Irish 365 2025-11-03 Notre Dame Fighting Irish Football vs Boston College review

Review of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish Football vs Boston College game

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. All right, welcome into the
Irish 365 podcast, Boston Review.
Yeah, post Boston. So I think, I think Boston was a
Boston's a nice city. I like that.

(00:22):
Yeah. For those of you, Yeah.
For those of you who didn't know, we went actually made the
road trip out to Boston College this best weekend for our one
Rd. game of the year. 1 Rd. gameas of now right?
As of now, currently, yes. As we were talking about other
plans off the air, but they're trying to look convincing here,
But Boston was beautiful. It was a great time.

(00:43):
A lot Notre Dame fans. The stadium was as expected, but
different in so many ways, right?
Yeah, I it was a little more dated than I expected.
Not that it was, but it was wellkept.
It was, you know, I mean, the campus is beautiful.
Was it, it was a nice campus. It was, you know, I think well
kept campus. I think just more dated than I

(01:04):
expected. You know what I'm the stadium,
the stadium even like the insidethe buildings there was they
were modelling some stuff, the buildings we were in.
And yeah, I was a little surprised it was as dated and
not terrible, but just, you know, it wasn't modern the way I
anticipated. I guess the stadium looks more
modern from the outside than it does on the inside.
Yeah. But it had a cool old aesthetic.

(01:26):
I mean, it's not a very big stadium.
I mean, we set, what, 13 rows off the field and we went up and
it stood in the section like next to the the top row,
basically. Just just for perspective.
We were, we stood in the top rowas well.
And yeah, yeah, there wasn't a bad seat in in the stadium.

(01:48):
And it was just. Yeah.
So it was a. 44,000 and sadly the stadium got rocking because
the game was close. Like the stadium got into the
game a little bit and it made itfun, but again, wish it wasn't.
Yeah, the student section at Boston College got amped.
The, the, the fans got a little hyped.
I, I kind of figured it would bethe Notre Dame fan takeover.
And just because of the way we played it, the Notre Dame fans,

(02:11):
even though there was a lot of us, we, we were kind of quiet.
It was that nervous energy, like, what are we doing?
Like what is going on? And there were some, you know,
just angst. I I would put it in angst on the
veteran fan side, so. So yeah, we can kind of get into
the game. I mean, come in versus what, one
in seven Boston College team, wekind of talk about a pregame.

(02:34):
What's Boston College got to do there?
Doesn't seem like a whole lot, but they they figured out a plan
and they execute it. They're going to keep the ball.
They were going to own the time of obsession and they were going
to sell out to stop the run. I mean, I know we we had all
five of us there. So I was going to sit.
We're kind of sitting on after the end.
I was on one end and we had Kateand mom and Maddie in between us

(02:55):
and then you. But you know, at one point we
just man their safeties are 10 yards off the freaking line.
Yeah, they they were going to give up the pass.
They were not going to give up the run.
That was clear. Yeah.
And yeah, they, yeah, they didn't want to get burnt on the
run and 'cause I know they've, they've been the worst run
defenses in the nation. And what do you have to do if

(03:15):
you're one of the worst other nations, the defensive in the
nation, You, you guys sell out on the run.
And that's exactly what they did.
I mean, ended up with 159 rushing yards, I believe it was.
But yeah, 90s, whatever, 92 on. Jeremiah loves one run.
Besides that, I mean, Boston College did a real nice job

(03:37):
stopping the run. Yeah, I mean, kudos to them for
like having having conviction tosell out on that and said CJ
Carr, you're going to beat us, Jeremiah, Love, Dorian Price or
not. And I think we'll probably see
some other teams try that same that same technique going
forward. Yeah, I mean, I mean, it's

(03:58):
amazing. Like since you had a bad game he
went 18 for 25 and 299. Oh, yeah, CJ had a phenomenal
game. Yeah.
I mean, he, it was a quiet 300. You're like, oh, CJ had 300
like, but yeah. And.
And not that he played bad. There was a couple of throws.
You're like, not quite, not quite where you wanted it, but
not terrible. But.

(04:21):
Here's the problem. 458 yards oftotal offense at 25 points.
Yeah, I feel like we've kind of talked about this.
They're an offense isn't like it's struggling to move the
ball, it's struggling to score. Like it it struggles down
towards the red zone, fumbles, missing kicks.
Obviously, like, we'll get into that here in a little bit, but I

(04:41):
mean, you can't put up 458 yardsof offense and score 25 points.
I mean that's just horrendous, especially when your defense
says how many turnovers 3/4? 3.
Like, you're not even going 99 yards every drive.
Like you're getting plus territory on a few of them.
Yeah, 458 yards of offense. But I think it's already become

(05:01):
a story. Like this nerd of muffins can
move the ball and no problem, but we need to get in the end
zone. Like Jeremiah Love's got 14
touchdowns this year. We have some other guys, but
it's just like we had to consistently get in the end
zone. Yeah, I thought it was kind of
here's my take. And as I thought about this post
game, you know, we joke about the defense having that South

