Notre Dame Beats Virginia Tech — IST613

Reuben and Randall discuss the QB situation and Notre Dame's storybook victory over Virginia Tech.

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
You're listening to Irish Sports Talk.Hello Nor Dame fans, Welcome to Irish
Sports Talk, episode six hundred andthirteen. Randalls joining me as well.
Randall, how's it going. It'sgoing good. I think my heart rate
is back to normal after watching thatgame Saturday night. Yeah, there definitely

(00:22):
was a time when I was prettysure Notre Dame was going to go into
the bye week with a loss twoin a row, with their second loss,
but they pulled it out. SoI think definitely the big topics I
think the things that I'm interested inis the quarterback situation. Obviously, you
couldn't write a better story than whathappened with Jack Cohen. I mean,

(00:44):
to be able to be benched andcome back in like that. I know
it's been said a thousand times,but it is a story book and didn't
before not like this, but hestill came in with a game winning drive
earlier this year, like what.Yeah, there's so much around the quarterback
situation. So the question that everybodyhas opinions about it too, well,

(01:07):
Okay, let's let's just start withfrom what you've seen so far. Obviously
we haven't seen as much of DrewPrine But who do you think gives nor
Dame the best shot at winning ifthe coaches, if if the coaches call
the game in a way that isbeneficial to that quarterback, well that's you

(01:29):
could I could give two different answersthat if it's beneficial for the quarterback,
Well, to me, it's aclear clear one. Then I would say
Jack Cohen. But I think thequarterback that has this the skills them experience,
the guy that should be starting,in my mind right now is Drew
Pine because we see what happens withthe Jack Cone. He can't do.

(01:57):
He doesn't fit the offense that NorDame wants to run. He's too he's
not gonna run. And the reasonyou know they can bring him Buckner and
he looks so great because all ofa sudden the defense is hesitating. And
yes, Buckner shines at times,but then in the second half he didn't
complete a pass to the offense,to the offense but had to him to

(02:19):
the defense, so like he can'the's there, you saw like right before
half is like, okay, thisis why this is clearly what the plan
is is to bring Buckner in.He's they're trying to get him to be
the starter, which I think iswhat they're trying to do, but they're
forcing it. And why when youhave I still feel like there's something something

(02:40):
was going on with Drew Pine.Whether he's some nagging in wasn't one hundred
percent something like I've heard nothing,but like after what he's done in the
time he's gotten. He can run, he can pat, he can do
both. He's like a combination ofCohen and Buckner. Why wouldn't we I
expected him to start at the game, I honestly did, and then we

(03:04):
didn't even see him at all.Yeah, okay, I agree with you.
I agree with you part of partof what you're saying, the any
part where you expected Drew Pine tostart, I do agree with you there.
I thought Drew Pine was going tocome in and be the starter.
Didn't see him at all. Now, I do think with the six games
that we've seen now, I dothink Jack Cohen gives nor Name the best
chance at winning because he is themost accurate quarterback there. And and when

(03:30):
the offensive when, when when thewhen the when the field is spread,
when when when they don't try torun the ball too much? And I
know this goes against what most whatwe often want to hear, but that's
just the truth. Right now.They can't. They don't have an offensive
line that can run the foot theycan run the football like they're used to
doing the last few years. Whenyou do spread them out and you do

(03:53):
get Jack Cohen, just throw thefootball. They move the ball and they
score points. And Jack Cohen ison this is he can throw the deep
ball, he has soft touch inthe short passes. No, I agree
with you. And it's like oneone comment I saw on Twitter, why
doesn't Notre Dame just run the twominute offense with Jack Cohen because he's done
it in multiple games. Now theycome in when he has to run the

(04:15):
two minute offense and they just throwthe ball instead of trying to run.
Like you said, he's money.They get it done, they move the
ball down the field. So whynot, That's what I'm saying. They're
not He doesn't fit what Notre Damewants to do, and they're refusing to
play to his strengths. Like Isaid, did you bring him in the
two minute? The last two drivesthey were throwing the ball. He did

(04:39):
great. The offensive line, likethe issue at the issue I've had is
that Cohen doesn't have that. Heneeds a good offensive line. With offensive
line stepped it up in this game. This was the best game from the
offensive line. Yeah, I shouldhave said my comment from last week for
this week, because because they did, this was their best game. They
looked really good. Yeah, andyou had other players in there, you

