Irish 365 2025-08-22 Notre Dame Football Opponents Season Preview (Part 2)

Discussion and predictions of 2025 Notre Dame Football opponents season will go. Part 2 of 2 part series covering: USC, Boston College, Navy, Pittsburg, Syracuse, and Stanford.

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
It's the moment you didn't know you're waiting for.
He is Carter, he's Chad, and this is the.
Irish 365 Podcast. Welcome back to the Irish 365
Podcast. We just wrapped up last week's
episode. We're here for this week's
episode, right? We're on the same stuff.
We're locked and loaded, ready to go, ready to roll.
Ready to rock? Ready.

(00:21):
The crowd's ready. The crowd's ready.
I'm sure you guys have been dying a week for this second
episode. We apologize it takes a whole
week, but I mean. We're here.
We're here. It's pretty.
Good. And we've got the Irish five and
one through the first half of the season.
Yeah, looking forward to the second-half of the season.
We're thinking College Football Playoff at this point and and
we're thinking hosting the home game probably.

(00:42):
Yeah. I mean, one loss, I mean, yeah,
I remember if we're undefeated at this point, we're not
hosting. Maybe that's why we're kind of
hoping we not hoping we lose. Maybe that's why we're OK if we
lose 1. Yeah, well, maybe.
We went into the end it's. Mint, yeah, I was going to say
maybe we want to be in that 567 or eight spot.
I've been to a lot of great Notre Dame games outside of the
93 Florida State game that IU game atmosphere was.

(01:05):
Incredible, Incredible. The.
Best. Maybe.
Second Best for sure. Second best for sure.
It is from all 60 minutes standpoint.
It's definitely up there. Obviously, we went to 1314
Michigan. Which?
Is awesome. 2012 Stanford at theend was incredible.
I want to say the whole game, was that electric?
Yeah, obviously the goal line stand at the end, but it was

(01:25):
electric. But yeah, from a whole game,
crowd was in it. From from I mean walking up the
parking lot, the place was just juiced with excitement.
Yeah, it's cold. We won a home.
It was cold. I won an SEC team this year,
though. That's what I want.
Yeah. What?
What the Tigers coming? LSU Tigers.
That not be the best if LSU somehow was coming to South end

(01:46):
and. And maybe we'll, maybe we'll
throw some Cosmo playoff picks out here soon, Maybe for our
during our Miami preview episode.
You'd be one of those bold experts too, right?
We can throw out crap. Yeah, you know, if if we pick
all 132 teams to win and we justmake videos of it and then post
them on Twitter, I guys do that.We can.

(02:07):
We can. Build Tennessee versus Georgia
Southern basketball playoff round one.
You're in here first. Georgia Southern is my sleeper
this year. Eastern Eastern Washington is my
sleeper. This.
Year you'll see your money. Carnett word.
Yeah, ready for you, you. Know put the date in the wait.
What was the Campbells Campbell?Campbells are coming for you.

(02:28):
Circling. Put the date on the bottom right
corner here for it. There you go.
All right, startle on Twitter. Then we could just repost it
later. That's that's the way you play
that game. And hide some of that stuff and
then unhide it with the date. So it'll be, it'll be solid.
All right. So we'll get back.
Idiots. Savants are just idiots.
I don't know, but all right, let's go. second-half of the

(02:49):
season. Second-half.
Season, I mean, does it get any bigger than this?
Maybe for the last time and God knows who how long.
Yeah, USC Trojans are coming to town.
Little bit of beef. Lot of bit of beef, let's be
honest. I mean.
This is going to this is going to be a hate fest.
This might we talked about that IU atmosphere.

(03:11):
This game could be one heck of an atmosphere.
I know a lot of Notre Dame fans aren't happy about this.
Chad Bowen obviously leaves in. That's a one other story.
Lincoln Riley not want to renew this series.
USC not want to renew this series.
Yeah, I mean, it sucks, but that's that's where we're at
right now. It doesn't seem like it's going
to get renewed at this point. Yeah, it doesn't feel like it.

(03:33):
It's just the reality of the newera of college football, and
it's just funny that USC can't redo it because the Big 10
schedule is too tough and they have to travel too much.
You knew that when you joined the Big 10?
Yeah. Why did you join a conference
that had teams on the East Coastlike you knew what you were up
for? Yeah, so.
But it is what it is. If you haven't been to this

(03:53):
game, I can't recommended that. But I mean, it's awesome.
It's pageant scripts. Collegeable like it's finest
like. But at the end of the day, this
is a a rivalry where you want towin, but you still respect your
rival. Yeah, interesting.
Though this year, I know you saythat a lot, I don't always feel
the same way. I well, just.
Going to be honest with you say that one a lot.
I don't. I don't always feel that way.
I know a lot of USC grads. I mean, we were at the USC

(04:16):
tailgate last year. We were at the alumni tailgate.
We were in the middle of the alumni tailgate surrounded by
USC's Coity Toity wine and cheese crowd, and they were all
nice to us. We stood in the middle of the We
were in the middle of the tailgate and surrounded by the
band as they played fight on. Fight on, yeah.
And, and I love beating USC, butI respect the school.

(04:37):
It's a good school in a terribleneighborhood and great people
come out of USC. It's it's just a good rivalry
and it's a shame that we're ending.
And it's, it's like Navy, but more competitive to me so.
I respect Navy don't UFC but that's.
OK, well I I respect them both. I I like I get more satisfaction
out of the UFC win than a Navy win.

(04:58):
All right, well, let's get into USC.
Obviously finished seven and sixlast year.
Lincoln Riley enters Year 4, so that'll be interesting. 16
returning starters, 9 on offense, 7 on defense.
They averaged 30.2 points per game last year, let up 24.1.
Yeah, they got the 20th hardest schedule preseason, their plus

(05:18):
2000 win, the Big 10. Yeah, it's going to be an
interesting year for USCI. Mean, I feel like something's
got to happen here for him. Yeah, Lincoln, Riley's got going
to be on the hot seat. I think his seat could get
really hot this year if it. Can't be a seven and six year
for him. Right.
Yeah, Year 4 you, you got to start is what I think he's he's
been at six and seven and eight wins or something like that.

(05:41):
You know, which after that firstseason where he had everybody
just, you know, hyped up, but that was also, you know, good
quarterback. So which kind of does lead into
you guys saw the quarterback play last year and that's who I
assume is going to be the starter this year?
Yeah, he should. They should have a returning
starter from the end of the yearlast year.

(06:03):
I know they got some defensive line transfers in.
We were not expecting a shootoutlast year, at least I wasn't.
I and I caught some shots that did not come anywhere near true.
I. Short of us returning 2100 yard
pick sixes, yeah. That game, that game wasn't as
close as the score indicator or the game was closer than the

(06:23):
score indicated as the 200. Absolutely.
So that's why I I have such a weird view of what USC is this
year. So that's why I kind of lean on
you guys to say, well, what did you see last year and do you can
do you see that tearing over into this?
I mean they're. Going to put up points and
questions. Always been defensively.
I know they got Rob Ryan correct.

(06:45):
Is defensive coordinator. They should be improved
defensively. Yeah, they're going to play
intense. I mean, they should be better.
I mean, they they can put up some points.
There's no about that. I mean, our defence did not let
up a bunch of yards last year except for that game.
And they torched us to be honest.
And honestly, I torched us. So yeah, I mean, they're going
to put up some numbers, they're going to put up the yards.
And I think coming into our gamethey're going to be, I mean,

(07:08):
they've they've got Michigan, Illinois before us.
But I won't be surprised. I know a lot of people are high
on Illinois, but they could be one loss or undefeated.
Yeah, I could. I could see them coming in, I
think, well, let's go through it.
Let's go through the schedule. All right, open up.
Montana State, Missouri State. Missouri State.
My bad. I thought the Grizzlies were
Montana. I'll be honest.
All right, Well, either way, Montana State, Missouri State,

(07:31):
Cleveland State, Yeah, USC is going to win the.
Game so August, not Ohio State. USC is going to.
Win. Then they.
Georgia Southern. Yeah.
Then they have Georgia Southern to come to town.
I think that's two and O for me.They have to go to Ross Aid.
We talked about this. USC has to travel.
Yeah. Coming out to the Midwest.

(07:53):
And you know, Purdue's got, if you look at the Purdue schedule,
they got some really good teams coming in.
If you're not going to watch Purdue win games, you just want
to see good football teams play,a Purdue season ticket could be
the best value in Northwest Indiana, no doubt.
But I don't think Purdue's winning this game.
As much as I want Purdue to win this game, they're not.
Yeah, yeah. USC by.

