The Best of The Dan Patrick Show

NBC Sports PxP voice Noah Eagle reminisces on growing up with his father as a prominent TV voice and shares how to best capture an iconic moment on a broadcast. Pro Football HOF RB Jerome Bettis looks back on his time at Notre Dame and breaks down his concerns about the Steelers this season. Former Notre Dame DL Mike Golic Sr. previews Notre Dame/USC and is adamant that prospective teams need to stay away from Marcus Freeman. Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua explains the reasoning behind Notre Dame staying independent and shares why he's in favor of a 16-team playoff in college football. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox
Sports Radio, No.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
Eagle, NBC Sports play by Play, Big ten Saturday Night NBA.
He's going to call the USC Notre Dame game as well.
He's a busy man as we make way for No.
Eagle on the program. So Notre Dame and USC that'll
be Saturday at seven thirty Eastern on NBC and Peacock

(00:28):
and then three days later on the call for the
NBA and NBC Steph Curry and the Warriors against Luca
and the Lakers. It's a busy schedule there, but you
grew up with your dad having a crazy schedule, Like,
at what point did you realize what your dad did
and that he wasn't going to be home like normal dads.

Speaker 3 (00:47):
I figured he'd be home all the time. He's not
home right now. No, no, no, I think he might
be doing a game in like Boise at this point.
If there was a little league game he could do,
he would sign up for that. He was gluttonous at times.
But no, it was great for me because I think
it was just expected and normal that I would be
in the living room and pop on the TV and

(01:09):
there he was. When I was four. I just said, oh, yeah,
that's just my dad is there. And then the best
part was he did have the summers off. Because he
wasn't a baseball guy. He got offered I actually didn't
really know this. Many years ago. He got offered certain
baseball packages. And he grew up a huge Mets fan
in Queens from Forest Hills, and his dream was to

(01:31):
do the Mets as a kid. That was always what
he thought he would do, and so I think he
got offered, however, many Mets games and he went to
my mom and said, you know, this is the deal.
And I grew up and she goes, and I've really
put up with a lot in life. This is going
to be a no, a hard no.

Speaker 4 (01:51):
At that.

Speaker 3 (01:51):
The one moment that I have that we have together
is the summertime, and if you're going to take that away,
it's going to be a problem. And he's a smart man.
He listened.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
When did you realize this was your calling?

Speaker 3 (02:03):
Probably about thirteen or fourteen. My dad has a great
story that he went to his father, who was an actor,
stand up comedian, performer, and he went to at seven
six or six or seven years old and said, I
want to be a sportscaster and his dad said, well,
that's what you're going to do. You're going to be
a sportscaster. And the problem was he said it with

(02:25):
a list. He said, I want to be a fourth castor.
And his dad said, well that's what you're gonna do,
but you got to get rid of your lisp and
he said what lift?

Speaker 4 (02:32):
You know?

Speaker 3 (02:32):
So that's that was a beautiful story because it bred
confidence in this young man. I went to my parents
about the same age, and you know, they said, oh, well,
what do you want to do? When most kids it's
cowboy asked or not something fun. I said, I want
to be a TV dentist. And instead of them saying, well,
that's what you're going to do, it was what is
wrong with our child? What is a TV dentist? Can

(02:54):
we get them checked out? So for me it was
it took a little bit longer, I'd say thirteen or
fourteen TV dentist. I think doctor Phil filling a molar
is probably the intersection I was thinking of now on
TikTok or Instagram reels that exists, I'm sure somewhere, but
for whatever reason, I thought people would want to sit
at home on a Wednesday at one point fifteen and
watch a crown get in sold that does not exist,

(03:17):
or at least not yet, I should say, But for
me thirteen or fourteen years old, I'd gone with my
dad to enough games at that point and been around
them and gotten to meet some amazing people around them
that I said, well, this is pretty cool. And you know,
I wasn't going to be the tallest of people, as
you could see him pretty vertically challenged, so this was
the next best bet for me to stay involved in sports.

Speaker 2 (03:36):
I made the mistake of calling you I an eagle,
ye like, you look exactly like you're dead.

Speaker 3 (03:42):
The crazy thing is I'm adopted, So that's that's shocking
that it just worked out that way. That's like when
dogs turn morph into the people that bring them into
the house. No, I Yeah, it's definitely one. We sound
very similar, look very similar. I'm about two inches taller,
so yeah, we go back to back on a daily basis.
I post them up in the driveway, and you know,

(04:03):
there's the similarity aspect. The one good thing, though, is
I'm glad at least you said I in. There are
people that come up to me and they say Ian Ian,
I love you on the nets, like thank you so much.
You know, if you mess it up twice, that's a
deeper problem.

Speaker 2 (04:18):
How do you capture a moment as a play by
play guy, You're going to walk into this stadium Saturday,
the Olympics, Lakers, Golden State next week, but you got
to capture it too, but you can't try to overshadow it.
So it's kind of a delicate tightrope walk. How do
you do it or what's your approach?

Speaker 3 (04:39):
Tightrope is probably the right term. I like to say
it's a constant dance as well of feeling. And someone
asked me this. We did the white out game a
couple of weeks ago, about a month ago now, which
is crazy, and going into that game, you know the
environment is going to be amazing, the crowd is going
to be a sea of white. It's going to be
deafening noise. I don't think I've ever heard a stadium

(05:00):
that loud, and this one right here gets real loud.
And so that says something. And so you don't want
to take away from that because you're trying to find
the perfect words, or you're trying to make sure that
you leave a stamp on it a lot of times,
it's going to do that for you. And so I know,
a game like this, with so much rich history and
tradition and star players and star coaches on either sideline,

(05:23):
a lot of the pictures are going to tell that
story and the worst thing I can do is try
to jump all over it. But I think you want
to make sure that you have a period that ends
every call. And that was something that was really drilled
into my head is you need to finish with an
exclamation of some kind, some level of punctuation, to at
least just give that sound bite at least that give

(05:45):
that moment some more levity than maybe it would have
had before. But that is to your point. It's tightrope.
It's not something that you can go in there and plan.
I don't think I've ever necessarily sat down and said,
if this happens, I'm going to say this because the
game always dictates. It's how you're going to feel when
it's all said and done.

Speaker 2 (06:03):
But you start to look at these moments that you
have and I'm wondering when you're growing up and you're
listening to your father, and it may sound crazy to
say this, but did you pattern yourself after your dad,
or did you have somebody else that you wanted to
broadcast Like.