(05:22):
Bend but don't break defense where they'll give up some
yards. But then when they get into the
end zone, they tighten up. And it almost feels like our
offense has adopted this. We'll make you bend, but we
won't make you break mentality. You know, we've struggled.
We've struggled in the short game and, you know, everybody
knows that. And that's what we'll talk about
on social and and in the media. And then we're like, we're just,

(05:44):
yeah, we're struggling to score,you know, in a lot of different
ways. And it's like, what what is so
different? And it the only thing I think of
different between now and last year is Riley Leonard was always
a threat to run. And he was such a.
Proficient runner that maybe just maybe a little bit of
that's what we're we're lacking and what we're hurting and I I

(06:06):
feel like Jeremiah. Popped at one point where he
went like he hopped up, but yeah, he got popped.
He's like, oh gosh. Yeah, we don't want CJ taking
those. I mean, yeah, clearly he can
take a hit, but we don't want him taking the hit and I.
We're not running that every time I think, right?
Like the first thing that comes to my mind is that opening drive
at the national championship where he's puking at the end of

(06:28):
it, right? Yeah.
Because he ran so much. Like CJ is not doing that.
Yeah. We we don't want to run our
quarterback that much. So so yeah, I think it's kind
of, but like really, what's the difference?
I mean, this offense is better in a lot of different ways.
You can argue maybe that the theline is not as good this year as

(06:49):
it was last year. They've had their struggles, but
running back is better and the line's good.
Running backs, I mean as good, better receivers are clearly
better. We had four guys over 50 yards
receiving this week. Yeah.
Like when did that happen last year?
And one of them. Wasn't love and he had 4

(07:10):
catches. Yeah.
And and the other side of that is like CJ again, we talked
about he put up 300 yards. Did you feel like it was 300
yard passing from CJ? No, you're just like, yeah, CJ.
Playing a game? Oh. 300 yards What?
Yeah. So yeah, I, I'm, I just don't
know how I feel like about wherethe offense is right now.

(07:34):
Like, we're doing well. We're we're winning games.
We've been putting up 40 points plus this game.
We struggled to put up some points.
I almost feel like it was a little bit of this.
We knew that we didn't have to give an A effort to beat Boston
College. And we just kind of came in a
little too loose, a little too unfocused.
And, you know, this is the type of attitude I think I've saw

(07:57):
Notre Dame come into an NIU gamewith or a Marshall with or, you
know, Toledo in the past. And you're like, OK, we've lost
a couple of these games. So I felt like, oh, man, we
haven't, you know, I felt like we turned that corner last year
after NIU. We really turned the corner.
And it's like, oh, we're taking a step back here.
You know, can Coach Freeman bring this thing around?

(08:18):
Can he get, you know, can he, can he get these guys motivated
back again? You know, where it's their best
effort week in, week out. So yeah, I think, I think that's
kind of where I feel like we're at.
And it's like, OK, where where are we at?
From the coaches? I feel like the defence has
continued to play better. Yeah, didn't.
I mean, there were some, there was a couple of drives that

(08:38):
Boston College. Had yeah, I was going to say we
need to talk about I need to look up the stats of this real
quick you can keep going but. But so yeah, I think the thing
with Boston College that I thought was they done really
well was they slowed down and they ran and kind of what we
expected. If I'm Boston College, my game
plan is to limit Notre Dame's offensive possessions and, and

(09:00):
you know, run the freaking play clock down to 4 seconds before I
snap. And, and they did that.
I mean, what was that first drive of the second-half?
That's what I pulled up. Yeah, I just got it. 1121 plays,
74 yards, 11 minutes, 20 seconds.
Yeah, I mean you. Want to keep Notre Dame for
insane? But that's how you keep Notre
Dame for putting up 40 points asyou have an 11 minute drive, I

(09:21):
mean. Took off 3/4 of the freaking
third quarter. Like well done.
It was an excellent drive. We're like.
Yeah. And then?
And then, you know, then they, they, they, then they turn
around and they went like high tempo when they.
Tried to score and they only gota field goal off that.
Yeah, but but then they then they also went high tempo.
So what I saw? From 9 plays, 50 yards and then

(09:44):
they got interception. But yeah.
Yeah, but I mean, you saw them play slow, milk clock, you know,
keep the ball away, wear down the defense, drive, drive,
drive, drive, bend, but don't break for our part.
And then you saw them turn around when they needed to
score. You see them go up tempo, which
which you know, again, that was the Backbreaker.
They went up tempo, Schuler got the interception and then one

(10:06):
play, boom love scores. And then they then they then
they were trying to go up, stay up tempo again.
And that's where they were, you know, they started going up
tempo and we were able to then, you know, defense was a little
little more rested and, you know, pin theirs back and go
after the quarterback and make his life difficult.
But yeah, when they were going slow.
And I think that's the other thing.
I I don't know why that is, but it's a thing, right?