(08:14):
USCI think. 28 Plus. Then they host Michigan State.
Michigan State's been so bad. I kind of wish they were a
little bit better, but they haven't been.
I don't know what Magic Johnson's doing.
He's got billions. He could throw a little bit
toward the football program. It's not throwing much more
towards basketball. Doesn't seem like you originally
they're. So I'm going to USC.
And here's where it gets interesting.
On the road to Illinois, make the trip back out to the Midwest

(08:37):
here. Yeah, no.
Porn on this one. People are really high on
Illinois I'm. There's some things going on in
Illinois to to give you some confidence and that game, if
Illinois stays top 15, that could become a night game in
Illinois and I don't know what the environment will be like.
It'll be an NBC game too, because remember NBCS got that.

(08:59):
Yep, Big 10 stuff. Which is weird that USC Illinois
Big 10 matchup, but here we are.I obviously with my in laws
being all Illinois, people been following them, trying to
understand a little bit what they got going on.
They got a big game at Duke. I believe that's September the
5th, so that's going to be the first Test for Illinois and if

(09:22):
they come to Duke and win, I think they're going to be have a
lot of confidence. I mean, sadly, could be Big Noon
kickoff though. Would you be good Big Noon
kickoff? Give me Illinois 'cause that's a
nine Amla game, yeah. Yeah, I, I think Brent Dilma has
gotten Illinois to play good defense and do just enough on

(09:44):
offense to win. And I see that continuing it.
So I, I have to right now, I have to lean towards Illinois.
Yeah. I can see that and again, I
think the travel and I think being four and O for USCI think
they could start looking past Illinois toward Michigan and and
get caught. But I I can also see USC being a

(10:07):
good team and and winning that game.
But I I will go with it. I'll go with the loss there.
Yep, I'm with you guys. Yeah, I just started thinking.
I was thinking the night game atfirst, but now the more I
thought about that could be a big new kick in Illinois.
I like a lot in that situation. Yeah.
All right. Then they get at home against
Michigan. I'm not thinking Michigan, but

(10:27):
nothing at this point. Is Sharon Moore still going to
be suspended for that? No, I think that's just weeks
3:00 and 4:00. So I think I, I think, I think
he's going to be, he's going to be fine.
Week 1 and 2 gone 3:00 and 4:00 and then, oh, then he's gone
again in 2026 for one random game.
Don't forget that 'cause that. Whatever Max school they're
playing. Yeah, that makes complete sense.

(10:48):
Purdue, Whichever. Yeah.
So yeah, I think he'll be back for that one, but I'm still
going to take USC. Anybody else what we got there?
You can go against me. I'm just I Michigan right now.
I get it. I hate Michigan as well.
But you put a pull out a while ago asking who you'd rather win
that game. Yeah, give me USC.
Come on now. Again, I respect USC more than I

(11:11):
respect Michigan. By a lot.
Yeah, me too. And you've heard what I thought
about them. Yeah.
So here's, so here's here's the thing.
I think it's going to depend on what they do against Illinois.
If they lose to Illinois, I can see them dropping the game to
Michigan just because, but Michigan is going to USC and

(11:35):
that makes me think if they dropthat game to a little way,
they're going to they're going to have to rally back.
So I'm leaning Michigan there. Jordan, what are you thinking?
I don't have a good file on Michigan this year so and I do
think that. Bryce Underwood's going to be
the starting quarterback. And I think there's a bye week

(11:56):
between the Illinois and Michigan game as well.
Oh OK, I missed that. Yes, it does look like they they
do have a because that's Octoberthe 11th against.
So I don't know, I guess I'm just thinking that Michigan
should be decent. It's a coin flip.
I could go either way, win or loss, I originally wrote down.

(12:19):
We'll go. We'll give Carter.
We'll give Carter his way here on this one.
We'll take, we'll take the L to USC.
I guess Michigan, I say USCI hadthe win.
Or the win. I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
We'll give USC the win. And yeah, did I say they're
over, under? Let me go back to my No, I don't
think I did. Let me get that real quick.
I forgot that I'm slacking now. We do.
Wouldn't think I've done this last week, huh?

(12:41):
That over under scroll back to my nose.
I'm going to say 7 and a. Half, I think, yeah, you're
right on it. 7 1/2 there, Jordan.
Yeah. And then, yeah, after Michigan,
USC comes to South Bend. I have a lot of personal
thoughts about this game. It just gives me 2014 Michigan

(13:02):
vibes. Notre Dame's going to win by a
lot. I would love to see that 42,000.
I, I think the Irish win. I don't know, there's going to
be a lot, but I think the Irish win.
In 2014, you weren't thinking Notre Dame was going by a lot in
that one, but they took that personal, you know?
And if Miami fans can bring up games from last decade, I can,
you know, And it's not in the same opponent, but I don't care.

(13:23):
I just like that the pendulum has swung.
I would say, like, all through the early 2000s, like USC was
just breaking my heart. Yeah.
And now it's swung back to NotreDame.
Just us. Dominating.
Dominating them and I think it'sgoing to continue this year.
And what I think is interesting and we will get into it as we

(13:44):
talk more about the Irish and weget into this game and break it
down mid season. But everything I'm hearing is
we're still going to play a lot of man coverage, but we're also
going to be able to mix in a higher percentage of zone
coverage. And I think if you're AUSC team,
that's not they're going to be OK in the running game.
They're not going to be phenomenal.
The running game. I, I think their defense is

(14:05):
going to be all right, but not great.
I, I think their offense is going to have to try and carry
them. They're going to be a lot of
shootout games. And if we have the talented of
of level of defensive backs we have that can play man coverage
and we can slide into some zone coverage from time to time,
there's going to be places it looks like the ball can go, but
it's not going to, it's not going to, it's not going to end

(14:27):
well. Just the athletic freaks we've
got playing. So I think I, I think the game's
going to be close, but I don't think it's going to be like real
close. I I think it's going to be one
of those 10 point comfortable wins is really what I think it's
going to be for the Irish. Yeah, as we're all on their name
on that 1 then. At Nebraska.
Bye week and then at Nebraska. Bye week and then at.

(14:48):
Nebraska. I take USC in this one.
Ryola, I mean. Yeah, I'm, I'm not solely
Nebraska's do anything to shock the world at this point.
Yeah. And then they're at home versus
Northwestern. I'll take North or I'll take USC
being what you're. Calling the shot.
I'm not putting any money on Northwestern.
Then at home versus Iowa and Iowa.
There's some Iowa people that are really excited and I think

(15:10):
it's false hope. Yeah, I was going to say it's
the hope that kills you. That's a Ted class that taught
me. So Maddie will re quote me and
tell me I heard it the wrong way.
But that's what I heard, the hope it kills you.
So yeah, I, Iowa can throw a 5 yard out route.
Congratulations. Welcome to the 1800s.
I don't know, like where we at here, Iowa?
Come on now, this is 1960 football.

(15:31):
All right, give me USC then on the road, Oregon Quack.
Quack. Yeah, I think we we still have a
lot of faith that Oregon's goingto be good and I don't see USC
beating them. Yeah, agreed.
And then UCLA at home versus UCLA.
At home, end of the season, rivalry game I.

(15:53):
Agree game. I take them on that one, yeah.
Yeah, I got the same. So what'd that get?
Our window over there. 9. Which would be Lincoln Riley,
probably not in the hot seat pushing for the playoffs.
If he can pull off either Oregon, yeah, Notre Dame if he
can, probably if you're Yeah, ifhe can.
If he. Beats Michigan.
Lose to Notre Dame and Oregon and then beat Illinois.

(16:17):
Michigan. Did they make the playoffs?
Well, let's just say he got 4/4 ranked teams on their schedule.
Yeah, they win everything but those 4 ranked games, which is
only one less win 'cause we saidthey are going to lose.
Yeah, they're going to beat Michigan, but they could lose to
Michigan and they could flip flop Illinois and Michigan.
You could argue that, but let's just say they don't win those.
I mean if you have A7 win or eight win season but you don't

(16:42):
beat a ranked team is Lincoln Riley's seat.
Hot, which Michigan I don't think will be.
I mean, yeah, that'll be interesting, but I think his
seat cools off a little bit if he if he makes that and.
Yeah, I mean you. I 'cause I think the floor for
them is five wins, 'cause I think, I think they could
somehow choke again after losingto Notre Dame, then have a let

(17:06):
down at Nebraska. I think they could, you know,
lose to Michigan, I think. Iowa's punters hot and they.
Yeah, Iowa's punters flipping the field like none other.
Really, really showing us a Big 10 football and beat them.
I love it for the brand. 12 to 6, you know.
Exactly. Take the under.

(17:28):
Yeah, Iowa, USC, that'll be yeah, that'll be that'll be
interesting one. But yeah, I mean, it's a team
that I think could be on the playoff Ringe or could be
terrible. Yeah.
I think if they play consistent,they're going to be over the 7
1/2, but if they're not consistent, they could be at 5

(17:48):
wins, yeah. I yeah, I can see the I can see
a 4-5 win floor and I can see A10 win ceiling.
Yeah. All right, all.
Right. Well, that gets.
Oh, they're taking the over, though.
We'll take the over. Yeah, we got the over on USA
there. All right, so this gets us into
our trip to Boston College. IRC survived.

