Rapid Fire: Riley Leonard, College Station Heat, Howard Cross, Xavier Watts, Harry Hiestand

Vince are you ready for some rapid fire so ready for some rapid fire there's some really good ones in here I'm I'm kind of Pumped about this I'm happy I made you happy yeah I know you are so Andrew dropped this one in the chat last night I didn't get to it but I thought it was uh interesting fill in the blank it's blank that we haven't seen more of Riley Leonard in noted A's social media practice highlight videos during training camp it's fine I I don't have a problem not seeing Riley Leonard in social media I saw the one social media highlight that I need to see him running around the edge outrunning guys and getting a touchdown that's all I needed to see from Ryder Leonard so I'm good I just go back to what I said at the start of training camp someone asked about the fact that we weren't getting more full practices and stuff like that I I think that between the fact that you've got the new offensive coordinator in Mike Dem Brock and a quarterback in Riley Leonard who didn't get to play in the blue gold game obviously we didn't get to see him do anything in the offense so they kept things relatively vanilla which you always expect from a new offensive coordinator in the spring I think that all of those things aren't coincidences when you look at the kind of you know availabilities things that we have and haven't been able to view and the fact that you're not seeing more of Riley Leonard you know like I don't think it it it's going to come as a great shock to anyone once we see on the field what it looks like how Mike Dem Brock is employing Riley Leonard out there but at the same time I don't think that that they necess I think they want to keep that curtain up as long as possible going into the season so I think that I don't think it's a complete coincidence and again I'm I'm fine with it but I I'm not completely shocked that we haven't seen any more of that out there yeah I'm not shocked either I mean they yeah I'm not surprised and and look you're only going to have the element of surprise one time and this is a big game in game one I mean he's not doing ridiculous stuff about not putting out a depth chart and things like that like some other coaches have done in the past so I mean he's not being an idiot about it and I mean that in the nicest way possible but at the same time you also want to protect the assets that you have and you want to protect a little bit of you know any kind like I said any kind of element of surprise so I I don't really have an issue with it I've seen him throw the football I've seen him run the football what more what more do we need to see it's really be honest with you it's none of our business like Andrew says and he's the one who who threw it in there yesterday he says he thinks it's weird because he's the most important player and we haven't seen much footage of again I I just I don't think it's in their benefit to put that much out there and like Joe says there was the video of him dropping the dime to Chris Mitchell and it's like okay you know deep fade deep Corner fade right toward the sideline it's like you know very common route you know so it's not like you're giving away many trades secrets in seeing a a corner route to Chris Mitchell from Riley Leonard you know but and and there was the stuff of him turning the corner and you know in that video that they put out last week and and stuff like that we'll have plenty of chances we're yeah that's a thing my watch is dead oh what are we we're 17 days away it look as much as Notre Dame football is for the fans and all of those things they have no responsibility to the fans to show them anything in the preseason I mean I I know that sounds harsh and I'm not trying to be an a-hole about it but they really don't have any responsibility to show off what they're working on you know what I mean like they yeah they don't so I don't really I honestly do not have a problem with it I don't DK's asking if if Freeman has officially announced the starting quarterback he's not going to just FYI like a little jab like like that's like there's any question there they're not going to when we have seen who's been out there with the first team fill in the blank all the talk about the heat in College Station Texas is blank it's over blown it's overblown I'll just say that yes it's going to be hot yes it's going to be humid is Notre Dame aware that that is going to happen yes they are are they taking precautions like fluids and r and you know the way that they're practicing sure of course they are at the end of the day that is not going to be the difference in who wins or loses this game period it's not going to I'm sorry and if that's the excuse coming out of why you lost then they're not the football team that we thought they were Carlos says no it's not he's from Texas and it's 103 degrees there congatulations so is Texas A&M and here's here's the thing I I get acclamation and all that different kind of stuff but this is just a new spin on one of these kind of topics that comes up every year last year it was how are they going to adjust to the time zone difference going to Ireland and coming back right from Ireland it worked out remember a few years back when they we B bopping all over the country they went to New York they came back they played in San Diego against Navy they came back they played there was a home game they played a game in Chicago against Northwestern and then they went back to Los Angeles