IB Countdown To Kickoff: Notre Dame VS Northern Illinois

[Music] it is IB countdown to take off along with Jesse Styers I am Sean Styers as we roll into week two Notre Dame in Northern Illinois home opener this weekend 3:30 Eastern time at Notre Dame stadium of course you can watch it on NBC or on the peacock app and uh you can also listen on the radio virtually around the world world on uh the internet on the Odyssey app and now it is not spelled like homers Odyssey it is AAC y.com or the Odyssey app audac y That's where you can find the Notre Dame radio broadcast how are you today Jess I'm doing well it's Friday just got a new car got to drive that home I'm riding around in style now I can't complain you're gonna be in town this weekend yes for the Cowboys and Browns game so pretty excited about it absolutely well let's just uh kick it off as we get into you know like we said it is home opening weekend but uh noted aame coming off a big road win over Texas A&M last week how important was this let's start at the top of the pecking order how important do you think it was for Marcus Freeman just just Marcus Freeman specifically to go in a go to A&M and get that win last week yeah I think it's a huge statement for Marcus Freeman um in year three as a head coach um I I think that there was a lot of kind of question marks going into the season are we going to see a more refined you know matured um basically you know better overall coach in Marcus Freeman and I think there was no better way to start the season um and and going into SEC territory playing it's what what's considered you know the most hostile environments um and getting the job done and not only did we see you know Marcus Freeman the coach but we saw Marcus Freeman the motivator um got his guys ready and I think that was the imate Difference Maker I think that guys are going to trust you and buy in and play harder for you um you know if you're able to motivate and show them that they can basically trust you right and so margus fman did a tremendous job of letting him letting his players know that he has their back and they were G to come out out of you know Kyle Field with the victory no matter what so huge statement for Marcus Freeman in year three yeah I think the thing that people are still talking about here almost a week later is the whole video from the tunnel of him fired up and firing his you know his guys up and the offensive line behind him and the whole thing and someone I can't remember if it was on the message board or one of our YouTube show posts or whatever someone said could that have been very intentional of Marcus Freeman just the fact that those offensive those young offensive linemen were up there right behind him like first guys out of the tunnel and that whole thing like could it have been intentional that he wanted them right there he did say that it was intentional on his part that you know that that that he went up with the fire and brimstone and the emotion and and you basically telling like you could see him telling those guys that that he believed in them and he knew that they were going to get the job done and that kind of stuff do you think it could have been intentional just that that it was him and the line there at the start or or or is it just like these you know typically they come out with now that I think about it they do come out with offensive line out front quite a bit you know it's like the you know your your biggest guys get off the bus first kind of thing yeah I think it was definitely intentional and I and I think earlier in the week someone said in the chat when we were kind of discussing this that you know the offensive line is usually who kind of leads the team out of the tunnel but I think it was very deliberate this week I think there was you know no one else was going to do it um your offensive line is what's going to you know protect you and you know carry you throughout the game and and they were going to be the ones you know on the front front line essentially right so the the whole team was behind the offensive line I love the motto that it sent and of course Marcus Tran out there getting those guys um fired up it was great I even before we got on the show today I was showing you that clip of you know Nick Savin on Pat McAfee show just talking about how he loves Marcus Freeman and how he really enjoyed you know seeing what he did and and certain situations call for that as a head coach you have to have a gauge of your team and kind of what's right in the moment and I think that's exactly what Marcus Freeman did and and you know it goes to me to The Testament of the offseason not only do the players get better and train harder but Marcus Freeman had a commitment to getting better as a head coach right he said he studied different things on different stops on different trips that he took you know throughout the the the off season I think it definitely showed he's he's you know I obviously there's still a lot to go in the rest of this season but I like the Marcus Freeman I saw in that first game and it was definitely different than the first two seasons of Marcus Freeman that we've seen and I do think it was important for him to be able to go into that environment especially with essentially vast majority of the you know the experts analysts whatever you want to call them picking against Notre Dame saying that it was an unwinable situation and you know look Marcus Freeman couldn't even go on the road and beat an average Clemson team or a better than average or better than expected Louisville team last year so for him to go on the road right away this is is this is to me other than beating USC and Caleb Williams maybe last season you know you could debate which one is bigger I guess but in in terms of what he's done just in Road games this is definitely his biggest win and it was a ranked opponent it was an SEC opponent all those different things so I think it's really big for Marcus Freeman to be able to kind of get this notch in his belt and to pick up this kind of win not just play close in this kind of game but to pick up the victory on the road against a ranked Texas A&M team the offense was not necessarily spectacular but they obviously made plays when they need to do you want to talk about the offense first or the defense first I think there's more to kind of consider with the offense so okay let's do that they you know they said they've said this week that the game plan against Texas A&M was specific to Texas A&M specific to Notre Dame's inex experienced offensive line going up against a really good Texas A&M defensive line they got the ball out quick they didn't ask Riley Leonard to stand in the pocket and you know like look downfield you know look for deep routes in those different kind of things how differently though do you think this offense looks now over the next month potentially I think you're going to see nothing like too drastic I think the number one that thing that you'll see um you know this offensive line is naturally going to get better they're not going to be going against one of the top defensive lines in the country and and the environment like KY field every Saturday um and so when you look at those things I I believe it was very very obvious that they were designing plays to get the ball out now they weren't asking their offensive lineman to block you know overly long um they knew they needed to get the ball out but I mean let's not let's not forget they still ran the ball for 198 total yards on the ground I think that's you know a huge stat considering who they were playing on the road um I I just think now you're going to see more of you know development routes not timing routes development routes downfield uh allowing wide receivers to kind of get open you know more downfield I guess is what I would say less timing let's get the ball out um and we talked about this I think yesterday Ry Leonard is not going to run the ball as much in these quarterback designed runs over the next few games I think again there's going to be a a concerted effort to kind of get that pass game you know going and getting the offensive line into pass protection and allowing them to to develop as well look who's here it's our old friend Vince stario how you doing what's up guys what's going on you know good we're good the day job just gets in the way sometimes you know yeah I hear you I hear you excited to be here home opener here we go absolutely absolutely well we were just talking about the offense and yeah the Texas A&M specific game plan and how it could look different really going forward I there's no doubt to to me that like like Jesse said like it I don't know about you but the rushing total sort of flew over my head until I saw the number at the end of the game and even then it didn't really register until I looked at it a couple of times it's like they almost ran for 200 yards against this team 198 I believe right yeah now granted you know like probably the most consistent Runner was Riley Leonard but then price and love both had big explosive plays that that added to that total but um you know again I think you can probably take that for granted but those guys just kept plugging away kept plugging away yeah I think that Notre Dame has obviously been known for that the next the next level of the evolution though is definitely going to be Riley Leonard the passer in terms of and we're not talking about it's got to be you know Bombs all you know bombs away all day and stuff like that but the longest pass he completed was the 20 well yeah yeah was 20 longest pass through the air anyway yeah was the 20 Yer right to Bo Collins yeah I mean look I was expecting a little bit more from the offense in game one I'm not gonna lie I mean I was a little disappointed but at the same time I think this is also a game situation where the win is the most important thing and you do what you got to do to win and I think maybe you know maybe they had a bit of a different plan going into the game but then the flow of the game happened and it's like okay here's what we have to do to win this game you know what I mean and I think they dialed it back just a little bit because I do think they missed a couple of things early you know where they could