Speaker 3 (06:18):
It's a great question, and I'd say, naturally, just because
I was eating chicken palm next to my father on
a regular basis, naturally you gain a lot of that stuff.
And what I mean, it's more than just sitting and
watching him call a game. A lot of it. It
was being around him at the dinner table, being around
him interacting with his crew. That influenced me a lot

(06:39):
more than how I broadcast. And the thing he always
really made sure that I understood is the best broadcasters
aren't just the best x's and O so to speak
of play by play, it's the most well rounded people.
What do you know outside of the sports you're covering, television, movies, music, arts, history,

(06:59):
current events, all of that stuff is important, and so
making sure that you blend all of that I thought
was key. But there were certainly broadcasters that influenced me.
I thought Mike Turrico, my colleague at NBC, the most
versatile broadcaster in the business, someone who could be an
elite host and an elite play by play guy. I
thought that was incredible. I said, Okay, how do you
emulate this Bob Costas. The eloquence that he brought to

(07:22):
every broadcast was special. Mike Breen, you talk about elevating
moments in the biggest moments. If you hear bang, you
know it was a huge deal. A double bang now
is even bigger. And you go down and on and on.
You know, the Dave Passes, who I think don't get
enough credit. Dave Pash, I think is just one of
the best broadcasters in the business. And now even the
younger Adam Amein, Jason Bennetti, guys like that who are

(07:45):
just so solid. So you take bits and pieces from
all of them. But to even go back to your
previous question, you know, my dad, I just the calls
that stick out to me are not the ones of
the biggest moments. They're the Antonio Brown kicking the punter
and him just being on top of kicks a man.
You want those those are the ones that always you know.
And obviously I grew up in New Jersey watching all

(08:07):
of the NETS games, and so there are just random
Nets moments of Jerry seinfeldsitting courtside and Joe Johnson hitting
a game winner in double overtime and him being ready
with That was real, and that was spectacular. That's what
I like, you know, So that's the stuff that influenced
me more than anything else.

Speaker 2 (08:24):
We're talking to Noah Eagle, he'll be on the call
with Todd Blackledge. He'll be tomorrow night and rain in
the forecast Notre Dame USC. Do you care about the
conditions when you broadcast.

Speaker 3 (08:35):
Well, if you're asking if I physically care, not necessarily,
because I know my hair is protected in the booth.
That's the key. I worked hard on it this morning,
so that's always the key. But I care in the
sense that I want the game to be at the
highest quality. And sometimes, look, you can make the argument
that that's real football, right of how do you deal
with the elements? How does a quarterback deal with a

(08:56):
wet football? All of that stuff matters, and so it
does factor into the story of the game. But you
want it to be at the highest quality, highest level.
When we did and I apologize for bringing this up
for Notre Dame fans, when we did the A and
M game earlier this year, it was picture perfect in
terms of the forecast, in terms of the offensive execution
on either side, And so you want a lot of

(09:18):
those highlights as a play by play guy. But at
the same time, you want a great game, and sometimes
the ugliest games turn into the all time games.

Speaker 2 (09:26):
It's always weird when and I don't know how you
take this, but when you hear a play by play
guy and they give you credit for not saying anything.
Sure like you you did a great job, you laid out,
you let the natural sound come through, which sounds kind
of counterintuitive to what a play by play guy does.
But hey, I did a great job, but I didn't
say a word like Chris Berman doing the cal Ripken

(09:49):
game when he broke lou Gerrigs all time record. I
think Chris didn't say anything for fifteen minutes. You did
a great job on that game. Yeah, you didn't say
a word for fifteen eight minutes. It just sounds weird.

Speaker 3 (10:02):
Yeah, but it goes back to what you asked earlier
about finding that balance between when's the right time to
say the right thing and when's the right time to
say nothing. And honestly, the one guy I forgot to
mention who really has influenced me a lot is Joe Buck,
who I think early in his career got a lot
of flack for probably laying out almost too much, and
he would admit that. But now he's found, in my opinion,

(10:23):
the perfect balance and the reason that people say all
the time it sounds like a big game when Joe
buck is on it is because of exactly what you
just said. It's very minimalist. He's going to give you
exactly what you need, but nothing more, and then he's
going to allow the crowd and the photos and the sound,
the cacophony of noise, to do the rest of the
talking for him. I think that is powerful, incredibly powerful,

(10:45):
because if you really think back to all the great
moments of your childhood of sports fandom, of just sports history,
a lot of it is exactly that, where a broadcaster
will punch it with one or two lines, the rest
of it just you feel like you were there. And
that's what the goal of watching sports is.

Speaker 2 (11:02):
At the end of the day, we think that these
stadiums they are all heated and they're covered and you
don't have to worry about the elements. But you did
an army game at Yankee Stadium and your partner Todd
Blackliche who did play professional quarterback. Yeah, it was an
open air broadcast, yes booth, and here's a guy who

(11:24):
played professional football that he seemed to be kind of
wimpy in the booth there.

Speaker 3 (11:30):
I'm not going to say that Todd looked like Tom
Coughlin purple face, but he was on the road to
purple face. You know. That's how you know it was
cold out that day. Look, I think we've gotten Sharman
ultrasoft in the booth because we just expect the conditions
to be very tame, even cold weather games. Look, you
keep the window open and you feel it, but you're covered.

(11:53):
You're not dealing with overwind and both directions, and that
was different. That was definitely a unique experience. It's the
dead of winter, really, I guess beginning of winter, towards
the end of November, and it was cold. I think
you guys were around so you could probably remember. It
was what seven, eight, nine, ten degrees and we were
out for the entire game. And I think the reason

(12:14):
that it was probably a little worse was because Notre
Dame pummelt army. If it's a close game and it's cold,
you go, okay, the adrenalines pump in once it becomes
a thirty or forty point game. It feels a little
bit different, and that was certainly that. But yeah, he
was not doing well. I think he turned to me
a couple times during breaks and said, why are we
out here? Exactly what's going on right now? Great to

(12:38):
see you, you too appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (12:40):
He is a no Eagle. He'll be on the call
tomorrow night, seven thirty Eastern on NBC and Peacock and
then you got the NBA on NBC and there'll be
Steph Curry the Warriors with Luca Lakers as well. Thanks
for joining us.

Speaker 1 (12:53):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live.

Speaker 2 (13:05):
Jerome bettas Hall of Famer Notre Dame running back and
he's got a lot of things that he is working
with the Jerome Bettas Bus Stops Here Foundation. We'll talk
to him about that. He's also got a holiday toy
drive on display as well. Bussy, good to talk to you.
When I say USC, the first thing that comes to
mind is.

Speaker 4 (13:25):
Hey, we hate USC absolutely.

Speaker 2 (13:30):
More than Michigan.

Speaker 4 (13:33):
Yes, more than Michigan.

Speaker 5 (13:35):
But it's slightly more me being from the state of Michigan,
I may.

Speaker 4 (13:39):
Have a little different opinion.

Speaker 5 (13:40):
But USC is our biggest rival, no question about it.

Speaker 2 (13:46):
But you did well against USC, then you I never lost.
I got you in nineteen ninety one, you had two
touchdowns Notre Dame one by four, and then in ninety
two you guys won thirty one twenty three. What do
you remember about those games that they were?

Speaker 5 (14:03):
They were all, you know, really good games. And USC
has always been uh competitive. You know, they had a
couple of years and they've kind of slid a little bit,
but it's always, uh you know, that big game. And
what I always remembered about it is if you play
well in that game, then everyone in the country knows
your name, you know what I mean. It's one of

(14:23):
those games where if you can have a big game,
you become a household name around the country. That's the
kind of game that it is.

Speaker 2 (14:31):
Did USC recruit you?

Speaker 4 (14:33):
They did?

Speaker 5 (14:34):
That was the one of the three visits that I took. Actually, yes,
I took. I went to Michigan, USC and Notre Dame,
and USC was just too far away.

Speaker 4 (14:44):
Uh But I.

Speaker 5 (14:45):
Remember seeing h Junior Sea when I was on my
visit and he had a tank top on, and I said,
who is this.