Southern California at the end of the season there was all this talk about how are they gonna do it all this travel they're flying back and forth and all these time zones and all this different stuff guess what it worked out like it's gonna be hot like there's there's nothing there's absolutely nothing that we can say you know that's going to convince everyone you know that that it's going to be okay you know because you've got to be you've got to be you've got to see it and they've got to prove it to you first it's it's it's G to be hot there's no way around that but you know the the game is going to kick off after 7:30 pm Central Time right so like you know I I did look at the weather down there in College Station today it'll probably by halftime drop at least 10 or 12 sure degrees and then by the you know the fourth quarter it'll probably be a good 15 degrees cooler compared to the start of the game that's you know that's that's all I can say I mean will it be a factor yes but there are a lot of smart people who get paid a lot of money both on the coaching staff and the performance staff over there at Notre Dame I've got full confidence that they've got a plan and it'll work itself out that's that's all I can right and there's also a lot of guys on this roster that came from south of the Mason Dixon line who are used to playing in the heat that's part of it too but Vince they haven't been practicing in the heat so so that that that changes everything because they're not practicing in the heat for a week beforehand right yeah and okay I'm G play Devil's Advocate I am super worried about the heat how would you like me to practice in that heat while living in Northern Indiana because this is still college football that is the first week of practice I mean I'm sorry the first week of classes or the second week of classes something along those lines they can't just pick up the whole operation and go move to Texas for a week it's not going to happen so how would you like Notre Dame to practice to get acclimated to heat that does not exist in Northern Indiana that would be that would be my question so you can complain it it's the whole it's the whole you can complain all you want but don't complain to me unless you have a solution so what is your what is your solution people in general like not you I mean are you just going to panic about it you know like I know there are some people who think that they need to pack up and and practice down there all week so they can get acclimated to it you know like like that's going to solve everything you know it it's yeah I agree with this what what Andrew says you know because they're all G Notre Dame is gonna have these guys hydrated you know again they're going to have a plan that begins not just the day before the game you know start swelling some Gatorade Friday night right which you know it's like that's what your high school coach would tell you on Thursday night it's like it's going to start early in the week correct they're they're going to have them over hydrating as much as possible they're probably goingon to be checking on all all this different stuff it comes down to depth and Notre Dame has got good depth and I think that they're gonna ultimately have more depth than Texas I agree completely and Notre Dame will use its depth there's no doubt about it but they're not going to be stupid about it either they're not just going to roll people out there to roll them out there that that's not smart football either so you know we've talked about the defensive line being able to go 11 or 12 deep you'll probably see nine or t of those guys right you know the the linebackers he talks about playing all five okay what does that snap count look like when Texas A&M is all over with is it going to be three with most and two with some you know what what is all of this going to look like we're all going to find out but you cannot simulate that heat up here you can't all you can do is prepare literally the only way to do it would be if they shut the doors of the Irish athletic center the indoor practice facility and you know practice sweating their gonads off all week you know even then it's not going to be as humid you know as it will be down there you can't replicate the humidity you just can't do it that's exactly right yeah you just can't it's not yeah it's just not feasible so is it is it a factor but I don't think going to be the factor that a lot of people like I said they went to Florida state three years ago it's hot and muggy and Tallahassee too like it's not like Notre Dame has never started off a season playing in sweaty hot conditions you know so like this is just the thing that we have to think about you're right couple weeks before the season right starts I don't know what else to say so here's one that Tommy had last night that we didn't get to another one of our we in we out he says Notre Dame will actually handle the heat and humidity as it relates to cramps and heat exhaustion better than the agies due to having the deeper rotations in or out on that I'm in on that I think that's I think we just started talking about that right we kind of stepped on that question a little bit but I think Notre Dame does have the depth and I think that they will Outlast Texas A&M in that department in elco's first year you know what I mean like yeah so maybe that's not the case next year but it is the case this year yeah like A&M's like their front end guys on the defensive line that we've talked about they're good they're really good