(18:09):
Crew will be live. US 2 will be live at that game.
We're excited for that one. Get out to Boston on site.
On site there. Boston College was seven and six
last year, Bill O'Brien's secondseason.
Here is the Boston College coach.
They returned 12 starters, 6 on each side of the ball.
They got the Alabama transferredDylan Longerin as their
quarterback. They interested stat 25.8 points

(18:34):
per game on offense last year and defense.
So they scored 25.8 points per game and allowed 25.8 points per
game. So I they draw the season
basically with the seven to six record.
As you can tell, they're over under 5 1/2.
Yeah, Yeah. I think this is Bill O'Brien

(18:54):
second year. Like you said, they they got a
transfer quarterback coming in. I think what I wrote down is
they got a lot of guys returning.
Their strength is actually the defensive backs.
So they got a good secondary, but they cannot stop the run.
And I think that's going to probably be continuing into this
season, which is bodes well for Notre Dame when we play them.

(19:16):
Because I know, Chad, that you, you always kind of get scared of
Boston College. I got flashbacks from 93.
I bet it. Yeah, but I think if if our
strength is running the ball andtheir weakness is stopping the
run this late in the season, I Ilike Notre Dame's chances.

(19:38):
Yeah, so let's go through it. Let's go to the Boston College
schedule, see where they're at coming into the Irish game.
So it's they start at home versus Fordham.
Fordham the Fordham ham and cheese, right?
No, that's not their. Name.
Yeah, it'd. Be awesome if it was.
Now that was a 2:00 kick. I don't know how that like I
didn't know that was an option on the window 2:00, but here we
are. I thought it was like noon 337.

(20:00):
Yeah, because it's like an ESESPN plus game or EC plus game
or something like that. It's like.
ACC. It's like.
It's like you don't even have tocompete with other games 'cause
you're on A, you're on the ocho come.
On, just pick a random time of the day.
Yeah, boredom is not a F BSD1, whatever you call them, right?
Like yeah, yeah, I don't know what Fordham is, but they maybe

(20:23):
that's why we get a 2:00 because.
That's the time they're free. The the buck's gonna get there
till noon. I don't know.
We all agree BC should win that game regardless, whatever they
are. We're gonna give BC to dub.
Yeah. And then they're on the road at
Michigan State. I mean this one, that's an
interesting match up if you put it back to like 2008 to tennis

(20:44):
like. Yeah, there was a time this
would be a big game. Yeah, I'm not sure this is that
time. And it's we talked about this,
is it a race to the top or race to the bottom?
This feels more like the race tothe bottom, trying to suck less,
not trying to push each other tobe better.
So. Yeah, I think a win.
Yeah, I was getting to Michigan State.
I've not been very high on here.I'm hoping for the win there.

(21:06):
That's I'm just going to hope for the win because it's good
for Notre Dame in that game. And then they make just a short
ACC trip all the way across the country to Stanford.
How many miles is that one you think?
And then it's a 10:30 PM game. It's like, OK, yeah, like it's
an 830 Stanford game, but it's a10:30 PM game.

(21:27):
That gives me a little concern for the for the kids from the
East Coast going to the West Coast.
But usually East Coast teams fare better going West and West
Coast teams feathered coming east.
Again, I think Stanford's building something, but I just
don't know that they're there yet.
Is this a game that Stanford's going to get one of their wins
in though? Yeah.

(21:49):
I'm going to say no, I'm going to, I'm going to go with Boston
College on this one. And maybe it's just 'cause I
need Boston College to win that game, to make me feel better
about the Notre Dame. Yeah, yeah.
So that they the next week or they got a bye week and then
host Cal going Cal. I would agree.
I I think Cal's going to pull the win there.

(22:11):
Yeah. You agree, Jordan?
Yeah. Yeah, I just, I don't.
And maybe it's not even that. I just don't see them being four
and O like it. Doesn't.
They're not. Yeah.
No, they're not. I'm not, yeah.
I'm not like, oh, Cal is so muchbetter than I'm just like maybe
Stanford beats in Michigan State.
I could beat them like they could beat.

(22:31):
I'll just they could be one and three and I wouldn't be shocked.
I'll yeah, I wouldn't be shockedat 1:00 and 3:00, but if they're
four and O, they're not going 5 and OI guarantee that.
Pitts going to beat them. Clemson's going to beat them.
That's the next two weeks. Yeah, they're going to lose.
They're going to lose Clemson for sure.
So they. Lost at home, so a decent home
slate for him this year. Then they have the Husky of
UConn. UConn and.

(22:53):
This is a pick em for me as well.
Yeah. Uconn's gotten better.
You know, they, they were bad. I mean, I'm talking really bad.
Bad, yes. And is Jim Moore a junior there?
I think he might, I don't know, but I think they've slowly
turned around it their their football program.
But you would think, you would think that Boston College should

(23:17):
win that game. Yeah, I I swear you lean Boston
College, but it's not like a heavy lean right?
I'll go BC you on the same dad. Yeah, I'll go BC just 'cause I
need him to win. Make me feel better about it.
And they travel to Louisville. I got Louisville.
Yep, we think that's a loss. Agree.
Yep. And then at home versus Notre

(23:38):
Dame, November 1st, hopefully early in the day, yeah.
That that date is so stacked with great games.
Yeah, we want to be there, We want to enjoy it, but we're
hoping that's a an early game sowe can get out and watch, go
find a place to sit down and. Watch everything.
Watch everything else unfold, but definitely a loss.
And then at home versus SMU? I'm going to go loss.

(23:59):
Yeah. Yeah, this is an interesting
game to me. Random plug as I was looking at
this, this is the red bandana, the Wells Crowder game.
Oh, is that one that's good? So they I'm surprised it wasn't
against us. Now I wonder if it's because
they know they'll sell tickets against us like it's already
sold out. They should have done against

(24:20):
UConn. That.
To make sure they get a dub on that day.
I've been out of a guy, I get a dub.
Yeah, I also know they do it forlike.
Big game. Yeah, they want to do over a big
game where they get the crowd into it, but I know they did
against their name way back. But I think they also know that
this sells out most of the time,right?
You're like, this game is close to a sell out if not a sell out

(24:42):
every year. So yeah, it's a big deal for
them. They're going to need all the
bandits they can get to beat SMU.
Yeah, I, I still lean SMU on that one.
Yeah, Dang. And then at home versus Georgia
Tech, I lean Tech. Yeah, I'm with the attack.
And then? I think Syracuse is rolling by
this point. I think they lose to Syracuse.

(25:03):
I think so as well. Were you, I, you, you live in
Boston College? No, I got them as a loss to
Boston College, I believe. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah. So that leaves them with four
wins. Yeah, we, yeah, we're, we're
going to take the under on BC. I mean, but here's The thing is

(25:24):
I like Bill O'Brien as a coach. I mean, I think he's had success
as he's built back up his reputation.
And I don't know what they're ceiling is, but.
It doesn't feel like they're going to be a nine win team by
any means. That's what I was wondering.
I was like, I'm not going to. I'm not confident to say, Oh
yeah, he's he can get them to 8-9 wins by any means.

(25:45):
So. 5 1/2 What'd we end up with there?
4 Four wins. A lot of losses down that back
half. Yeah, I yeah, a couple of games
that we pick them, they they could win, they could lose.
But yeah, I just, I do, I like their coach.
I just don't know that. And again, there's a lot of
talent in that NE corridor that the Jersey kids and there's some

(26:06):
good football. I mean, just it's not like
they're in Idaho when it's hard to find kids.
I mean, it's just. If their quarterback starts
playing well, 'cause he brought him over from Bama, I believe,
yeah. Yeah.
So, I mean, the kids Got Talent and if he can coach him up and
then that's when it could be an interesting game.

(26:29):
But yeah, I just don't see it happening.
I'm. Yeah, we'll see.
We could be wrong, but I feel like I feel like four wins is
probably going to be a good season for them this year.
Yep, Yep. All right.
You guys got anything else on BC?
Nope. All right, into Navy at Notre
Dame 730 kick off night game. Interesting. 1 Still going to

(26:53):
mention that every time we say it.
Navy was nine and four last year.
Yeah, they scored 31.31 points per game, which for Navy that a
lot. It's a lot of points per game
allowed. 22.15 over under for this year's 8 1/2.
Yeah, I mean, it's Navy's. Maybe he's been Navy.