Speaker 4 (14:54):
Guy looking like Zeus?

Speaker 2 (14:55):
I said, who is.

Speaker 4 (14:57):
They said, that's what you say, he's going to the NFL.

Speaker 5 (15:00):
And I was just I thought to myself, that's what
all the linebackers look like.

Speaker 6 (15:04):
I'm uh.

Speaker 2 (15:07):
Those linebackers found out quickly they were in trouble when
they were trying to tackle you. You did tell the story,
didn't you have somebody that it almost sounded like they
were weeping or when when they tried to tackle you.
Was that in the NFL where I heard a little
a little little scream or little cry.

Speaker 4 (15:25):
Yeah, that was.

Speaker 2 (15:31):
But how often didn't guys make business decisions? You think
with trying to tackle you?

Speaker 5 (15:37):
A lot in the later part of my career, the
early part of my career, guys were trying to take
me on and you know, I, you know, broke a
guy's shoulder at the play for Baltimore and did this,
did that, and so a lot of guys later on
saw the kind of the curnage just said okay, that's
not for me.

Speaker 4 (15:58):
And the latter part of my career, a guy started
going to.

Speaker 5 (16:01):
My ankles and and lower extremities they didn't want to
take me on the fip.

Speaker 2 (16:06):
Okay, But what's the one tackle that somebody got the
better of you?

Speaker 4 (16:12):
Oh? My goodness?

Speaker 5 (16:13):
Uh the one we were playing a Tennessee Titans and
Mike thoms Ach he threw me the ball late and
he knew he shouldn't have threw it to me. So
I got to catch the ball and as soon as
I catch it, I get I get cracked and my
head hit the hit the ground first. So you know

(16:35):
that was a bad one because I'm a big guy.
In my head usually doesn't get there before my butt.

Speaker 2 (16:42):
Where you who hit you?

Speaker 4 (16:44):
Remember?

Speaker 5 (16:45):
I was not concussed? No, And I cannot remember who?
Uh the book. I think his name was Bolden Bolden,
but he played for Tennessee Titans and he was he
was a good linebacker.

Speaker 4 (16:59):
But to should never have had a hit like that
on me. And I got up.

Speaker 5 (17:04):
I'll never forget went to the I went to the
huddle and I just looked at my job.

Speaker 2 (17:10):
He was like, sorry, Broy, what happened to your Steelers
last night?

Speaker 4 (17:19):
Yeah? They You know, I.

Speaker 5 (17:21):
Think sometimes these things are psychological, right, And you hear
the what what coach Tomlin says about Flacco, right, and
then you go out and lay an egg. But you
have to look at it and say, Joe Flacco is
a capable quarterback.

Speaker 4 (17:43):
When you don't get pressure on him. When you get.

Speaker 5 (17:47):
Pressure on him, then you know he can make some mistakes.
And that's just what the Steelers couldn't do.

Speaker 4 (17:53):
Uh last night.

Speaker 5 (17:53):
They could not get pressure, consistent pressure on Joe Flacco.
And when you have those receivers on that roster, it's
gonna be hard for you to cover the entire field.
And Joe Flacco was hot and he sliced the part
my Pittsburgh Steelers and it didn't didn't look good.

Speaker 2 (18:13):
Okay, but this is one I don't understand. Steelers always
have great defense and here you are giving up thirty
points again that I think the big question was receivers,
running game, Aaron Rodgers offensive line. That doesn't seem like
it's the problem. It feels like it's defense with this team.

Speaker 4 (18:30):
Yeah, when you.

Speaker 5 (18:31):
Score thirty points, you you should you should win the game.
I mean that's just how how it works in terms
of in Pittsburgh, because that defense always shows up and
is ready to play the problem is they're they're just
not getting the production. Uh in that front seven, which
is putting the guys in the secondary, uh, you know,

(18:54):
at risk. They're nobody's playing well. Let me say that
the back can they're not playing particularly well.

Speaker 4 (19:02):
And the front seven of those guys, they're not.

Speaker 6 (19:06):
Uh.

Speaker 5 (19:06):
They're giving up too much yards in the run game.
This one thing that still has never gave up was
one hundred yard rushier and so to see Brown have
one hundred yards that was discouraging.

Speaker 3 (19:17):
Uh.

Speaker 5 (19:17):
And then to be able to not put Flacco on
the ground, that was a huge problem.

Speaker 2 (19:24):
Mike Tomlin ever yell at you know, I missed Tomlin.

Speaker 4 (19:29):
So I when I retired, coward.

Speaker 5 (19:32):
Was in this last year, okay, uh, and then he left,
and then Tomlin came uh.

Speaker 4 (19:37):
A year later.

Speaker 2 (19:38):
The coward yell at you.

Speaker 4 (19:40):
Yes he did.

Speaker 5 (19:42):
He yelled at everybody. And I mean he was a spinner,
so you can understand that.

Speaker 2 (19:47):
Was yeah, but wasn't lou Holtz didn't he.

Speaker 4 (19:51):
Yes, I was. I was.

Speaker 5 (19:53):
I was fortunate to have double spinners. But the key,
the key is those screw up. So I threw it up.
Very very little I got. I didn't get as much
that the juice that somebody else got.

Speaker 2 (20:10):
You should have worn the Ladanian Tomlinson shield then you
could have you.

Speaker 5 (20:14):
Know, they weren't out there. You better believe I would
have had a shield.

Speaker 2 (20:20):
Were you famous when you were on campus here your
senior year?

Speaker 5 (20:25):
Uh no, because so I left after my junior year.
And what happened was I had a really good sophomore year.
So yeah, I was maybe a popular, but I wasn't.
Like so we had to get rocket Ishmael Now Rocket
when I was there, he was a star. Okay, they

(20:46):
had to They had to take him out of the
hotel in the laundry basket type things. I mean, he
had that kind of people out there looking for him,
and he was.

Speaker 4 (20:57):
He was a star.

Speaker 3 (20:58):
Man.

Speaker 2 (20:58):
Hold up, hold up, Rocket gets in the laundry basket
to then get out of a hotel like yeah, so he.

Speaker 5 (21:06):
Can they can take him out in the back and
put him in the car and drive him away so
that you know, it's got crazy because he couldn't just
walk out the front.

Speaker 4 (21:14):
Door, uh type thing.

Speaker 5 (21:17):
You know.

Speaker 4 (21:17):
He was, Uh, he was a rock star when we.

Speaker 5 (21:20):
Were at Notre Dame because he had done some amazing things. Myself,
I was a really good player and on you know,
on the cusp if you will, and everybody knew who
I was, but it wasn't the rock star uh stype
type celebrity.

Speaker 2 (21:36):
Yeah, but are you talking to like boy band celebrity
for rocket ismail? Like there were women out, girls outside
screaming and waiting for really.

Speaker 5 (21:45):
Yes, it's like if he came down the elevator, you
would see a crowd rush over over there.

Speaker 4 (21:52):
Where if I came down the elevator, everybody's.

Speaker 5 (21:57):
You know, and I do the way, Hey if he
comes down, they were kind of rush over there.

Speaker 2 (22:04):
Uh, tell me what you're doing with the Drone Bettis
Bus Stops Here Foundation.