have maybe stretch the field and some things like that but as the game wore on it was like okay you can kind of see what they're doing and I think you make a really good point in that they were just chipping away chipping away chipping away look they had seven negative rushing plays like that's not good they need to cut that down obviously you know too much penetration guys go in the wrong direction whatever the case may be but this offensive line was the best offensive line in the fourth quarter I mean that's when they got the bulk of their rushing yards was in the fourth quarter and that's when it matters I mean I hate to say it but that's when it matters and and they bullied him in the fourth quarter no that's absolutely right and like Marcus Freeman said you know he was planning on winning a close game in the fourth quarter and they absolutely took over the game on that Majestic touchdown drive with you know a pair of runs by Riley Leonard a key third and five to Jaden great house the key 20-yard pass to Bo Collins and of course Jeremiah Love finishing off with the last three plays of the drive with with a couple of explosives in the last two there do you think as we've done the shows this week and obviously listeners can tell us otherwise after the fact because we do pre-record this show this is the one that we record and we don't do live so we're not getting live feedback but you so they can tell us if they feel differently do do you feel like the attitude toward the offensive line has been generally more positive or you know sort of you still have something to show me which which direction do you think has been the majority it's funny because I think the majority of fans are like super excited about the offensive line right now they're they're over the moon and it's you know when you look at it as a coach and you look back at it it's like they didn't really play that well I mean they played you know well enough right like that's one of the keys to the game like just don't screw up was basically for the offensive line right I mean it's like don't give up the big play and they didn't they they they accomplished that and again in the fourth quarter they played well there's a lot of mistakes man I mean there was a lot of mistakes that they got to get cleaned up and I and I see that happening but I think overall it's it's extremely positive because I think from a fan perspective they were expecting the absolute worst and they got better than average and they think it's amazing you know what I mean so it's like it's an overreaction on both ends to be honest the truth lies someplace in the middle uh but at the end of the day I think it was a positive result I mean they didn't again they no sacks giv up that's huge you know 198 yards on the ground that's huge uh they didn't give up a ton of pressures have you heard this by the way there there were people in the show yesterday saying that someone from other other sites or something were saying that they went back and they ended up crediting Texas A&M with a sack I haven't found it on any web you know like noted Ames website it's not there on the stats I hadn't so I don't know who was talking about that but that was that's a solid question because did Riley Leonard get tackled in the backfield one time yes but it was a designed run right was not a he clearly tucked it and was trying to run the ball he was going forward with the football yeah and he only lost a yard so he was correct only a yard shy I believe of the line of scrimmage so that's not a so I'm looking at the official ESPN box score and they have updated it to give Nick score in a sack I don't know what play it was on but when we looked at it yesterday there was no sacks and now that I'm looking at it again they do have a sack in the Box Score so I don't know when that was credited I think it's kind of bogus that it's taken almost you know a week to credit that sack or whatever but you know one sack no sacks it's not like there was a handful of sacks at the end of the day so uh there's there's nothing disputed sack yeah like and again like I I think you know going back to your original question of positive or you know negative or what I have to say positive um but ultimately optimistic because of what Vince was talking about too like this is still a raw group that that can be developed and be even better than what they showed and being even better than finding a way to against Texas finding a way to win against Texas A&M to me is you know something to be even more excited about and I think the reason why you have to say it's positive is because everyone in the you know in the National media said that they were going to lose this game because of the young offensive line right and so when you can find a way to to do enough to win I think that has to be a positive I think one of the positives as well is there wasn't a like a bunch of like false starts and things like that you know like jumping with with all the crowd noise and and knowing who's across from you and those kind of things like from a from a from a mental aspect I think that's what you worry about the most when you've got young and inexperienced guys out there like how are they going to handle that aspect of it excuse me and I felt like they did great from that aspect last week so I just you know again a very opponent specific game plan as it turned out they weren't asked to to block for a long time you know like some blitzing and stuff like that but that's more than just the offensive line the running backs and and those kind of things play into that as well but I just I I came away very um I won't even say pleasantly surprised but just encouraged from what we saw from the line last week I just I just felt like as a coaching staff like you would be committing career suicide if you were throwing a couple of young guys like that out there your entire left side of the line if you weren't 100% confident that they were going to go out and get the job done you know like so I had to I had to feel confident in that decision just based on that because again I don't think it was just Joe Rudolph making that decision I think Mike Dem Brock and Marcus Freeman all had input on that because it was such an important decision pair of decisions you know with both of those guys getting those jobs it was it was uh ballsy for sure but they obviously had confidence and yeah you know I I don't blindly just say trust the coaches but in this regard since we saw basically no practice you kind of have to say trust the coaches right and they obviously saw something that they liked and at the moment after one game it's working out still has to the arrow still has to point up uh you know as as they move forward but as of right now it's a it's an absolute positive I mean the easy decision was pick your veteran cougan had 13 starts Spindler had 10 starts that was the easy decision just to let him play left him one of those two play left guard I that would have been the easy decision for sure and even Tosh Baker because of his experience that would have been the easy decision but you know Napp is obviously a little bit undersized he's he doesn't have like a classic tackle body but he moved pretty well and he got the job done more times than not last week so again I was pretty encouraged by what we saw defense is something that we talked about going into the game that Notre Ames defense obviously spe specifically we all felt like there was really no National recognition of just how good and how big a factor Notre Dame's defense was goingon to be in this game but obviously it was a huge factor I me Connor wigman none of us were overly impressed with Conor Wickman going into that game and he didn't just play one of his worst games because of his own performance he played one of his worst games because of what that what Al golden and that Notre Dame defense did to him last Saturday night Jess sorry I was distracted for a quick second um yeah I was trying to find kind of you know the the qbr here for for wigman but I know it was something super poor uh I mean when a guy combines for a 100 yards and they're not able to get really anything going on the ground he had to find a way to kind of you know create plays with his arm and that's what he was supposed to be known for a guy that can make you know all the all the good throws he's got a good arm and that sort of stuff and you know I think he got himself in trouble with some errant throws he got he threw two interceptions um obviously some points I think three points came off one and then no points came off of the other but it still goes towards that you know overall turnover battle and I think the part that was a little bit more frustrating to me is you know a lot of people were saying that he was better than Riley Leonard or that he was comparable to Riley Leonard and I I thought we would see more out of of his legs as well considering it was you know a Colin Klein Le offense and I'm I still think that they truly didn't capitalize on maybe you know using his legs a little bit more especially when the the throwing and and the you know design runs to their running backs weren't as effective as they thought they would be so you know Riley Leonard proved to be the superior quarterback he's a true dual threat guy you can create with his legs and his arm um obviously he did a little bit more with his legs but again Ry Leonard the quarterback found a way to move the ball for Notre Dame Conor Wick didn't and his arm you know which again is supposed to be his best attribute didn't do anything the qbr by the way 31.8 was Conor wigman's qbr in that game that would be not good I think anything below 50 is like considered you're just throwing an incompletion like every down so he was worse than bad I mean 100 yards passing two interceptions and 100 yards passing and they only a yeah 40% completion percentage right and they and you know and like as a team they only averaged what like 3.6 per carry or something like that so it was just a dominant performance by Notre Dame's defense and to us anyway it was very expected yeah I think that's the key right I mean I don't think anybody surprised at how well this this defense played I mean there were some individual surprises maybe although