Irish 365 20251025 Bye Week #2

Bye week discussion about general college football landscape

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 into the Irish 365 podcast.
Hope you're all doing great. Back here with you.
A little USC recap, little bye week action.
All the good stuff, right? Yeah, it's bye week edition, and
you know nothing beats bye week when you coming off of a win.

(00:26):
Yeah, I was. Going to say, I know we talked
about this in the year, how longthat bye week was right 'cause
take that week 1 L and that likeforever.
That three month bye week, the first was just, gosh, awful.
And two. Buys are not my friend.
And you get the bye week after beating a rival like USC and I
still think a very good USC team.

(00:46):
I mean, I hats off to those guys.
I mean, that was Notre Dame played very well, but against a
very good opponent. So yeah, it feels good to be on
bye week and get to sit back andwatch a few other games.
I know you've got some non football related activities
going on this weekend. So do I unfortunately, but I'll
at least get to listen, pay attention a little bit.

(01:08):
Hopefully you'll get to do the same.
So I'll. Be making sure my phone's
charged. Keep the streaming the streaming
app handy. I got.
Wi-Fi, it's kind of out in the boondocks a little bit.
That's all right. It's Peyton and Eli.
I would say football on your phone.
Yep, no kidding. Throwback.
Throwback. That was a few, that was a few
days ago, that commercial. Some of the some of the younger
listeners may not what I'm talking about, but Google Peyton

(01:30):
Manning and Eli Manning footballon your phone.
It's yeah, pretty funny. I'm sure YouTube's got it.
Historical. Yeah.
Rendering. It's like like the Dead Sea
Scrolls of football. So, so yeah, let's let's go
back. It's a busy week, crazy week on
the personal side of things, which we're not complaining.
Life's good. I life's good in general.
I think right now, so happy withthat, but just taking a chance

(01:53):
to sit down and hit the pod until the weekend.
So let's. And I mean, last last Sunday, my
voice is about gone like. Pulling off the Sunday postgame
pod was hard. Yeah, I was.
Going to say my voice is pretty gone by the kids at school
Monday. Like are you sick?
And I was like, no, I'm just like, I don't feel sick, but
just lose my voice. I'm yelling.
I'm sure the rain probably wasn't 100%, but all the mix of

(02:14):
it. Yeah, I was definitely Sunday,
Monday not, not full of strengthvoice wise.
Either yeah, I was the same way Sunday, my voice was a little,
uh, shot from just cheering on the Irish and then they turned
on the heat at like work. And so Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday, every morning I came in like my desk had just stuff
from the heating vent over the top of it.
And it was like, I just, I just didn't quite get my, my, I still

(02:36):
have a little bit of this, but it's much better than it was.
So anyway, we're not professional paid actors, so we
didn't suffer through it. We just said.
Yeah, I said. We didn't do that.
All the drinking, the tea and all that stuff.
Either that's right, I don't drink tea, I don't drink hot
drinks. That's a whole another.
That's a whole offseason discussion.
Hot drinks, good or bad, you'll drink a hot cocoa every now and
then. Won't.
You. Not very often, yeah.

(02:58):
It's it's the thought that seemsreally great.
I've done it. I've like got a hot chocolate.
It's like it's chocolate, it's hot and it's like I can't do it.
But anyways, into the USC post game I mean.
Yes. The Irish this is a must win
coming in. I mean both teams really.
USC and nerdy feel like a must win.
Playoff game, playoff atmosphere.
USC wins the game and they've clearly got themselves in the

(03:21):
CFP. They still have a little bit of
a path, but yeah, they they needed to win, but not as dire
as Notre Dame. Notre Dame doesn't get this win.
We've got no shot because this is our last chance of beating a
ranked team to have a decent. I mean, and I go back and I've
thought about this and we'll talk CFP later, but yeah, we
needed this win. Yeah.

(03:41):
So big, big game, both fronts. All the secondary conversation
and all the discussion about, you know, the rivalry not
renewed. Is it Notre Dame's fault?
Is it US CS fault? Who's ducking who?
That whole thing. Just all that just builds onto
this. And then you throw in a night
game, you throw in Notre Dame had a ton of recruits coming to
visit and you know, don't followrecruiting.

