Why Notre Dame can RUN THE TABLE following Week 1 Win at Texas A&M | Fighting Irish Outlook

all right let's piss everybody off right now by talking one about Notre Dame and two about where Notre Dame is going to be seated in the playoff ranking when the final playoff poll comes out we're g to put we're gonna just put Notre Dame in the playoffs and just drive those people who hate when we talk about Notre Dame crazy because that's that's my favorite part of the Notre Dame discourse is we talk about Notre Dame and whether we have a a blazing hot take that they're going to be good or bad or whatever we get the people going nobody cares about Notre Dame no you care because when we talk about Minnesota you don't tell us you don't care Andy let me play a game if you had a time machine and you could only use it one time what would you do that's a great question you don't even really have to answer I'm just setting up what I'm gonna say all right I would go back to 48 hours ago and I would do whatever I could to have my job at on three start soon so I could scream from the mountain tops what I've been feeling in my loins for the entire summer ever I talk to Pete Samson on my old podcast Notre Dame is going undefeated this year that's my official prediction and it does not hit the same after they go into college station and win the way that they did um but I want you guys to know and I mean this Scouts Honor that's what I felt coming into the year I think they've got a very good defense um they're very physical their quarterback needs to stay healthy they might have some options uh between Bo Collins and and Chris Mitchell and guys like that on this team to finally have some offensive explosiveness on the outside their schedule stinks like they are in a position right now where if I had to draw it up and what I would guess if I was doing the Bracketology thing five seed so I will vouch for Ari he did say before the game that he thought Notre Dame would be undefeated he also said Clemson would cover against Georgia so he's not perfect I don't need a time machine I got my pal here that's right that's right I can yeah I'm impeachable I would never lie to you ever but no you did say that and if they go undefeated they probably are the five seat and this is the the genius of Jack swri former Notre Dame athletic director who was a part of Designing this 12 team playoff because Notre Dame never has to join a conference if they're in a situation where most years they can go 10 and two and make the playoff it's completely fair that they can't be needed one through four and get a buy because they don't play a conference Championship game and your your Georgia and your Alabama and your Ohio States and your michigans do have to play one so it's completely Fair it works out perfectly but the genius of this is as we've talked about all off season the five seed is the catbird seed because you play the 12 seed which may not be the 12th ranked team maybe the 24th ranked team and then you play the four seed which is definitely not going to be the fourth ranked team and maybe like the ninth ranked team yeah well like based on what we understand about the sport right now will probably be the big 12 Champion yes which may be a team that is outside of the top 10 at that point now you it might not be I mean I don't know if you you watch some Big 12 Football they got some spunky teams over there um yeah their first round playoff game is their conference Championship game against a team that isn't as good as most other teams have to play in their conference Championship exactly it's a better situation so like Notre Dame is defitely in an advantageous position when it comes to advancing in the playoff which is really the only thing that this fan base has been dying for you know they've had their big major bullwin drought hung over their head now for the past you know decade plus you know I I think right now they're in a position where between Riley Leonard and Jeremiah Love and and the pieces that they have in their secondary that came back the all Americans back like they have a lot of really good things and like as we're doing these videos it is occurring to me and I don't know what the reason for this is I don't know if it's nil or you know recruiting Trends or whatever but like there are a lot of very exciting new teams this year yes and I know that Notre Dame has made the four team field multiple times so they're not necessarily a new team but they are a team that you have to take seriously as a legitimate Contender because um of these these types of teams having big pieces on both sides of the ball that are reliable um and watching them go into college station and Maul an SEC team that has recruited like a juggernaut is pretty impressive to me well and and I'll tell you what the most exciting thing from a Notre Dame perspective was for me is watching that offensive line take over as the game went on and open holes because we were worried about how they protect Riley Leonard because they're they're mostly new you know new starters new playing together they had hoped Charles Jaga would be their starting left tackle he gets hurt in preseason camp and he's out for the season so they they handled that part pretty well Texas M's pass rush is really good and it wasn't perfect but Riley Leonard is so mobile that that he could make some things happen and and keep them out of bad place but the fact that they were mauling Texas A&M up front late in the game opening holes for the backs is there anybody else on their schedule that they're going to have trouble doing that with well we like we we played this game with some other teams but let's play the game where's