I thought ad Don Schuler was going to be good I don't know that I expected him to be as good as he was and the mistakes that he made were aggressive mistakes right and you know I I just I think it was a mistake for people who were handicapping this game and were commenting on this game to ignore Notre Dame's defense and that's what happened they ignored Notre Dame's defense in this whole matchup it was all about Texas A&M's front seven versus Notre Dame's offensive line guess who won that battle it wasn't the it wasn't the front seven for Texas A&M you know what I mean and and then the defense just said yeah we're really good too were the best defense on the field yeah secondary was every bit as good as we thought it was going to be it was Elite like we knew it was going to be to me though Jess and you can talk about this a little bit with all those relatively inexperienced linebackers running in out there Jack Kaiser had the most snaps as we would expect but all those other guys like played really well you you drew up one of the uh the plays that jayen Sneed made on that tackle for loss where he grabbed the guy's t-shirt and there was the one that was down inside the red zone as well where he crashed off the end and he and he made that huge tackle for loss I mean they they just all like I really I really like the way they Ed those linebackers because I would have thought like you could get caught with a guy on the field who maybe you didn't want on the with with just situationally with all the subbing and stuff like that but they really played to their strengths I thought and it really showed I mean there were there were a couple early runfit issues but as the game went on wasn't an issue anymore again like when you look at the 3.6 per carrier whatever the specific number ended up being yeah I think you kind of hit the most important part there is there it felt like there was never a weakness you know with who was on the field and you never felt like man I wish Drake bone was on or KVA was on or Ste was on or Osberry was on they all played at a high level um and they definitely you know kind of started out slow in terms of the Run fit but I mean that's natural these guys it's it's their first big start on the road in a big game um they're naturally going to settle in and kind of just learn to trust their reads instead of just kind of you know when you're playing all jacked up on adrenaline sometimes you just can't the game moves a lot faster than what it needs to right and so I think once their heart rate came down the game slowed down for them a little bit and the most impressive part about those linebackers is that type of linebacker that Marcus Freeman is recruiting these are now Marcus Freeman recruits all these guys are fast all these guys can play downhill and there's a ton of athleticism to these guys and I think that's what was evident you know on the field and and to me the linebackers were a huge differenc maker because look at Texas A&M's linebackers jarian price and Jeremiah Love put those their linebackers in the mixer or in the blender and put Jes on them all right like you didn't see that happen to nerd a linebackers nerd a linebackers once they got their hands on you or an open space they were getting you down and and I think a lot of you know those runs broke because of poor execution on the on behalf of the Texas A&M linebackers so it was a a pivotal part you know in that game especially in the fourth quarter but I just love overall the athleticism those guys are now playing free and fast and you can definitely see it on the field uh as we flip it now to this weekend in Northern Illinois home opener and my biggest concern for this game has been just the whole is there going to be a mental letdown like two years ago they go to Ohio State they open really close hard fought game now obviously they lost that game but then they came home and they lay a massive egg to Marshall now they were a lot better last year in terms of taking care of teams they were supposed to take care of Vince do you have do you have any concern about that like how much do you think we find out about this team along those lines this weekend in this game I think Marcus Freeman made it very clear that you know he can take care of the teams he's supposed to take care of last year but last year is last year right we I think we need to see it be a trend and this is the first opportunity that this team this year the 24 team is going to have to make that case right I think if they can go through this year and you know you know basically I mean for lack of a better turn put a beat down on you know Miami Northern Illinois Army Navy if they can go and do what they've done to those teams like they did last year then I think it's a trend you know we always used to say under the last regime look Brian Kelly beats the teams he's supposed to beat sometimes it's ugly but he always beats the teams he's supposed to beat last year Marcus Freeman not only beat the teams he was supposed to beat but he beat the crap out of them he beat him down I mean I mean beat the crap out of them so I think if we see that again today or tomorrow or Saturday then we can start having that conversation that Marcus Freeman is now at least in that category that okay these are these are the games that he's going to win convincingly these guys are going to be ready for it it's not going to be an issue I'm gonna I'm gonna go ahead and play this from his Thursday Zoom you you it's there's no lack of motivation CU all you got to do is watch the game and evaluate the play and we as a group see the work we have to put in we got a lot of work to do um you know as you look at the outcome of the Texas A&M game that's what you know that's what we want right obviously you want to win the game but when you evaluate you evaluate every play and there's a lot of of different areas and and plays specifically that we have to make sure we're improving at and that's as a as a unit on each side of the ball but that's also as individuals and so um we pushed them we had really good Tuesday and Wednesday practice long physical tough um you know I think sometimes getting back here at 4 in the morning and uh you know lack of sleep at times can can have a trickle effect but we couldn't let up and uh we pushed them hard and and I told the coaches we can't pull off the gas pedal and so um they probably were were wondering you know hey are we going to pull back because you know we we had a big win they knew right away that uh we double down so it was two really good weeks of uh I mean two really good days of practice and uh now we have to fine-tune some things before we get to Saturday and that last half of that cut there Vince is really what stood out to me where he talked about we pushed him hard on Tuesday and Wednesday and we basically they had to make sure that this team stayed engaged through the fact that they weren't just going to oh we're going to kind of take it easy because we're coming off a big win like they continued to push him hard maybe cut the team by surprise a little bit the fact that they did push him off guard and I I loved hearing that but that yeah that's a good thing I mean look northern exctly northern Illinois is a good Mac team they're they're good in their conference right they I I I feel like you know after kind of watching them they're going to be a team that's going to be in it in the end in their conference right and so you know they're a solid team they don't hold a candle to Notre Dame from a roster standpoint but Notre Dame players know that too and so you do have to kind of change the way you do things to make sure a team is still engaged in all of those I mean I think that's absolutely the right move on his part we've seen what happens when you take a team lightly right back when you know the you know they had that game against Ball State and they were basically playing all the backups during the week of practice because they were the ones that were going to get the Reps and all this other stuff they didn't even really get in the game okay I mean that is that was like just the completely wrong mindset from the beginning telling your team early in the week oh this game is going to be such a blowout oh you guys need to be getting practice reps because you're going to end up playing on Saturday completely completely wrong mindset yes the worst mindset you could possibly have and I don't think that will ever be the case under Marcus Freeman anymore and I don't think that's the mindset that he had against like Marshall or Stanford or whatever A couple of years ago but it was definitely eye openening and now I think he's much more deliberate about making sure that this team is focused and ready to go yeah I think the key word in that whole discussion is mindset right if you come into practice and you're basically you know telling your players or not telling but allowing your players not to practice as hard or you're saying hey like let's make sure some of these backups get some reps because they're going to be getting into the game that just creates a complacency mindset on behalf of the players even if you don't you know it's just naturally what's going to happen happen right they're not things aren't going to be taken as seriously um and everything is not as critical and so I think Marcus Freeman did the right thing of coming in and and like he said doubling down like we are going to practice just as hard if not harder than what we did last week because you know it's it's it's a whole season you're not really looking at who you're playing you're looking at getting better accomplishing you know what you want to as a team and that comes from getting better offensively defensively like you said there was still after watching the game been said it earlier too like there's still a lot of room and Improvement for the offensive side of the ball and the defensive side of the ball and so that's what you have to focus on is continuously getting better and not who your opponent is on Saturday yeah you can't worry about the backups until the starters do their job basically that's what it go ahead I liked what you know we kind of we talking about the other day like if these starters want to get the rest take care