What To Look For From Notre Dame Against Texas A&M

so one of the features that I do and I'm going to get to Super chats here at the end of the show so when I wrap this part up I will get to Super Chat so and there's there's several of them in there and I thank y'all for that but I'll get to those at the end of the segment there's something I I like to do before games where it's kind of a what to look for and it's a little bit different than like keys to Victory it's different than you know matchups it's more about how they're playing and how they're going about their business to say okay they're locked in they're ready to go they've done the preparation they're mentally where they need to be they're culturally where they need to be they're fundamentally where they need to be and it's usually something you can see in the first quarter to two you quarter and a half into halftime that's going to tell me okay this this team has made the changes right and and so I'm going to talk about the offense and then I'm going to tive into the defense and then we'll kind of we'll uh we'll get into the Super chats after that but it's one of those things where it's it like when I talk about the Louisville game last year but you could just tell going through pregame that there was just something that was not right I remember talking to a a former NFL player that was at the Michigan game in 2019 he was down on the field and he and I were talking about 10 minutes before kickoff and he was like dude they're not ready like I I don't know what's going on but Michigan's kids are jumping all around every time it rain starts raining harder they're jumping up and down they're fired up the N Dame kids are putting Parkers on they just they don't want any part of this action they don't want to be here and what happened no name goes out and gets steamrolled and then there's other games where I'm like dude they're locked in they're focused they're ready to go like I knew they were going to give George a battle just watching them in pregame just watching the old lineman go against each other and watching the receivers come off I mean there was just a there was a purpose to what they were doing and then you can kind of watch when they come out early in the game it's like Michigan in 2018 is another example where look you come out early in that game and it's just oh man they are ready to go I mean they jumped all over Michigan and then there's other games where it's just like you get a bunch of false starts like like the Duke game was I wasn't at the Duke game last year because we had uh I got I think I got sick really sick before that game and I had to cancel my flight but I remember watching just early in the game and I'm thinking and like you know they hit a couple big plays you had that seam route you had to post Snap switch seam route to Mitchell Evans for a big gain and then you got stall and and Jeremiah Love had to do a fake punt you ended up scoring but there just was like early on you could see the old line wasn't getting a push you had like false starts on your fifth year Senior Center got like two false starts in the first half and you're just like this team's not locked in this team is not locked in and ready to go and and that's kind of those are the things that I'm talking about those are the things that you look at and say okay this team is not locked in or this team is locked in and anyone that's ever coached the game knows that you got to get a sense early of okay like this is where we're at because you have to coach around that you have to coach he dude we are fired up so let's just turn it on you know what I mean or hey we're in a funk right now I got to figure out how to get us out of this funk so you're looking for that as a coach it's definitely something you need to be aware of like hey you know pregame we were just going through the motions we had like 10 drop balls you know you got guys doing bad run fits and and half speed drills things like that like we're not locked in and now it's your job as a position coach coordinator and then head coach to recognize that and do your best to get it to to adjust it and that's that's what this all comes down to so let's jump into the offense and let's talk about uh what I'm looking for early from the Nim offense and this is going to be about A&M and then also about looking at it from the standpoint of sort of the season to be honest with you and the first thing to me and this is more specific to A&M first but also is going to tell us a little bit is I I don't really care in the first quarter that the offensive line is necessarily playing well or maybe give up an early pressure give up an early run through you're not necessarily everybody on the same page that's obviously important but that's not even really what I'm looking at what I'm more looking at is how they're playing that is going to be so much more important to me because as the game goes on and the and and they get into the speed of the game and the flow of the game they'll clean up some of that stuff that's just that's just natural but if you come out early and you're not playing with physicality and force and you're catching and you're not moving your feet you're not using your hands and and you're just playing a little bit timidly that's that's harder to turn that switch on right and when we watched them play Duke and Louisville last year you could see it in the line that these guys are not