(10:29):
When you get in your stance as an offensive lineman, it seems
like you can stand in your stance for an hour and not get
tired. But for defensive lineman, the
longer they're in the stance, the more tired.
They get I think it's like an anti thing though because you
don't know when it's coming. Yeah, it's I'm relaxed.
I know, I know it's going to come on the second clap or
whatever. I know the cadence and on the
defense, I'm just I'm ready to twitch.

(10:51):
So I think there's something to that, right?
Getting in, getting, getting lined up and then just waiting
to snap the ball. So yeah, it's definitely an
interesting, but I mean, all credit of Boston College, that
was an incredible 1 of the generally one of the best long
drive. Like that might be the longest
drive I've ever seen in my life.It's a shame they didn't end up
with a touchdown there that thatwould have really changed the

(11:12):
game. But like, Oh yeah, if they would
have scored a touchdown there and made that.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I know.
I mean that. 'D have been huge.
You got to give credit to BostonCollege for a good game plan and
execution. And you know, I think it just
came down to Notre Dame didn't play sharp, just Notre Dame just
happens to have better athletes.And because we had better

(11:33):
athletes, we were able to do more with less time because what
was the time of possession like?Those couch are 35 minutes. 35
yeah, 35 minutes of time of possession from Boston College,
so, you know, to Notre Dame's 25minutes, I mean, that's just a
huge, huge disparity in time of.Position, I know that was we
knew that, but yeah, that that drive literally won it for him.
One one drive was. Yeah, insane.

(11:57):
And, you know, Notre Dame, I just never until Jeremiah Love
scored his touchdown, I just didn't feel comfortable.
Like, it's like, we're going to screw around.
And, you know, God bless Boston College, right?
You know, there you go, You're Boston College.
Here you are in the first quarter.
Media time out. They're going to recognize

(12:17):
somebody from Boston College past history, and who do they
bring out? The freaking kicker from the 93
Boston College team. And then they show the.
Hype I. Literally had like anxiety
attack I I almost rushed the field and thought I'm pretty
sure I could get over there and you know, punch that guy in the
nose before. They He's a kicker, right?
He's a, he's a kicker. I could get him in the nose.

(12:38):
I could, you know, I'd be over in a student section.
So I wouldn't. And the Boston College student
section might have mobbed me. I might, I might have come out
worse for wear, but I could havegot one shot off and, you know,
released some, released some deep, deep depression.
I have hidden inside me from that.
But, but I mean, you know, so you sit there and you go through
that and, and you're like, oh, they're bringing that up.

(13:00):
Of course they are. It's their thing.
And then, then you see a extra point clunk against the, we
doink it and then we, and then we miss a field goal and you're
like, oh, freaking. And then we yeah, what do we
miss? Two extra points, 2 field goals.
Two extra coins. And two field goals.
No 11 field goal. There's just one before that
happened. I don't think we kicked any more

(13:20):
field goals. OK, it was OK.
It was just the two extra points, the one going to one
wide right and then the the field goal wide right.
And I haven't gone back and watched the game film.
I don't. Know three different kickers,
right? Yeah, three different kickers.
So I didn't get a chance to go like go back and watch.
So I can't say, oh, high snap, bad hole.
Like I I didn't in real time. I didn't see anything that

(13:45):
jumped out at me, you know, because the one, the one doink
was right in front of us. And I don't, I don't like recall
anything noticeable from the snap or the hold from my
perspective at that point going,Oh, that's why we missed.
I want to make note like when you're when you're kicking these

(14:06):
the snap and hold. Yes, it matters to an extent,
but I feel like the farther awayyou are, right, if you're 304050
yards, that stuff matters so much more than when you're on an
extra point in an inside 30 yards.
Like you can you you gotta go make it.
Like if it's a bad hold, you're kicking the laces.

(14:26):
You've still got 12 yards of you're aiming down the middle.
You would think. You know what I mean?
Yeah. No, no, I mean, I'm just telling
you from like, you can deal so much.
Yeah, I'm just saying you can deal with a bad hold and bad
snap to your extent, like college kickers on their weight.
Like basically you're able to hit a one step extra point.

(14:47):
Like if it's if it gets held up,you can stop and basically
restart your stride if need be and still hit this like it does
an extra point. I don't want to say that doesn't
mean a perfect operation, but there's a lot more room for air,
especially in that college when it's not a 45 yard extra or 35,
it's a 20 yarder. Yeah, you should be able to hit
these in your sleep. Like and hitting one off the

(15:08):
freaking upright is nuts. Missing 1 completely off the
frame is my soccer terms coming out.
It's just insane. And yeah, the people go over
that 35 yards like. It, yeah, it wasn't crazy long.
It was, Yeah. A lot of high school kids can
hit a 35 yarder. And I, I think you and I kind of
talked about it. It's like, OK, now it's in the
kicker's head, you know, this isYeah.

(15:31):
And, and I think this is, this is so interesting because like
the operation is so important, right?
A good snap that is not too high, not too low, you know, you
can't have this lob snap that's takes too long to get back
because you got to have the snapget back and, you know, give the
holder a chance to put it down quickly.
And, you know, so that's important.