Speaker 4 (22:08):
Well, we we at the Bus Stops There Foundation.

Speaker 5 (22:11):
We're you know, extremely excited about our cyber bus program.
We've got our second bus that we've been very fortunate
Bluebird donated a new electric bus to us. We've got
it retrofitted thanks to the CNX Foundation, and now we've
got we've got it ready and prepared to go to

(22:33):
the rural areas of Pittsburgh, Washington County, all those areas
where there's kids that still need access to the technology
that we're able to provide. And then we also have
our first bus that goes into the the housing Authority
there in Pittsburgh and represents the Bus Stops Foundation and

(22:55):
helps a lot.

Speaker 4 (22:56):
Of kids there and parents and grandparents.

Speaker 5 (22:59):
So we're just proud of the things that we're able
to accomplish there in Pittsburgh, and uh.

Speaker 4 (23:04):
Just it warms my heart.

Speaker 5 (23:05):
Men are our Christmas Holiday toy Drive. We're trying to
get get toys. And what we do is we give
them the families that are that are having a difficult
time uh during the holidays, that that need uh, you know,
kind of a hand up, not a handout, and and
we kind of provide that for them, uh and their

(23:26):
children on the uh in the holiday scenes and so
things that we're trying to do in Pittsburgh and try
to stay connected to the community.

Speaker 2 (23:35):
Always great to talk to you, Bussy, Thanks again for
joining us.

Speaker 4 (23:38):
Thank you appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (23:40):
It's Jerome Bettis on the program.

Speaker 1 (23:42):
Be sure to catch the live edition of The Dan
Patrick Show weekdays at nine am Eastern six am Pacific
on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 6 (23:52):
Bally Foods Go Ahead with Tony Foods Go.

Speaker 7 (23:55):
As everybody knows, we're the hosts of the award winning
Polly and Tony Foods Go show. But instead of us
telling how great we are, here's how Dan Patrick described
us when he came on our show.

Speaker 2 (24:04):
Quick, knowledgeable and funny, opinionated.

Speaker 6 (24:08):
What what are you doing interrupting our promo?

Speaker 1 (24:10):
Yeah, he wasn't talking about you. You took those clips
totally of context.

Speaker 7 (24:15):
Oh yeah, well after this promo, I'm gonna take you
out and beat you.

Speaker 2 (24:19):
Let me put this into context.

Speaker 6 (24:21):
Shut up.

Speaker 7 (24:21):
Yeah, anyway, just listen to the Paully and Tony Fusco
Show on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts O wherever you get your podcasts.

Speaker 1 (24:28):
Yea.

Speaker 2 (24:30):
He is Mike Golick, senior, co host of Gojo and
Goliic on DraftKings Network, former defensive lineman, of course, a
member of the Fighting Irish Alumni and great to see
him again. We welcome in Mike Goldig Senior on the program.
All right, whoa there he is? Who?

Speaker 4 (24:49):
All right?

Speaker 2 (24:53):
Used to be Big Mike, but not anymore. Medium Mike
is what they call him now.

Speaker 6 (24:58):
Two quick things. First, sorry to do this, but we
Mike and I change networks for it, FanDuel. Now Todd, Yeah,
I'm killing sorry, Todd. I just get the memo on
the I just figured I'd get that out.

Speaker 2 (25:14):
Wait wait, let me give you the correct plug.

Speaker 6 (25:16):
Yeah, it's Golick and Golic. Now we went from Gojo
and Golic to Golo and go Gojo and Golick and
Golic FANDUL Sports Network three to five afternoon. Okay, all right,
And second thing, that second thing who said Steve Atwater
and Rodney Harrison cried, I mean seriously, I mean you

(25:37):
for those that aren't old enough google Steve Atwater and
Christian Okoye. Christian Nakoya was a two hundred and fifty
pounds back for Kansas City that ran a straight run
up the middle. Steve Atwater came and dropped him, dropped
him where he stood. And Rodney Harrison, you don't have
to say those two would snap their forearms and not cry.

(25:57):
So those were those I a son when I heard
those two names, but you.

Speaker 2 (26:01):
Could I don't know if you can imagine this, but
like you have to make that business decision with Jerome Bettis,
there's certain players where you go this is gonna hurt.

Speaker 6 (26:10):
And I've always got asked. And Jerome's rookie year was
my ninth year, my last year in the league, so
I didn't play against him. But people always ask how
would you have tackled like Derrick Henry? And I said,
as a D lineman, you don't get that back at
full speed. You know that back when they get to
the second and third level and all of a sudden,
that dB is looking at that back going okay, do

(26:33):
I hit him in the thigh? Do I hit him
in the ankle? Do I hit him in the chest?
And make that businesses. But as a D lineman, we
rarely got him at full speed, and we were bigger
than them.

Speaker 2 (26:42):
But when you think about the running backs you played against,
like Emmett, you played against quite a bit, quite a bit,
but he wasn't fast. He was like the running back
version of Jerry Rice. It didn't seem like he was fast.
But nobody ever caught Jerry Rice from behind, and Emmett
seemed to get fat, faster better as the game went on.

Speaker 6 (27:02):
That's why you know you talk about Jerry Rice running
the four to six at the combine, everyone was too slow. Well,
there's forty speed, which you rarely want to run a
straight ahead forty and there's game speed, which is a
different thing. And Emmitt could drop his shoulder and deliver
a blow as good as anybody. Tony Dorsett was a
guy you could never get a good hit on. He
always turned his body at the last moment. You could

(27:24):
never get a solid hit on him. Emmett Smith, I
hit as hard as I've ever hit anybody in my
life out of bounds. I had a full speed run
and he was going toward the sideline, and I mean
I clocked him, clocked him, and I hit him. And
as I was going down, I'm like, oh yeah, that
one hurt him, and he bounced up and ran right
back to I'm laying on the side and go, what
the hell just happened. It's like a boxer giving your

(27:47):
best puns and the dude just kind of shaking it off.
You're going, oh, well, I'm screwed.

Speaker 2 (27:51):
How would you describe this rivalry with USC Notre Dame
and why is it on the cusp of ending? Oh?

Speaker 6 (27:56):
I hate USC? I mean, I I hate USC.

Speaker 2 (28:01):
But are you you were taught that growing up?

Speaker 6 (28:03):
Well, I mean, listen, I have a different perspective from
Notre Dame. My brother Bob came here as a freshman
in seventy five. I was twelve years old, so I
grew up basically coming to Notre Dame games. And then
my brother Greg came here, and I was more with
my peers before I got recruited to come here. I
mean USC recruited me, but there was never a thought.

(28:26):
And when both my kids both my son Mike was
a junior, he was down with Urban Meyer getting recruited
to Florida, and Jake was a sophomore and was down
there with him as a recruit. And I told the
boys there, I said, listen, don't go to Notre Dame
because me and your mother and your uncles went there.
And I rattle off everybody that went there. I said,

(28:47):
you go where your heart takes you. I said, except usse.
I said, you can't go to USC. That's a non starter.

Speaker 2 (28:53):
Why are we on the verge of ending this rivalry?