ready to play as a unit they were not ready to play and it it's FSE starts a part of it you know you're affected by the crowd noise but it was really just about I mean early in that game I think second series fifth year senior center right all those career starts comes off the line and just gets driven into the quarterback put on his back and then the quarterback gets drilled right that's not about okay crowd noise or or anything inexperience that's just about I got my butt kicked and there's way too much of that so and that's my one of my big fears about Joe Rudolph I don't love the way his team prepares in the very limited access we've seen in drills there there was not as much intentionality towards playing really with your hair on fire and that doesn't mean it's not happening I'm because like I said we saw maybe 2% of the entire fall camp with the little access we got maybe 2% so it it's just a it's just a concern that I have and and I was talking to my dad about this the other day and listen when you're young you're going to get snap counts wrong when you're young you're going to hold when you're young you're going to give up a run through when you're young you're not going to get Qui out of your stance fast enough and Nick scouton is going to beat you those things are going to happen I'm okay with that and you live with that to a degree as long as it's not really really bad moments and bad losses you know what experience shouldn't have any impact on toughness a desire to play physical football a willingness to fight those things should not be impacted by I'm young okay so it's like look yeah you're young but come off hard play hard hit somebody go for it that that that's that's where it needs to be like get after it that that should travel right like crowd noise can affect a lot of things it shouldn't affect that it shouldn't affect while you're win a fight shouldn't affect whether you're willing to play hard whether you're willing to drive your feet whether you're willing to use your hands with violence that's going to tell us a lot about this game are they playing aggressive football off front are they playing physical foot football off front if they're not it's going to be a long day if they are in A&M's winning some battles I'm G to be okay like look just patience they're going to get a couple things corrected but they're playing hard and that's going to settle in and they're going to make some plays right guys prepare yourselves for this Notre Dame's offensive line no ma even if Joe Walt and Blake fiser were coming back is going to have plays where they get beat by Texas A&M's defensive line it's going to happen first time it happens I don't want to see you in the chat like oh my God this is just terrible okay if it keeps happening then obviously that's a problem it's going to happen I don't care who they played they could put every fifth year senior that they have on the roster on the field and A&M's D Line's going to make some plays that that I can live with early get that stuff corrected but I need to see the intensity I need to see the fire I need to see the force because one of the things that we were told and somebody say is Aggie D line that good yeah every D I mean I don't care look at how good Notre Dames oh you know Notre Dame's offensive line was last year against Ohio State played great you had first round pick second round pick Ohio State's guys still made plays that's going to happen go look at Alabama in 2012 as good as Alabama's offensive line was Stefan knew it to it Lewis Nicks kaer on Lis Moore they still made some plays right they didn't get dominated the whole game they still made some plays they're gonna make plays that's football you could win this game by 40 and they they're going to have four tackles for loss and a sack that's part of football but you've got to play with Force you've got to play with physicality you got to move your feet you got to use your hands that's what I need to see early and if we're seeing that I can I'll be okay with some of the mistakes early that'll get cleaned up if they're getting driven back if we're seeing what we saw in the Duke game where a guard comes off and he gets driven into the quarterback the center gets driven into the quarterback or the tackle gets thrown into the quarterback because he's catching and not playing physical that'll be more concerning and that could also then have long-term concerns because it means that Joe Rudolph didn't do what he needed to do to fix that from last season and that will be a big concern for me number two and this is more stylistically I want to see that early on Notre Dame offense is setting the tone for this game here's why this matters shortterm and big and big picture short term I want to see them come out push the tempo and attack the A&M defense there's practical reasons for this number one the more aggressive you are the there's there there's a an aspect to where you're actually and you're pushing the tempo you're actually taking steps to somewhat negate the other team's Advantage when it comes to line play because we're going to use Tempo looking at from the coaching standpoint we're going to use Tempo we're gonna use motions we're going to use shifts we're going to move the pocket we're going to take some shots down the field we're going to do some things to soften them up we want to get them on their heels the second part of that is while the dline has a lot coming