(15:52):
Like the snap is important. And the, and the more consistent
the snap location is and the speed, the easier it is for
that, you know, that holder to get it.
But you're right, I mean, I've seen like a bad snap and a good
holder get it in place, you know, with a, with a less than
ideal snap. I've seen that.
And. Again, extra points, the easiest
of all of them, because it's notabout distance, it's about
getting it up right. It's just about up and straight.

(16:16):
And I just, you know, again, thehold can screw you up and you
know, you you want that ball down a little bit of tilt laces
out. But I'm with you.
Like in that short distance it shouldn't be that big of an
issue. If we're missing 40 yard plus,
I'd be like, OK, we got to look more at the operation.
Like what? Something like it might not just
be the kicker, like here's goingto get the plan, but extra

(16:38):
points is like unless he's kicking laces every time and
it's hanging off where he like you can see where the place
kicker puts his hand down. If he's 3 yards left, obviously
that's going to mess you up. It's like it's it doesn't, it's
not that obvious to the naked eye like it shouldn't be.
If it's not, obviously they get out an extra point.

(16:58):
It really shouldn't affect the system too much.
I haven't looked at our kickers.I mean I too closely.
I'm I'm, but I'm guessing they all played high school.
They all played high school soccer at some point.
And I would think if you've played high school soccer, you
have a dominant foot. Maybe it's your right or your
left. Usually it's the right.
You could probably kick the extra point with your left.

(17:19):
I mean, a lot of those guys, they were soccer players could
do what they call a rabona and freaking make the extra point.
Like it's so again, I think it'sa psychological point.
I think we've talked about this before in the podcast, like what
people don't understand is the operation, but even less.
It's the most difficult thing. I thought it was interesting
because of the Freeman press conference.
He made this comment, you know, but it's the mental side of of

(17:43):
it. And I think most people who who
play have played golf can relateto this, right?
I mean, it's if you've played golf, you've gone to the driving
range and you've been comfortable and you've been with
your buddies and like whatever, maybe you've had a beer and
you're like relaxed. You know, you know, you can hit
your driver somewhat straight, you know, 200 yards, whatever.
And then you get on the golf course and you Shank one.

(18:05):
The next thing you know, you can't hit any of your clubs, you
can't hit your driver, you can'thit your iron.
Like even your putter won't likeit.
It's that mental side of it. And that's, I think that's the
side that's so difficult becauseyou can line up a bunch of kids.
And when you were, when you werekicking in high school, like we
went to some camps, we had some fun with it.
But you know, it was pretty clear there was a whole bunch of

(18:28):
guys you could line up and they could kick 455055 like all day
long. But then what they do at the end
of every kicking camp, they lineeverybody up and they and they
start making a competition and all eyes are on you.
And it was amazing. Like these guys that just didn't
miss all of a sudden with just alittle bit of pressure and

(18:50):
spotlight. This isn't a practice.
This isn't even a game. You got AU shaped tunnel and all
of a sudden all the other players are yelling at you.
All that good stuff. Yeah, I mean.
You're still on a tee, You're not like adding a snapper and
Holder felt the tee. They're fute around.
Yeah, it's literally. The perfect setup is just where
you at mentally. And I mean, you know, we can put
it in the soccer terms and you can put it in basketball terms.

(19:12):
Like I always say this like there's kids in basketball that
want that last shot. You know, it's tie game, 3
seconds left. There's kids who want that last
shot. There's kids who want nothing to
do with that last shot. Same thing in soccer.
How many times have you seen it in soccer?
There's kids that want to take the penalty kick and there's
kids that want nothing to do with the penalty kick.
And I think if you watched game day Saturday before the Boston

(19:36):
College game, if you watched like Pat Mack has the kicker
come on. And that kicker was really
confident. And all of a sudden, Pat Mack
started getting into that guy's head.
And you could literally in a 62nd span, see this kid go
confident that oh, my God. And I still don't think they
gave him a second try, which they said they wouldn't.
I don't think he made it, but I think they were just being

(19:57):
generous because I think they felt kind of bad.
But yeah, it's, it's one of those things that I, I, you
know, I. And the same thing with
quarterback, that there's two positions that are harder for
coaches to judge than any other,and that's quarterback and
that's kicker. Because the quarterback and the
kicker can look great in practice, but when it matters
and the game's on the line, you know, where are they at

(20:19):
mentally, right? Can they can they just block
everything out, just do their job what they what they can do
and just do it like they do in practice?
Or do they let they start letting those external
influences? And it's not easy.
I mean, I'm not it it, you know,there's, there's a whole reason
sports psychologist is a thing and there's a lot of people that
have that and you know, it's just some people it's easier for
and some people, they got to work through that.