(05:00):
know, Joe Allt got to start, christophik was in there as well.
Got They've got a ton of playingtime and this seemed to work great this
week. I don't know what allthey changed, what all happened, but
the offensive line played much better.And when you do what you were how
you mentioned throw the ball like thatis the main focus. Jack Cone can
get it done. Like I agreewith that. I still think that at

(05:23):
the best quarterback right now on thisteam is Jack Cone. But the problem
is they're trying to they want todo too much. They're not playing to
his strengths. So we have abye week coming up, and this is
the time for coaches to solve scoutto make adjustments where you need to.
And and it's possible that Notre Dame, that Tommy Reeves could could decide all

(05:44):
right, we need to stop beingso stubborn with running the football. We
need to We've seen now multiple games, with multiple series where we are able
to move the football, where ourskill players are able to make plays.
We need to lean towards that way, not go I'm not saying you need
to run it or pass it ninetyfive percent of time, but you can

(06:05):
at least lean towards what has beenworking. Yeah, I'm just with true
Pine. I just I would liketo know what's going through his hands.
Like we keep hearing about how greatthis quarterback room is, how they're cheering
each other on whatever, But atsome point you get irritated, Like at
some point you just have to bejust like Lawrence Keys, Like at what

(06:25):
point do you just like, Okay, clearly they don't want me to be
this doesn't matter what I do.They don't want me to be playing.
They're trying to get the other They'redetermined to get the other guys to play
over him. Like I get thathe's a great guy putting up with this,
but like I wouldn't if I washim. Yeah, I mean he
has earned he has what he hasdone, what we have seen from him,

(06:48):
He deserved to get a shot inthat game, Like even to start
but I don't know. That's whyI keep wondering if there's something else going
on, like stuff like that happensall the time. Maybe he had COVID.
I don't know. Like I feellike there was more than just him,
than just Cohen and Buckner being betterquarterbacks. I feel like he had

(07:13):
more to do with that. Imean, Cohen came in, was the
starter, and even when he struggledand they brought in Buckner, he still
remained the starter. So I dothink that the coaching staff does like Cohen.
I think they see him. Ithink they obviously I've seen him as
the best quarterback, but it lookedlike it all of us looked like that
change. Yeah, that's why Istill don't I don't blame them for not

(07:39):
making the change. It started,just because they've seen practice in fall camp
and you know it was clear whowas in number one quarterback that's Jack Cohen.
And I do think that this offensiveline continues to improve like this,
and they call plays to his strength. I do think. I think I
blame the play calling more than Ido the offensive line. And obviously Jack

(08:03):
Colin also had made some decisions whereyou hung out the ball too much.
And whatever was responsible for some ofhis own sacks over the last few games
too. So he's not a perfectplayer by any means, But I blame
Tommy Reese mostly for the struggles thatthis offense has faced. Yeah, and
the comments I hate is when allof a sudden, you know, you
bring in Buckner and he's doing hecan run, he can throw. They're

(08:24):
like, oh, finally Tommy Reesecan call the plays that he wants to
call, and the playbook is somuch more open. You don't need an
open playbook, Like like, runplays that work. You don't need fifty
different plays. You have ten playsthat work. Run the ten plays they
work. They work. That's allyou gotta do is have plays that work

(08:45):
and you win the game. Like, you don't have to have fifty to
win the game. Like that's whatI I just I just don't. I
hear that all the time when theybring in Pine or buck especially with Buckner.
Oh, this just opened up theplaybook. You don't need to run
the same plays you run the twominute drill. I don't care to get

(09:05):
the ball down the field. Itworks. They score touchdowns, So that's
all that matters at the end ofthe day. At the end of the
day, Yeah, you opened upthe playbook with Buckner. But then he
has some horrible interceptions. I meanhe's had two pick sixes already. Like
how often every everyone's saying, everyonethat I hear is saying, Wow,
Buckner is obviously the future, obviouslygoing to be a great quarterback at Notre