back that's that's returners and there's some new guys but there's a lot of new on the back end of the defense Tyreek Chapel's back but I don't know that he's necessarily going to be playing the same position Bryce Anderson's back he's playing somewhat of a unique position there's several guys that are on team last year Javin Thomas who I believe is going to I think he's the he's the one I think that's missing the first half because he was uh kicked out for targeting at the end of the bowl game last year which I think is just stupid I do not think those type of things should carry over the next season that's ridiculous but whatever it is what it is but there's a lot of new faces in that secondary and there's a lot of new faces at linebacker the more you attack them the more you attack them the more you get go on the you know push the tempo the less you let them communicate pre- snap the more likely they are to make mistakes and the best way to protect your offensive line is to find ways to force them into make mistakes we're all worried about not's offensive line making mistakes for good reason how about trying to make some of those A&M play make mistakes is they're learning a new defense that's going to be a big part of it and that's something that Notre Dame is going to have to find a way to create and create it early if you come out of that game in out out of the game or out of the the break or and you start that game kind of passively you're kind of feeling it out you're not being super aggressive that's going to be a big concern for me big concern for me and it's it's it's I don't know who I'm going to be most concerned conc erned about but I remember the 2017 season Notre Dame goes into that Temple game got this great o line you're going to run the ball down people's throats all year what they do first play of the game they play action pass and threw a deep ball to echoin to me St Brown and that that's what they did I want to see some aggressiveness what they do against Michigan early they're throwing bombs to Miles boyin they're throwing bombs to Alice Mack they're throwing bombs to Chris thinkink they had Michigan on their heels early what allowed Michigan to get back in that game once they got a lead BK bced it and they got passive they went away from what was working and they let a they let Michigan get back in that game right same thing against Florida State in 2021 when they went on the road to play Florida State Notre Dame was aggressive early fourth and one they take a shot down the field big play Michael Mayor touchdown they get a lead BK decayed it and they let him come back right took their foot off the gas I want to see that this team comes out tomorrow and and pushes the tempo because if they don't that tells me that there's not a lot of confidence in this team one or it's going to tell me that coach Freeman still has his sort of his his his hand on the scale of the offense holding things back I don't think that's going to be the case but it's something that I want to see that doesn't and when I mean aggressive that does not mean in an attack the defense that does not mean coming out and throwing bombs that's what did worked against Michigan because Michigan was doing a lot of man coverage on the outside you had two six4 receivers that's just what made sense that game I'm not even saying coming out throwing a bunch of bombs early what I'm saying is is attack them attack them for width attack them vertically attack them with layers be willing to go at them aggressively it's aggressive aggressive doesn't always mean bombs but you guys will see it you'll know like okay they're they completed a ball they're going with some purpose hey get lined up let's go we know the call your coach is telling you what to do you get everybody lined up let's get up there snap and go don't let their dline pin their heels in anyone that's played dline knows this is a slower team I can get up there I can get in my stance I can get my hand in the ground I can get in sort of my my good takeoff stance and I can come but if you're in a situation where they're going Tempo and I barely get my hand on the ground it's hard for me to then convert to force vertically right it's just not it's going to be a lot harder for that so I want to see that Tempo early get A&M on their heels that's going to tell me that this is a confident Notre football team that's ready to go on the attack number two I this is going to be a big thing for this game is how comfortable does Riley Leonard look right like he's obviously taken all the Reps it was funny uh somebody asked coach Freeman if he was ready to name Riley Leonard the starting quarterback and his response he kind of looked at him and he was like well he's taking all the reps with the one right and so he's got a ton of reps with the ones in Fall camp but he didn't get any in the spring he didn't play in the blue gold game and we re this is the first real live action that we've seen him play and it's a defense and he doesn't always know what they're doing it's not the same defense he's played for the last month how comfortable does he look running the offense getting guys lined up making sure and this isn't even just about executing throws making sure they're not getting any you know false starts because he's properly communica snap counts making sure that there's no silly penalties like they complete a ball down the field and it comes back because your