(20:40):
And that's just, I think that's where Notre Dame's at.
I don't think there's anything from the, from the execution or
the operation as much as it was,you know, just it's, it's in the
head and, and it just, it gets worse, right?
You start overthinking it and listen.
There's no one, no one more lonely than the kicker on the
sideline, right? Yeah.
And it's. Like there's some clips coming
out, a couple kickers laughing at like, that's not where I'd be

(21:04):
right now. If I was a kicker.
I would not be. I'd be hitting extra bullets
into the net. I'd be doing something, getting
myself mentally ready. I wouldn't just be standing
there. But yeah, you're at the point
where they can James Rendell kick extra point can like, like,
you know what I mean? He's this giant athletic,
athletic dude. Not all punters can kick and not
all kickers can punt. But like I know in the media was

(21:25):
asked today, can Marcus Freeman nice about if we want to get a
potential soccer player or something.
He's like we're at the 105 Max roster resubmitted to the end of
the year to the NCA. We can't know where to be added.
Can't add a preferred walk, can't add a walk on, can't have
kicking contact hoping like you can't add a soccer player, you
can't do nothing. We got a 105 now be interested
in the next few years to stream and keep 104 just in case

(21:47):
something like this happens. You know what I mean?
Like. Yeah, I don't know, You know,
and I sit there and think about us like, sure, we have 105 kids.
There has to be somebody on the roster that's not a kicker
that's kicked before. I mean, you know.
AD lineman a wide receiver like.Ochocinco went and kicked field
goals one one time in the NFL because he'd done it in high

(22:07):
school. My guess, give me Jordan Faison
can somehow kick. He's an asshole.
Tyler Buckner. A Buckner's Buckner's sister
played soccer. Like surely?
Surely Tyler Buckner. 'S kicked the ball leading goal
for the ATCI. Think something like that.
He's had to play soccer at some point in his life.
He was a lacrosse kid. He had to play soccer at least

(22:28):
rec level. Yeah, I'm like there's like
between those two guys. I'm like those dudes are just
Ballers like that. You can just tell.
I'm sure there's some quarter orsomeone that's just a freak
athlete that. Yeah.
I'm sure one of these D lineman freaking kicked in high school
for freshman football or something, you know what I mean?
Like, yeah, right. You go to a freshman football
game and you see some of these Dalignment kicking.

(22:51):
So yeah, someone on this team asked me to make an extra point.
I saw someone post on Facebook that Aeneas Williams should kick
because he was a heck of a kicker in high school.
Now I I went and looked up his Max prec stats.
I saw no stats about him kickingfield goals.
I saw him punt 4 times so he wasa heck of a ponder, but I didn't
see anything so I can't verify that.

(23:12):
I'm like really Aneus Williams? And I'm like couldn't find any
evidence to to prove that. But I'm like, hey, you know
what? I love the idea of Aneus, if he
was a kicker, if he had that skill set, give me that and then
get a bat, snap and yell. Fire, give him the ball.
One of those things, though, if you're Marcus Freeman, you can't
just have open kicking tryouts at practice because you're going

(23:32):
to tear down those kickers. Confidence, right?
Exactly. If you've got, if you've got no
one that can make one, like you just lost all those guys, like
all those kickers, right? Yeah.
I mean, you just showed you haveno faith in them.
If everybody gets injured and you do it, it's easy.
So now you've got people. And he, he made that comment.
He's, I think it was, I'm tryingto think how he said it.
Specifically, we're going to look at the operation and the

(23:55):
mental makeup of the kicker. Like he, he mentioned the mental
and I think he knows that it's, it's a mental thing.
It's a mental block. They'll probably get some sports
psychologist to come in. I'm sure the team probably has
one to sit, sit down with the players and say, OK, what are
you thinking? You know, how do you and see,
that's the thing, right? If someone wants to spend time
with a psychologist and and wants to get, you know, like

(24:16):
some sort of mental breakthrough, then they're going
to have success. But if they're thinking I can
handle this, I don't need a psychologist.
It's going to do more damage than good.
And that's the thing. It's like you can't help those
that don't want to be helped andit like.
And they don't believe. And it, you could, I could see
it getting worse instead of getting better.
And that concerns me because like, OK, let's just say we,

(24:36):
we're in a great spot, right? AP 10 at this point, like if we
went out. APA coach is number 10 right now
and the CFP comes out tomorrow. Yeah, CFP is coming out on
Tuesday. I can't believe we're not 10 or
11 in the CFPII think the coach's poll and the AP poll are
probably going to meet. My expectation is they're going

(24:57):
to match pretty closely. The CFP would be my guess.
You always feel that way, but someone's always different.
There's always, yeah, there's always a change.
There's always one. That's like 4 spots off for
everyone thinks they're going tobe so.
But that being said, like we went out, we should be in the
College football playoffs. I can't I just can't imagine a
scenario where we make the College Football Playoff and

(25:18):
like have feeling about good about a run if we can't get
consistent field goals inside 35yards.
I mean, so, yeah, I, I think that's going to be a, that's
going to be a concern of mine, you know?
Especially when our offense is struggling to score.
Like I won't say struggling to score, but struggling to finish
in the red zone, right? You can't have struggling to
finish in the red zone and missing kick.