of your business and let the the backups come in in the fourth quarter that's that is when you're going to get your rest not during the week of practice you're going to get your rest when you come out and do your job and take care of business and that's the charge that you give your starters right I mean that's you know that's what you say you don't you don't practice the backups more than you normally do you don't practice the starters any less than you normally do what you do is it's like look if you play hard you do your job then you get to reward these guys for getting you ready to do your job like that that's the mentality that you have to have it is your responsibility as a starter on this team to do your job so that you can give these guys over here an opportunity to play in front of their friends and family it's your job you put it on them and I think that's the right mentality to have when when it's when it's such a lopsided you know situation like this you have to have the mentality of go out there do your job for your teammates so Northern Illinois specifically like you said good Mac team they were seven- six last year they won a bowl for the first time the Camila bowl or is it Camilia won it won a bowl for the first time in 12 years Thomas hammock their head coach he's uh an NIU Alum he was a a running back for NIU and and was a running backs coach for the Baltimore Ravens before he became the head coach at Northern Illinois I think this is yeah this is year six for him now but they've got 18 returning starters back on offense and defense they've had 11 or had 11 players uh who have signed in uh played rather in 40 or more games so I mean a lot of experience what does that say to you because like to me in a transfer portal world it's like well you're you're pretty good and you got a lot of guys back but if they were really good I think that they probably would have moved on and be on a pro a power four program someplace you know like just good enough but how good really are they I think it all depends on the the the culture that you have on your team and you know things of that nature and you know the culture must be good enough that they're keeping guys around obviously they're going to have opportunities to play a long time but you're right I mean if they had guys that were all world they'd be leaving and they'd be going you know off to Green greener pastures and all that stuff I that's a good point to make I I think in the past the Mac has been a you know a league where guys stick around because it's not all about the football it's more than just that right and I think when that's the case you generally have guys that stick around a little bit longer but then you throw the curveball of the new transfer portal and God you never know what's gonna happen so I don't know enough about the Northern Illinois you know culture to you know really understand what it's like but they obviously have something going on that guys want to stick around yeah I would I would largely agree with kind of everything that was said there I think that you know if these guys are talented enough I mean look at look at the player on the the Chiefs last night he's technically the backup running back he is uh the the Chiefs kick returner he started at Ball State had some good years and then he got poached to go play at UCLA right like that's to me the natural progression if you are good enough in the Mac you're eventually going to get poached by some of these you know these these powerful schools look at look at Garrick deer for example when he was at Bowling Green like he ended up going on and being a grad transfer at Al Alabama and got his way into the NFL as well so I was going to say Chuck Martin in the Miami Ohio kicker you know remember a couple of weeks ago losing he he got poached by Alabama is what chck when you win the L Gro award I mean it kind of puts your name on the map you know uhuh uhuh but yeah I think that they definitely have a solid core um and I think their core has maybe kind of hit their ceiling right because if they if they had more in the tank or or if like like like we were saying if they were this that super uber talented said they're going to find a way to go get more nil money find a way to get you know their name out there more and have a better opportunity to go on to the NFL so you know I think these players are good don't get me wrong any college you know football player is doing something right at the end of the day um but I I don't necessarily buy that these guys are just so so good that they could be potentially playing elsewhere they just have a good core that's staying kind of within their realm essentially they beat up on Western Illinois last week Ethan Hampton they're quarterback 328 passing yards and five touchdowns they also ran for over 300 yards had over 700 yards of total offense this will be career start number six for the quarterback Hampton this weekend defensively number six P pass defense in terms of yards last year number 62 run defense so what do you guys need to see from the Irish in this game uh what I need to see from Notre Dame in this game is an offense that can develop passing plays uh downfield especially kind of over the middle I think you're going to see a lot of work done over the middle um and I a good point kind of came up when I was watching the the Chiefs and Ravens game last night and I think that's something that's naturally GNA help Notre d as well is you know that Andy Reid loves having that speedster in the room AKA Chris Mitchell so he can stretch the field right like you're just o even if the play isn't designed to go to someone like him they just occupying certain part of the field right and I think the more he can get vertical the more that kind of that middle of the field can open and more of these pass plays can develop that's what I'm looking for out of the Notre Dame offense is you know more development of plays downfield I think the Run game is naturally going to be you know dominant I think Jeremiah Love and jarian price are gonna have good days um that's kind of expected what I want to see is more more guys in the wide receiver room getting in the mix um and more plays kind of developing downfield defensively hold on I just want to like piggy Beck like this is a game where Chris Mitchell's speed should really stand out a little bit tougher maybe against an SEC opponent with a pretty good secondary but this is a game where Chris Mitchell's speed and a guy like Harrison as well like their speed should really pop in a game like this yes and then just to kind of wrap up defensively what I was going to get into is know it's kind of hard to like they Divens played great last week I think that the only thing I would like to see is maybe some more more sacks more pressures along the defensive line I think a lot of people were critical of Riley Mills game I don't think he played horrible but I definitely think that you know that that interior defensive line could do um a bit more so I again I'd like to see more of those pressures uh we know what they can do in coverage the linebackers just kind of continuing to build off of the game that they had don't want to see a lot of you know bad run fits or anything like that just just mental mistakes defensively because I think mental mistakes come from not being locked in or engaged throughout the entire game like we said I think that's the big focus is yes you're playing Northern Illinois but you still have to stay focused and do your job well and it it feels like like you mentioned Riley Mills and we've we've heard people throughout the week talk about Riley Mills and and RJ Obin to some extent as well look you you can't base your total evaluation of these guys on one game and one opponent right especially when it is look it's it's still an SEC opponent they had sec IES out there like I've said things are going to change over the next month because you're just not going to see the same kind of bodies now there'll be some good players that they face and stuff like that and other guys will still make plays but it's it's just going to look different because especially for those guys down in the trenches they're not going up like those were some of the biggest bodies one way or another that they're going to face all year no doubt no doubt about it I think what I'm looking for in this game I I want number one they score on every Drive I want I want a couple no James renell no James renell in this game shouldn't need it shouldn't need it I know I should have done an over underthun in Rapid Fire oh yeah they they need to and I'm talking about when the starters are in right so they need to score on every Drive I'd like to see a couple of sustained drives and I want to see a couple of big plays if they can do that in a half then I'm happy I I don't you know we're I'm not uh counting national championships uh on Saturday that's not my goal uh offensively I just want to see the maturation process of this offense right I want to see the offensive line play better than they did on Saturday and I want to see them push the ball down the field a little bit so some sustained drives few big plays call a day hang it up defensively look they can't get better than they were defensively so that's it's hard to even say anything in that regard they just need to keep doing what they're doing and as long as they just continue to do what they do they're going to be just fine so you know I don't think there's anything tangible defensively sure you'd like to see the the the front seven maybe get a few more sacks you know that kind of a thing and I I'm sure that Northern Illinois is gonna have to pass more than Texas A&M was because they're going to be trailing you know that so they're GNA have more opportunities to pin their ears back and come after it look we know Al Golden's not going to take it easy on him right he's going to bring pressure and things like that so we're going to see more defensive explosive plays you know uh tackles in the back field sacks things like that but it's to be expected like I don't I don't need them to show that to me because I already know that they can do it so yeah and I mean you know I expect to see what I need to see from the defense is just