receiver was covering up the tight end you as a quarterback need to see that right making sure that the the receivers are going in motion at the proper time and the ball's being snapped at the proper time that's all part of the quarterback's job and early on when you're new and you're getting used to things you may not see all of those things and then of course you get into the post Snap reads you know is he making quick decisions he getting the ball out on time is he accurate is he hitting guys in the right spots uh that is going to be a big part of this game too now if he's off a little bit early then you know there's there's going to take some getting used to this game but if he can come out sharp you can really go at this team and and and and be willing to attack and that's where they're going to have success but if he is you know unwilling to throw the ball tucking it running it all the time that's going to be a little bit of a concern for me for this game not down the road this is not one of those big picture problems this is a Texas A&M thing that's that's really where where it was uh and no Mike Den Brock was not the OC in 2019 Mike Den Brock's last year Notre name was 2016 just for the record uh to to to respond to a question in the chat so I want to see Riley being comfortable early on that's going to be huge for nerame if he can be comfortable running the show again that doesn't mean completion percentage only that means getting people lined up getting the tempo the way it needs to be getting the Motions everything timed up well and then you're also making good decisions with the football that's going to be key then the last thing for me and this is this might be the most important thing for me outside of the offensive line playing well because this is going to tell us a lot about this game but this is going to tell us a lot about where this team is and it's this right here are the receivers competing for the football one of the things that drove me the most nuts last year was how poorly this receiving core fought for the ball that's the one thing people talk about they can't get the line they can't that St was all overplayed that was all overblown they got open plenty of times and the ball never came I know some people don't have it in their minds to Fathom what that means or how that can be but that's just the reality I've shown tons of Clips on it etc etc that's not what I'm talking about what they did a poor job of however and this is where I could understand Sam Harton Hartman being a little bit gunshy31 and Chris Tyrie is about the only guy that had any kind of really competitive catches last year outside of maybe Jaden gr house in the opener and against tene State very very little fight for the ball they got out play I mean you think of the Louisville game right I'm trying to remember let me pull that game up but I think it was the third or fourth play of the game last season and Notre Dame had actually already converted a first down they were getting close to Midfield inless they so they first play of the game completion for four yards second play completion for 10 yards third play completion for 15 yards yeah you're first and 10 in Louisville territory after three plays and they throw a gold ball to Rico Flores who does not at all fight for the football and it gets picked off like that that can't happen that can't H that tells me your mindsets not where it needs to be as a group it that and that's where you're I'll kind of there aren't a whole lot of here we go again moments that I'll have but that'll be one that'll trigger me I'm just being honest with you that'll trigger me I want to see this receiving core fight for the football and that was an issue for not name in 2017 if you remember they didn't fight for the football grade but you go out in that Michigan game in game one and that's exact they did the exact opposite you got miles boyin out playing a guy for a deep ball you got al mack making a great catch getting drilled targeting guy gets kicked out of the game Al makes a great catch Chris fank outplays two guys for the football they were balling for the football 2018 and you knew this team was going to be a problem this team was going you knew in the opener yeah there's some things that got to clean up and they made this mistake and BK's got to stop being BK and taking the foot off the gas when you have a lead and Brian po special teams let them get all but you knew this team it's got some stuff to work out but this team's gonna be a problem because their offensive Line's playing Well everybody's freaking oh they got lost Mike mcclin they lost Quint Nelson how are they going to how are they going to play blah blah blah blah blah and they came out in that first game and they took it to Michigan and and they were the receivers were setting the tone they were blocking their butts off they were competing for the football they were running good routes and you said boy if the receivers now playing well you this team's gonna be a major problem this team's gonna be a major problem and that's something that I want to see it's going to tell me that Coach Brown has this group mentally ready to compete and that's the big thing is look if if Notre Dame barely wins this game by a field goal but they compete their butts off but they were sloppy they had a couple turnovers you know had some tackles for loss Riley was a little off Target you know maybe throws a pick give