(25:40):
Like if you got to, if you can'tscore, you've got to get 3,
right? Yeah, you can't.
Yeah. Yeah.
You can't go O, You know, three points is better than O You
can't go O in the red zone. I mean, yeah.
So what are we going to do? Just keep getting penalties and
backing up so Jeremiah Love can run 90 yard plus runs?
I mean, that's. Yeah, I it's exciting.
But I don't think that's a good game plan.

(26:02):
Yeah, it'll be interesting. I mean, that seems like the
biggest story, like the matter of this team.
Can the offense finish, finish off drive again in our kicking
game? Figure something out where we're
not so concerned? Yeah, again, go back to the
beginning of the season. Like offensive line and defense
were my two of my least concernsearly in the season.

(26:24):
Offensive line and defense became two of my biggest
concerns. The defense is shored up, the
offensive line's gotten a littlebetter and they're and they're
doing better. Running back is not my concern
but either. But the short yardage side of
the running is my concern. So is that is that offensive
line related? Is that running back, you know,
related? Like is it just poor play

(26:44):
calling? Like, you know, there's a couple
of things where maybe Jeremiah Love didn't hit the right read
here on a short player and a Wildcat or whatever.
But then, you know, the one thing I expected to struggle
would be wide receiver. You had to prove it to me.
And quarterback and wide receiver quarterback are the
least of my concerns right now. So it's like I don't, I'm just
it's all topsy turvy. I don't know what to make of it.

(27:04):
So. But it just also gives you that
hope that it's going to click right.
Yeah, yeah, can. And what it does?
Yeah, I mean, because we've had some 40 point plus games, right.
And I really thought, I mean, I seriously, there was a guy
behind. Us you put up 41 at A&M, yeah,
40 on A&M like. 40 on Arkansas. Yeah.

(27:25):
I mean, he's been battling everybody.
Just look at Arkansas and like, they were close against A&M,
they were close against Texas. They I mean, like Arkansas has
kept every game close Tennessee like, and then, you know, we
blow Arkansas out and it's like,what?
So we're capable of putting up points.
Defence has gotten so much better since since Week 2.

(27:48):
It's just like, OK, now let's let's, where's this kicking
thing come from? You know, and I, I get it.
Like if it was like you said, 50yard field goals.
OK, that's the difference. Because then you get to that
point where there's a comfortable natural kick and
then there's the, I'm going to stretch it and I've got to hit
it farther. And, and that's just someone
trying to hit a 300 yard drive that normally hits a 220 yard
drive. Like if you hit it just right

(28:09):
and you swing really hard, you might do it, but it's probably a
10% chance at best. And it's more like a 2% chance.
And, and we're not seeing that. I mean, these are these are
kicks most high school kids can make.
They don't seem like they're being put in bad spots, Yeah.
I mean, you know, I I'm about totell you to dust off the old
recruiting film and send it overto Notre Dame.
You need to. OK.
But can't make it this year. That's the way.

(28:29):
Yeah, but. You know, there's next year,
they need a kicker next year because I don't think we've got,
I think the one kids on scholarship and the other kid
was a rental and so. That's true.
And if you're listening, we. Can talk now B CS got a good
kicker so maybe we can get that kid to to.
Transfer inside the portal. Yeah, hit the portal, young man.
Come, come over and good Catholic education.

(28:51):
You, you value it. Come over here, finish it off.
So yeah, I, I think that's kind of the interesting thing and I
think that's the struggle when the, the whole dynamic of like
where, where we're going And like what worries me right now
was just can we figure out the kicking game?
Can we figure out the short yardage run?
Can we figure out the kicking game?
But other than that, I mean, hada great time in Boston.

(29:14):
It was fantastic. And I mean, like we all said,
none of these, none of this stuff matters until the rankings
come out tomorrow night. Marcus Sherman is going to act
like it doesn't matter. We're all tuned in tomorrow
night. Like this is when the season, I
don't say it really starts, but this is when the chaos the ends,
right? Like.
Yeah. November is going to separate
the pretenders and contenders. Like tomorrow night, Tuesday.

(29:35):
Bring it real rankings. That means we're going to know
where we stand. Are we at 19 somehow looking
out? Are we at 8 hosting the playoff
game? Like where are we going to be?
ACC champs going to be behind us.
We're going to have a group of five team behind us.
We got to be inside the top ten to make the playoff right now.
Yeah, I 11 and 12 aren't going to be in.
I think we're 9 to 11 is my guess.

(29:56):
Yeah, I'm just saying like if you're 11 right now, you're
going to be out because you got the ACC champ behind you and
you've got the group of five. You got to be inside that top
ten. Yeah, that's where you got to
be. Obviously for 85678, we get that
home game. We're not going to be top four.
Let's let's just rule that out at this point.
I'll be. Yeah, you can't.
Not with two losses. You can't be top 4.

(30:19):
Right, Like that's not happening.
But can we can we sneak into that eight spot?
I'd almost like to stay out of the eight or nine spot or the
nine spot because then you got to go on the road #1.
And, well, it depends who's number one.
Well, the number one team is number one this year, right I.
Know but who's who's going to be#1 see because.

