Rapid Fire: Riley Leonard Running, Confidence In An Unbeaten Notre Dame Season, Irish Defense

Jesse are you ready for Rapid Fire let's bring this thing home all right so here we go Riley Leonard had 12 carries against Texas A&M last week over under 15 carries for him in the next two games combined I'd have to go under and I think we kind of talked about this in and out a little bit ago um I think when you're playing teams like this there's no real reason to run Riley Leonard I think you the reason why he ran against Texas A&M is because he needed to run against Texas A&M were times where schematically it just made sense I mean I just think love and price can handle the the rushing these next few games and I think that the more you can save up those runs for when you need them for Riley lonard the better so I think you're going to see maybe even more of a conservative effort to get him to run the ball less I'm gonna go under as well it it is curious that like if you look back at his 2022 stats at Duke if you took any two games backto back there's only one part of the schedule and that is at the end of the season where he had back-to-back games that it didn't add up to at least 15 he had back-to-back games the last two of the regular season that added up to 14 but I think for like this is a completely different situation for him now a much better offensive line a much better running game much better overall skill Talent around him and this game is really the next couple of games but like this one starting with is much more about the passing game and getting that going than it is about him running Andrew says over because he's gonna take off against Purdue that head coach has a good defensive mind even if so I mean that's probably 10 to 12 runs like I really don't see is he gonna run less than three then this week if that's I do think so I don't think there's going to be hardly any designed runs for him this week I think it's in his nature though that he's gonna take off a few times that's true I don't know I've seen nothing from Purdue though that convinces me that that like you know oh that that head coach is a defensive Mastermind you know like any of that kind of stuff like he might be but their best player plays for Texas A&M now so you know on the defensive side of the ball so I just I'm not going to buy into that right now and we'll do a obviously deeper dive on next week and we can talk about that but for now I'm saying don't Notre Dame's chances to go unbeaten this season went from 15.8% to 22.4% after the win over Texas A&M they have the best chance of any team in the nation to go unbeaten so scale of one to 10 how confident are you that they will I'm gonna go nine out of 10 um I don't think I mean I think it's always hard no matter what you know you know schedule or not um but I think what has me leaning more so more so towards the undefeated is just hearing the way Marcus Freeman is talking and approaching you know the team with these games coming up and I think if he continues that throughout the season and they keep everyone healthy um then I'm I'm at around uh you know eight and a half nine out of 10 I'm in a nine as well I I think that just the way the schedule shapes up and you hit it with the way Marcus Freeman is approaching these weeks I don't think that he is going to let this team let up so I think that they are going to stay on point and sharp I think he realizes the opportunity this season you know yeah like it's a massive opportunity to host a playoff to not just be in the playoff but host a playoff game that to have a chance to win a home playoff game and and you know to move on in the college football playoff and all that kind of stuff this is this is a it's a it's a really big chance for him in year three and again it goes back to why do you go out and get a guy like Riley Leonard from the transfer portal because I do think that they could they they would have at least been in the running for a college football playoff spot even if a guy like Steve angelli is the quarterback this season but but I don't think that you're you know you're you're winning playoff games and beating these really good teams without a guy Andrew if I believed in jinxes I would agree with what you're saying he said cut the undefeated talk I swear we were jinxing Notre Dame after only one week I don't believe in an ouncer jinxes of any kind so sorry sorry raban Al says we should pick one or two of these and follow up and see if we got them right we talk about this from time to time like but we never do we always talk about oh we should write these down and see who gets them right but we never do so I am gonna bring the sticky notes I'm convinced I'm gonna order a pad of sticky notes off of Amazon okay you do that you do that Notre Dame has plus 430 odds to get a shut out against Northern Illinois that is actually down from 490 yesterday what is your max wager on plus 430 to get a shut out against Northern Illinois my wages are maybe a little bit higher than most but i' I'd be comfortable with like a $25 bet on that I think I'm 10 you know like 10 10 wins you what 43 bucks or something 43 like that I don't you know because I it's it's so hard to get a shut out like you don't believe that that Northern Illinois is going to get a touchdown but I think they might get a field goal or two I don't know I might have a shut out on on the horizon all you got to do is hit a couple of plays get into field goal range sloppy Joe says a thousand JN says a buck quite the difference simy says the farm you know so we've got quite a range right there in the confident in in the confidence level I mean it's great odds if you're really confident and you've got the cash to throw at it plus 430 would win you something if you throw some big money had it but 10 I think is my limit on that over under 13 and a half points a game that the Notre Dame defense will allow this season do you know what they did last season it was 14 something oh I'm taking the under I am as well just because of the SK I think the schedule is more favorable this season I think they had some tougher opponents last season um I I think they have a better offense which I think tends to a better well well-rested defense as well so uh I'm going to go I'm going to go under I think they're going to be challenging to be the top scoring defense in the nation this