Notre Dame Beats UVA Georgia Tech — IST617

Randall and Reuben discuss Notre Dame's 28-3 victory over UVA, the college football playoff, and the upcoming matchup vs Georgia Tech.

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
You're listening to Irish Sports Talk.Hello Nordame fans, Welcome to Irish Sports
Talk. This is episode six hundredand seventeen. I'm Rubin and joining me
as Randall. Randall, how's itgoing. It's going good? All right.

(00:23):
Today we're gonna recap nor Dame's victoryover Virginia twenty eight to three,
and then preview upcoming game against GeorgiaTech as well. I'm probably spent a
little bit of time talking about thesituation around the college football playoff. I
mean, it's always an interesting topicwhen Nor Dame is close to the mix,
and they're definitely they're close to themix. I should move up a

(00:45):
few spots. Do you have OhioState in Michigan State, which are both
ahead of Nordame playing this weekend,so and Oregon number three? Oregon playing
Utah. Utah's favored by three pointsin that matchup, So there's a um
their name will definitely be moving upand there's a good chance that they could
move up a few spots. Yeah, I kind of I'm kind of rooting

(01:10):
for Oregon just a little bit becauseI'd rather have them in there than Ohio
State, and right now they havethey have the the shot over Ohio State.
I just don't want to see OhioState of the playoffs. Um.
And then obviously Cincinnati they're playing Ithink eight and two or maybe seven and
two SMU. They're favored by eleven, but at least a decent matchup.

(01:33):
Yeah, they haven't been playing aswell lately either, so you never know.
But I mean, obviously they're not. No name is not out of
the playoff mix, but you know, a lot of things do have to
happen, and I still their namesdoesn't get any credit, Like it's just
it's frustrating. They just don't getany credit if they're not up there,

(01:55):
and I don't Yeah, I'm notexpecting. I just want than to get
to one of the major bowl gamesand win one of those. They've yet
to do that. So let's getto the New Year's sixth Bowl game and
win one of those, because Idon't think they're gonna make it to the
playoffs. If they do, theyprobably play like Georgia. Well, I

(02:17):
don't think they would. I don'tthink they would beat any I don't think
they could they I don't think theycould beat Georgia, Alabama, The Oregon
I think they could beat Oregon.I think they could maybe keep it maybe
close with Ohio State. Maybe theyget close to the Ohio State. They'd
beat Cincinnati again, they would beatCincinnati. I do believe that Michigan Michigan

(02:37):
State would be a close matchup.I think, yeah, but you're right,
they'd probably play either Georgia or Alabama. Yeah, you know, it's
um what So obviously we had somebold predictions for the for the Virginia game.
Um, going into it, wewe knew that was up in the

(02:58):
air if Armstrong would be playing forVirginia, their starting quarterback. He didn't.
He warmed up, but he didn'tplay. I was surprised by that
obviously. Yeah, he just wasn'twasn't able to. He looked he looked
bad. Yes, before the game, the audio wasn't even on and I
saw him warm up and I thought, man, he's got a real weird
throwing motion. Yeah. So INordin scored twenty points. They put up

(03:29):
twenty one in the first half,only seven in the second half. You
know, I'm still doubtful if Nordawould have won this game had Virginia's offense
spent full strength and maybe they probablycould have put more points on the board
in the second half if they wouldbeen pushing it more. I agree,
but I still didn't think they tookadvantage of Virginia's bad defense like they should

(03:51):
have, like a lot of teamshave. Yeah, and I think some
of that is just playing to thecompetition. I still think nerd Dame would
have won with Armstrong playing. LikeI think this. I feel like this
game wasn't even as close as whatthe score says. You tell me twenty
eight to three, like I thinkthey if the score should have been a

(04:13):
lot different. This was a muchbigger win than what the score says.
And I think they would have stillwon against with Armstrong playing, especially with
how the secondary played. I mean, those guys said obviously Kyle Hamilton wasn't
there, but you know, theystepped up and they played incredible. I'm
the young guys, Ramone Henderson,the interception, just those the way they

(04:38):
stepped up. You know, ifthe passing game is obviously what Virginia likes
to do, and yeah, itone thing that I mean they did this.
Nearding got this win. But likeMTA Myron tac Royle, the Moosa
and like Drew White were scratch.I mean they were taking off depth right
right before the game, and soNo Dame out without four of their captains,

(05:02):
and they wouldn't have played otherwise either. But I do know, like
with all the talk about the fluthat's been going around, I think some
of the guys played that weren't undpercent either. Yeah, I mean you
saw, you know, guys likeFosky and some of the others that make
a bigger impact. This defense wasn'twhich they would have been. It would
have been that way as well ifArmstrong would have played. But Near Dame
was definitely they had a lot ofthey had a lot going on the last

(05:26):
week. Yeah, that is true. With the flu around. I'm just
glad that they're finally admitting that it'sthe fluid not COVID. So I'm shocked
that they're actually, um, theyknow the difference between those. So we're
heading in the right direction. Ido want to point out a couple of
real bright spots. I thought LoganDiggs has has shown just a continual development