(30:39):
Yeah, if you go play IU, it's. Either going to be IU or it's
going to be Ohio State. It's going to be whoever wins
the Big 10. And IU is better this year than
they were last year. I'll concede that.
Like they are better but I'm just not sure how good IU like.
Yeah, I'd take IU all day, but I'm just saying I yeah, I'd

(31:03):
rather go play it whoever, but three or four, I think they're.
Like I use better, but I still think they're beatable.
Now we can't do a Boston Collegeeffort.
We. Get blown out by 50 points if we
give a Boston College effort. But but I can see like here's my
thought, man, I and I said this to somebody last week.
I really could see a scenario where IU comes out ranked number

(31:25):
one in the initial BCS rankings like I can see.
IU. Or CFP rankings.
I think there's an argument thatcould be made for that.
I think the coaches poll and theAP poll have kept Ohio State
there only because they were thedefending national champion and
they're really good. But I think when you look at you
look at performance and you lookat, you know, strength of wins
and quality of win and, you know, like the eyeball test, I

(31:48):
think you could make the argument IU jumps them.
But I have this sneaky feeling that somehow, someway, Purdue is
going to knock off IU and then IU is going to turn and then
then IU is going to turn around and beat Ohio State in the Big
10 championship. Like I figure because I think
Signetti's used to be in the hunter, not the haunted.
And I really think that's going to like gut feel.

(32:10):
And I, I could be way wrong because I also thought we were
going to beat Boston College by 40.
So I'll just just note I, I don't always get it right.
Otherwise I would gamble and winand I never win when I gamble.
But yeah, I, I could see like IUbeing number one in the first
CFP and I could see that whole thing feeding in.
You know, they got the Mendoza talk about the heist when they

(32:31):
got, you know, the, the number one ranking in the country and
you know, this, that and the other.
And then like, they could look past Purdue in the classic trap
game looking toward that Big 10 championship because that's all
they got to do, losing somehow to Purdue and then taking it out
on Ohio State. And so you got what in the Big
10? You got Indiana, Ohio State and

(32:52):
Oregon all ranked ahead of us. Yeah.
If Oregon doesn't make the Big 10 championship and they're not
going to it's going to be IU andit's going to be IU and Ohio
State. Are they going to leave Oregon
ahead of us not being the Big 10champion like they're still
going to get in the CFP, but will they be ranked ahead of us?

(33:14):
Is the is I don't know the answer to that.
I'm that's the question I'm asking and you.
Got. 4 SEC teams ranked ahead ofus right now.
No, you got A&M is ranked three,Georgia 5, Old miss 7 and that's
it. And you got the two Big 12
teams, Texas Tech and BYU, who play each other this weekend.

(33:34):
Yeah, some of them will fall behind us.
Yep, yeah. So then Ohio State, Indiana A&M,
Alabama, Georgia, Old Miss. Yep, there's four.
And then. So yeah.
There's four SEC teams ahead of us.
Nope, Right. Oh yeah, yeah, I forgot.
Bama A&M. Bama, Georgia.

(33:56):
Ole Miss. So two of them are going to make
the championship. Yeah, two of them are not.
So that'll be the interesting mix.
And all of that is like, do they?
Because they're whoever wins thechampionship's going to get the
first round by whoever loses is going to have a second round.
I mean, you can make the argument if Ohio State, Indiana

(34:20):
A&M and Alabama win the rest of their games and they go in right
where they are, IO State undefeated, Indiana undefeated,
A&M undefeated and bam, with that one week 1 log and they
each played to A7 point game, that could be your top horse so.
Yeah, you could make that argument, I think I I don't
know, it's hard to say. I kind of.

(34:41):
Think because who are you going to bump a a Georgia team up with
one loss an Oregon team up with one loss.
You didn't make the cut like thethey're 2 championship friendly.
Like unless they plan on jumpingat BYU or Texas Tech who's
undefeated up into that spot, it'll be out of those 4.
Yeah, my thinking is you're going to give your conference

(35:03):
champion from the Big 10 and theSEC 1 and 2.
That's that's a lot. Then you might give your Big 12
conference champion 3 or 4. Now, to your point, if IU and
Ohio State play a a classic gamewhen it's 36 points, you know.
Perfect. Yeah, A&M loses by three in the
A and. M Alabama and it's yeah, it's a

(35:24):
3 point. Like that's going to be tough,
right? So yeah, I I think that's like
we don't have enough data points.
We have one CFP cycle we've gonethrough and if you look at it,
it was a little, it was different because the the four.
Conference champions were. It didn't matter the four they
were one through 4 in the seeding and now they can kind of

(35:46):
go this whole wild seeding thing, but I almost think the
conferences are going to want some home games in that first
round. So I I think you're going to get
yeah, we'll see. We'll see.
I I, I, I kind of think like you're going to have either the
I think you're going to have theassuming it's a close game, I

(36:07):
think it's more likely to be a close game inside the big 10
than it is to be a close game inside the SEC.
But I, I could be wrong. I mean, I could, I could see a
scenario where IU like throttlesOhio State.
I I don't see Ohio State throttling IU.
But I could see like. I could see, I could see.