Speaker 6 (28:56):
Well, I mean, listen, Notre Dame. It's gonna sit there
and people are going to listen and say, oh, he's
blaming USC, but it is on USC. Notre Dame hasn't
changed their independence, We haven't changed anything. We still play
the same schedule. No FCS schools, all FBS schools. Now
it's ACC schools, been big ten schools. But the Michigan

(29:17):
rivalry is somewhat over USC, and I get it to
a point where they're doing it. They're gonna have to
play They playing nine conference games and they have to
be careful of their non conference schedule to make the playoffs.
So there's part of me that understands their reasoning. But
then the Notre Dame part of me comes in and says,
just schedule us.

Speaker 2 (29:36):
Well, if you had a scheduling, SAR, or if we
get to that point, then you're going to have Notre
Dame in Michigan, and then you would have Notre Dame
in USC. It would be mandatory. I mean, we're in
the entertainment business. That's why we've expanded the playoffs. That's
why we're going to expand March madness. I just I
would hope that there is somebody and maybe this is
ten years down the road when we have the top

(29:58):
forty schools in a right right yeah, and then you
can have this is your schedule this year. Maybe you
don't play USC this year, but you're playing them next year.
Maybe you play Michigan. That's what I think we need.
I worry about when you have these schools and you
take before a big game. You always have that cupcake. Now,
I know the cupcake is a payout game, right, but

(30:19):
it's still haven't we gotten to the point where let's
just play a really good schedule.

Speaker 6 (30:26):
Well, I mean, teams are in schools are thinking about
the playoffs. But the thing about it is like Notre
Dame has two losses, two losses to the number two
and number five team in the country. If Notre Name
runs the table they're in, they're ten and two, they're
going to be in the playoffs. If they lose tomorrow,
they lose, they're going to be done. If they get
a third loss, they're going to be done because they
can't win a conference, so they're going to be done.

(30:48):
And they put themselves in this tough spot kind of
like last year a bit. But the two team and
when the committee looks at the two losses, as long
as those two teams keep winning, they're going to be like, well,
those are quote unquote great losses. But to play USC anymore,
it would probably be early in the season, conference games
being later in the season, so it would have to

(31:08):
be done early in the season if it's going to continue.
I mean, it's the ninety sixth meeting. The only one
that's been longer is Notre Dame Navy, and that's ninety seven.

Speaker 2 (31:17):
What was your first reaction when you saw Rudy? I mean,
it is a documentary.

Speaker 6 (31:29):
Do I have to answer this question? Am I on
the hot seat for this question? There were some Hollywood
things put in there to make it a little more
than maybe what it was. So the story is great,
right of not being a recruited athlete going to Holy Cross,

(31:53):
finally getting your chance, but some of the things on
the inside of that maybe didn't happen.

Speaker 2 (32:00):
So you didn't buy into this even though this is
your Alma Monter.

Speaker 6 (32:04):
My brother Bob was a freshman when Rudy. When the
Rudy story, Rudy was in his last year, and my
brother Bob, if you ask him, he doesn't even remember.
Rudy doesn't remember. And now Rudy was defensive show team.
My brother Bob was on the defense going against the
offensive show team, so he wouldn't have a chance to

(32:25):
play against him on the field. But still they were teammates.

Speaker 2 (32:28):
And did your brother turn in his jersey like everybody
else did that they weren't going to play.

Speaker 6 (32:33):
If Rudy remember, I talked about of Hollywood embellishment. Can
I get a t o here? Yeah? Again? Great story, great, great,
you know story of a kid who wasn't a top
athlete getting on the team and getting in for a

(32:54):
play and such.

Speaker 2 (32:55):
He's a Mike Golig senior squirming in his seat right now.
He is, him and his son are on a FanDuel network.

Speaker 6 (33:04):
Todd, Sorry, Todd, Sorry.

Speaker 2 (33:07):
It's okay. You've been consistently bad. Don't worry about it.
You know, how do you keep these coaches in place
for a longer period of time? We grew up in
a in an era where coaches stayed for decades. But
here's Marcus Freeman. Who I mean, everybody loves Marcus Freeman.
I think they looked at him maybe for the NFL

(33:29):
last year. You know, is Penn State gonna come knocking
on the door? The money that is there now, you
know the price with you know, coach Signetti getting eleven
million dollars a year. How do you keep these coaches
in place for a long period of time?

Speaker 6 (33:45):
First off, let me say, stay the hell away from
Marcus Freeman, all right, Stay away from my coach? All right?
He is a great coach. He's a great recruit. Why
they're coming after Listen. I know he just got extended
I think last December. If they have to, you keep
extending this guy as long as you have to to
keep him here. I mean, listen, Dan, everybody complained about

(34:07):
the players having movement, and I do think while I'm
happy the players have movement, happy the players are getting paid,
being able to move every single year is really really tough.
But coaches have been able to. I mean, Kurt Signetti
signed that eight year, ninety two million dollar extension and
he still could sign somewhere else next year if he
wanted to, Right, he won't. He's really done an incredible

(34:30):
job with that program, but he could. Extensions really mean nothing.
The buyout may get bigger, but you always have alumni
that will buy it out. Dan, there's no way under
the current system, there's no way to stop the movement.
And quite honestly, head coaches don't want to stop this
movement because they're going to only be one new coach
at Penn State. But if five are talked about, those

(34:52):
other four are going to get extensions at the school
they're atting more money, so they don't want it to change.

Speaker 2 (34:57):
Either what's going on with the Big Ten with this
pension fund and you know two billion dollars.

Speaker 6 (35:03):
Oh, the private equity firm. I think the worry there
for this. It would be split. There's eighteen teams in
the Big Ten and then the equity firm. There'd be
split twenty ways. Basically, I think the one the one
point of contention for any kind of private equity is
what kind of power do they have. I understand they

(35:25):
wouldn't get a seat on the board. It all depends
on the power that you have. There's one thing to
happen to pay a portion of your money to somebody,
but it's another thing if that entity has power, and
that's what they don't want. There's already enough cooks in
the kitchen already enough. You talked about the possibility of
just forty teams. At some point it would probably be
more than that. But as my son Mike and I

(35:46):
argue about this all the time, he thinks that's going
to happen. But I'm like, I don't think commissioners can
work together. Greg SANKEI would have to be the top man.
He's not going to accept anybody else running anything. He
wants to run. And I don't mean that in a
bad way, but that's kind of the position that he's in.
So I have a hard time believing even the power
for conference commissioners could all work together to secure kind

(36:09):
of going away from the NCAA and just forming one
one conference.

Speaker 2 (36:13):
March madness is going to expand. It's not a question
of if, but when. And I mean it used to
be special to make the tournament.

Speaker 6 (36:21):
I mean, we've had so many coaches and we've had
John Calipari on the show, and every coach we've had
on is just like, why why are we You know,
we already have to call the play in games round one,
which I don't do. They're playing games. Now you're just
going to have more playing games. I mean I have,

(36:41):
but a team can say we made the tournament, No
you didn't. It's really a play in game, even though
you're not saying it's a playing game. I don't understand
why they're expanding, but.

Speaker 2 (36:50):
We're going to expand college football playoffs.

Speaker 6 (36:52):
We are, but I think sixteen is more palatable than
seventy six.

Speaker 2 (36:57):
But we're not stopping at sixteen.