up a couple too many big plays but you at the end of the day you win the game 2420 and little sloppy win don't care don't care because as a football coach I can clean all that stuff up you are never as Pro you were never primed to just play your best football in week one occasionally you'll have games like that but it's usually against Bad teams if you remember Notre name against Texas in 2015 I don't know how much better that game could have gone I think Malik was like 17 18 of 21 one you ran the ball your starting running back gets hurt after three carries your next two guys come in they run on them your defense is but that wasn't a very good Texas team I think they were like five and seven that year they weren't a very good team right yeah they they played great against rice in 201 what 14 rice wasn't very good right there's going to be sloppiness but you got to get the win so I can I can live with sloppiness I can live with the receivers dropping a couple balls I just need to see him compete I need to see the o line play hard I can live with mistakes I can live with Misses I can live with you know the the the timing and the Zone plays weren't always wasn't always the best I can live with that I can fix that as a coach I can fix that what I can't fix because I either created the problem or I allowed the problem is if my team does compete that that that's the problem that's the biggest thing and the receivers and the o line are the two areas where that's going to matter most to me so let's talk about the NRA defense and what to look for from the NRA Defense number one one my big my biggest there's two fears that I have about this game and and the biggest fear for me really comes down to the size of their offensive line and Notre Dame's defensive line is played big offensive lines before and this group of players have played against big offensive lines before and so I'm it's not that o ge's I'm afraid of big offensive linemen but you also have to be willing to look at it and say yes but just because you have played well in the past doesn't mean you're going to necessarily do the things you need to do in this game to have yourself ready to play and that's what where I kind of come down on it is this is a matchup that on paper noted Ames defensive line should dominate A&M's offensive line they should they are not overly athletic they're it's new you're gonna have three new starters in your offensive line most likely and as Ryan pointed out yesterday you're going to have four guys in new places because Chase bantis is going I believe he played right tackle last year he's going to be playing left guard this year and so it's going to be a new look offensive line as well but it's big across the board there's 66320 from left to right 66320 66320 63 330 if the that guy doesn't start the ore at that position is 64 325 65 330 67 330 they're a big offensive line and if your defensive line is not using their quickness if they're catching if they're not playing with good uh leverage and this defensive offensive line starts leaning on them that's where I can get a little bit concerned about this game so early on I want to see that the Notre Dame defensive line is not allowing the bigger but less athletic offensive line to push him around if A&M is able to come off the line and have some snaps early where they really push Notre Dame off the line then that's a a concern for me and that could create some big plays in The Run game that's a that and that also then what that also does is is it not only create some some holes but it now makes the job of the linebackers even harder and Notre Dame's got basically three new starters at linebacker Jack Kaiser was a starter last year but he's a starter at Rover he's now playing will Drake Bowen at Mike Jaylen sneeds at Rover all new Kings ofas is going to play he's a true freshman Jaden Ury is going to play he's a red shirt freshman you do not want to be in situations where these guys are being forced all game to come up and and take on guards and block destruct and get off that way you need these guys flying to the football untouched that is going to be a big a big part of this and so early on I need to see that the Notre Dame defensive line is not getting pushed around that's a big thing for me and then the second part of it is is what ties into that is okay so if you're not getting pushed around what does that mean it means you're getting a lot of early penetration a lot of early disruptions you're getting up field you're getting into the back field you're forcing their running backs to make early Cuts I've said it a million times you guys know this if you're new to the channel you're going to hear me say it a lot more times one of the biggest ways to slow down the opposition Run game is to force Cuts as deep in the back field as possible if when I was coaching running backs the ultimate goal for me is we weren't making our Cuts until we were at or past the line of scrummage we are staying on our outai Zone track all the way till we get to the line and then boom we're cutting vertical maybe a yard behind because it opened up maybe at the yard sometimes past the line of scrimmage if you're running you know power schemes or or things downhill schemes like hey I want to be making that cut on on inside Zone near the line because you got to push and I'm not having a cut I'm just kind of working right back off your backside so if you're not getting pushed