a quarterback who is harassed throughout the game because because again this is a quarterback making his sixth career start he's been around for you know since since 2021 was his freshman year but he's made six career starts and he doesn't have a whole lot of experience and like again look at look at how Conor wigman looked last week this guy Hampton was not a fstar recruit like wigman was so I just expect to see uh a quarterback who's harassed with the kind of blitzing that Al golden is going to do and one who's going to make some pretty costly mistakes you know that's so that's what I need to see from the defense and offensively I mean you guys hit it just to just to you know I do want to see more downfield passing from Riley Leonard and the wide receivers again I think this should be a game that that sets up pretty well for Notre Dame whether or not NIU was was good against the past last year or not they were not good against the run so I expect the combination of those two to make things really difficult for Northern Illinois in this game you said something to the effect Vince of you know you're not counting championships in this game Jess and I were talking the other day though about Notre Dame's chances to go undefeated this season because their their odds went up they've still got the best chance of any team in the nation to go undefeated and some people are kind of upset that we're even talking about that right now what do you think you know like are we are we allowed to talk about it after a win like last week whether or not we think Notre Dame has the chance to run the table I would be upset if Marcus Freeman was talking about about it exactly or if the players were talking about it but guess what we don't suit up we don't call the plays we don't run practice we don't work my office isn't at the goog it's on Bittersweet so I don't think that what I say has any effect on the team whatsoever so you're darn right we can talk about them being undefeated exactly that's do when anything I say has actual impact in terms of performance on the field I need a pretty big raise yes that's you know 100% yes nobody's listening to us over there fine we don't affect anything that happens on the field so you know whether we're talking about undefeated or whatever else and some people are like oh you're gonna jinx it and all that look whatever if you believe in jinxes like that come on listen it's like if you if you believe in like what you put out you know like that whole what manifestation or whatever you should be talking about going undefeated right right exactly if that if you believe in yeah Karma manif like you know what what you say becomes fact or whatever you know like actually you know that kind of thing you should be talking about going undefeated wow people are something else I yeah guys are you ready for Rapid Fire oh baby let's go rapid fire on a Friday here we are here we are so Riley Leonard made an appearance at Dick Sporting Goods today uh right here in town it was supposed to be a solo paid nil appearance for Riley Leonard but he said hey offensive lineman come along and he let the offensive linemen take the money I guess they got you know both payment in in cash and gift cards for the appearance what do you guys think of that uh I think Riley Leonard must be doing well in the nil if he's already you know passing along giving it away passing along his gifts to the offensive line but I know he's got the one with rowack I know he's got one with new era um him and Hannah hiago I'm pretty sure are the new era Reps for Notre Dame um and so you know Ryan Leonard he's gonna do just fine in the nil and I don't even think at the end of the day it matters to him right I think he is just grateful for the opportunity to be at Notre Dame he's talked before about how he's you know a man of Christ and that sort of stuff and I I think that goes a long way with him too being able to play at you know a university like Notre Dame and and further you know connect or get his connection with god um and so it's just a a smart move if you're Riley Leonard because you're that's the group who's protecting you you know it's a young group and how do you get them to buy in and trust you more you say hey let's come along and and take all my free gifts um and so I think it's just it's really smart of Riley Leonard I think he's a natural leader um and that's ultimately what you need out of the quarterback position what you need out of the quarterback position specifically when you're trying to make a run like n Dame is this season the more he can build you know that trust amongst the offensive line the better they're going to be so I loved it I think it was a total pro move you know at the end of the day it's like when the quarterbacks in the NFL buy their offensive lineman nice new watches or atbs or you know whatever it might be while it's not you know a new watch or anything it's still something nice and he didn't have to do it at the end of the day this is what quarterbacks have been doing since day one you know taking them for a steak dinner you know giving them all the credit like this is exactly what you do when you're a quarterback that's called leadership and everything Jesse said is correct and it's accurate about all his nil money and everything else but even if he wasn't making all that money this is what you do yeah 100% or you or you go and you take the money and then you take them out to eat you know what I mean like you get them involved you show them your appreciative like it's leadership I me a lot of times like the NFL quarterbacks who you hear about doing it wait until the end of the season and kind of give the you know the lineman of bonus this is perfect like early season bonus from Riley Leonard and just continue to get that buy in and all it's going to do is make those guys work harder for you at the end of the day to protect you Riley Leonard knows where his bread is buttered so good investment and pretty cool to hear him doing that taking the lineman out there so Heather denit from ESPN after last week's noted Dame win over Texas A&M posted on X that was a signature win for Marcus Freeman she said I was on the field when they lost to Ohio State last year this was another fight to the Finish but the Irish got it done this time turning point question mark so my question to you guys do you buy or sell last week's win over the Aggies as a turning point for Marcus Freeman and the Notre Dame program I I will buy it as it could be I mean if they lost this game I don't think it would be a turning point towards the negative but winning the game could be a turning point towards the positive I mean like she's absolutely correct I mean they didn't win this game last year when they played against Ohio State now nobody's gonna say the Texas A&M is Ohio State and I totally understand that but this is the big game and it was on the road it was all of those things and we talked about it in pregame it being the most the biggest game of Marcus Freeman's career up to that point and he won it so absolutely if no if this team does what we think they have a chance to do we're all going to look back at game one and we're going to be like that's kind of where it started man that's where it got kicked off that's where they got their confidence and I think it so I will tentatively buy it as a turning point I'm jealous Vince got to go first on this one because I was basically gonna say like I will buy as a turning point if they accomplish what they're supposed to by the end of the season I I if they go out and lose to like Purdue in a week or two then you look back on you say well that game was for nothing right if they lose any game to me like but but your point is still taken yeah yeah it I I just think that you know again Notre Dame has to accomplish what they're supposed to they have to stay on track think about it you know every game uh you know game by game and not get caught up in the big picture but you know if Notre Dame goes to the playoff if they're undefeated to get that five seed you know win a home playoff game win a quarterfinal game uh and and make you know and potentially make a run for it in the semi-final game then I think everyone will look back on and say you remember that win that Marcus Freeman had at the beginning of the season and he was fired up in the tunnel that was the turning point that was a new era of Notre Dame football uh and a new chapter in the Marcus Freeman coaching career so that that to me is it's it's that book is you know still to be written I guess at the end of the day no I mean it's a way because there are a lot of people who do expect Notre Dame to go undefeated now this season because they beat Texas A&M but you like when you look at it like in terms of to her point to Den's point about turning point what's the previous biggest win Marcus Freeman had on the road in his two plus years probably Duke last year right because Duke was ranked with Riley Leonard so big difference in the you know in the environment and the amount of people there were more than twice as many probably almost three times as many people at Kyle Field last week compared to what there were for that Duke game so this is definitely the the the biggest road game he has won it's still an SEC team it is still Texas A&M and a good head coach and Mike Elco but it's it's the big it's it's at at a at a very minimum it is a road win over a ranked SEC team and that obviously counts for a lot of people because as we know the college football world I think you know puts a lot on those SEC programs whether they all completely deserve it or not let's talk a little bit of wide receivers fill in the blank here's what Notre Dame's wide receiver snap count looked like against Texas A&M Bo Collins 59 snaps Jaden Grouse 48 Chris Mitchell 32 Jaden Thomas 23 Jordan fais on 20 Jaden Harrison nine and that means blank going forward uh to me that doesn't mean much going forward because I think that you know there there was I I figured that great house might be the guy to kind of lead in snaps overall but it felt like that they had you know more confidence and Bo Collins being that guy because of the experience that he provides right like he's played in some big games at at Clemson