but I don't I don't think that they're going to be able to go 11 or 12 deep like Notre Dame is going to and that's going to be the key those guys are really good their first line is really really really good yeah are they going to be able to be out there every single series every single play like that's unrealistic in the heat right and so does Notre Dame take advantage when those guys are off the field that may be what this game comes down to right and so yeah I I do think Notre Dame has more depth I do concur so Howard cross Benjamin Morrison Xavier Watts they've all been named to the 2024 Chuck bed neric award watch list the award goes to the nation's top defensive player which of the three has the best chance to win that award well you know I it's Pro without knowing the history of the Bic award I would assume that it's difficult to go back to back right kind of like the Heisman like you're just not going to see a two-time winner now watch won the nersi last year and the nersi I'm sorry you're right yeah this is the bedner oh there's so many damn Awards I know all right I know my fault you know I don't think Xavier watts is gonna have the stats to win that award this year I think Riley I'm sorry Howard cross could potentially win that award if the stats back it up which for a defensive lineman obviously that is very very difficult but they're going to avoid Xavier wats are going to avoid Ben Morrison and so I'll say Howard cross has the best chance to win see I think it's G to be tougher for cross just because like it's so hard for interior defensive like it's it's an anomaly for Howard cross to have the kind of season he had like 60 plus tackles last year you don't see nose guards with with that kind of production sure typically and again if the defensive line rotation is as deep as it is I you know I just I see that being hard now to your point I also don't see Xavier Watts coming up with seven interceptions right again right this year but you know like if he's even got five and he's a tackling machine which I think that he can be you know like one thing about watts is like he he like he's got a knack for knowing where the ball is supposed to to be and that that leads into the interceptions that tackles all these different things so I'm going to lean it toward Watts just because I think it's I think it's going to be harder for cross to replicate the pure numbers that he had as a tackler last year because the position that he plays fair enough I'm gonna go toward wats this one from Lando kissian since analyst can coach on the field now do you buy or sell Notre Dame should do whatever it takes to bring Harry heand in on a limited role SLP parttime analyst role to coach up the younger players by yourself huge cell you don't bring in an alpha to be a subordinate it wouldn't work it it would not work I'm sorry it would it would not work so that's a huge huge sell for me I'm in the same boat like there there there are a lot of people who have this Pie in the Sky well analysts can do this like bring this bring this former head coach in as an analyst well like it's not as simple as just saying you obviously heand is not a former head coach but as you said he's an alpha he was just running this position group a couple of years ago exactly yeah so like you're going to bring him in and have him work under Joe Rudolph now you know just like bringing a former head coach in to work under someone as an at the same place that you were that position like yes no that doesn't work I just don't see it I just don't see it so I've got to sell because I it's just it's again I think it's a pie in the sky you know kind of idea that you're going to get this guy who used to be the guy and bring him in it's like well he doesn't have to recruit now and all that different kind of stuff I here's the here's the other thing you either have faith in Joe Rudolph or you don't yeah and what are you telling Joe Rudolph if you bring in Harry hean to out I mean this is a Jerry Jones move to be quite honest this is a Jerry Jones kind of move this is what Jerry Jones would do bring in someone put him on the staff and you know like like he brought Dan Quinn in under Mike McCarthy it obviously worked out for the defense but he kept Dan Quinn around with the thinking that well if Mike McCarthy doesn't cut it we've always got Dan Quinn and we can promote him there are only so many times that you could do that and you know the defense stunk in the playoffs last year and so Jerry decided that that wasn't the move anymore but that's the kind of move that Jerry would make do you really want to be making Jerry Jones type decisions the answer is no right and DK says Alabama did it off in bringing in X NFL coaches to be analysts I get it but it has to be the right fit you you can't you can't bring in the and guys were willing to work under Nick Sabin because they knew what it would ultimately do for their career this is completely a different scenario let's not compar Marcus Freeman is a good head coach he's not Nick Sabin that's that's the difference is cor Nick Sabin was the guy that they were working for in Alabama and they knew what it could do for their career correct and it in a quick amount of time and it wasn't being a subordinate to the position group that you were in charge of two years ago like no it's a completely different scenario and it would be completely awkward and it would not work that would be oil and water would not work right okay Vince so actually let's get to this super chat here okay