(27:15):
I mean, they've been, they've been solid last few years.
They're putting together where they're building something.
I know there's always been hype on them making the College 12
playoffs last couple years, especially with this expanded.
Could they be that group of fiveteams?
It hasn't happened like it hasn't happened.
They haven't they haven't been closed.
They haven't been on the bubble towards the end of the year,
but. Would love it for him.
Yeah, I mean. But yeah, just hasn't come to

(27:37):
fruition for him. Yeah, 'cause I I was trying to
think about what you guys thought about where we were with
going into the Navy game last year.
So Blake Orvath was just on a tear.
And he's back and. He's back.
His game is still going to be the same.
He's tough to bring down and andthey're going to be, you know,

(28:00):
we'll run through the schedule, but I think they're going to be
good again. The knock against them is their
defense just can't hang. With big 10s, Yeah.
With big teams, yeah. We forced 6 turnovers against
him last year. There's no way to.
You're going to expect that kindof a.
That's not going to happen like that was.

(28:20):
A month, a month kick off just. Yeah, that game, there was a
poll out there that said, do youthink we'll have more turnovers
than last year? You know, it would be
interesting. Interesting what people would
say, yeah. To see what people would say.
Yeah, it's just like that. That one was every time you read
that, you're like, man, how did I still don't believe?
Maybe had six turnovers against him and they were just dropping

(28:41):
stuff. Yeah, it was.
It was. We forced some stuff, but it was
all just wow. Yeah, two of them were
undisciplined turnovers, and that's just not typical Navy.
Yeah, yeah. All right.
So 8 1/2's our number here. I remember night game at Notre
Dame, so that'll be an interesting one.
But they start at home versus DMI.

(29:03):
I'm going with the Navy. Yep, Yep.
At home versus UAB. Going with the Navy.
Yep, still like Navy. On the road at Tulsa, Anyone got
I? I feel like they're going to
beat Tulsa. Yeah.
Yeah, I got them winning. At home versus rice.

(29:24):
I like maybe that one. Yeah, I just don't think rice is
good. I like it fried with a little
bit of egg and veggies. Yeah, that's about all you like.
And if you can throw some chicken and steak and shrimp in
that fried rice, it hits. But.
Any pineapple you know. Are you a?
OK, I don't mind some pineapple,but that's about football rice

(29:44):
not feeling good about. At home versus Air Force, Navy's
been dominating. Navy.
Yeah, I'll say Navy's been dominating.
Air Force Navy's been dominating.
And here's where it gets interesting.
On the road at Temple. See, that's a sneaky game for
me. Yeah, I think people sleep on
Temple a little bit, but I don'tknow that they're they're not

(30:05):
great. They're not College Football
Playoff team great, but I think they have a chance of beating
Navy because I think their offense is going to be good
enough. Yeah.
But I'm not sold. I I really lean Navy, but that's
a game that gives me pause. I'll put it that way.
Yeah, I'd vote Navy to win. I lean Navy, same Navy.

(30:28):
All right. Then bye week and then at home
versus Florida Atlantic. I don't know anything about
Florida Atlantic. Yeah, I'm kind of biased once
again. I got some friends that are FAU,
part of the FAU program and they're expecting to be good,
got a new new football coach I think.

(30:52):
And they're they got some money.They're they're trying to pour
it into there so. Stadium upgrades, all sorts of
stuff. I I have this as a loss just
'cause I think Florida Atlantic is going to be a sneaky team.
They. Can score some points, they
might not stop them, yeah. 'Cause if you can outscore Navy,
you're going to beat them. I think that's that's what it
comes down to. That is the game of football.

(31:13):
If you can outscore the other team, you will.
You will win. But I know what you're saying.
Very Madden. If you're going to score more,
you're probably going to win. I'm not even charging any people
for you for this hot take right there.
That's that's. Here to hear first.
If you score more points in the team, you will win games in this
morning. 99% of the time 'cause you know, you could always, you

(31:35):
could always have safeties and things like that.
They're self-inflicted wounds anyway all.
Right, so we're going. Florida Atlantic gets the win.
Florida Atlantic, we're gonna give them the win.
Yeah. On the North Texas.
Yep, on the road at North Texas.I'll go Navy.
Yeah, I don't worry about the Navy travelling.
I mean, that's your job when you're in the Navy to travel.
I traveled to those young men. Then from North Texas to

(31:59):
northern Indiana at South Bend, Notre Dame.
And I like the fact that we're talking about a seven and one
Navy team coming or coming into South Bend.
They could be ranked top 25, could make the game a little
more extra. It is a night game.
It's going to be height, yeah, it's going to be all Irish.
Yeah. I know.
Yeah. Once again, I like this because

(32:21):
it helps boost Notre Dame's if Yeah, Navy's making Notre Dame
to win and you know it. It helps boost their boost their
resume. And here's what I think about
that. I think we're going to be as
good, if not better, in the secondary.
I think our linebackers are going to be more athletic, and I
think our defensive ends are going to be yeah in their own.

(32:44):
At that point, no. We don't have Jack Kaiser in
their leading the triple option stop in machine, You know what I
mean? He ran in high school, ran
forever. But I think we have enough
experience at linebacker. I think Drake Bowen gets it.
Yeah, I think we've got enough guys in there.
I mean, Jack Kaiser was an X Factor there, but I think enough
he, I think Drake Bowen gets it.So I like, I think the only
thing we're going to have a chance to beat us at is they

(33:05):
trying up the middle and I don'tthink they will much and they
like to throw the ball, but I think that's going to be just
the opposite of that. We're going to be able to run
and throw the ball at will by this point regardless of who our
quarterback is. So I like us a lot in that game.
And then South Florida. I, I, it gives me pause again.
I think South Florida's game, they could lose, but I feel like

(33:28):
they win the South Florida game that's.
Where I'm at, I think South Florida's the win for them.
Yeah, I think, you know, maybe another situation where they got
South Florida and then at Memphis, they're going to
they're going to drop one of those games.
Yeah, I got. Still know which one I got
losing to Memphis. That's when I picked.
I would agree the Memphis is more likely the loss.
Yeah, bounce back after the Notre Dame game, but yeah,
Memphis, I think they're on the road night game there at

(33:51):
Memphis. Memphis, like we said, could be
potential comfortable playoff team on that group of five.
Yep. So Yep, I'm taking, I'm taking
Memphis there and then, Yep, allby itself that week.
Go Navy, beat Army. I'm rooting for Navy to beat
Army that week. I think they'll be the better
team. But you never know.
Yeah. That that's always a kind of a

(34:13):
toss up, but I think Navy has more talent right now than Army,
and I'm expecting Navy to win, yeah.
All right, You guys got anythingelse on the old Naval Academy?
No, but we got Navy at 9:00 and 3:00 this year.
Yeah, and it'll be a solid. Year the over 8 1/2 so worth the
over. Yeah.
I mean, that's a solid year. And here's a fun fact for you,

(34:35):
Carter, 'cause I know we've always talked about this Army
Navy game as a game we got to get to.
And Jordan, you've been, you've been fortunate to go see it
once, right? Yes, yeah.
Do you know what tickets are going for that game right now?
3400. No, I think it was like $1200.
I think, right. I think last I looked tickets
were somewhere in the five. 5 1/2 range man.
Like right now, season hasn't started yet and they're already

(34:57):
5 1/2. It's like.
In D, is it? Where's that this year?
Is it in Baltimore or is it in DCI?
Don't even know. I didn't even look to see.
Yeah, where the rotation was, I think.
It's Baltimore. It's it's, it's at.
Yeah. Is it M&T Bank?
Is it M&T Bank? Yeah, that's where I saw it when
we went, 'cause I think they were in Philly.

(35:19):
Philly last year, yeah. Yeah, so.
But anyway, yeah, so I thought that's interesting.
It's like, but December 13th, that's I'm free that weekend.
There's no Notre Dame game. But yeah, I'm not sure I'm ready
to go to Baltimore for five. I don't know.
We'll see. We might end up there.
I might you getting more of thatcollege football.
I was going to say might, might be at that point since in 38

(35:39):
years going huh, We're planning on going to some customer
playoff games. OK, going on there, but let's
get into it. The next week we travel to the
Pitt Panthers. It's plus 4300 to win that.
ACC finished last year seven andsix.
Pat, I always butcher's last name, but you know who I'm
talking about? 11.
Yeah, Nardusi. Nardusi.

(36:00):
I was going to put Zach for somereason, I don't know why, but
they returned 16 starters, 8 on both sides of the ball.
Yeah, they averaged 29.6 points per game last year and LED up
29.3 points per game. This is a game I I'll get into.
I think the Irish win but it's that makes me a little nervous.