(09:26):
Dame. Probably true. Agree,I do, But he's still like he
is. He is not accurate inthe in short balls. He can throw
a nice deep ball, but it'sa really nice one to Kevin Austin.
Yeah, but that's beautiful. Buthe had like he was not apart from
the interceptions. He was what hewas off on a lot of those short

(09:48):
passes and threw them like darts,darted them in And I'm pretty confident we'll
get cleaned up. He'll he'll bea really good quarterback. This is what
you have to remember with Buckner.He didn't he hadn't played football in two
years. Yeah, he was injuredand then he didn't play a senior year
because of COVID it was canceled.So yes, I do think he is
the future. But they brought inCohen for a reason. They saw what

(10:11):
he could do, and I thinkhe is the reading like for this year,
like roll with him, like callplays to what he mean. Anyways,
I've said, I've said enough,but you know there were some some
plays that you know, kind oflike the two point conversion. I'm not

(10:31):
convinced that was supposed to go toKevin Austen, but hey, we're great
to see Kevin Austin hustle like thatand make a play like I feel like
he made that happen. He justit would have probably been complete, Like
I mean, I think, yeah, who knows, but I don't think
that was designed to go to himor that well it was Cohen even through

(10:54):
to him. It was kind ofit was kind of breaking down, I
mean rolling out and the receivers werere route. That was impressive by Cone
to roll out like that, Imean, do stuff like that. He
did the one bad played it.He stepped up into the pockets and stepped
right into like the defense like hedoes something for staff. Yeah, he

(11:16):
struggled like that, but I justfeel like it's they're just not helping him
or the offensive line at all withhow they're calling the plays. Spread it
out so he can see, youknow, where what his options are where
the the defense is lining up,and he has been when that's done,
picking apart the defense, Like,yeah, he needs he still needs to

(11:37):
make quick decisions because that the offensefunded play great, but you know they're
not always gonna be able to holdup that great on every series. Yeah,
all right, I'll stop about therunning game a little bit. Yeah,
we even saw a true freshman inthere. Yeah, Logan digs Um.
Chris Tyree did not play, oractually he did. I thought he

(12:01):
didn't. Well, okay he did. He had three carries for fourteen yards.
UM. But you know the runninggame, they got one hundred and
seventy three yards rushing. So Ithink, what steps looking at? Yeah,
oh yeah, yeah, yeah,sorry, Yeah, I know it
comes as a shock for one hundredand seventy three rushing yards for Notre Dame.

(12:22):
UM. I agree that comes asa shock. But I was looking
at the sum for the year.What is the total for the year.
I don't know. I mean itprobably is four hundred yards. I'm not
sure. Well it's more than thatbecause that would have been half of him
in that game. But how manydid they have against Wisconsin? Um?

(12:43):
But the running game, like it'sdefinitely getting better. Um, I very
impressive, Kyran Williams. I meanthat one played. I didn't expect to
be a touchdown, but he madethat a touchdown. After game, he
said that in the huddle he toldColin like, I don't care what's happening,
you give me the ball like hewanted it and he got it.

(13:05):
So he knew he had to makethat play because he had asked for it.
So yeah, that that was probablythe most impressive run of the year.
Yeah, that was he should havebeen down and somehow. I mean
he does, He's always done that. He always gets extra yards, but
this was extra on the top ofthe extra, like this was this was

(13:26):
crazy. So I yeah, Ijust think with how the offensive line played
like they are definitely going in theright headed, in the right direction on
the offensive line and the rushing.And I say, if you look at
the schedule, like it's going toget easier, Like Notre Dame schedule is
getting better as far as the defensesthey're playing this this schedule is going to

(13:48):
get easier, and so everything iscoming together as far as Notre Dame getting
more yards on the ground, youknow, with the offensive line playing better,
and the defense is not quite asgood as what they've been playing.
And I do I do have thattotal for you randall the total yards for

(14:09):
no name rushing? Yeah, didyou have? They have five hundred eighty
four. Okay, But one questionI had, why haven't we seen Cebo
Flemster these last few games? Ithought he was healthy. I'm surprised we
did see him play. Didn't heplay a week ago? Trying to think,
Uh, he was out earlier inthe year. He didn't play the