Speaker 6 (37:00):
Oh it better stop at sixteen. I mean, how far
can you go? I mean you have when do you
start games? I already think they wait too long to
start games. They should start them earlier. Then you get
into Christmas, then you get into school, which that's another thing.
We've we lost the student athlete moniker. But there's a
but the lower divisions have figured out playoffs, haven't they.

(37:21):
They've been doing it for years and they figured it off.
And Division One has always been like, ah, we got
to think about the players and the games until the
money gets too good, kind of like the NFL and gambling.
No we're not. No, can't wait a minute, how much
can we make? Oh? Wait, so let's have gambling. Okay,
So again it's no secret it's all about the money.

Speaker 2 (37:39):
Did you know the points spreads when you were playing?

Speaker 6 (37:41):
No, I had no idea. Quite honestly, I've worked for
DraftKings and FanDuel and I still don't know the point spreads.
I really don't. I mean, we don't talk about like
the gambling and this points bright the stuff on our show.
We just do it like a sports show, like like
we used to do in the old days.

Speaker 2 (37:56):
Okay, but so when you played for the Eagles, No,
you had no idea.

Speaker 6 (37:59):
No, clue, zero idea, no idea, and I don't know
if any players did, but I had no idea at all.

Speaker 2 (38:08):
Why is Notre Dame a nine and a half point
favorite tomorrow?

Speaker 6 (38:11):
That seemed coming off the USC destroying of Michigan and
Mayava the quarterback and Lemon the receiver? How good they
are and the line? Their line is on their fourth combination,
but they've only given up four sacks. It's either two
strong offenses. I was surprised that the spread was as
big as it is, but again, as a former player,

(38:32):
I never cared about the spread. If we won by
a point didn't matter to me. We got the w
Where are you going to be for the game? I'm
actually calling the game for Notre Dame Radio. Ryan Harris
normally does it, but he has this little thing, this
fiftieth Super Bowl anniversary for the Broncos that he's going to,
of which I wish I had a Super Bowl you know,
or you're need to go to. But he's going to that,

(38:53):
So I'm actually I'm actually calling the game. Awesome, Yeah,
that would be fun. A family here, No, I'm here
by myself, mulking it all in. Nobody wanted to come
with me.

Speaker 2 (39:02):
We were at linebackers last night. Then, oh I'll be there.
I'll be there tonight. We were there last night. Yeah, yeah,
it's uh, there is no doubt. I don't want to
get graphic, but there's no doubt my vomit is still
somewhere in there. There's no doubt that it's still in
there somewhere.

Speaker 6 (39:19):
Yeah. Yeah, great place, just a great place has been changed.
Don't don't wear open toe shoes in there. Just don't.

Speaker 2 (39:28):
Great to see you. Todd, my senior. He doesn't work
for drafts.

Speaker 6 (39:33):
A few months ago ready he went from Driftings to
Fangil GoJ It's golic and gold. Yeah, three to five Eastern. Yeah.
I thought I would text at you, but I was like,
I was like, he screwed up. He's a phenomenal producer.
He knows.

Speaker 4 (39:48):
Times of change.

Speaker 2 (39:50):
Oh yeah, Fox the big noon kickoff at Michigan and
they're going to be in Utah. So me on Thursday.
Once Friday, it's yeah, big intro to Brady Quinn. He's like, uh,
I'm not Michigan. I'm not in Michigan.

Speaker 6 (40:05):
You did play it Notre dame though he did.

Speaker 7 (40:07):
When you got that right calling the game for no
game on the weak.

Speaker 6 (40:10):
There you go, You're like hitting three hundred. You'd be
a multimillionaire in basis.

Speaker 2 (40:13):
Mike Golic Senior. And you'll find him on.

Speaker 6 (40:20):
Andlic. Know I got that gojo from Goolic on FanDuel.

Speaker 2 (40:23):
How about we cut our losses. We'll take a break.

Speaker 1 (40:26):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk lineup in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at Foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app. Search FSR to
listen live.

Speaker 2 (40:37):
I forgot about this, but our next guest, he's the
athletic director here at Notre Dame, Pete Babaqua. I think
he was my boss at NBC Ecock at one point,
although I never saw him. I don't know if we
had any communication.

Speaker 6 (40:49):
Yes, Paul, that's the best kind of boss.

Speaker 2 (40:51):
Yeah, but I I just remembered he worked at NBC
Sports and ran NBC Sports, but I didn't come in
contact with it. Yeah, Paul.

Speaker 6 (41:00):
Then he went in the portal and Notre Dame picked up.

Speaker 2 (41:01):
Yeah they did. But the nil I mean, he's done
a really good job here as we welcome the Notre
Dame athletic director, Pete Mabakwell, thanks guys.

Speaker 1 (41:15):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (41:15):
Oh whoa, Okay, what have we got? We got gifts here?

Speaker 6 (41:18):
Oh our new our new hockey jersey.

Speaker 2 (41:23):
Okay, so this is the unveiling of the hockey jersey
that will be on display.

Speaker 8 (41:29):
Wow, tonight we're gonna We're gonna wear it tonight. We
play tonight again against Saint Lawrence. We had a nice victory.
I think a bunch of you guys were there.

Speaker 2 (41:38):
They were there.

Speaker 8 (41:38):
I had a nice victory last night at ATE two,
and hopefully we can keep it going.

Speaker 2 (41:42):
That is awesome.

Speaker 8 (41:43):
We also I have some of your old performance reviews.
You do, yeah, sit down and talk about that.

Speaker 6 (41:49):
Wait?

Speaker 2 (41:50):
Were you my boss? At some point?

Speaker 6 (41:51):
I was?

Speaker 8 (41:52):
Yeah, yeah, But why didn't I talk to you?

Speaker 2 (41:55):
You know, I was busy, and why didn't you talk
to me?

Speaker 8 (41:57):
I re talked.

Speaker 2 (41:59):
Did you think I did a good job?

Speaker 8 (42:00):
I thought you did a really good job.

Speaker 2 (42:02):
Okay, yeah, yeah, we Why am I not there anymore?

Speaker 8 (42:06):
There's there's new bosses.

Speaker 2 (42:10):
Great to talk to you, and I mentioned this. I
don't know if I'm overstating it. You probably would think
I am. But I look at Sank and Patiti and
I look at you, as you know, probably the three
most important people in college football, the SEC commissioner, Big
ten and you here at Notre Dame and you take
over for Jack Swarbrick, who was one of the most

(42:32):
influential people we probably had with this sport. Sometime, do
you feel like you guys are the gatekeepers here and
if so, what goes along with that?

Speaker 8 (42:41):
Well, I would tell you, first of all, it's it's
not me, it's Notre Dame. I mean, Notre Dame is
there in that position. You talk about the history of
Notre Dame football, the power Notre Dame football, the power
of the brand. I'm the I'm the caretaker of that,
you know, and I couldn't be more honored or feel
more fortunate to be in this position. And I take
that responsibility very very seriously. That I'm in that room

(43:04):
having those conversations with Greg Sankey, Tody Petiti, Jimmy Phillips
at the ACC, Brett Yormark at the Big twelve, and others,
and you know, we have a very definite point of view,
We have a perspective what Notre Dame believes in. Being
independent in the space, as you've mentioned in the past,
is certainly a unique attribute to the position we hold

(43:27):
in college football and it's a great privilege to be
in that room. I love being in that room. I
love being a part of those conversations, and we're hall
hopefully united and aligned in certainly doing what's best. A
commissioner has to always have the perspective of what's best
for his or her conference. I have to have the
perspective of what's best for Notre Dame. But I think
we all hope to share a common ground of what's

(43:48):
best for the future health of college football.