(36:22):
Yeah, and here's the thing I think I find most interesting
about Pitt. So we're sitting here talking
about Notre Dame in the quarterback battle.
Is that Menchie has a car? Is that Menchie has a car?
Don't. Forget Menchie was committed and
going to Pitt. He would have been their starter
last year. Had he gone to Pitt, he would
have been the returning starter this year.
And this is an Elite 11 guy thatlike, I would feel really

(36:46):
nervous if he was their startingquarterback right now.
So I just think that's interesting.
You know, Notre Dame lost the Dante Moore recruit at the last
minute. And we're fortunate enough that
Kenny Minche is a huge Notre Dame guy.
Lifelong Notre Dame fan and was willing to swap swap out his PIT
opportunity for the Notre Dame opportunity.
But yeah, it's a good thing going.

(37:07):
It's been building for years. They're not just one hit wonders
right now. So I think PIT could be a pretty
good team this year and I think they're going to give us some
fit. So what's their what's their win
total? Oh.
Yeah, I didn't give that, did I Let.
Yep, 5 1/2. Really.
That low. So you know Carter, you
mentioned they were seven and six last year.
Did you know that they started 7and O last year and then lost

(37:31):
their last six, so they went seven and O&O and six?
Yes. So what we've been doing, giving
all these wins early and pretty and then falling apart late,
that's. Yeah.
And that that to me is Patton Arduzzi.
I don't know why, you know, in Stepbrothers where he's like,
you just have a punchable face. Like Patton Arduzi.
To me, when I look at that man, he has a very punchable face.

(37:53):
I don't know why but do. You want me to clip this in Adam
for you? I'm a man.
I'm 40, you know, I don't know. That might get clipped.
I'm going to be honest. I might be on the eggs.
I don't know why it's coaching style because that man, he has a

(38:15):
he's going to have an amazing defense like Kyle Lewis and
Billis at linebacker. To me, those guys are like top
rate talent. And if he can't manage to
stumble into wins, to me is justgoing to be like another
terrible coaching job from that man.
Now, Jordan, tell us how you really feel.

(38:36):
I know hold. Back.
Yeah, 'cause their offensive line, their QB, they're, they're
just going to be, you know, that's their big unknown to
them. So but they're going to run the
ball and they're going to play defense.
They're going to. Be they're going to be
Pittsburgh tough for sure. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, this is a
game. It'll be interesting what time
this game ends up at. Yeah, we're pits at at this

(38:59):
point of the season. Yeah, It could be a noon game,
could be a night game. I don't know.
It'll be a Akashur. Yeah.
I mean, what we've talked about going to, I don't know if we'll
end up going to it. It's just five hour drive.
It's like, that's not too bad, right?
It's doable. It's doable.
Yeah, it's doable. Yeah, I've heard worse.
And I've and I've seen, I mean, we've seen some really tough

(39:19):
games like Pitts played Notre Dame tough over the even when
they haven't been that great, they've played Notre Dame tough.
So let's let's break it down. They're over and unders 5 1/2.
Let's yeah, you know, I can't pronounce this first team.
Duquesne. The King.
Yeah, exactly. That's how I'm like.
I'm not even going to butcher them, but I got Pitt.

(39:40):
I'm with you. I'm going to give Pitt AW there.
Central Michigan at home. I love a directional Michigan
school and you know Aubrey's Pizza not too far from a.
Pretty solid. Pizza, but I'm going to go with
Pitt on that game. Yeah, the Backyard Brawl they'll
be pushing to make this game dayif both teams are undefeated

(40:01):
coming into this bat. Mac is but also Nerdy Man AM
this weekend but hit West Virginia at West Virginia.
I feel like the Notre Dame A&M games got a really good shot of
being that. Game day.
Game day game just it'll it'll be warm weather.
Great time to be in South Bend and.
But also I could see them wait in the USC to come.

(40:23):
Yeah, like, don't disagree, but I'm going to.
I'm going to say West Virginia wins that game.
I have too. I'm leaving West Virginia.
Jordan, what are you saying? Oh man, do we lose Jordan.
Oh, wait, did you? Can you hear me?

(40:46):
Oh, sorry. This is where I think Pitt is
still going to be decent at the beginning of the season.
And I don't know too much about West Virginia, which is why I'm
kind of giving Pitt a little bitof the the edge.
They got Rich Rodriguez back as their head coach.
OK. I mean, that's it was a win.
It only takes success so. Who was a winner there?

(41:07):
That's what I'm. Yeah.
So I'm living in West Virginia. It's at West Virginia.
I know it's a big deal over there.
All right. I think the L then all right, it
takes the L. Then Pitt as a buy and then host
Louisville. I go Louisville.
I I go Louisville's there as well.
Yeah, I think we like Louisville.
Yep. And then at home versus Boston

(41:29):
College, we went Pitt earlier inthis one.
I don't think I got much to say about that.
I don't feel any differently that's going to win that one.
Yep. And then October 11th on the
road at Florida State. Yeah, so we're.
Sure. About Florida State.
Yeah, I'm with you, Jordan. Yeah, we don't know what Florida
State's going to be, but. I'd I'd lean pit, but I yeah, I

(41:56):
don't feel great about it. See, I'm trying to give Florida
State the the benefit of the doubt now because so I had a
loss here for Pitt and I had Florida State winning because it
was at Florida State. I I.
Could be talking to either way, I'll be honest with you.
Yeah, I would go, it's Pitt going to Florida State.

(42:17):
I'm probably more likely to say,yeah, it's it's going to be a
Florida State win all. Right, so you have the Florida
State win Pittsburgh at Syracuse, another one.
I like Syracuse here. Yeah, I.
Yeah, I, I had. Yeah, I had.

(42:38):
Syracuse. Syracuse.
Yeah, I don't remember what we picked earlier, but NC State
travels to Pitt. I felt like we picked a Pitt in
that one. I think so last week.
Yeah, I had. I had AW for for Pitt in that
one. All right, then we got Pitt
travelling out to Stanford. I'll take the Panthers.

(42:59):
Yeah, I still think Pitt wins that.
And then on a by hosting and then hosting the Irish.
Give me the Irish. Taking the Irish.
Yes. And then?
They are on the road at Georgia Tech.
I'll take. Taking tech.
Yeah, I take tech. Yep, I got a loss to.

(43:22):
Georgia Tech falling apart down the stretch here and then at
home versus Miami. I think we took Miami earlier.
Yeah, I would say this is when we said that Miami going up the
pit, that would be a difficult game, but.
Actually, we might have. We might have actually taken
PIT. Now you say that.
Yeah, it was. Yeah.
I think we, I think we gave Pit the win.
There, I think we did. Yeah, 'cause I think Miami, you

(43:44):
know, their ability, they just haven't shown that they've been
able to close out a season. And if they need a win and Pit
is looking to play spoiler, thisis what I I I have them pulling
that spoiler. So we've got pit, then sitting
there at 7:00 and 5:00 the over.Yeah.

(44:06):
I don't know if I feel good about that but.
That's what I'd say. I I don't bet like every team's
over under. That's definitely one I would
not like. It could go so many different
ways in that season that schedules a lot of even
matchups. It feels like early on they
could beat coin flips in my opinion.
Exactly. And I think they're going to be

(44:27):
in a lot of really close games just because the defense is
going to keep them in games theycould.
Be one of those things where they're two losses and they, or
they've lost two games and they've lost them by, and
they've won it by a combined 15 points like each game by a field
goal like, and it could be a situation where they're only won
two games and it's they've lost by a combined 21 points.

(44:49):
Like I, I, I just going to, I mean, it's going to be an
interesting season for them. They could be great, could be
terrible, I don't know. Time will tell.
Time will tell. That's the fun of it.
Ask me again in three months. Yeah, exactly.
Wait, let me clip this. Pittsburgh is going to be great
this year. Pittsburgh is going to be
terrible this year. Got that.
Got it. I got that.

(45:09):
All right, awesome. I might use that later.
All right then Notre Dame seniornight talk about them quite a
bit in this. We're going to try to remember
what we said about the probably should wrote all that down
Syracuse. The Cuse.
Syracuse Syracuse 10 and three last year.
Fran Brown had a pretty successful year in his first

(45:30):
year. Second season there.
They only returned 2 offensive starters, 6 defensive starters.
Steve Angele, obviously quarterback there.
I got a hot take. Yeah, I don't think Steve Angele
is going to be the quarterback. Ricky Collins from LSU.
I think Collins is going to be the guy.
That's hot. That is a hot day coming on

(45:51):
this. Sorry, Steve, even though,
Steve, I had you the starter at Notre Dame.
Yeah, now I got you and then. He went and screwed up the. 3rd
wheel buddy of course, sorry. But yeah, they they scored 33.4
points per game last year, just 20th in the FBS.
Solid offense last year and LED up 30.4, which is 96 defense.

(46:13):
That's a good question. Obviously they bring back six
guys on defense. But yeah, I mean, they were a
solid team for him. Brown Great first year 10 and
three. I think every Syracuse fan will
take that year in and year out. Did you?
Mention how hard their schedule is this year. 14th hardest
schedule over unders 5 1/2 Yeah,yeah.
And I feel like we've given somewins.

