamic where he can make a couple guys miss like it just make a miss or run him over like he's pretty physical as a runner um so it's not Notre Dame themselves no you just break his ankle you know like if you're if you're if you're afraid that he's about to beat you just just just get just get him a little bit hobbled i' also point out since Marcus Freeman took over Notre Dame is five and four on the road something worth considering so it was they lost what to Louisville last year beat beat Duke they lost to uh USC two years ago on the road they were dogs there right yeah they lost at Ohio the year before too I think but was or was that 2021 I can't remember honestly but no they're five and four so you know it's not exactly a shocker to say A team's worse on the road but typically you like to see top 10 kind of teams doing better than five and four any uh any any final word here on uh on the agies and the Irish I don't know that I want to bet Notre Dame but I I don't know that agie should be favored by three Texas A&M's offense the big question mark what I Colin Klein who by the way was almost Notre Dame's offensive coordinator what does he have you know we we looked at it as a as a as a very plus value you know Mike Elko did a great job made great coordinator hires I think whatever Texas A&M's offense is able to do against Notre Dame's defense will give us some immediate reactions to Texas A&M's offense and what Colin Klein can do he may not have the tools you might not have the players to do what he wants to do but we'll see in terms of our expectations for 2024