(14:30):
first few games because of something.I don't know if it was because of
covid or, and he didn't playat the beginning. He was ruled out
for a few games before the gameseven started. But I thought I thought
he was so I thought he wasavailable now. But he hasn't showed up
on the stat sheet this whole yearyet. And he definitely I didn't play.
He was in the game though VirginiaTech. Okay, Oh, I'd

(14:50):
have to go back and look atit. I thought he played a week
ago, but um, you didn'tCincinnati. But yeah, I'd have to
go back and check on that.Anyway. The receiving um Kevin Austin has
finally like I'm way more confidence inhim now, like he's playing determined,

(15:11):
he's making plays, he's putting inthe effort. I felt like earlier in
the year he didn't as much orearlier it kind of it was from game
to game. Yeah, the firstgame or two I thought he played really
well, was really impressed, andthen it was just a slump. Yeah,
Avery Davis. Avery Davis is continuingto impress. I didn't expect this
much out of him with the gamea year or to be honest, But

(15:33):
um, the seed that you know, the receiving yards they still have,
and Michael Mayer didn't even play Likewhen I saw he was out, I
was actually I was worried about thisbecause they need him for the blocking and
the receiving. But having him out, Um, George Takis did did get
a reception from fifteen yards and thenthere was the targeting call. So we're

(15:56):
getting pretty thin at tight end thereby the end of the game. But
was it Brian Kelly that said inthe interview that Mayor wanted to come in
in the red zone run third downsor something like that. Oh yeah,
which time about the red zone?The offense was four or four in the
red zone, which when they actuallygot in, which they just haven't gotten

(16:19):
into the red zone before. Wementioned this a week or two ago,
like how they just aren't in thered zone. But here's four trips into
the red zone and the Maine fourtouchdowns, like impressive, So somehow they
are getting things figured out. ButI don't think it was as bad.
The red zone production wasn't as bad. It was just a fact that they

(16:41):
weren't even getting into the red zoneto actually be able to show us what
they could do with the red zoneoffense. So so the offense is definitely
trending in the right direction. Ifthe quarterbacks situated one of these times,
it's just gonna It's so funny.Bran Kelly talked about how they want to
just have a quarterback. They wantto stop doing this where they're not sure

(17:03):
and bringing the backup. I don'tthink they wanted to stop bringing they were
always bringing back for a series andRaynold, I'm not against it. Like
we've talked about in the past,I'll frustrating to get when they don't bring
in another quarterback just experience. SoI'm glad to see it, but I'm
more I wanted it to be morelike it was in the first few games
where they bring him in for certainplays and things like that. When they're

(17:25):
bringing them in for entire series,which it did. It got better.
It's gotten better this last game inthe first half he did. But you
know, against Cincinnati, I feellike that lost them the game that was
probably well, that was a hugereason they lost again. They brought him
in, actually I guess they didfor one play and then took him back
out. But like they forced aseries, they brought him in and forced
into play an entire series when heshouldn't have been in there. It was

(17:48):
an obvious, you know, onthird down, obvious passing situation. The
first games they brought in Cohen onthat play and he made it like that
was working. This forcing him todo certain things is not working. So
yeah, I agree, I wantto see him in there. He is
the quarterback of the future, butdo better job of how they sub him
in it out well. I wishthey would have a few more passing plays

(18:08):
for him. And I know I'vebeen complained by his accuracy is short passes.
I'm saying it just like bombs downthe field, like at least one
out of four plays should be alaunch downfield. Yeah, maybe not one
out of every four, but nowit's about one out of every four drives.
I mean in the Virginia Tech game, Yeah, for some reason,

(18:32):
they don't have a lot of passing, which I guess it shows, you
know, in the second in thesecond half, he threw two passes to
the defense, zero to the offense. So that's a big reason why they're
not have him throw the ball more. Yeah. So, um so here,
I maybe I'm just optimistic one,but I want to talk a little
bit about what we expect coming backwhen Notre Dame comes comes back from the

(18:57):
bye week. Got big game?Well, and I guess I don't know,
do you do you view this asa big game? USC? Obviously
USC, I haven't rivaling a lot. Yeah, but I haven't really looked
at that at all. Um,I was a bye week coming up.
I didn't really spend time looking atthat at all this week. So I
mean it'll I think it'll still havea little USC. It's gonna be a

(19:18):
night game. Um. The players, even if even if there's dis array,
the players want to win. Socould it turn into a major blowout?
It could. We've seen that happen, you know, over the years,
where teams are struggling and it doesturn into blow out, but it
could also be a competitive game,so it's hard to rival This is the
rivalry. I don't care if thecoaches want to call it that or not.