(46:33):
We have but. We'll see now.
Do we still feel good about it? And here's where I they just
come out of the gate tough. And I think, I think that's what
makes it hard for me. Econ and Colgate Yeah, Week 1
this is a neutral site game in Mercedes-Benz, I believe.

(46:54):
Noon kickoff Week 1 Syracuse Tennessee this because we talked
about this one. This would be a dual screen one
because Texas, Ohio State's thatnoon kick as long as that
Syracuse, Tennessee August 30th.So that's going to be awesome.
But yeah, I mean, Tennessee hasn't picked their quarterback
yet either. I, I think Tennessee wins that

(47:14):
game pretty, pretty easily, but I think Syracuse, I mean, who
knows? I'm more confident in the balls
at that point, but. Yeah, they're quarterback
searching. I'm assuming Tennessee will have
a bigger crowd at that game. It won't be able to tell besides
noise 'cause they'll all be wearing just orange.
It's great. Yeah, I go Tennessee on that
one. Yeah, it it, it's going to be an

(47:36):
ugly game to watch on televisionwith all the always in the
crowd. Yeah, the only other thing I
wrote down for Syracuse was theydo have a a lot of returning
talent at wide receiver. So they're going to want to pass
the ball, but their defense is going to be their weakness.
Their their secondary is not good.

(47:56):
And here's the thing I think about Angeli, and there's any
knock on Angeli, it's sometimes he held the ball just a little
longer than he needed to. He wasn't afraid to stay in the
pocket and he he throws a great ball, but is the Syracuse line
going to be able to hold up and give him time?
And I think against Tennessee, because Tennessee normally has
some above average D tackles, they get home with the front 4.

(48:16):
So I that's why I think it's going to happen.
I think Evangelii is the day onestarter.
He's going to have a little bit of a struggle.
He's just going to get sacked a few times.
Yeah, sorry if it's an SEC defense.
Yeah, so I. I, I see them switching back and
forth. I think, I think we're going to
see a lot of both 2 quarterbackscoming in and out, yeah.

(48:37):
So that's a real possibility. Yeah, and Tennessee's the spot I
thought Steven Jelly could have went to and been competing for
the starting job. That is true.
That was projected. That was a rumor.
That would have been a great spot for him to go.
I was. Kind of surprised when he picks.
I mean, I don't know. Close to home.
Yeah, I just, Tennessee seems like a more attractive offer to
me, but had a good season last year.

(48:58):
Syracuse did all right. Week 2, they host UConn.
I'm going Syracuse in this one. I'm with you.
Give me the cues. And then host Colgate.
I I like Colgate. Beautiful, beautiful campus.
Yeah, but but. They're not going to be winning
the football game. And then on the road at Clemson.

(49:18):
Preseason #4 Clemson, A lot of people are buying that.
That again, what's up with all these orange teams playing each
other? I don't, I mean.
Give me Clemson. But yeah, Dabos, dabos, got to
get it done. I I'm with you.
Give me Dabo in Clemson. Jordan, you with us?
Yeah, I think the talk all up and down the coast here in North

(49:39):
Carolina, everyone loves Klubniklike they are thinking that he's
going to be Heisman worthy. So yeah, I listened to the ACC
preview show the other day and they were over the top on
Klubnik, so I have to argue against.
All right, then, they host Duke.Duke.

(50:02):
I almost leaned Duke in this one.
Yeah, I think. If I do.
Yeah, Duke's got they're going to have a good team, so they got
a good shot of going up and and winning.
Then on the road. So we're going Duke on that one
on the road, SMU. I feel like that's a loss.
I give it. Yeah.
Give me SMU. Yeah, SMU at Syracuse.

(50:31):
And did we just pick? I think we picked Pit to lose.
Or no, I think we had Syracuse win.
Yeah, he said. Pit lose.
Yep. So you guys, Oh.
Pit lose, Yes, yeah, yeah. Yep.
So we got Syracuse in this one. What's that?
Give us 2? Three wins. 4/4 Then on the road

(50:51):
to Georgia Tech. No, wait, hold on, we got them
meeting. Yukon, Colgate.
That's it, right? Yeah, 3 and Pitt.
Yeah, that's the third. It's three.
Pitts 3. Yep.
And then on the road at Georgia Tech.
I think Georgia Tech's going to be decent.

(51:11):
I yeah, I, I go Georgia Tech. Yeah, with their track record
from last year, I think Georgia Tech should should win.
You know, and then Halloween night hosting North Carolina.
So that's a Friday night game. It goes back to Is Bill
Belichick got North Carolina humming or Is Bill Belichick?
Cashing checks. The next head coach of the

(51:33):
Cleveland Browns, you know, or, or whatever NFL team.
I feel like North Carolina's winning that game.
Yeah, I, I think right now everyone's so high on North
Carolina. I think if we have to buy into
the hype, we're we're, we're thinking North Carolina's going
to win. And then Syracuse travels down
to Miami, I think through the Hurricanes.

(51:56):
I'm trying to think what we did.Did we say I?
Did we say Syracuse could win that game?
They can win this game, but I think the Hurricanes, I think we
picked the Hurricanes. Yeah, I I have it as a loss, I
think Miami. Miami wins that one.
Miami wins that one. Pick both of them to lose.
That sucks for both of them, youknow, I'm pretty sure.
Again, another team with Orange.What's?

(52:18):
Up with that. Nothing rhymes with orange, but
all the orange teams play each other.
Yeah, and then Syracuse comes the Notre Dame stand for Notre
Dame Senior Night. Give me the Irish.
Yeah, take the Irish and. Then Boston College travels to
Syracuse. And I believe we had him winning
that game and that gets them to four wins.
Is that 5? We had Boston College.

(52:41):
Oh no, that was 4. You're on it.
That's why I was jumping 4 'cause I had I had them written
down as 4 before. I got the.
So, so we've got them under the five and a half.
Yep, I think that's pretty pretty fair there.
Yeah, and I think they've done some good things, They're just
not next level yet. Yeah.
Well, that's the thing. I think, you know, they had a
top 20 finish last year in 2024,but their schedule last year was

(53:05):
so favorable that it flips this year.
And they just have such a tough schedule that there's their
floor is probably four to five wins.
And but I'm looking at their schedule, I'm like, OK, maybe
they beat Georgia Tech, maybe they beat Carolina, but who I

(53:27):
don't see them beating, they're not.
They're not going to beat these other teams.
Yeah, I can't see like 6 is a stretch for me.
I, that's the, that's the ceiling.
And I and I, it's a stretch for me to even say that.
Yeah. I mean, they they don't have to
put a lot together to be 10 winsagain this year.
I just doesn't feel possible, no.
Not confident? All right.

(53:49):
This gets us into the last road trip of the year.
Last game of the year during Byron Irish travel out to
Northern California to play the Stanford Cardinal.
Stanford finished last year 3:00and 9:00 as new head coach Frank
Wright. It's for a lot of Indiana people
rings the bell, Former Colts coach, new GM Andrew Luck.

(54:12):
They returned 6 offensive players, 8 defensive players.
So is that a good thing or a badthing for Stanford?
That's a great question. They scored 21.2 points per game
last year, which is 109th and they let up 36.1 points per game
which is 122nd. Does this sound like the Purdue

(54:34):
of the ACC? But there's no basketball to
look forward to. Yeah, they don't have basketball
season. Yeah, I mean, there, it's
Stanford. I feel like a team.
Basketball team is pretty good, they got that.
Yeah, it just feels like a team that, oh, I didn't get you
either over under there. It was pretty low, but it just
feels like a team that's probably going to be on the open
up. Like, I trust Andrew Luck, he'll

(54:55):
get it. Frank Wright, I mean, he's a
good coach. I hope they can work.
Two guys that know ball. Yeah, I mean, obviously Frank
Wright didn't workout Indy, but over under there is 3 1/2, four,
3 1/2 games. Obviously you talk about Bill
Belichick. Oh, he'll figure it out.
I mean, Frank Wright's a guy, he's had NFL experience.
You should have the scheme advantage in a lot of those
games. But I mean.