the loss Florida state is that the the toughest game that they play they've got to go to Georgia Tech that could be tricky yeah that Mercedes Benz stadium so like that's going to be half it's be 50% Notre Dame 50% Jordan T but based on what we've seen from Georgia Tech so far they're pretty good on the line of scrimmage too I think Louisville could be tough Louisville obviously house Notre Dame last year in Louisville this game's in South Bend this year yeah so and also too if they slip up one time they're probably still in the playoff the path might be a little bit harder might you want to have you might want to you want to have that five seed pathway um but we're talking about a team here that has pieces has physicality and also to let's talk about this for a minute like where are we at Marcus Freeman and you know last year I covered the Ohio State game you were also there right um and he made I can't remember what the boneheaded decision on the field with the game on the line it's like there were some questions like is this guy ready for this and it's like Marcus Freeman is smooth he's charismatic he's a good-looking man I think he he recruits well he fills out a a quarter zip like you know like no nobody's business um but like if he is developing in front of our eyes too into a guy who is ready to take this team to the next step um maybe that also leads to uh more recruiting wins which is the one criticism that I would have I I don't think that they've won as many battles or or held on to as many players as I thought they would when they went from Brian Kelly to him but that's an aside that we could talk about I still think they're recruiting better yeah yeah yeah I I I wonder if there is a glass ceiling on what can be accomplished there and whether they can break through it and it takes a season like maybe the one that they are about to have to get through that so I just the reason I bring up the offensive line is that travels that that tends to be that tends to not have an off night and I think that's where Notre Dame could could really be good this year is if they get in trouble if things are starting to to look dicey they should be able to just rely on that offensive line to get a push up front take over the game on the ground and and grind it out so when you have a clunker if the passing game's not working they can make that work and their defense is going to be good enough that the scor is going be low enough that you can make you can win that way yeah yeah um there is a lot to like about this team and I know in the past we have uh you know come down on their inability to make plays or the the offensive playmaking situation I think that even in the past when they would get matched up with teams like Alabama in the playoff they wouldn't be they'd be able to match up pretty well in the trenches they weren't very good on the outside where the the players with the skill dwell and I saw a lot of tweets yesterday a lot of tweets from a lot of people saying what is this Notre Dame team with skill position players like where where am I what I watch yeah uh so that's exciting that's really exciting well I cannot wait to see what the Irish do from here Northern Illinois Purdue Miami of Ohio like they've got a they're not a dog for the rest of year look at the schedule we they a dog they're not a dog dog for the rest of the year unless USC is really good unless USC turns out to be good which by the way we know that's probably not going to happen we yeah we we're recording this before the LSU USC game so yeah we'll see we we have no idea what happened there we could be that could sound incredibly crazy if you're watching this on Monday but yeah AR this is this is a reason to be very excited at Notre Dame and I think this game was such a test for them if they lost it yeah they could probably still make the playoff but they had no margin for now they can they got a mulligan but if they don't need to use it I don't know we may be watching a playoff game in South Bend in December oh the the possibilities of this season really like when you think about not just the new system but how that new system can play out uh Notre Dame I think is firmly in the mix for whatever uh could happen in this new era of college football and maybe we'll welcome in this new era with some Notre Dame Miami action at some point down the road yes Touchdown Jesus like hey as much as things change sometimes things you know well you you Knowle you know the Miami fans will have Touchdown Jesus doing this so yeah that that would be it listen we don't know what's going to happen come December but it is a world of possibilities and it is a world of possibilities for Notre Dame because they got an offensive line then when the game's on the line they go kick some ass and pardon us for being excited Andy you know what this is college football I've been waiting all year for it to be back if you're a Notre Dame fan bask in the excitement that's right embrace the excitement don't get nervous don't get nervous enjoy it I really do think they have a chance to do something really really special this year um I've been on this team for months and months and to watch them go in and win the way that they did against the team that I think is sneaky potentially good in Texas A&M I think there's a lot a lot a lot to like about this and embrace it because that's what being a Fan's all about all right let's but got to keep it up got to keep it up but you got him Allan thank you so much for watching just a reminder subscribe to this channel right here so you never miss an episode of Andy Staples on 3 and oh by the way watch all the other great videos on the Onre Sports YouTube channel