(05:48):
and he ran I think stronger thanhe's ever run this year. He looked
great, had the hurdle on thesideline, he looks incredible. I'll be
honest. In the first few gameseveryone was ranting Raven. I thought,
yeah, he looks like a solidback, he looks strong, sturdy,
But I was really it was reallyimpressed on Saturday. Yeah, I continue

(06:11):
to be impressed with him, andI mean the downside, he's actually he's
looking better than Chris Tyree. WhchChris Terry is obviously dealing with turf toe,
but Logan Diggs is closer to KarenWilliams than what Chris Tyree is.
Yeah, Chris Terree can run fast, makes some moves, but he's not
He's not Logan Diggs and Karen Williams. Yeah, I mean I think next

(06:34):
year is going to be Logan Diggsand then Chris Tye, I mean in
place of Kyron Williams and Chris Tyreeis still like the number two guys that
comes in. But it was goodto see what he was able to do.
I was playing how gressy he isgetting the yards and closer He's much

(06:57):
closer Karen Williams than what I washoping for in the next guy than true
we're gonna have next years yep.I agree. Also really impressed with Bradon
Lendsay had a nice had a nicethree one yard run, had several incredible
catches that were tough, and hecame with the ball, had the scoring
touchdown where he caught it and jumpedin for the touchdown. There was yeah,

(07:18):
and there was one where he didn'tget the ball, which was very
contested ball. Did they call passinterference and he didn't. He didn't keep
a hold of the ball and hecould have gone either way. I was
kind of like, well, shouldhe have caught that ball? Should have
not? Then of course the nextplay, pretty much the next play is
when Michael Mayer made that incredible catchlike basically reached around the defender and grabbed

(07:41):
the ball and hung on to it. Then I was like, oh,
that just made Bradon Lindsay looked thatmuch worse. So um, but yeah,
he did, he did play better. I think he's he knows that
he needs to make those plays.He had a good game. Still needs
to fight for the ball when it'sa contested ball, he needs to get
that. There's some there's some passesthat I just like shake my head because

(08:03):
he should have had it. Butyeah, he still he did have a
good game. So yeah, defensivelyyou re mentioned Henderson, but I mean,
where did he come out of what? I mean? He seemed like
he was all over the place,had half a tackle for loss, but

(08:26):
yeah, it was just seemed likehe was around the ball just everywhere.
Well was it I don't know ifit was Pete Sam it was always one
of the Irish Illustrated guys had pointedout that before this game he led the
team in penalties per play. Ithink he had not good at all making

(08:48):
mistakes. Well here he is obviouslyplaying very, very well and if he
continues to play like that, itwill soften the blow of not having Kyle
Hamilton, which who by the way, is out for the rest of you.
He could play in the bowl gameor a playoff. So Brian Kelly
said, it's a six week injurymeniscus, and you could see it like
he's definitely his knee definitely hurts.So I don't think he's holding out just

(09:13):
because he doesn't want to get hurt. He is actually injured and can't play.
So now it's going to be interestingto watch and see what he does
with the bowl game. I kindof think he'll play like I think at
this point, Notre Dame's gonna getin a good enough bowl that he's gonna
come out one more time and playone more game, whether it's playoff or

(09:35):
New Year's Six Bowl. I thinkI think Notre Dame is going to be
in the New Year's Six Bowl.And I'm gonna say at this point that
Kyle Hamilton's gonna play. I mean, from what we've heard and seen of
him, he seems like that kindof a player, so I would expect
it as well. Yeah, andI know last week when we were talking
about that he needs to play,I meant as far as from him to

(09:56):
win, like he needs to playfrom Nor Dame to win. And we
did say like if he's injured,then obviously you can't play. Yeah,
yeah, um. But then backto the defense. Young guys playing,
I mean another guy obviously, Rileymills Um playing on defensive line, playing
inside, incredible, got the gameball came in, you know, obviously

(10:20):
MPA's out. He came in,had four tackles, but two sacks and
two tackles for loss. So Iactually I think those I think those tackles
for lost our sacks. Okay,yeah, yeah, you're right, you're
right, I'm looking at the ESPNone um but incredible performs. The way
these young guys like across the boardcame in and are making plays like it

(10:45):
always feels good for there. Thefuture of Notre Dame football for the next
few years is very good. Yeah, you know, I always think that,
man, we got some good defensivelinemen right now, but once they're
gone, who are we gonna have. I felt this for several kind of
micro or not migrations, but transitionsof the defensive line. Yeah, and
it seems again like, oh,there's some talent there. Yeah. But

(11:09):
you just look at the names youknow on this list and the defense,
you know, Xavier watts Um,Prince Collie, Riley Mills. I was
at Jad Bertrand's play a lot,but Jordan Botello, Ramon Henderson, you
know, these guys are all makingplays. I mean they're up there at
the top and you know, withtackles and stuff, and they're they're coming

(11:30):
up. They're playing and stepping upin a big way. And so I
feel better about going to next yearthan I did come into this year,
honestly with the defense, just becauseof all the questions, you know,
with with some of the linebacker stuff. There's a secondary just yeah, there
was quite a few questions there,but I feel much better about that secondary