year I mean just look at what they did last week I'm going to be really curious to see what Texas A&M becomes offensively because after one game a lot of people want to ride off completely ride off Conor wigman and A&M and and the whole thing it's like oh how good you know it's the typical stuff well how good was that A&M defense or you know that A&M offense though I mean look statistically at Connor wigman he's had some solid numbers but I just didn't think that he was going to Faire that well against Al Golden's defense and he didn't and if he's not going to that's a five-star guy out of high school I don't see I I see maybe one other quarterback on the entire schedule fairing that well against al golden in Notre Dame this season so I'm to go under as well I think they're going to be like I said I think they're going to challenge to be the the top scoring defense in the nation this season this is interesting dck Irish says from on3 nil Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard was set to sign with Dick Sporting Goods instead he's bringing his entire offense of line to the appearance on Friday and giving the nil dollars to his teammates that's pretty didn't know that nice very nice I mean he's already got at least a couple pretty nice nil deals set up so but that's I mean hey it's it's the equivalent I guess of of uh buying the offensive line Rolexes or cars or whatever after you win an MVP or the Super Bowl or or whatever the quarterback's got to take care of his offensive line that's the way to go man that's the way to go that's what a leader does right so on the Pat McAfee show the other day they got into a mini debate over whether Notre Dame or Iowa should be considered tight end you Gill said he would like us to refer to them as tight end University a little bit more than they're not though who who is Iowa is period go ahead he said not start listing them off he goes list them off they have Anthony Fano uh you know Kyle Rudolph I mean I always got Iver I guess there's a guy now that they got uh some Mitchell Evans or Evans Mitchell Evans who got hurt last year he goes best T in the country dude last year gets hurt everybody forgets the exist are we talking about guys being good in college or are we talking about guys going on to be like all Pros in the NFL because I think that's you know they're developed at the college level so Shane was taking a direct shot at Iowa I sounds like it okay all right uh anyways Notre Dame tight end University so that was McAfee and one of his uh co-host producer type guys there kind of going back and forth about that so my question Jess should that distinction if you're going to call it tight end you or offensive line you or quarterback you whatever it happens to be should that be decided by how good they are when they're in college or how good they are when they you know once they get to the NFL um this is a tough question because I think both like it's really comparable to me um because I think Notre Dame had a better run there for a little bit between you know like Rudolph Carlson Tyler eer Troy Nicholas you know and now you know Michael maror of recent but then you know of recent Iowa has Cole K and Iowa's had of more recent George KD TJ hackinson Noah fence Sam laap pora right like they each have had these kind of runs I don't know it's hard to say because you know being a good tight end in the NFL can also depend on where you land right like so I think that also plays a part in it I don't know I I I I don't know like I don't know which one is more important because I think I think if you're gonna call him tight you know like tight in like I said whatever position group it happens to be it's about how well the school produces the talent to get to the NFL once they get to the NFL that's a different thing you know like what they go on to be in the NFL I think it should be about how the you know how the college how the university de you know recruits develops and produces these guys and becomes the pipeline to get him to the NFL I think that that is the most important thing like the volume numbers that you're sending guys to the NFL at these positions I think that's more important because you know like who knew George KD when he was in college did anybody know his name BR when he was in college I like this argument because it again it's called Ti in you so University right the university is responsible for cranking out you know recruiting developing and getting these guys to the NFL what they do at the NFL is you know kind of on them and the team at that point so I would have to agree I think it's more about the college getting them drafted and getting them to the NFL and if that's the case I believe Notre Dame is tied end you over Iowa yeah I do too I do too like you know again like leapor and KD two big stars but okay that's still just a couple of guys you mentioned hackinson I think that if you look at the last 20 years and look at the consistency that Notre Dame has sent these tight ends to the NFL like Tyler eord didn't have injuries he'd probably still be one of the best tight ends in pro football right now but instead unfortunately his career is over because of U you know the injuries I mean they're still al mack Tommy Trimble Durham SMI like Ben koak um like all over the NFL these I remember I literally think I counted one year Notre Dame had like at least six guys six tight ends in the NFL at one point you know like and I don't think you could say the same about Iowa I don't I I think Notre Dame had a better a stronger period than what Iowa did yep sty says was it Fano that spent a decade or so with the dolphins it was he was drafted by the Cowboys played for Parcels for a couple of years there and then played for a long time with the Miami Dolphins after that Andrew says have the Raiders given up on mayor already bizarre they no pick Bowers no they're actually from what I saw they're they're basically just going to go to a lot of 12 Personnel this year they're both they're going to use both of them so it was strategic to draft both of them yeah they have not given up on them by any stretch so uh I you know I I think Bowers is probably still going to be the receiving you know more the the receiving tight end but they're going to play mayor out there as well so Peter shagger from the NFL network has picked the last three Super Bowl