(55:16):
He was, he was such a gambler. I he's going to go for so many
4th downs. They're not punting, you know,
they're on their own 30. He's going to go for it.
He's got he's got nothing to lose.
Here's the difference between Frank Wright and Bill Belichick.
Both have NFL experience and youwould think they have a scheme
advantage. But Bill Belichick was able to

(55:38):
take lower ranked guys and make them perform at a high level.
And Frank Wright, I don't like. He had really talented teams.
You never saw him take some guy that you're like, who the heck
is that? And make him turn.
And Belichick's done that in theNFL.
And you got to say if he can do that in the NFL with underrated
guys and make those guys into superstars, you know he's going

(56:01):
to do it in college. I'm just not sure Frank Wright
can make that same comparison, so I'm not so.
I. Think if Andrew Luck can get the
talent into Stanford, Frank Wright's going to be great.
But the question is, can Andrew Luck get the talent to Stanford?
Because they do still hold the academic standard high.
They just don't let anybody in. I mean, you know, when we talk
about kids that are fighting between Notre Dame and Stanford

(56:22):
historically in the past, those are kids that are fighting to be
valedictoria to their class too.They're making that decision.
And, you know, I just don't knowthat Stanford holding the high
academic Northern California cancan draw in.
I don't we'll see. They're they're a few years away
and they need some heavy recruiting and a little bit of
that Silicon Valley money to hitthe hit the books.
And they could be all right. I mean, if if they get some

(56:45):
Silicon Valley money, they couldbuy they could buy a team as
good as any team in the SEC for sure.
Yeah. So, all right, Well, let's run
through their schedule. 3 1/2 wins.
Can we get? Yeah.
We're gonna be battling here, guys, let's be honest.
But they do start off week zero on one heck of a journey out to
Hawaii. Hawaii.
That sounds a good time. Are they the fighting rainbows

(57:08):
or just the rainbows? I think they're just the
rainbows. OK, but Aloha.
Stadium. They're getting a new stadium,
which does Hawaii play at Aloha Stadium?
I don't remember if they actually played there.
I remember playing the the Hawaii Bowl out there and they.
They played some big games there, but I.
Don't know if they have the stadium, but yeah, they're
getting that redone. So I don't know what they're
doing that for, but it looks super nice.
I keep seeing that on FOS Sports.

(57:28):
Repost that. So yeah, maybe they're trying to
get the Pro Bowl back. That'd be.
Sweet, but I like the Polynesiankids in Hawaii.
Imagine if Hawaii could recruit their their best players.
You know, that'd be pretty sweet.
But anyways, I'll, I'll take I'll take Stanford there Week 0
win. You want Stanford over Hawaii?
Oh yeah, I'm leaning Hawaii. And I'm leaning Hawaii too.

(57:50):
Whoa, whoa. All right.
Whoa. All right.
Little home cooking, you guys take the rainbow.
We'll see. Hey, fear the rainbow.
Yeah, no kidding. Or take the rainbow if you're a
Skittles guy. Whatever, that felt personal,
but all right. Then they take a bye week 1

(58:10):
going to travel to BYU I. Like it against the by.
Yeah, I mean, they're not going to lose.
They will. They won't lose that.
They're not going to lose. They're not going to lose Week
one, Week 0 maybe. I don't think so, but trees
versus the rainbows. I take the trees every day.
But on the road against BYU, they made BYU.
That's a loss. Yeah.
I'm, I'm going to go with you guys on that one.

(58:31):
At home versus Boston College, give me BC.
I'm agreeing and I think every time we had Stanford come up, we
picked him to lose. I don't think we picked him to
win any. Game.
Yeah, I think we're I think we'll be safe on that.
Great. All right then on the road at
Virginia, we were really, reallyhigh when we talked about
Virginia earlier, weren't we? Psych This is a That's a tough
one, though. Is this the quiz bowl or the

(58:53):
the? You know, yeah, I give me
Virginia. Yeah, I I think Virginia wins
this one now. Here's where we get interested
in San Jose State University at Stanford.
Now, I like San Jose and soccer,but this isn't soccer.
I take Stanford this soccer I think.

(59:14):
Yeah, I'd probably take Stanfordand soccer as well, but I'm I'm
going to take Stanford for the win here.
I'm going to give there's this game, this is number.
Two got them on a three-game heater.
Oh man, yeah, as you didn't say.They're think ready right now at
at 3:00 and 2:00. Wait, did you guys think they
were going to beat Virginia? Because I thought that we were
sitting there. Going yeah, I said Virginia's
going to win. I said Virginia was to win.

(59:35):
Sorry, sorry. So I.
Was going to say I had him. I had him winning against
Hawaii. You guys, we had a loss against
Hawaii. We had him losing against BYU,
losing against Boston College. We had him at O and four there.
I had him winning Hawaii. Jordan had him.
Winning. Oh yeah, one in three.
We got him at one in three is what I'm showing as a group.
Yeah, sorry. I wrote I for penmanship.
I wrote down a couple things. I yeah, I got you now.

(59:55):
So we got them right now at 1:00in. 2 with the San Jose.
No one with Oh yeah 2 because Hawaii.
If we give them San San Jose State, that gives them. 22 and
three, OK. We got about two and three.
And then on the road to SMU or by then on the road to SMU,
they're. Going to win that game Psych
SMU. SMU is going to win that game.

(01:00:15):
Now Florida State, October 18th has to travel all the way out to
Stanford. That's quite the journey, but
I'll still take Florida State. Unless Florida State just
collapses, I don't see any way they don't win that game.
So I'm, I'm with you, Florida State.
Yeah, I think Florida State. On the road down in Miami.

(01:00:37):
I think we got Miami, yeah. Yeah, home versus Pitt.
It was Pitt. We're still thinking Pitt.
Still. Feeling Pitt?
On the road at North Carolina and you just think of how much
travel that is like on the road to Miami a couple weeks earlier
then going to pit or going to North Carolina there at home
versus PIT, Yeah, give me North Carolina.

(01:00:59):
Definitely North Carolina. Yeah.
And then bye. And then at home versus Cal?
I kind of dare rival. Yeah, I'd still take Cal though.
Yeah, I I wasn't Cal was decent last year.
Like they had some decent wins. Yeah, they had some decent
moments, some losses and I mean.There was one game where they

(01:01:22):
played till like 2 in the morning and I fell asleep.
I don't remember, like it was the Miami game.
I think you're right. But.
So yeah, I would take Cal there and then finish out the season
at home for snorting. Loss.
Yeah, yeah. I mean it just that's and I
don't feel like their schedule is a killer, but it's not easy

(01:01:43):
point. 2 and 10. Yeah, I mean.
Well, that's why I was looking at what I wrote down.
I was like, do we have Stanford like possibly doing this?
But then. No, no, I mean they got the 33
hardest schedule is what strength schedule saying right
now. It just is like, yeah, I don't I
don't love their non conference games aren't so easy like that.

(01:02:04):
They're going. To and they have too many
unknowns in every position. I don't think they've named the
starter. No, they, they, I don't know if
they named it started for any position like you know what I
mean, like. There's still try outs.
You can still you go out gone. I might, I might start playing
quarterback for him. I mean, I don't know but.
Looking for a kicker? Go Carter.
I mean, I don't think you would kick much if you're a punter.

(01:02:24):
Great spot to go right now. A lot of opportunities to punt,
probably not a lot of field goalpositions less.
I would say if you're a kickoff guy, you might get 12 kickoffs
for the season. If you're a punter, you're going
to get a lot of work. And if you're a field goal extra
point guy, you probably get lessthan 10 opportunities.
Yeah, I it's a team that I thinkin three to four years could be

(01:02:47):
mill of the pack ACC, which would be a huge step up from
where they're at right now. Yeah, I and maybe they'll just
go back to the PAC 12. That might not be a bad play.
Mountain less something. But yes.
But yeah, I just don't have confidence in Stanford this
year. Yeah.
All right. Well, that we got the under on
Stanford. I feel like we took the under on
a decent amount of teams in thisseries.

(01:03:07):
I think we only had three teams in the over.
Yeah, which the strength scheduled.
Maybe 4? Yeah, I mean, there's there's
some interesting games here for the Irish.
Like we said, it's tough. The beginning season is going to
be tough. But then, yeah, when you once
you get past USC, you got at Boston College, Navy, at pit
home against Syracuse and at Stanford, it feels like once you

(01:03:28):
make do that it's just getting better every week.
Maybe we'll see that other quarterback who does get picked.
It's a late minute wrap. I mean, we got the Irish 11:00
and 1:00 and if that comes to fruition, I'm feeling really
good about hosting a first roundgame in the play offs.
And as we're ascending up towardthe end of the season and
playing our best ball, I'm feeling really good about us

(01:03:49):
going into the play offs. And that's where you want to be.
The quarterback will have settled in well, I'm hoping what
we see is whoever QB 2 is, get some reps in Purdue and, you
know, Boston College and some ofthese lesser games where, you
know, maybe they're decided by halftime and we can get that guy
some playing time. And you know, it's always tough

(01:04:11):
because if you do that and that guy plays well and it's Notre
Dame, right, The first incomplete pass, whoever QB 1 is
at Miami, there's going to be 30% of the fan base screaming
immediately for put the other guy in.
Is it just feels that way that we can't be happy with whoever
the starting quarterback is. But you know, you can say this

(01:04:32):
thing about Riley Leonard last year, it took five games, six
games for people to warm up to him.
I I remember in the Miami of Ohio game, there was chance
going on for PB and J in that Miami of Ohio game because Riley
wasn't playing well, but people weren't sold on Sam Hartman, you
know, early on. So it we'll see.
And I'm in that camp. I you know, I will not divulge

(01:04:53):
my text messages, but I maybe have said bad things about a
certain quarterback last year. You would not be alone.
But which is why I was talking about last week when we were
going through looking at the halfway point, we have the buy
after USC and after that bye week.