(36:30):
Yeah, maybe I'm wrong. If you told me when the game was
a 14 plus point victory, I'd sayIU want it.
Yeah, I'd say Ohio State did. Yeah, but I also think there's a
good chance that Michigan knocksoff Ohio State again this year.
Yeah, that'll be. And and then chaos is in in
play, right? Yeah.
So what happens if if if Purdue and there's no business, no way

(36:54):
Purdue should beat IU this year.But it's a rivalry game and
Purdue played pretty solid last week, right?
Yeah, So what what the what if scenario if Ohio State loses to
Michigan and IU loses to Purdue would just be mind boggling.
I. Mean, yeah, I think if Ohio

(37:15):
State lost, then I don't know what the tiebreaker would go
down to for Oregon getting into the Big 10 championship game.
That'd be interesting. I think I use basically with one
loss that automatically ends. So she could have the type head
to head tiebreaker over Oregon. But yeah, I don't know what the
tiebreaker would be for Ohio State and Oregon.
Yeah, I don't. Yeah, I don't.

(37:35):
I haven't worried about Big 10 Conference.
That's not my problem. But yeah.
But yeah, the SECI think the SECis going to be interesting.
I don't. I just don't know if they'll,
there's going to be some, there's going to be another loss
or two somewhere in there. Oh, yeah, there's, there's
always an upset. There'll be a game you don't
expect Georgia, Alabama A&M, IU,like one of them going to lose

(37:56):
in the expected game. The first ranking is not going
to be the last ranking. Like it's not how it works.
It's not like every year, like, oh, none of these kids are going
to lose. Someone's going to lose.
Something's going to happen. I mean, Notre Dame, that's the
fun of it. But yeah, I mean, they could
lose. We could lose, right?
I mean. We got Navy this week.
Yeah, PIT next week. Pit's a good team.
Maybe the first real test last week against North Texas lost.
I don't see this week being too much problem.

(38:18):
We'll get to that later in the pre game show, but I mean,
Pitt's going to be a darn good team.
Freshman quarterback. They've been playing hot 2 lock.
But yeah, they're going to be a good team.
They could end up being ranked by constable playoff committee.
What would be interesting and weneed it ranked.
Yeah, it'll it'll all get clear Tuesday night, right.
We'll we'll have a better idea. We'll be able to talk more.

(38:40):
We'll get into that, I'm sure a little bit on the Navy preview
pod, break that down, comfortable playoff rankings.
Yeah, I think that there's that'll be an interesting to see
how that whole CFP ranking comesout and where where we end up
and how we end up and who ends up where because I find, you
know, this is where it gets exciting.
Right now. I think the post season's
viable. We've got some tough games ahead
of us, potentially tough games ahead of us.

(39:02):
Like you said, we should be ableto handle business at Navy
because Boston College and Navy are going to be pretty much the
same game. They're going to control
possession time, o'clock, limit our possessions.
We just got to be efficient in the in the passing game and then
doing up in the running game. Should be able to get by Navy
and a pretty good Navy team. But get by Navy, it's going to

(39:23):
be a be an interesting challenge.
Syracuse, I think was going to be more of a challenge until
they lost to Anjeli and now it'skind of like, OK, we should be
able to get through and beat Syracuse.
So Navy's or Navy's concern, Pitt's a little bigger concern.
Syracuse, not so much. Which probably means if we lose

(39:43):
one of those three games, it'll be the Syracuse because I I
would be nothing but wrong in. Typical.
Fashion so yeah, I I think there's a whole lot of what ifs
and you can play the what ifs game all night, but that doesn't
that's not fun. Let's let's get some data points
here the next 2448 hours and sayOK, now let's let's plug it in.
What does it mean? Yep.

(40:04):
All right, so you got anything else to wrap up this pod?
I don't we got a contest winner.We do.
It was. I just threw my paper away, but
I had the name down. It was.
Within one yard, right? Within one yard again this week,
I get my paper. Probably.
I had that on there. It's Sally on.

(40:26):
Sally on. It's Sally on.
Check your DMS or DM. You finally heard back from the
USC winner, so we're getting hima shirt out here soon.
Yeah, it's Sally on. Reach out to us, we get you a
shirt. That's right.
And you're in the hunt. You're in the drawing for
Syracuse tickets, so. Yeah, we got two more entries
left. Yes, two more chances.

(40:47):
So we'll have to think about theNaval Academy.
Maybe we should go time a possession for Naval Academy.
Oh wow. That will be an interesting one.
Yeah. All right, then, that's the
question. Is it Notre Dame's time of
possession or Navy's time of possession?
Yeah, what Think about that one?All right, think through that

(41:08):
one. We can come we come up with a
plan for that between now and preview, so.
Sounds like a plan. All right, well, everyone have a
great week. Watch those CFP rankings.
We'll be hitting you with a Navypreview here later in this week.
All right, Hey, Coach Freeman, sorry we couldn't get to you,
but if you need a kicker, reach out to Carter.
Yep. I've always go.
Irish.