matchups and winners this morning he picked the Packers to face the chiefs with Green Bay going in as the wild card to win the NFC and the Chiefs pulling off the historic threee by winning it all in New Orleans you're buying or selling that I mean I got to buy it if he's two for two why what what is there to three for three for three yeah I mean if three if he's three for three who's I like I I should probably place my BET right now because there's a good chance that you get good odds if you pick the exact Super Bowl matchup right so your sneezes have me sneezing now um no but I mean seriously like if you if a guy is batting three for three on something like like this why would I disagree and not you know basically say he's going to go four for four but as soon as I bet on it then it's probably not going to happen anymore so it's pretty hard to pick against it but at the same time I just I feel like a lot of people have really bought in on the Green Bay Packers and all they've really shown us is one playoff win you know one season with with Jordan love they still don't have a a true wide receiver I'm not completely in on their defense being Elite I I like I think my Super Bowl prediction since we're on the Eve here of NFL starting I like the Lions and the Chiefs I think that's more of my matchup than than the Chiefs and P that's what I would pick as well because like on the other side the Chiefs as as much as they have dominated and the way the Chiefs got to the Super Bowl and then won it last year I think it's very hard to pick against Mahomes until somebody knocks them off the pedestal I don't think the Chiefs defense will be as good but I think they're all offense will be better this year I think that Xavier Worthy is going to grow into a Tyreek Hill type role offensively Father David likes the Lions and the Bengals not sure about Joe burrow and the health like he just hasn't been the same the last couple years you were a big Joe burrow guy what happened the injuries he hasn't been healthy yeah I like Joe burough too so Tom Brady makes his NFL broadcasting day debut this weekend when the NFL starts there's a lot of talk about whether or not Brady is going to be critical enough since he's played with and against a majority of the current players so my question is is that the number one thing that you need from an analyst for him to be critical of the players or is there anything else that you think is more important I think that uh first of all there's g i Tom Brady will be critical I I think he's done I've seen a lot anything I think he'll be too critical yeah I think that he's been you know on a lot of shows I've seen him on a lot of Clips where he's just talking about the current state of football right and how he kind of disagrees with certain things and how you know a lot of quarterbacks are lazy and they you know they lead their wide receivers into bad situations and you know like that that quarterbacks they dumbed down the NFL for right because they want these quarterbacks to play year one rather than learn the system and all that stuff so yeah I think he if anything he'd be over over critical but to me the number one thing as a as a you know listening to the game just be authentic you know be authentic to the moment be authentic to the to yourself to the situation like I don't like anything that feels forced I don't like the you know the over the overdoing it or you know to me and and I don't think this will happen with Brady but I've told you before my number one pet peeve is is the Homer type stuff or like the bias type stuff like I don't want to see a guy who's like you know basically kind of clearly you know rooting for maybe one side or the other just be as authentic and on that middle line as much as possible if you give praise to one team give praise to another team I know you can't find you know a lot of bright spots and maybe a you know a New England and Chiefs matchup right because one team's probably G to blow out the other but just find ways to highlight both teams and be as authentic as possible yeah my thing like being critical of the players is not what I want like the I think the the the first job of the analyst is to as concisely and as accurately as possible boil down the play that just happened like why the play did or didn't work as concisely and accurately as possible that's the biggest thing and now in that there there's probably going to be some you know critique that comes with it but tell me why the play did or didn't work I mean I think play in and play out that's the number one thing that you're looking for why it did or didn't work and you know just do it like I said as concisely as you can that's the big thing Andrew says Troy Amman strikes a a good balance I agree with that though he has been more critical in recent years he's become angry Troy sometimes was so I think he just gets disgusted kind of what you were talking about he just gets disgusted with bad quarterback play and I think that you're probably going to see some of that from Tom Brady as well as as an elad level as he played at I think that you're going to see you know Tom Tom Brady at times maybe just want to throw his hands up in the air and go what the heck is going on here but I think he's gonna be really good with his ability to diagnose and tell you you know why things are or are not working well well that's going to do it for tonight Jess we are going to wrap it up with that this evening we've got countdown to kickoff IB countdown to kickoff coming your way tomorrow night the uh the video and the podcast will drop tomorrow evening hopefully quicker than it did last week if uh we can keep Vince in check and you know not make us go back and and you know have to do extra work on the show after the fact so uh tomorrow night look for it appreciate you being here great show um great questions rather on the Wei in we out from the new Champions Lounge remember that's where you can submit them each and every week and we bring them right here thank you very much for the reminder Joe and rabid Nile Chihuahua hit that like button before you leave we appreciate it as always we will talk to you Memorex tomorrow IB countdown to kickoff and we'll of course have the postgame show this weekend and IB Nation Sports Talk Back live in full Monday we will talk to you then have a great weekend iation Sports Talk boom