first I forgot that Patrick dropped that in I don't want to forget it thanks for the Super Chat Patrick he says apologies if previously brought up but how much of an impact does it have with Mike Elco tutoring Riley Leonard for two years thanks for the great show thank you again Patrick so what do you think impact on the Mike ELO impact well first of all yeah first of all Mike Elco was not the quarterback's coach nor was he the offensive coordinator he wasn't tutoring Riley Leonard in anything unless he needed help maybe in a math class or something like that like he he's a defensive guy he's not an offensive guy so that part means nothing to me uh as far as that part of the question now what I will say to this is Riley Leonard went up against Mike elko's defense in practice every single day so who has the advantage here Sean the guy that saw Riley Leonard go up against his defense or the guy who actually went up against his defense every day I think you can make a case for either one to be perfectly honest with you right so I look there's advantages on both sides I I don't think that again there's a lot of storylines that that are attached to this game and rightfully so and it gives us a lot of fun things to talk about this is also not something that this game is going to come down to it's just not and it goes back to what we were talking about before with the fact that Notre Dame is not sharing a lot of video of Riley Leonard out there again like there is a connection between Riley Leonard and the guy who's the head coach now down there and he's a defensive coach Mike kco like you said you know so like does he know Riley Leonard's Tendencies sure but there's a Riley Leonard knows Mike elco's Tendencies too right on the so does Mike Den Brock because Mike you know they've exactly I guarantee you that one of the things that they're doing you know is you've got the entire off season you talk about analytics departments and all that stuff they have put together all these cut UPS you know the question is ultimately going like you can have a plan but the question is do you have the Personnel Bingo to pull off the plan and I still think that that is Advantage Notre Dame Riley Leonard Mike Den Brock absolutely and look you can know Riley Leonard's Tendencies and that's all well and good but you know he's got a lot of talent around him who he can get the ball to and just because you know what a guy is going to do doesn't mean you can stop it I just don't I don't put you know yes there there there's I would be naive might know do you might know Riley Leonard Tendencies but again like you don't know what pass routes these everyone's going to run on any given play the guys the guys on the field still have to cover right the guys on the other side of the field there's just so much more that goes into it you know like like do you know if he like to throw right versus left okay you probably know some of those things more you know you know you know does he like to run right versus left when he bailes out of the pocket those kind of things okay you have some of those Tendencies but the end of the day you still it's still have to go out and try to execute it and I think correct I think that that there that there's more Advantage for Riley Leonard than there is Mike ELO in that instance correct so longtime college football writer Ralph Russo from the Associated Press took a look at the last 10 years of preseason college football rankings to predict who will actually make it into this year's 12 team college football playoffs so here's what the last 10 years say like this is a little bit of analytics that we're going to throw out here so four of the five teams in the preseason top five will make it you know again this is based on averages for the top five teams in the preseason top five will make it into the field two teams ranked between six and 10 will make it into the field one team ranked between 21 and 25 will make it and three unranked teams will make it in so do we have to use this criteria or are we just guessing on our own yeah we're using this criteria so if we're saying four the top five see Vince is already just like thought he had a plan God but did he execute the plan correctly nope I thought I knew your Tendencies and it didn't matter so yes so we're saying if this is the case if four of the top five teams are going to make it in who are the who are the four teams going to be sure who's the one that's left out so here's the top five Georgia Ohio State Oregon Texas Alabama pling in simple which of which of those five teams gets left out this is tough I've got all five of these teams in so I don't know who I would leave out because I mean Georgia would am I Mike ELO in this situation or am I Riley Leonard like I'm not sure what whatever it is you have you win uh obviously I've got this beautiful I know bracket like ready to go much this is probably as much work as you've done in advance here's okay uh so Georgia plays Clemson Alabama the these are like their toughest the toughest games Clemson Alabama Auburn Texas Miss Tennessee you I mean you said before that is a really tough schedule that Georgia has to play but they're also still one of the most talented teams in the country Ohio state has to play Oregon Penn State Michigan Oregon has to play Ohio State Michigan Wisconsin interestingly Oregon also plays Boise State in a non-conference game this year Texas plays at Michigan they also play Oklahoma Georgia Texas A&M Alabama plays at Wisconsin Georgia Tennessee Missouri