around well then the counter to that means you're getting a lot of early penetration you're getting a lot of early disruptions and and that's going to be a big key for me in and part of the reason is obviously you're holding up against their offensive line but the other part of it is is if you are getting a lot of early penetration a lot of early disruptions a lot of early pressures it's going to get them out of rhythm and it can be hard for a first time a team playing their first game in an offense to get into Rhythm if they start off out of rhythm because they don't have that toolbox or the mental Rolodex of being in this offense for a long time to necessarily know what buttons to push your offensive coordinator doesn't know as much about this unit of players as he did his kstate group last year where he kind of knew what buttons to push he knew will Howard he knew DJ gids he knew the tight ends he knew what the offensive line was good at so with they got into an early Funk he kind of knew okay this is what we go to to kind of get rolling that's not there in game one of a new staff and and so you want to get them out of rhythm early if they don't get out of rhythm early and they get into Rhythm then the opposite is true and so that's why it's very important that the defense get a lot of early penetrations and disruptions and don't let A&M get into Rhythm and that's going to tell me that this defensive line is is is as good as we think it's going to be that there's no steps back and it's also you know we're going to get a chance to see if these linebackers can make a lot of plays that's one of the things we talked about like guys there's going to be mistakes from the linebacking core that we didn't see last year just is but that doesn't mean necessarily that they're going to be worse they got to make more plays right that's a big key and if they're able to do that then I think they'll make more plays the second part of that the third part is to me is is ties into this and that's that the linebackers are playing aggressive and being being as disciplined as possible one of the concerns I have about a group of linebackers and I'm not necessarily as worried about this with Jack Kaiser but again we need to see him play this position uh more regularly but with Drake Bowen with Jaylen Sneed with Jaden olber with Kings ofam mam the these are new roles for them and yes I love Drake's High School film and we've seen him in practice and in some m moments and he had a big safety against Oregon State last year those are things are all great but now you're in a starter role you're in a more prominent role are you playing aggressive or are you struggling to get into the speed of the game right and then what is Al golden do to try to kind of fix that right is okay is he able to go out there and and make some of the calls some of the decisions and to allow him his group to really get rolling downhill and do they play with some speed I can live with some mistakes from the linebackers if they're playing 100 miles an hour what I will what will not be good is if they're still making those mistakes but then they're also giving up four five six eight yard gash runs because they're not playing downhill they're they're they're thinking too much they're they're not playing fast so that's going to be a big thing for me early that tells me the linebackers are locked in they've got the Reps they're aware of what they're doing and they're playing downhill I can again can live with a bad run fit if it's you're doing everything hard because again I can correct the bad run fit or the safety can make me right on a bad run fit it's hard to it's the worst thing for a safety trying to fit off of a linebacker is when a linebacker's catching four or five yards downfield that's where you can kind of get into some trouble and then the last one for me is I just want to see the secondary play sound football the the the thing that when I look at this matchup the only there's only two ways that A&M can really move the ball consistently and beat Notre Dame uh with their offense not so not turnover related not short Fields not special but their offense goes out there and wins them the game is if they're ripping up big plays and that's going to come because the D Line's getting beat at the line of scrimmage and they're giving up big plays in the secondary you've got some new faces Christian Gray's new Jordan Clark's New Rod herd's new Adon Schuler's not new to the team but he didn't play any really any meaningful snaps last year outside the bowl game so are they making are they playing sound football look if they're playing sound football then the talent takes over if they're not playing sound football then that's when you let an inferior group make plays on you and that's a concern so you know your body position isn't where it needs to be so you know you you don't play a a go ball the right way and even if the guy doesn't catch it you get called for pass interference because you're not playing sound football you weren't where you needed to be you're you're being too handsy you know you're not trusting your Technique you're not trusting your footwork your hand play and all that so you get real grabby on a slant route because because you didn't play it right or you overplay something a guy beats you for a slant route and he's catching and running a guy outplays you for football because you weren't in the right position you know you