(11:52):
than I did this year. Obviouslyreplacing Kyle Hamilton like that, that's huge.
But yeah, I mean, likeyour average across the board. So
all right, there was anything elseyou want to talk about? Their name's
win over Virginia before we move overto Georgia Tech. Well, Jack Cohen
continues to like he is now wasthe last six games. Now, he's

(12:15):
over seventy percent completion. You know, some of those are shorter passes,
but he's still making plays downfield.I think he's just like stepped up.
And a lot of it has todo with this offensive line. I think
we were right to me in thegear. We were saying, like,
he's a good quarterback if he hasan offensive line. And let's not take
away from from Tommy Reeves for gettingmore tempo going because that also has helped
him and the offensive line. Yeah, no, I agree. I didn't

(12:39):
expect it, but it looks likethey made the right adjustments for Jack Cohen
to succeed. Offensive line is playingbetter, and I mean you can't complain
with what. Yeah, there's stuffhere and there that you could do better,
but like fifteen to twenty three touchdowns, I mean one interception. But
the way he's been playing the lastsix games, I mean, he's doing

(13:01):
what he's supposed to. They've they'vemade it work for him versus trying to
force him in his system that isn'this style. So I mean props to
Tommy. That was pretty hard onthem earlier in the year and how they
were handling all this, but theythey've made the right adjustments. And Jack
Cohen seventy percent completion, I meanjust last year we always wanted that.

(13:22):
Then finally we've had book come inand yeah, complete three yard passes,
try to get there. But hereyou've got the short passes, you've got
the deep passes, and there's somethat look pretty ugly, the ones that
are off pretty ugly, But youcan have some of those when you're when
you're completing as many passes as heis. And obviusly Tyland Buckler in just

(13:46):
thinking, I mean, who,I don't know who Drew Pine is,
but I feel for him all right. Well. On Saturday, nor Dame
Ho Georgia Tech. Georgia Tech isthree and seven on the year, and
their name is favored by a lot, favored by seventeen points. And Georgia

(14:09):
has lost their last four games,so they're on a bad losing street.
They lost to Boston College, Miami, Virginia Tech, and Virginia the last
four weeks. So yeah, thisis a bad Georgia Tech team coming in
coming in. Their names should beable to handle this fairly easily. Yeah,

(14:30):
what were your thoughts in this game? Yeah, I mean, I
think people were higher on Georgia Techbefore the season started, but they're they're
not playing well, and I meanthey're still scoring points on these teams.
I mean they're scoring. Virginia wasforty thirty against Miami, Boston College was

(14:50):
thirty, they had twenty one againstpit You know, they're still scoring points,
but they're also giving a lot.You know, they gave up fifty
two to pit At, forty eightto Virginia, twenty six, Virginia,
thirty three to Miami, forty oneto Boston College. So I just want
Notre Dame to come out and justscore a lot of points. Like I

(15:11):
was honest disappointed with the Virginia gamebecause especially when Armstrong wasn't playing, like
I was like this game doesn't evenmatter now because whenever this game comes up,
the committee, whoever talking about NotreDame's gonna say, oh, well,
they didn't have their starting quarterback,which is true, which was that
much more important for them to scorea ton of points, which they had
a lot of stuff, other stuffgoing on, so many guys being sick,

(15:33):
and probably guys even playing that we'resick, going not one hundred percent,
you know, there was a lotgoing on. But for Notre Dame
to even get into the conversation withthe play, I mean, I guess
they are in a conversation. Butto get anywhere, they're going to have
to score a ton of points.And it's at home, so all the
more reason to do it, becauseif they don't, then it's going to

(15:54):
be like, well Notre Dame wasat home and they still couldn't score a
lot of points. You know,so at some point they got to figure
out they want to move up inthose rankings, they got to score a
lot of points. And hopefully,because it is senior day, you know
some of these guys last game atNotre Dame, hopefully they do something about
that, go out and just demolishthis team. So all right, do

(16:22):
you have a score prediction for thematchup on Saturday. Almost one more thing,
I'll point out Georgia Tech's next gameafter Notre Dame against Georgia, So
so nor Dame has to Nor Damehas to at least be halfway comparable.
Now they hammered Georgia Tech. Iswhat Georgia tubs. Well, the better
Notre Dame can look in this game. I mean, if you know Geordie

(16:45):
Tech's playing next week, so thecloser you know the score differential is there,
the better for Notre Dame. Imean, I don't know if I
actually make a difference or not,but we'll see. Um, I do
think Nor Dame is going to scoresome points. I'm going with Nere Dame
forty one to ten. Wow.Okay, um, I hope you're right.

(17:08):
I'm not quite there. I haveNo Dame winning, but only thirty
two week thirty two to seventeen.Okay, I'm kind of Notre Dame needs
to have at least to forty oneto ten win, like to impress people
like it. I agree. Yeah, a thirty two to seventeen win is
a little will be a little disappointing. So all right. You can tweet

(17:30):
out your score prediction at Irish SportsTalk on Saturday and anything else. Randal,
I don't think so. All right, Thanks for listening. Until next
time, Go Irish, Irish