Oklahoma Auburn I'm just gonna say B go it's either gonna be Georgia or Alabama I'm gonna say Alabama's gonna be my odd team out with the new coach and coaching staff based on my rankings Alabama will be the team that's out okay so there you go all right so we've so far got Georgia Ohio State Oregon and Texas in if we're just going again we're playing the numbers what Ralph Russo has said here for the top five teams get in so we're saying Alabama is the odd team out right so two teams rank six through 10 will make it here are the teams ranked six through 10 Miss Notre Dame Penn State Michigan and Florida State so two of those teams make it the other three get left out I have three teams in but I will say Notre Dame and Florida State would be my two I've got Notre Dame in ol Miss goes to LSU they have Oklahoma and they have Georgia so my question is do they win like can they get in losing two of those games the problem is I I have Old Miss is the fourth best SEC team so that's why I have them out but the problem the the other problem is I have Alabama as the third best SEC team so that's why I had them in I'm just going to go Miss and Notre Dame I think Miss and Notre Dame wait wow Florida state who's going to win the C Clemson we're going to get to that okay actually I need to I need to I forgot to compare those schedules like I I did all these other schedules look at Salty's question bring Salty's question because I'm not exactly sure what he's trying to say is he trying to say that like we shouldn't be using these this criteria because the criteria doesn't matter like he's saying something about this criteria is tough though because there are different rules rules in this playoff scenario that you have to follow so it's tough to kind of follow these particular but I mean that's what you know that's again you know like he obviously because of the fact that the four you know Conference champions get the buys and all that stuff obviously he took a look at what they would have been if it was at that as well yeah yeah it's yeah it's not just straight up rankings obviously but because for one we're talking about preseason rankings we're not talking about the rankings at the end of the season the the the averages say over the last 10 years that these teams in these spots would have made the playoffs if that makes sense it does it does make sense and again I know I threw your I I think I'm with you I'm gonna go Notre Dame in Florida State as well and I and I think the fact that they play each other helps out the loser of that game okay basically so I'll I'll I'll agree because Florida state has an easier schedule than what ol Miss has because Florida State basically has to play Clemson and Notre Dame whereas ol Miss again they've got to play LSU they've got to play Oklahoma and they've got to play Georgia and if somehow they end up in the SEC Championship game then you got a duplicate there as well this next one is very difficult yeah so now you got to pick one team ranked between 21 and 25 that's ultimately going to get in because again you know this is what the averages say you know like like just like the averages in uh in the preseason polls say seven teams that start off in the polls are going to be out you know so like the averages say that a team that starts out ranked between 21 and 25 is going to make the playoffs so which team in the preseason AP poll ranked between 21 and 25 is going to make it Arizona Kansas USC NC State and Iowa are your choices that's tough man that's tough I look I've got of these teams right I've got Kansas third in the Big 12 I have Arizona fifth I have USC fourth in the Big 10 and state is nowhere to be found and Iowa is nowhere to be found so using that criteria I guess I've got to go with Kansas but I'm not sure the big 12 is going to get three teams in right so I I'll say the Big 12 well do we have any teams from from the Big 12 in so far I don't think we do we don't no we don't because there's none that are ranked high enough to answer our first part of the question right cuz like the middle part of the poll Utah LSU Clemson Tennessee Oklahoma Oklahoma State Kansas State Miami you got a bunch T&M got bun 12 contenders in there in the middle so right so that that's why this is a this that's why this is tough because you're guaranteed to at least get one big 12 team in and there's not a big 12 team in the top 10 right now right and you know what I mean so like I think you're not you but I think this thing is overlooking the rules that the conference Champion automatically gets in and the odds of it being Utah this is this is just strictly looking at the rtings you're absolutely right so like you're not going to predict a perfect field and what salty is saying is he says what he's saying is the data was built on a four team playoff no it's not he's trying to to cross apply it to a 12 team playoff system that has no data yet you again now he's going off the final rankings and if there was a 12 team playoff these he's saying if there would have been a 12 team playoff over the last 10 years statistically speaking based on the based on the averages these are the teams that would have made it in like Bas you know like what they start out here's what it shows they would have made it in if there had been a 12 team playoff he's not using a four team playoff system yes we also know that a group of five will make it in at salty because he also says that there are three unranked teams which would be the group of five that will make it in and a group of