went too high on a on a man covered outside go ball and so he's able to back shoulder you with ease because you didn't play it right um you have a bad fit in the Run game you're supposed to fit here you fit over there or you don't fit at all you're in space and you don't break down and come to balance guy cuts off you for a big game those are things that the SEC it's if the secondary is playing sound then they're going to be fine because they're just they're better but if they're not playing sound Tex A&M is good enough to beat you if you don't play sound football that's really what this bowls down to is if Notre Dame plays their game just play good sound football have some aggressiveness to you you do you they're going to win because they're the better team if they don't and they make mistakes they're not good bad run fits they're not disciplined on the back end they're not being aggressive up front they're offensive Line's catching again their receivers aren't competing for the ball they're not being aggressive they're trying to win a third 133 to1 football game that's how you get beat and that's what n is going to have to avoid uh if they're going to have a chance to win this football game so before we get out of here folks I did have some super chats I wanted to get to and Rob O good with one says prove thank you for the Super Chat prove look for prove to the naysayers that their name belongs to look forward don't just win dominate don't hold back let the offense loose and enjoy it there's a lot in there I I agree with but to me I don't know that Notre Dame beating Texas A&M necessarily proves a lot of Nay is wrong because most a lot of them will just simply say well A&M's not that good they were overrated again you know but but you know I care more about the perception that Notre a fans have than I do about what ESPN's agenda driven reporting and Analysis thinks about Notre Dame I I really don't care it's about what's our perception the realistic perception that we have what's the team's perception of itself those are things that matter a lot more to me Michael Rogers with a super chat thank you very very much Michael Michael predicts a 37 to1 Notre Dame win I love it very very much A1 12321 with Super Chat thank you very much if I told you only two stats that noted aame gave up four sacks in one turnover with no other information is that a win or a loss how decisive would that be they gave a four sacks and had one turnover that wouldn't be enough information for me um I mean it one turnover I can live with four sacks oh okay what were the sacks was it third and N Riley running around and they sack him late was it was there an end of the half sack was there a you know take a sack on Third and seven at Midfield because nobody's open and you just take the sack and because you were coach to if nothing's there you you can't get open get free take a sack all right whatever you know if there's a sack on second and five and it's now third and 10 and you convert third and 10 okay sack sucked but there's just not nearly enough there's not near enough in that for me to know if it's a win or a loss I'll say if they give up four sacks and have a turnover it's most likely going to be more competitive a very competitive game but whether it's a win or a loss that that I that I couldn't tell you now I'll say this if you flip it then I think that would be a very good sign for Notre Dame if you flipped it and Notre Dame had four sacks and forced a turnover I'd feel a little bit better just because I just think that this Notre Dame team with the kind of quarterback they have can overcome four sacks in a turnover in this type of game because I think their defense can Dominate and and so uh that's that's why it's a little bit of a you can call it hypocritical but why the same stat being true for the other side would make me feel a lot better Rizo in a Super Chat thank you very very much RZA tchm is a mid- tier SEC team at best this year we should win the question is how we look doing it if it's a nailbiter or we lose it's an issue if we win convincingly it just means no name be what we think they have the potential potential to be this year I'm going to disagree with part of that I don't care if it's a nailbiter Alabama had a nailbiter with with uh with Texas A&M last year and went to the college football playoff and gave Michigan the toughest game they had all year so you know in 2021 Alabama lost to Texas A&M at Texas A&M and went on to play for the national championship you know beat Georgia in the ACC title for the for the SEC title you know so I look the to me it just no I don't I don't need them to win convincingly for to not be a B I just need them to win Reza I just any kind of win like Mar you're not GNA beat every team by 40 and it's especially in an opener would it be great if no Dames convincing has a win sure I but for me re you know respect you love you I just I don't see it that way personally I just care about winning I do not care about all that other stuff I really don't I don't care about margin of Victory I don't care I mean it's it's great if it happens right like I'm not going to dismiss a convincing win that would tell me something as I said earlier in the show but if they only win by a field goal oh great go now now go go go get it done right um keep winning because that's all that matters just just win they'll clean up some of the stuff that comes out of this game mistakes