(19:41):
This is a rivalry game. Yeah. Um, so what I expect?
Or I was gonna ask you,what do you expect coming back?
Do you expect this? Are youoptimistic? Are you expecting to see the
changes you want to see? Andthen I've got some thoughts for myself as
well. Well, I'm not sure. I guess it depends what the changes
I want to see it Like,I don't feel like there's gonna be big

(20:02):
changes like I think. Okay,I think is like the quarterback. Yeah,
I think it's gonna be. I'mpretty sure it's gonna be. I'm
optimistic that they are going to haveum more of a spread offense to give
Cohen more options in the passing game, and which will I think results in

(20:25):
more points, more yards. Iguess I'm optimistic about that. I think
the offensive line also overall will continueto play better, just getting healthier UM
and obviously just experience. Yeah,I guess to answer your question, I
want them to make changes, butno, I do not expect to see
them. What changes do you want? Well, I wanted them to have

(20:45):
something figured out, a better systemat quarterback, figure something out there,
versus what's happening right now the lasttwo games, Um, figure something,
figure out something at quarterback. Andwhat I want to see is just have
Conan and Taylor the offense more tohis playing style, like, do something
with that. But I don't expectit to happen. Offensive line, I

(21:07):
think they kind of figured that out, and you know, in each game
they kept switching things up. Theyplayed how many tackles, how many offensive
linemen. But I feel like afterthe Virginia Tech game, you can't really
switch up much like you gotta rollwith that. That's what's working. You
gotta roll with that. So Idon't think much is gonna change there.
I think it's just a chance toI guess I'm expecting a better team,

(21:34):
all right. Like the defense,Like they've now had a few games under
Marcus Freeman, the defense has continueto get better. These players know what's
happening now. This gives them,gives them a few weeks to you know,
look at filmed, digging deeper intowhat they've been doing the first few
games, and work on things.They had more time to work on some

(21:55):
of those things. So I feellike the biggest change you're gonna see are
probably gonna be on the defensive sideof the ball. I just don't see
much happening on the offenses. Likethis is what it is the offense.
I think the offense can score morepoints, be more efficient than what they
have been, but it'll take achange and a lot of it. I
think it's going to be with playcalling. Well, yeah, I agree,

(22:18):
I just don't it's not anything new. See on the defense, you
have a new you brought a newdefense corp. There's a lot of new
things there. So this gives themtime to evaluate that the offense, time
rees has been this is a secondyear. This is like, it's nothing.
It's nothing new. Really, Like, I don't see think they'll really

(22:41):
step it up or you'll see alot of changes on the offensive side.
I think a good coach had anentire offseason to do that and didn't do
it. Yes, but now itdidn't work, and so a good coach
needs to pivot. I agree,So something doesn't change, then something needs
to change on the offensive coordinator position. Well, I agree, like mainly,

(23:03):
like we talked about wide receiver offensiveline coach, I totally agree with
you, but I just don't expectit. Yeah. I do expect changes
on the defense just just because it'snew, not like they have to main
just because it's new. They've hada chance to test things and now they
can make some changes. Nor Dame'soffense through six games and kind of the

(23:26):
how you expected to go to therest of the year. If you look
back, evaluate what's happened, howwould you compare them or not compared?
How would you rate them compared tolast year, or the year before that,
or the last few years. Thelast four years, the defense has
been great. It's been keeping NotreDame undefeated in getting them to the playoff.