(01:05:15):
So starting November 1st, I Notre Dame should be at a point
where they're rolling on offense.
We know who we are and we shouldnot have to worry about any of
those games against BC, Navy, Pit, Syracuse or Stanford.
Like I don't, I don't expect them to alter anywhere.

(01:05:36):
So it's like looking at what we have them, is there a a place
for them to, you know, a tough late game?
And I just don't, I don't see itthis year on the schedule.
I think if we're heavy on the front end.
Things where if we start O and two or we, I want to say we
split one and one off the bat and then we end up losing the

(01:05:59):
USC. It depending how where we fall,
it could be tough getting back up in there just because there's
not a great. Quality, yes.
A chance to prove ourselves evenif we're boat racing teams by
40. I think that.
We're 10 and two with the loss to USC, it's going to be.
Yeah, I mean. Obviously depends where everyone

(01:06:19):
else is playing out. Like I'm not saying we can't
sneak in the back, but I'm just saying it it'll be a lot
trickier at that point 'cause wedon't have a great game towards
or a decent game towards the endof the year.
Yeah, I mean, yeah, if you beat Stanford by 49 and they've got
two wins, So what if you beat, you know, Syracuse by 35 and
they've got four wins. So I mean, you know, same with
Pitt, maybe A7 win Pitt team youmight get.

(01:06:40):
Some. Yeah, we're going to be bragging
about a Navy win there. But yeah, Navy's one of those
games that there's no upside to playing Navy and that's why a
lot of people don't do it 'causeif you beat Navy, no one gives
you respect. And if you lose the Navy, then
why'd you lose the Navy? Same with Boston College, I
mean, beat them, beat them by 49points, if they're A4 win Boston

(01:07:00):
College team, who cares? It's not getting you CFP.
So you've got to beat USC, you've got to beat Miami, you've
got to beat Boise State, you know what I mean?
You got to beat Arkansas even just because it's that mighty
middle of the road SEC team thatyou know people are hyped on.
So and A and MI think A&M could be competing.
I really do think A&M could be competing for the SECSEC

(01:07:23):
championship. I don't know they will, but I
feel like that's probably, you know, you can lose one of those
games, maybe 2, but you can't lose.
You know, you can't go O and four against those teams, Miami
A&M, Boise State and USC. You can't go O and four.
You've got to win at least two of those games to be in the
College Football Playoff. And I and I feel pretty good

(01:07:44):
that we got a team that can do that.
Yeah, I was going to say this team defense is going to have to
carry early as always might havebeen my opinion on this team.
I mean, you got a new starting quarterback, but yeah, I mean,
we talked about this I think before the last like 10 or 11
years, 6 versus your starting quarterbacks and won the
national championship, which is insane.
So I mean, it's just one of those things where we got a

(01:08:05):
great defense. You look at offensively.
We've got the talent. We've got a great line, we've
got great running backs and we should have a really good tight
end situation and we should havea above average wide receivers
and, but. I say a couple weeks ago you
weren't inside the tight ends, but we keep getting higher and

(01:08:25):
higher on I'm. Seeing some things make me feel
better. But I mean, we should be good in
tight end, not not the, but we should be good in tight end and
good enough in wide receiver. And I'm starting to, you know,
see some things and you know, kid from Wisconsin, his
nickname, the good grat. He's in there every morning.
He's in there late at night. You know, he's he's working
hard. He's like this is my last

(01:08:46):
chance. I got to make it the most I can.
It's sets up favorably for whoever the first year
quarterback is to have everything they need around
them. They don't have to force
themselves to win games. They just got to not lose it.
And as they get confidence and place come around and Benbrock
figures out what's the right call, I think we we get to the
gauntlet and I think that's why the first couple games are the
toughest. And I think it's going to get

(01:09:07):
easier after that. And I think USC is going to be
susceptible give up points. I I can see that being a 4947
game. That's always said the opposite
last year, so we'll probably have a 7 nothing.
It'll be 7. Nothing.
Yeah. We were, I was.
Bet the under. Bet the under it'll.
Be 3/2. So, well, Carter, I don't know,
did you mention what what do they have as Notre Dame's win
total for the? I believe it's 10 1/2 is what

(01:09:30):
I've been seeing in most places.Is that what you've seen?
I can double check real quick, but I'm pretty sure 10 1/2's
what I've seen. So which means you lose to A&M
or Miami? And that makes sense.
Yeah, 10 1/2's the number, so and I think you get that plus
money, which feels like, feels like a solid bet for Notre Dame

(01:09:50):
fan. Actually.
We can run through Notre Dame stuff, obviously 14 and two last
year. Marcus Sherman, year 4, Chris
Ashe, first year defensive coordinator, 7 on offense, 7 on
defence, returning starters. We averaged 36.1 points per game
last year, which was fifth in the nation, and then 15.5 we let
up per game, which just comparedto some of the other teams
you've talked about and heard like very good numbers right

(01:10:13):
there. And I saw a stat the other day,
I'll hate to bring up NIU from last year, but despite the fact
that NIU's record wasn't as goodas it could have been, they were
one of the top teams in the country at running between
Garden Center like, and Ohio State was one of the other ones.
So you look at like the Notre Dame concern about defensive
tackle. Now we got the kid from

(01:10:33):
Louisville transferred in and we've got, you know, a year more
experience a lot of places. I think that's going to come
down to it, right? And A&M is going to want to run
between guard and tackle. That's what gives me.
And how, how good is the Miami line?
It's an upgrade, but how good isit and I?
I mean, their D line said it's the best in the country so.
Did did I send you guys the MligZyer quote 'cause I thought it

(01:10:54):
was freaking hysterical. You know, he's like Chrysler 300
looks like a Phantom till Phantom pulls up.
It's like how how good is that Miami line?
Let's see how good it looks onceNotre Dame's offensive line
shows up. I think that was fun.
So all right, I fun exercise last couple weeks.
I think this is always a fun episode and at this point we're

(01:11:15):
like a week away from Notre. Dame, Yeah.
We're not there, boys. So when this pod drops the
following Wednesday ish, I thinkwe'll be we'll be doing our
Notre Dame Miami preview and it's on.
It's the real deal. It's on if you you're not
excited. Now check your pulse.
I was going to say we we're back.

(01:11:36):
We're back at this point, you know what I mean?
Like it's happening. We're a week out.
We're ready. So yeah, I mean, it's exciting
times right here. I mean, they're to Miami.
It's Hard Rock going to be rocking.
I'm assuming so, but I think we're going to handle it well.
Yeah, I don't think it's going to be like, you know, Turnover
Chain. That's why I was joking with

(01:11:56):
with some friends when we were talking about the game, because
I'm like, you know, like all theall the cool sayings that are
uncool now, like swag, you know,swag you and turnover chain and
he had so much He had too much sauce and drip.
You know what I mean? Like all the.
I would say I saw a thing the other day was like, and that was

(01:12:17):
different. That game.
I think Deshaun Kaiser, I figured the white receiver was
overthrew a ball very early in that game where white receiver
was wide open in the end zone. It's like that could have been a
very different game if we score early.
But hindsight's always 2020, so yeah.
Could have, would have, should have.
Don't win games, unfortunately. I'll score, your opponent does.
So yeah, I mean, you guys, if you're really feeling actually
survive podcast, go go take our line.

(01:12:38):
See how we do, You know, I mean,we'll be tracking them all year.
I'm sure we're just great gamblers we never miss, right
Jordan? That's right.
I never bet. I was going to say we've never
never lost, never lost the bat. I mean, if you're losing and
gambling, just try harder, you know what I mean?
That's right, go to lose if you.Quit.
Double down to catch up. Double down to catch up. 1800
need help. Yeah, we're definitely.

(01:13:03):
We do not give gambling advice, not.
Entertainment purposes only. Yes, it's not financial advising
unless unless we start getting hot.
Performance does not indicate future not resolved.
That's. A good thing for us, the past
performance is not. Yeah, yes.
We hope you enjoyed this episodeof the Irish 365 Podcast.
You can find us wherever you getyour podcast.

(01:13:24):
We are on YouTube X Instagram and Facebook.
Just search for Irish 365 pod. And you can always register our
e-mail [e-mail]. Goodnight.
And God bless.