o line will get more experience you know new guys in the secondary will be much more experienced as they get deeper in the season Riley Leonard will be much more on the same page with his teammates the coaches have a much better feel for what they're doing we'll have answers and we'll have solutions to to what notame is going to be doing uh looking at it from like you know as a coaching staff that's what I'm saying like look I just win we can fix all that other stuff that's how coaches look at it just get that early season win and then we'll clean up the other stuff and get it fixed I'm just telling you that's that's how at least that's how every coach I know is that way and that that opener against a team just get the W that's all that matters and we'll fix all that other stuff and then we'll have we have more convincing wins later and just get that W it's what matters to me appreciate the Super Chat my man uh D meac what a Super Chat thank you very much if you're looking for your sign to sign up for the boards here it is sign up start of the season is a perfect time to do it go Irish I agree with you completely completely Joe papiti with a super chat thank you very much Brian I loved what golden said in the presser basically it was if we play with fundamentals we'll be fine Irish win 3120 go Irish he's absolutely right when you're the better team just don't beat don't beat yourself right just do your job and do it hard that's it I mean when you have the better players the only way you lose a game like that is if you don't do your job you don't play well you don't play sound you have dumb penalties dumb mistakes you don't play with physicality you let yourself get your butt kicked physically I mean Louisville was not a better team than Notre Dame was last year they were a better team when they played though because Notre Dame had a lot of dumb mistakes a lot of false starts you have a you're you're down what was it uh 1710 I believe is when that play happened and or or actually was seven to seven and you throw you your Defense Forces a fumble you throw a a slot fade I believe is what it was into the end zone bad ball worst catch by Chris Ty catch attempt by Chris Tyree of a not a very well thrown ball you drop it you're selling for a field goal so instead of 14-7 tons of momentum Louisville now views it as a win and a moral Victory because they turned it over and forced you to a field goal they take a 1710 lead over Notre Dame uh Sam Hartman throws a great ball down the field to Mitchell Evans for a 30 yard gain comes back because hands to the face by your right tackle that's just not doing your job like all you had to do is use the technique that I've taught you to use every single day since you've been since I've been here and every single offensive line coach Harry hean taught you that Jeff quinnn taught you that every single coach has taught you you don't put your hand in someone's face right that's just not doing your job and then all of a sudden that 30 yard gain that gets you in in scoring range gets called back you don't score next thing you know the route's on like it's stuff like that just just do your job just do your job if you do that you win and and winning is all that matters in this instance so he is correct that's a great observation by coach Golden Raymond with a super chat go Irish thank you very very much Raymond I appreciate you and then di Whitland with the last Super Chat a win is a win and we appreciate you Brian great show today go Irish I thank you very much I think that's a great way to end Today's Show so that's going to do it for today's show I'm gonna go finish packing and get ready to head over to the airport I'm going to be heading down there today uh for this game I hope all of you all have a safe safe weekend enjoy the game enjoy all the games there's some great games on on tap this weekend so I'll be certainly tuned into to my TV tonight when I'm flying I'll have my little computer screen up play pay for the internet so I can watch some games and then of course have some fun watching the games tomorrow so again make sure uh tonight we will publish the we won't be live tonight but Sean will publish the uh countdown to kickoff tonight and then of course postgame show tomorrow with Vince Ryan Roberts Vince stario Ryan Roberts Trevor Trowbridge and Shawn Davis will be joined for that and then of course Monday we'll be back Sunday night or Monday night we'll do our upon further review on Monday night not not Sunday like normal because I'm traveling on Saturday and we just weren't sure if you know you never know a travel if I could get back in time to do it so I may put something up Sunday night just depends on on kind of how my travel gets back and and how I'm feeling after breaking the film down on the flight and those type of things so uh but that's why you should always you know not only like this show but also subscribe to this show and turn your notification bells on so when we do put videos out you'll see it so uh thanks for being with me today sign up for the message board boards boards. rprd down.com if you want to become a a a BigTime supporter of us you can join the booster club if you do join the booster club you get some cool IB merch that you get for free so I appreciate you all doing that so anyway that's AB boards outre down.com have an awesome rest of your week and we'll talk to you guys again very soon on the Irish breakdown podcast