Speaker 2 (43:50):
Okay, but what is that? There have been different models
that have been put out there, and I just it
feels like it's inevitable we're going to get to an
NFL or Premier League type of format. Could you get
sixty teams fifty forty teams and almost secede from the NCAA.

Speaker 8 (44:06):
Yeah, Dan, there's the concept of this super league. Are
there twenty four to thirty teams that extricate themselves from
the college football space and create a mini NFL? I,
for one, I think that's a horrible mistake. College Football's
not the NFL.

Speaker 6 (44:19):
We shouldn't be.

Speaker 8 (44:20):
The NFL were something different. We're something that's special. The crowds,
the alumni bases, the fact that these are eighteen to
twenty one year olds that change and graduate. There's a
power to that. And I think in trying to replicate
the NFL model, where there might be some more revenue there,
particularly from a media standpoint, I think we'll ruin what's special.

(44:41):
We won't look like the NFL, will look like a
small version, a compromise version of the NFL, and we'll
lose what's so special about what's going to happen here
tomorrow night. When you have two great, storied programs from
great schools coming together, this wonderful rivalry. You know, you
have the Notre Dame US, the Ohio State, Michigan's that's

(45:03):
what makes college football so special.

Speaker 2 (45:04):
But we're losing these rivalries. We may lose USC Notre Dame.

Speaker 8 (45:08):
Well, I would say, and I can't speak for USC,
but in the conversations we've had, I think both schools,
both administrations are committed to keeping this series alive. We've
had a lot of positive conversations with USC. They're continuing
literally around the clock. My hope, and I think USC

(45:29):
shares this and I know they share it. We want
to keep this series going. It's so special. It's hey,
I'll be the first two admitte It's great for Notre Dame.
I think it's great for USC, and maybe most importantly,
I think it's great for college football. This is one
of those rivalries that defined college football, define the sport,
the greatest intersectional rivalry that there is. And I think

(45:49):
the public deserves it. I think the college fans deserve it.
All the pageantry of a Notre Dame USC game. You
think about the importance of this game over the history
of college football. How many national championships were influenced and
determined the Heisman Trophy winners. And I understand, you know,
with the Big Ten, the conference schedules, you know, more
conference matchups, that's tough, that's difficult travel for USC now

(46:14):
that they're in the Big Ten. But you know, I
just think college football deserves it. I know we feel
that way. I know USC feels that way. And you know,
for us, we're lucky that we have a long list
of really prominent teams that want to play us. They
want to do home and homes, they want us to
come to their stadiums, they want to come here to
Notre Dame and you know, that's great, and that's a

(46:36):
fortunate position to be in. And that's the power of
Notre Dame and the power of the program under coach Freeman.
But there's something really special about Notre Dame USC, and
no matter how either team season is going, anything can happen.
You can make a team a more difficult road to
a national championship, you can have an upset. It's just
a wonderful history there that I hope we don't lose.

Speaker 2 (46:58):
Yeah, Okay, So at this point where we have to
negotiate around the clock to keep this going, if everybody
understands the beauty of this rivalry, the importance of this rivalry.

Speaker 8 (47:07):
I think it's scheduling and now the Big Ten schedule
and the nine games that they play. When you look
at our schedule into the future, and we're talking about
moments in the calendar month that makes sense for US
and for USC, I think there's no secret that US
would like to play our game earlier in the season.
So I'm working hand in hand with somebody who's so

(47:29):
important to our program, Ron Palace, who's a name everybody knows,
and Ron is kind of mapping out what our future
looks like twenty six, twenty seven, well into the thirties,
and where could we position this game. So it's a
win win for us when we go out there and
when USC comes here and visits. I'm hopeful. I'm optimistic.
Nothing is finalized, but I'm optimistic that we'll get something done.

Speaker 2 (47:51):
He's a Pete Bbaqua Notre Dame athletic director. But I
understand from USC's perspective, it feels like Notre Dame may
need USC more than USC needs Notre Dame because Notre
has a tough Big ten schedule and they don't want
to jeopardize, you know, another loss, because if you have
three losses, you're not going to make like tomorrow's an
elimination game. It feels like for Notre Dame.

Speaker 8 (48:11):
Yeah, I think it's you know, we you know, we
have a tough schedule this year. We opened up with
two very tough competitive games, obviously with Miami, who's now
I think number two in the country in Texas A
and m We lost to Miami by three points. There
in our opening game, we lost to Texas A and
m here by a point. Then we've you know, we've
had this great stretch of four victories in a row.

Speaker 6 (48:31):
But no, hey, no doubt about it.

Speaker 8 (48:32):
If we want to make the CFP, and we do,
we got to go win tomorrow night. We know that
our team knows that, Marcus knows that. But I'll push
back on you. I think this game is just as
important for USC as it is for Notre Dame, and
just as important for college football. And if you're USC,
you want this tradition. You want to play Notre Dame.
You want Notre Dame to come out to the coliseum.

(48:54):
You know, just like when USC's here, we'll pack the
house the South Bend. There'll be one hundred more or
thousand people coming into South Bend, even people who can't
get in the stadium, just to be a part of
the pageantry in the atmosphere. Well, that happens when we
go out to the coliseum. It's packed. The surrounding area
has packed. It has such a benefit for the campus,
for the community.

Speaker 6 (49:15):
And when you.

Speaker 8 (49:15):
Take two great historic brands from wonderful schools and you're
able to have this great contest on the football field
year in and year out, there's tremendous value for the
entire eCos.

Speaker 2 (49:27):
Well, I don't want to lose it. But I don't
want to lose Notre Dame in Michigan.

Speaker 6 (49:31):
Well I would.

Speaker 8 (49:32):
I'd love to play Michigan, you know, And I think
that's something we're going to work toward. I think that's
one of you know, I think back to my time here.
I graduated in nineteen ninety three.

Speaker 2 (49:43):
If you join the Big Ten, then you get to
play these teams. Yeah, but we just let me know.
I hear you and the Big Ten, Hey, no, there's
was it ever close? Big Ten's a wonderful conference. I
don't think it was ever close. You know, there's the
Big Ten, the SEC, the Big twelve, the ACC. As
you know, we're a member of the ACC for twenty
four of our twenty six sports or Big ten in hockey,

(50:05):
and obviously independent in football.

Speaker 8 (50:08):
I think it's a great time to be independent. And
we're sure we're a unicorn. But we have a wonderful
relationship with NBC thirty five years in counting. We have
the luxury and we're fortunate to schedule great teams. Think
about this year we had Miami, Texas, A and m
we play USC. Going into the future, we have Alabama,

(50:29):
we have Texas, we have some others that we're close
to announcing. And I love the fact that the freedom
we have from playing teams that make sense, playing in
areas that we want to play in, whether it's going
to New York City, going out to Los Angeles, playing
in the Yankee Stadium next year, opening up the season
in Lambeau against Wisconsin, going to Ireland thinking hey, can

(50:50):
we go play a game in Mexico City. You have
the luxury of that when you're independent. But to be independent,
you have to be good, and we know that that's
an obligation, that's a responsibility.