he's played in tough environments and not to say that great house hasn't but Collins has just done it more so I wasn't surprised by the end of the day to see Collins as the the lead kind of snap count and obviously you know great house was going to be closely behind because they've talked about how he's going to be a wide receiver that can play the slot the outside you know the the the field position no matter where it is great great house can play right um I think with Faison being hurt this also doesn't mean much as well because there's going to be a kind of reshuffling I think KK is going to get to that we'll get to that in a minute is going to get into the mix as well so you know for for game one for a game plan that was very specific to Texas A&M I don't think that we should take much um into this kind of snap count type situation I think it's going to be you know just like any offensive game plan I think it's going to be dependent on you know what the goals are for that game and what they're trying to accomplish and I think that you know Bo Collins was that guy because he had the most experience I it doesn't mean anything to me a whole lot I mean they probably you know at certain points they probably had their best blockers in the game as well you know and and I agree with Jesse I think they they trust Bo Collins a lot and I think he gave them a reason to trust them at the end of the game and so he was in the game a bunch and I think great house is still going to get a bunch of snaps he's going to be on the field a lot Chris Mitchell's going to be on the field a lot you know what I mean so you know un fortunately we're not going to get a whole lot of clarity on it over the next few weeks because the next few weeks aren't all that competitive probably uh so you know we should probably compare the snaps between like A&M Louisville Florida State like oh we will it's gonna be a thing I've decided that it's gonna be a thing year because apparently people love the snap count stuff and I didn't realize it okay so so I am into the Pro Football Focus and that you know that's where I got all the numbers for so we're going to we're going to do some snap count stuff we'll kind of compare you know different like are they up are they down and you know just all that kind of stuff so it' be nice when we have a couple of other data points as opposed to just one game yeah I just feel like to me it's pretty obvious that Bo Collins is the guy you said it Vince who they trust the most and I think that there's some comfort with Riley Leonard and you can just see like someone someone on the beat I think it might have been Matt Freeman like during training camp tweeted some video of Bo Collins when he was a high school kid camping at Notre Dame what he looked like running his routes and just his body and the whole stuff versus what he looks like now as a grown man basically four or five years later but like he you can just see that instinctually because of all the games that he has played in and because of the specific position that he plays you know that size with the bigger body I just feel like I feel like there's a lot of trust in Bo Collins and I just between Collins and great house the two guys with the most snaps I think that those two guys are going to end up being the volume guys in this receiver core over the course of this season where these other guys are going to make some plays here and there that doesn't mean that they're not going to see the ball but I just really feel like Collins and Gra house and great house is obviously a little bit younger but he's got that big body and the versatility that Jesse talked about so I just feel like those two guys Collins and great house are going to end up being the volume reception guys for this team and that's you know it's again it's still early so we'll see exactly how it plays out but that's that's kind of the vibe I got just watching because again like so much of it comes down to trust who does the quarterback trust who does the offensive coordinator trust who does the position coach trust and I think the those two guys are definitely at the top of the list right now so as Jesse mentioned Jordan fison is going to be out this week he's got an ankle injury unfortunately that he suffered last week could be out for this week and next week we will kind of wait and see how that plays out but with him out we're GNA see more of red shirt freshman KK Smith a guy that we said hey he's he could possibly get in the game versus A&M and and he ended up not getting the game but we have a lot of confidence in KK um michah Gilbert's another guy um that that I think I we'll see this week um you know we we had a plan to say okay we have six guys that we know at any point can be the starter be on the field seventh and eighth at that point was KK and Micah and you know with faon being down KK will have a a a increased role but there's a lot of confidence from Micah Gilbert on down to to everybody in that room and uh you know we we'll see I think we'll see him on Saturday for sure I mean we're as he kind of alluded to we're we're probably pretty if the game plays out the way we expect we're going to see a lot of different guys out there but what kind of what kind of factor Vince do you think that KK Smith could be well it's so hard to say just because of the way this game is going to go I mean you know he is a Jaden Harrison type of guy right so Jaden Harrison got what 10 snaps in this game had a couple catches something something along those lines I think it'll be something similar uh while the first team is out there once they start putting in the twos and stuff like that obviously I think his workload increases and and things like that and I I'm anxious to see what they do once they get the second guys in there are they still running the offense are they just running it up the mid you know all of those things and so you know he'll have an impact but I don't think it'll be huge yeah I think that the the majority of what you'll see out of KK Smith is when the starters are out there I think he'll get you'll see him out there how much of an impact he has I don't think he going to be super you know noticeable I I would say like he's maybe gonna have a catch or two I think the mo the most you'll see at a KK Smith is potentially when steveen jelli is quarterback and that that's assuming thinking the same thing he gets in there so I I I think that's when you you would want to see KK Smith and I think that's naturally what's going to happen as well is yeah some some nice you know quick slam some some checkdowns uh letting KK Smith kind of operate in space with Stephen jelli at quarterback Vince's face was caught in a yawn Frozen on the screen there oh no it was hilarious whoops I tried to stop the camera Tri to close it out yeah that's right it hit me fast and hard yeah I I'll just I won't say a whole lot because I think you guys both pretty much covered it I do think that his biggest impact is like once Steve Van jelly and some of the the the twos are in there that's probably when he's going to have his most opportunities but the guy is a speedy guy so again like I was saying with Chris Mitchell earlier this is a game where Chris Mitchell's speed should really be pretty obvious and maybe some some deep opportunities there it could happen with KK Smith depending on how many early reps he gets in out there as well MIT jeta hit three field goals last week couple of 46 yarders included what's your confidence in him after seeing that performance last week I I I mean to me your confidence has to be 10 out of 10 he's in a hostile environment pressure situations and the guy was nails and you know I love this question because I felt like we didn't nearly talk about him enough or bring him up during the week he hit some critical field goals especially when Notre Dame needed to respond to get some points on the board and again he looked like a seasoned vet out there right he didn't look like the moment was too big uh I thought he executed perfectly and you know the the the the kicking game becomes magnified in close games like that and I think that's what they're going to need you know especially as they get into maybe against you know Georgia Tech Louisville USC um into the playoffs Etc like you need a kicker that you can rely on and so right now I'm 10 out of 10 confident um he hasn't shown me otherwise um and I was really impressed with the way he was able to stay composed in that environment and hit some big kicks my confidence level of MIT Jeter going into the game was about a nine and a half and now it's 10 so wow I look I know he didn't look the greatest in practice but his ingame stats are unbelievable and I don't see how putting on a different helmet would change that so I had a lot of confidence in him being a gamer you know he he's proved it in SEC play again not that that necessarily matters because you're a kicker and right you know but the environment does the environment matters and he's been in some hostile environments before so I had a lot of confidence in him going in and he just proved me right so I appreciate that so I'm bumping into a 10 I'm just gonna be honest mine was probably a six because basically the lingering impression that I had is what we saw of him at the end of the spring and a little bit in practice and he wasn't like especially in the spring it's terrible he wasn't very accurate yeah he was just downright and that's you know again I know that he's got a body of work and we saw all his numbers from South Carolina but it is a change of scenery and it's a different operation and the whole thing and I personally any I just want like has this guy lost it you know like what what's what's going on but I would say it is it is definitely a 10 right now after seeing that last week when you're able to bang a couple of 46 yarders and and go three for three and you know be able to put the game away at the end because you could say it was a meaningless field goal but it made it a two-possession game made it virtually impossible for Texas that that was far from meaningless to me because you know one thing can go wrong you can throw a pick you could fumble the ball and and you know you want to be up two possessions period end of