(23:48):
Yeah, and the offense has notbeen pulling their share of the weight
by any means. The offense hasalways been the liability. Yeah, in
twenty twenty one, how do youpair this offense compared to what we've we've
had in the past the past fewyears not as good just because they have

(24:11):
better talent, I feel, ButI feel the issue is still They were
better the last few years because theyhad Ian Book, a quarterback that did
exactly that did what they wanted todo, and I feel like it wasn't
enough to get them to the nextlevel. But he did what they wanted
him to do. And now theyhave a quarterback that can do him,

(24:33):
but they don't. It's not whatthey want to do. And that's what's
holding them back right now. That'swhat's holding back this offense this year is
trying to do things that they don'thave the player. Well, yeah,
they don't have the player for theydon't have the quarterback for it. Well,
I'm looking at the points per game, and points per game is definitely

(24:56):
not everything. You should look atpoints per dry when you're trying to score
points and football outsiders does they usethis metric when they're trying to evaluate and
rank the efficiency or potency of anoffense, because really, if you have
fifteen series in a game, you'regonna you should score more points than if

(25:18):
there's twelve offensive series in a game. So it's not just points pergain that
matter. But that's all that I'vegot right now. So nor Name's averaging
thirty one points per game this year. In twenty twenty it was thirty three
point four. In twenty nineteen itwas thirty almost thirty seven, twenty eighteen
it was thirty one, twenty seventeenwas thirty four. And if we go

(25:40):
on back, like in twenty thirteen, twenty thirteen it was twenty seven points,
in twenty twelve twenty twenty six points, twenty eleven was twenty nine points,
and then twenty ten was Yet itwas twenty six points per game.
That was the lowest one out ofthe last ten years. Well, they've
definitely taken a step forward. Yeah, but here's where I agree with you
that the offense is not as good. If I just look at the last

(26:03):
the first six games, they're notas good as they were last year or
the year before. And I don'tthink it's about quarterback. I think it's
about the offense at the run game. They don't have a run game because
they don't have a dominating offensive line. Well, yeah, I think they
do have a better quarterback. Iagree with you, and I think what

(26:25):
was holding them back even even whenthey had a great offensive line, a
really really good run game, westill complained about the offense not carrying the
load. And I think it wasbecause at quarterback you were Whether it was
whether it was offensive system or quarterback, I tend to think it was the
quarterback was just limited in what hecould do with his arm Ian book.
You would have had Jack Cohen andlast year, well yeah, with the

(26:49):
offensive line. Last year, Istill think. And the run game,
well yeah, last year's offense,it starts with the offensive line and last
year did. This year does too, and it's bad this year because I
still think. That's what I'm tryingto say. They have a quarterback now,
but now they don't have the offensiveline to protect him. Like I
still think if you had the offensiveline that we've had in the past few

(27:11):
years with Jack Cohen, Notre Dame'soffense would be in very good shape.
Yeah, but they don't have theoffensive line, so this quarterback doesn't work,
and then they aren't calling the playsto do it. That's my theory
on it. Yeah, So I'moptimistic that the offensive line is going to
get better a little bit better,and that that that um Tommy Reese changes

(27:37):
the offense to be a little bitmore spread and just passed, be willing
to pass the ball more and nottry to force the running game. I
think that will help the situation.Yeah, well, I do think the
offense is setting up to get alot better. Like I I still think

(27:57):
they probably need to change offensive linecoach, But you know what about wide
receivers coach. Yes, but likeas far as like with the offensive line,
like and the quarterbacks, like,they are setting up to have some
good years on the offense. Imean, I want to say in two
years, No Dame is gonna havea very dynamic offense just because this offensive

(28:19):
line. These young guys that areplaying now, they're playing very well.
Like, yeah, they're getting beat, but they're young guys having to play
um. But they're gonna need acoach. I guess it does come back
that you're gonna need the coach,but they're gonna have the players and the
quarterback to do it. So it'sgonna be. It's not in two years
if they don't have a good offensiveline, I mean a good offense,

(28:42):
it's coach. It is coaching,which maybe that might be it right now,
all right, anything else about thismatchup before we wrap up the podcast.
No, I'm just glad. Ithought for sure the game was over
with, But the way Notre Damefought back got another close win at Virginia

(29:06):
Tech. It was very impressive,Like it felt that in the beginning of
the game, I was like,this isn't honestly, it wasn't even fun
to watch. Like I was justlike, this is ridiculous, Like this
isn't even fun. It's taking thejoy out of football to see what they're
doing this offense is doing the firstquarter. Then you know they did come