five in this case and typically every year the best group of five team doesn't start off ranked in the top 25 so like if you look at the others receiving votes you got Louisville Virginia Tech Boise State SMU Iowa state liberty Washington West Virginia Memphis Nebraska Wisconsin uh Texas San Antonio to Lane lean State Kentucky Auburn and Colorado see that's tough because none of those teams are getting in except for a group of five team right and like you know what I mean like it's it's going to be the highest yeah it's going to be the highest ranked group of five team and like looking at some of these group of fives that are in those others receiving votes like Boise State plays Oregon week two Boise State beats Oregon then every most likely gonna be jacked up because Oregon is probably in a lot of people's brackets right now right Tain plays Oklahoma um Memphis plays Florida State UTSA plays Texas for example and remember all you got to do is be the highest ranked group of five team at the end of the season you don't even have to actually win your conference although you're probably gonna have to win your conference to be the highest ranked team but like so any of those teams there could lose to the to the to the power four team that they're playing and ultimately end up in the playoff as well John says Liberty going back to Liberty I had Memphis as my group of five but it was kind of just picking numbers the direction I'm going yeah that's the especially because they do play Florida State so even if they lose that game and it's relatively close I think they'd have a good chance yeah at making it in so so what you did all the you did all the work tell me tell me the field that you predicted okay without this crazy criteria being thrown in there that screwed everything up for well clearly I didn't read the instructions of the assign so as a teacher I fail the assignment but uh you know it is what it is so my top four seeds are Georgia 1 Ohio State 2 Florida state three Utah four okay so those they get to buy so those are your conference champions then basically correct so then I've got Oregon five I've got Notre Dame six okay Texas seven Clemson 8 Alabama 9 Penn State 10 Oklahoma State 11 and Memphis 12 okay so I like that yeah so some parody in there and Notre Dame get some nice matchups in my opinion but that was just happen stance with where I ranked that yeah so who would not today be playing so they play Oklahoma State in the first round at home right that's that's I don't think that would even be close if I'm being honest then you've got a rematch with Florida State obviously at a neutral field and then the way I have it set up it would be another not a rematch from this year but a rematch from very recently Notre Dame against Ohio State in the final four that so some advantageous you know in my opinion advantageous matchups for Notre Dame so because look at the end of the day I'm not going to get in too deep on it but end of the day I don't see Notre Dame losing to Ohio state three times in a row I just don't like they're not afraid of Ohio State anymore yeah like I just I just don't see how they lose that game so there you go I like that that'd be awesome if you saw Notre Dame in Ohio State matched up in a national semifinal be freaking great then I've got Notre Dame losing to Georgia so there you go I know it all comes crashing down I realistically you know I'm sure we're going to do some predictions and things like that I think Notre Dame can win two games in the playoff this year and then I too and depending on matchups and things like that we'll see how it goes but in this particular scenario I like the match up with Ohio State you know what I mean and so I had them winning a third game but then losing the fourth game and so you know it just really depends on who you get matched up with so I'm just thinking you got a quarterback like Riley Leonard you know like a little you got like a little Vince Young national state he's healthy all year yeah I like it I'm saying it I like it but it's a long way to go between now and then that's for sure absolutely Archer says Vince I sure do I'm sure you do and you should you should absolutely why would you be afraid of Notre Dame you're two and0 against Notre Dame you should not be afraid of Notre Dame Notre Dame should have won the game they didn't Ohio State went and won the game last year there's no two ways about it I give them all the credit in the world for winning it when the chips were down and they had to go win it they won it and I just don't see Notre Dame allowing that to happen again that's my point so anyway I think I I think the way it worked out I think I like your picks better than you know trying to to weave around because like you said right I think the one thing that that that obviously isn't accounted for are the automatic qualif like in this whole formula that he tried to set up because rankings are one thing but that still doesn't apply to you're you're trying to predict in August who's going to win Conference Championship Games the first week of December when you obviously don't even know who's who's going to be in those games so all right that's going to do it for tonight a lot of great questions between we in we out and the mailbag and we do appreciate it we will be back tomorrow of course with more ivb Nation Sports Talk hit the like button before you leave subscribe rate and review and all that good stuff and again much appreciated and we will talk to you tomorrow on IB Nation Sports Talk