discussion so that was far from meaningless to me I think that was the most pressure pack field goal he had in my and there were people you you kind of heard it where people were like well do you do you put the field goal team out there do you risk a block and all that stuff you know like there's just as much of a risk of a block punt if that's what you're GNA do instead or a fumbled Snap On Any Given snap no matter what like there's there yeah I mean there's risk on any play so I had no problem with with running the kicker out there and and doing it the way they did it especially if you have the confidence in them that we do yeah so yeah you absolutely let him kick it yeah and someone did say it it might have been on the message again be between the message boards and our our chat you know during the show the fact that Marty BAGI like he's got two new kickers this year you know Place kicker and a punter new holder new Long Snapper new short Snapper they you know they all the all the operations completely different and they were pretty sharp out there y Saturday night agreed it was a good it was fun to watch so I'm I'm gonna work a punt question over under one and a half punts for James Randell against Northern Illinois I'll go over one for the starters one for the backups I think you you'll naturally get one maybe towards the end of the game and I I no Vince is gonna be mad at me but I don't think the offense is going to be Immaculate and score on every Drive I want them to but I don't know if it's gonna happen so I I I lean more towards the side of air and I like I said kind of one for each group I I think at the end of the day so give me give me the OD over I'm I'm taking the under for James Rendell but I'm going to take the over for actual punts in the game because remember there's a 30-year-old who's probably gonna get a chance to punt in this game ah good one I didn't think about it that way sitness with the back alley Captain Mr going I didn't think about that going is gonna get a punt and uh I think he's going to get a couple actually because I the second and third look I think they're going to end up with two or three quarterbacks and So eventually Northern Illinois is going to be able to stop them and are you telling me it's going to be CJ Carr time or Kenny mchi time I'm not saying either one it depends on how they want to do it but I think they find a way to get three on the field and I don't know that they're going to be able to lead scoring drives depending not look if Northern Illinois puts their backups in then you still have you know the differentiation of talent and Notre Dame still May score but I'm still taking the over but I just don't think it's going to be rendel I just I can't see it being CJ Carr out there I just can you imagine what you know what the uh reaction is going to be if you throw CJ Carr out there and he leads a touchdown drive right I'm not saying that's why you're not putting him on the field but I just don't see him going that's all we'll talk about I know Northern Illinois had a 60-yard pass play and a 60-yard run play last week against Western Illinois over under 20 yards for the longest play they will have this weekend against Notre Dame this one's tough I I'll take the over I think they might accidentally get 20 yards so I'll I'll take the over I gotta go over as well no defense is is perfect there's go to they're bound to hit some sort of yeah you know busted play Maybe trick play that they've been you know scheming up for their first drive of the season so they can maybe find some points or sorry first drive of the game not season um but I I it's just that'd be a lot to ask of a defense so I'm just going to go over because I think naturally that's what's gonna happen I'm gonna go under I'm gonna say under at least when like the the starters are out there so maybe I'm cheating a little bit like I'm not going to rule out something to happen late in the game when you've got some second and third string guys out there but I'll say when the primaries are out there I'm going to go under 20 yards as long as play that Northern Illinois hits fill in the blank Northern Illinois refers to games against Power four teams as Boneyard games they have 18 alltime what they call Boneyard wins dating back to 1983 I think it's a pretty cool concept at the end of the day right when you are a Max school you're not in the power four power five you got to have some external motivation so when you go into a game like Notre Dame you know they you should never think that you're going to lose and and I think they they definitely don't think that and I think they they know that they're the underdog and their coach is going to sort of buy into that um and that's why you have something like the Boneyard type situation so you get that recognition of going in and upsetting someone because that's that's what it is Boneyard wins are just upset wins at the end of the day so I think it's a cool concept I think it's something that's fun to get the the the players you know to get some of that extra motivation um at the end of the day it's freaking great uh you know when we were going around to different Mac schools and stuff like that they all had some sort of something that depicted their power for wins oh and I love probably how they're like they rap themselves right oh 100% Boston College for example last year to open the season it's like look we can play with the big boys you know what I mean come here you get to play with the big boys you know yeah that kind of a thing and so I dig it man I I think a lot of these you know power not power uh the group of five teams they're extremely creative with a lot of the the things that they do and I appreciate it uh and I like it a lot creative was actually going to be the word that I was going to use very creative to like to go in this Boneyard wins because they're obviously the huskys you know so you got Boneyard and and that whole connection and you're right like anytime I do like when I'm preparing for a basketball game and you get the game notes and Notre a is playing one of these like a Mac level school or something like that there is always part of their notes that says you know first what the current coach has done against like the group of you know five group of or or power five power four type programs and then of course you know something like this as well that dates back like what they've done all time I mean that's how they measure themselves and I think that that's part of how they sell themselves to recruits like you can come here and we're still going to compete with the big boys and girls we'll put you on that stage it'll be competitive yeah yep exactly Okay so we've come to the part of the show I don't know how this is going to go I want to have the Pat McAfee conversation here because it's the three of us and I think that we're going to get some distinctly varying opinions on this do you buy or sell Pat McAfee being good for college game day and we're gonna start with the chin rubber there Vince Dario you just want to start with the negative guy I see where you're going with this I think that my answer is going to surprise you though though I think it's actually good for game day because he has a hell of an audience people like to watch him and his Antics I I will say that I'm 5050 um on McAfee I I enjoy some of the stuff that he does some of it's over the top and I get annoyed but I think it's good for college game day and I think it's good for college football and just asked the Texas A&M kid who finally hit a field goal was good for him he made 50,000 yeah and they let him he got a reick too yeah and I I will say this uh I think that that segment is fraking awesome I love the field goal kicking segment because gee I wonder why well you need to get kick is easy that's all I'll say people think kicking is easy and it takes a hell of a lot of work to be a good kicker and I think that that's fantastic so um I actually like his show he's very up front with the fact that he's not an expert you know that kind of stuff and you're just ruining the you're ruining this whole question like I was not expecting you to go this direction I like I said 50% of the stuff he does annoys the crap out of me but I do find him entertaining at times so I think it's good for football I buy it because he brings a different he he brings a different Dynamic to that set and it's and it's something that none of them have right and I think that allows them to enjoy themselves more and bring kind of a lighter side to college football it's not all and O's he sits right next to Sabin you know opposite exactly but guess what Nick Sabin loves the guy you know I think he is the definition of uh the fan that a lot of people have in them at the end of the day he brings out the fan and a lot of people right and I think like hearing him seeing you know what was it like take me home you know West Virginia last week and then at the SEC championship last year when starts singing One team's fight song and then you know stands on the table and completely you know changes Direction and that sort of stuff Pat McAfee is authentic he's true to himself he's gonna give you the same thing every week and again I like the diversity that he brings to a set that is relatively you know outside of Lee Corso it's it's very kind of buttoned up you know this is how you're gonna do things and keep their shirts on that's you know like when I watched him take the shirt off I like do we really need to see mag take but at the same time I was like this guy's a punter and it's like he's he puts his arm around s shape you know he's got no shirt on yeah that's right that's where it goes over the line for me like it is I did find it very curious the way they have that table set or the desk set up McAfee sits right in the middle like he's like the host you know he's like the Center Square yeah it's like mcafe is in the middle and is next to him and then you got Rees Davis you got Fowler and um Desmond sitting on the extreme outsides on opposite ends it's I was really struck by the fact because usually you would just put the host like reys Davis would sit in the middle then everyone else is basically an an you know like and that's kind of how you would go