(29:26):
out and they somehow got another win. Alabama loss and Notre Dame. It's
the same record as Alabama. Idon't want to be matched up against them,
but they do have the same record, so hey, all they need
to do is continue to get better. They are doing that slowly. I
guess we'll just have to see ifthey can do it fast enough to get

(29:48):
anywhere. All right, Yeah,it was interesting weekend of college football.
For sure. What matchup since there'sno Notre Dame football, it's there any
matchup that you're looking for forward towatching. I mean, um, Also,
I haven't even looked at the matchups. Let's see here, who's Alabama

(30:11):
playing. All I know is thatI don't want to be Alabama's next opponent.
I don't care who the team is, but I guess maybe the most
interesting matchup is Georgia in Kentucky.Kentucky is undefeated, they beat Florida a
few that the number eleven in thecountry, and yeah, I did not

(30:34):
see that coming. So that's athree thirty kickoff. Alabamas playing Mississippi State.
I'm predicting a blowout win for Alabama. There. Yeah, there's not
really any really good matchups on onSaturday or this weekend overall. Well,
no, Notre Dame isn't play,but no, I agree, it's not

(30:56):
a lot of highly ranked matchups.But well, Kentucky George is the closest
thing. Yeah, one in eleven, so that's the closest thing. I'm
obviously got some big game Florida LSU. I mean, that's that's gonna be
a big game. Um it is. Michigan State is six, and oh

(31:17):
they're just kind of the quiet,Like I don't I haven't looked at record,
but just seeing now like, ohthere's there's six and oh yeah,
there's a lot of ben a fewteams in the big ten and that they're
slowly falling. I mean, youhad Iowa beat Penn State, on Saturday.
It's I wish Cincinnati and UCF wouldbe a little more intriguing because those
are the two teams that seem tohave been they always got the short end

(31:41):
of the stick when it came tothe playoffs. I mean, even the
one year sent U UCF declared themselvesto national champions. Both of those teams,
there's arguments that they should have beenin the playoffs over the last few
years. But now Central Florida iskind of they're not what they used to
be. I wish it was alittle more intriguing. But you know,

(32:02):
a few years, like two yearsago, that would have been two three
years ago, that was a veryintriguing matchup Cincinnati at number three. I
still I don't think they're a goodteam. I mean, I don't think
they're a great team. Is whywhy should they're a good team. They're
a good team, but they're nota great team. Yeah, and I
wouldn't be surprised if u CF wouldend up beating them, like that's a

(32:22):
big rivalry game. I I thinkCincinnati will actually go undefeated. They have
their schedules pretty weak. I thinkthey play SMU, which was ranked in
the top twenty five. Yeah,but Central Florida, Navy, Twaine,

(32:42):
Tulsa, South Florida, so EastCarolina. I actually think they're gonna go
undefeated. And I think you're gonnasee with how everything is shanking out,
I think this is the year thatwe finally get one of these teams in
the playoffs and they're gonna get destroyed. Well, they're gonna get there.
If they're going defeated, they willprobably get in. Yeah with everyone like,

(33:07):
yeah, they go undefeated, they'regoing to be in. Like I
don't see, especially with Notre Damewin, Like, I don't see how
they can how you'll be able tokeep them out. It'll be like,
okay, here's your shot. Sothey're gonna have to show up and to
get blown out. But college footballis different. This is a crazy year.

(33:30):
Clemson's not good, Clemson's not rankedfor the second week in a row,
Alabama lost, and I mean,Georgia is there. George, I
guess is the one unsurprising thing inin college football, right. I mean,
they're better than I expect. They'realways up there, they've been in

(33:51):
the playoff, but they're better thanI expected. Yeah, here we are
complaining about Notre Dame and their offense, but at least we're still winning games,
whereas Clemson has lost two games nowand their offense looks about as bad
as Notre Dames, and you couldeasy you could definitely argue it looks worse
than Notre Dames. Yeah, anyway, I'd almost forgotten. Somebody brought up

(34:13):
Notre Dame is playing Ohio State nextyear in a regular season game, so
it would be some fun matchups nextyear. Yeah, or maybe not so
fun except hey, Ohio State,what they have won lass right now?
Correct? Yeah? Yeah, allright, Well and that's it. Thank

(34:37):
you were listening, and until nexttime, go Irish, Irish