Speaker 6 (51:01):
We have to be good.

Speaker 8 (51:02):
We have to stay relevant. We have to knock on
that national championship door year in and year out. Because
to stay independent, we have to be impossible to ignore.
You have to be a unicorn, but you don't want to.
You can't let the unicorn get starved. And that's tremendous
pressure on the program, on our athletic department, on coach Freeman.
But it's pressure that we welcome and I think we

(51:24):
thrive on.

Speaker 2 (51:25):
If you add the deciding vote of expanding the playoffs
from twelve to let's say sixteen.

Speaker 8 (51:31):
One hundred percent answer in my opinion, sixteen teams is
the way we should go. Five automatic qualifiers, one each
for the power for conference champions, one for the highest
CHI five G five champion, eleven at large. Prove it
on the field. If we're lucky enough to be in,
we're in. If because we're independent, we have three losses
or four losses.

Speaker 6 (51:51):
And we're out, we're out.

Speaker 8 (51:53):
I think there's almost unanimity in that feeling, and I
hope that's we end up. I feel passionate about that.
I think it's the best thing for college football. I
think it's the best thing for the future college football.
Look at the top ten this year, look at the
different teams in there. Look at the success that Texas
Tech is having.

Speaker 6 (52:14):
You want that.

Speaker 8 (52:14):
You want every team to wake up at the end
of the summer and they as they go into their
first game and say, hey, if we do it, if
we get it done, if we go twelve and zero,
if we go eleven and one, if we schedule tough
opponents and have a strong strength to schedule, we can
earn our way in there. Nobody wants a head start.
That's not the way to do it. We want to
prove that we can identify a true national championship a

(52:38):
team that's earned in on the field, And I feel very.

Speaker 2 (52:40):
Strongly, yeah, but can we lock in sixteen? We got
to twelve and went we were already going, well, we
got to get to fourteen or sixteen?

Speaker 8 (52:47):
Yeah, I think what I love about I think the
move from four to twelve was terrific and smart. I
think the move from twelve to sixteen brings additional teams in.
Obviously the four additional teams, it creates those four additional
narrative around the country, brings those fan bases in, brings
in other geographies. Yet there's that delicate balance that I
think it achieves and maintains of identifying a true national

(53:10):
championship but protecting the integrity and the importance of that
of the regular season. And there's no sport where the
regular season games are more important than they are in
college football. Here we are in Week seven and we
have a game tomorrow night that for us will determine
whether we can make the playoffs or whether we're on
the outside looking in. That doesn't happen in other sports,

(53:32):
and that's the beauty of college football. That's why there's
so much passion around these games. And you mentioned games
this weekend that are so important, Teams that can't afford
to lose again, teams that need to quality win. That's
the beauty of college football and I we can't lose.
That be a shame if we lost that.

Speaker 2 (53:48):
Do you have uniform approval?

Speaker 8 (53:50):
I have uniform input, input input. So you know Marcus,
who's probably one of the two or three most stylish
men in America, he is a lot of input. We
tend to defer to him. We have color combinations that
we like, and then he works with our very talented
team and with our partner under Armour to put the
uniforms out there. But I get a sense that's a

(54:12):
leading question. Are you thinking about a uniform that we
haven't debuted yet?

Speaker 2 (54:16):
No, I'm just curious. Is there anything like a bold
move that you would make for a one off?

Speaker 8 (54:24):
Well, you think about our Shamrock series. We've had some
really creative uniforms, you think when.

Speaker 2 (54:28):
We mean, I love the helmet with the shamrock on.

Speaker 8 (54:30):
Yeah, I think we see though the gold helmet as Sakrasay, Okay,
I don't think we're gonna monkey around with the helmets anymore.
That gold helmet is as good as it gets. I'm biased.
I think it's the best helmet in college football. But
you think about when we went to Yankee Stadium for
the Shamrock Series a few years back with the pinstripes,
what we did last year when we went to Yankee

(54:51):
Stadium for the Army game.

Speaker 6 (54:53):
What we're going to do.

Speaker 8 (54:54):
Next year at Lambeau, what we did a couple of
weeks ago in the all green uniforms. I love when
we use the white on white with the gold helmets
when we're away. So we're gonna, you know, we work
with under armour. We want to change it up. The
fans love it.

Speaker 2 (55:06):
But you would do that the leprechaun on the front, like,
but you.

Speaker 8 (55:11):
Can't put the leprechaun on for you need the number,
but you can't do a no. You will see that
are we have the sports specific leprechauns. We debuted the
football one that that you guys that we've been wearing
a few weeks ago, and the fans love it. Coach
Freeman loves it. We have the hockey leprechaun. We're going
to do that in more sports. You will see that
football leprechaun start to move into certain positions on some

(55:32):
of our football uniforms, but unlike the hockey sweater, it
won't be on the front or the back.

Speaker 2 (55:37):
Can you give me an idea of how much merchandise
you guys do well, I would tell you we did
a lot yesterday to let you know. That's a two
story got a bookstore full of merchants.

Speaker 8 (55:50):
It's like saxvixth Avenue.

Speaker 2 (55:51):
Yes, like this has to be. You must do more
merchandise than any other program in America.

Speaker 8 (55:56):
I think you know, we're lucky. We have such a
great passionate national, international fan base that Notre Dame logo.
Whether you're in South Bend, Indiana, or New York City
or Beijing, people know what it is. It means something.
And then, to the credit of the university and to
the credit of our partners, like under Armor, we come

(56:17):
up with, you know, really interesting designs that appeal to people.
And then, as I say, you put it on Marcus Freeman,
put him on television for three and a half hours
on a Saturday afternoon or a Saturday night, and everybody
wants what what Marcus wears. Now, the unfortunate thing is
not everybody looks as good as as Marcus.

Speaker 6 (56:35):
Does you guys.

Speaker 2 (56:36):
Do your results may vary? Can you get the Pope?

Speaker 8 (56:40):
He's a cell Sider, he's a southsiderbody, but he is
a villainovgrad.

Speaker 2 (56:44):
Yeah, but they don't have football.

Speaker 8 (56:45):
They don't have football. We're we think the pope's a fan.
We are Provost John McGreevey and our president.

Speaker 2 (56:52):
Maybe you know, fighting iris and he's wearing the hockey.

Speaker 8 (56:55):
A little blue and gold and green. It would be
nice something to work on, for sure.

Speaker 2 (56:59):
Thanks for having us hosting us people here behind the
scenes did a wonderful job. Could not have been more accommodating.
And uh it is uh And I don't know if
an honorary degree is like in play now, but I
mean i'll throw it out there.

Speaker 8 (57:14):
We well, we we're thrilled here here.

Speaker 6 (57:17):
I love the show that personally know that.

Speaker 8 (57:19):
That's why I I'll take it up with our president
father Bob.

Speaker 2 (57:22):
Okay, all right, fair enough. I mean I graduated from Dayton,
so maybe yeah, maybe like a graduate degree, you know.

Speaker 8 (57:28):
So well you can come back and get on an
advanced degree.

Speaker 2 (57:30):
A doctorate something like that.

Speaker 6 (57:33):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (57:33):
Pete Notre Dame Athletic Director