but they've got Davis sitting off to the side and I mean I agree obviously with with a good junk like I think people forget that part of the business is being able to entertain and Pat McAfee obviously entertains and he does keep that you know that that set loose he keeps Nick Sabin a little bit looser sabin's on his show during the week with him as well herb Street has said like he was getting a little bit burned out maybe as long as he'd been on game day with just all the different stuff but when McAfee came on he's the reason that he stayed on so wow I think it's pretty cool and like you know like again he's not going to be everybody's cup of tea but the guy was an NFL punter and I think that's important to remember the guy was a punter like how many punters go on to any kind of media career yeah you know and he has he has turned this thing he's he's you know just kind of put it all on himself and and built this little mini Empire and it's led to not only his own show being on ESPN every day but obviously being part of game day as well so I think it's pretty incredible just the path that he's gone on to get there I was this obviously wasn't on game day but I was I was texting you guys when they were in Ireland a couple of weeks ago in week zero and he was in that pub with Sabin sitting next to him in the pub and the man was just an animal with the Guinness he would they would bring him a glass of Guinness like a full pint of Guinness and he wasn't just you know like taking a drink or two set it down every glass they brought him was just straight down the shoot and he did six in the first hour of the show just like that straight down the shoot for what what I understand he had to step off the set for a little bit and kind of recollect himself but well they were saying too I mean if they would have let us do that on our old show back in the day Vince like I wouldn't have minded that on a Friday afternoon he just he just takes it to another level though like I like he was a he was black practically blacked out man like he was there was a guy from like a an Irish football club sitting next to him they start the interview and like five minutes into the interview he reintroduces himself to the guy that was but you know what the next day uh they're doing game day and he's he back to normal he's back to normal doing never happened the day yeah he like who knows what happened after that show was over either you know you can rally oh my goodness it was funny listen to him talk about because he was in West Virginia the night before the uh college game day at Texas A&M and he said he got in so late he had to sleep on the bus uh waiting to get up to do college game day at Texas A&M and he said you know Texas A&M were practicing or doing their you know like rally cries or cheers the night before and he said from the bus like he could hear it it was waking him up so it's like to me the guy is an animal he's just all over the place doesn't need much rest can drink all these beers he's kind of envious of him he's like getting older and he's not slowing down by any means so all right game props let's do some player props Riley Leonard's official over under 205 and a half yards and 205 and a half passing yards and one and a half touchdown passes those over over yeah over over I agree I think there's going to be an emphasis on throwing the football I think so too I'm not I'm not entirely confident because you know again like last week skewed me a little bit but I think that he's going to get over on both of these as well his rushing yards 42 and a half is the number even if he's not running the ball a ton I I still think he could get a couple big ones right and so so I don't know naturally I I think the competitor in him is going to want to run some of these but at the end of the day I think they're going to be like listen you don't need to run you don't need to take extra hits you know let's focus on maybe passing the ball so I I'm gonna talk myself into the under on this one well to be I agree with you Jesse but to be contrarian I'll take the over if he just breaks one run like that that's that's what I'm worried about it's just one big one and that's what I'm seeing is is really all it's going to take is probably one run he'll run past you know the 90% of yelled at and he like okay I won't run anymore that's right so I've got to go over on that as well Jeremiah Love rushing yards 67 and a half over way over I think he's gonna hit 100 yard game I think so too I think I think there's a chance both him and price hit 100 yards I wouldn't doubt it price doesn't have a number on FanDuel it was only it was only Leonard and love for the rushing receiving numbers Jaden greous 31 and a half over over over yep he had 26 last week Bo Collins 48 at a half I think he's gonna get his fair share too I think that's really you know three four catches and again if this offense is going into a little you know at least the first half and maybe the third quarter I'd like to say the over as well yep take it book it only thing that makes me question it is again like who they're playing and the fact that you might see some other guys get get more involved in the pass game whether it's Chris Mitchell or Thomas or whoever it happens to be but I'm I'm over on Collins number as well the line right now as we speak Notre Dame favored by 27 and a half and their point their point total 37 A2 Northern Illinois point point total 7 and A2 the over under for the game is 44 and a half so keep those numbers in mind as we do our predictions who wants to go first Jesse I'll go first because I don't think mine has been made official yet uh you two are just going to regurgitate whatever you put out in the in the article earlier that been posted are we are we out there it has been posted it is out there all right I'm GNA go Notre Dame 44 Northern Illinois zero um I think that they're going to pitch a complete shut out um I don't think it matters defensively who is out there for Notre Dame because we said this earlier in the week they rotate so many people that they already are getting in second and third string type of guys right so I think we might potentially see some for string but those guys are going to be those are guys who could be playing for Northern Illinois at the end of the day right and so I just think that nerame is going to handle business I don't see them listen if they give Texas A&M's offense fits then they're going to give this offense even more fits and I I I am confident to say that not Dame defense kind of not handed Texas A&M some points but they had some boneheaded penalties early on that led to some points for Texas A&M and if they can clean that up defensively I don't see why nor Illinois should score in this game so I think they cover I think they take you know hit the over on their total points and I think Northern Illinois is definitely under in a 44 to zero game I just have to ask you Jesse because we talked about the odds on this yesterday Plus 43 the odds for Notre Dame to get a shut out did you lay something on that yeah I have 100 on Notre Dame to cover 29 and a half and 25 on the defense to to put on a shutout wow 29 and a half is what you got I'm gonna I took an alternate spread to get like plus money on ah to get a little bit more money gotcha gotcha okay Vince your prediction I I'm taking over all of that uh because I feel like I mean my prediction is 49 to10 and so if I'm going to say it's 49 to10 then that's over for Northern Illinois on points it's over for Notre Dame on points it's over for the combined points and Notre Dame's covering so I have to stick true to my word right because that's what I think is GNA happen so I think I think points are going to be easy to come by for Notre Dame I think the 10 you know probably comes later on in the game I I agree that this defense shouldn't let Northern Illinois score while the first team is out there but I think Notre Dame Subs in before Northern Illinois does and maybe they get a touchdown maybe they get a field goal you know what I mean so like I think they're gonna score um but I don't think it'll be by very much so 4910 is my prediction see I still think that it's early in the season and out golden stubborn enough I don't think you're going to see notame backups until maybe the fourth quarter the defense you're GNA see backups when Marcus Freeman says Al put the backups in that's also Fair yeah I don't think he's I don't think he's gonna try to protect the shut out and you know that that kind of thing if it's at that point but yeah like I do have 45 to1 Notre Dame winning so I am over on all those now I'm not completely even confident that Northern Illinois is actually going to score a touchdown but I feel like I just like I think this one like how this game goes is is largely going to sort of determine how I'm going to predict the next couple of games basically you know what I mean like if if Northern Illinois doesn't find the endzone and if Northern Illinois does get shut out I think that's that's a not not quite the statement is holding A&M to 13 points but it's going to be a pretty big statement of its own so I just think a lot of guys are going to play in this game obviously and I think it's going to be a big offensive day and a turnover filled day for uh Northern Illinois and their quarterback back Ethan Hampton I'm trying to see if I can find usually on FanDuel there's a winning margin and I would definitely take Notre Dame to win by like like 40 plus but I can't find it anywhere all right sorry to let everyone down that's okay well that's going to do it for this show IB countdown to kickoff hit the like button um I guess you know like we just asked that you hit the like button there's nobody in the live chat like usual and of course if you're listening on your podcast platform give us a review rate US and of course uh you know follow the podcast you know follow it the whole to subscribe to it the whole thing we appreciate you postgame show coming up after the game Notre Dame and Northern Illinois of course kickoff at 3:30 Eastern Time postgame show after and we'll be back Vince and I on Monday with iy countdown to kickoff have a great weekend enjoy the game and we will talk to you then on IB Nation Sports Talk