(04:05):
I've said it 100 times. It's hard to put a lot of hopes
and dreams into what now is 1516year old kids visiting campus.
If if your life value and excitement is based on a 15 year
old that doesn't share your lastname, it's even worse, right?
I mean, if it's your own kid, yeah, you want the best, you're
going to pay attention. But you just got to you got to

(04:26):
temper that. But yeah, I mean, it was it was
big from the school standpoint because these are a lot of four
and five stars. Notre Dame is shopping down a
different aisle, to quote a former coach with with the
recruiting right now. So it lot, a lot on the line for
the Irish big game. I thought game day atmosphere on
campus was great. And I think I saw, I can't think

(04:47):
about what I saw someone ranked number Notre Dame #1 Stadium.
I think someone #3 yeah, I've seen the coaches.
Came out with the OR the number one stadium in the country.
Yeah, I've seen a number one, I've seen a #3 on a different 1.
So you know, the, the mantra, and I think we've said this for
a while, the mantra about Notre Dame Stadium, you know, it's,

(05:08):
it's cold, it's cold. It's still, people don't get
loud. We've been killing that for
like, I don't know, I feel like four or five years and I think
the rest of the world's startingto catch up.
And I've I've heard some other podcasters, you know, talk about
Notre Dame. It's quiet.
It's it's like, yeah, it was, but your your 1997 to 2017 Notre

(05:32):
Dame. Is it's different now?
It's different the last the lastfive to seven years.
It's I'm. Trying to remember what year we,
me and you went up and scallopedtickets for the USC game and we
got tickets like. That was probably 19, could have
been 18 or 19. It was either 18 or 19, I want
to say 19. And I remember we went and we
got tickets like last minute andit we were at the 40th yard

(05:54):
line. It was usci mean I remember we
got it for like under 100 bucks a pop.
Yeah, we were 40 yard line, 15 rows.
Up US guideline yeah and then I think both of us left that game
being like it was kind of quiet in our area yeah like because we
were in definitely a the the higher expense like if you were
to buy those face value seats were definitely more expensive.
You're going to be amongst more of the traditional season ticket

(06:18):
holder. Alumni die hard.
Yeah. You know, long term fan base and
yeah, it, the, the atmosphere was not awesome.
And I, I think that was 19. Yeah.
And but you know, 'cause you're getting into that 1819 time
period and they were, they were starting 17.
Or 19? Yeah.
I think it was 19. Yeah.

(06:40):
Either way, it was definitely. We both walked away like you
could tell the crowd atmosphere was decent but in that one like.
It it wasn't, Yeah. Phenomenal in our section, yeah.
But yeah, I left this weekend being like.
Yeah, the crowd brought it. I.
Said that after every game like ANMIU last year, like all these
big games. But that was when Notre Dame was
still doing the stand with ND thing.

(07:01):
They were trying to get people. They were, they were really
trying to improve the crowd environment, you know, because
it, it wasn't, I can remember there was a time when people
would stand and the ushers wouldcome tell you to sit down like
the usher. So, so anyway, we, I think we're
past that. And I think, I think 2020-2021,
you know, probably not the fall of 2020 because no one came to

(07:22):
the game except parents. But I think, I think 21 Ford
it's been. I think maybe that time away
helped helped a little. Bit yeah, you know, absence
heart grows fonder so but it I mean, yeah, we can go we can go
a lot of games where it's just been the crowd's been electric.
Well, it starts and I think whatturned it for me is the first
time, you know, I got the chanceto sit in the suites a couple

(07:43):
years ago and I'm just like, we're going to be amongst the
hoity toities that the game atmosphere is not going to be
It's going to be a great experience, but it's not going
to be the same. And we're sitting amongst people
who are they're in it. And you know, we've set, we've
set in that area multiple times since then, a couple times this
year even. And it the crowd has been in it
at that level. So, so yeah, I think game

(08:05):
atmosphere freaking it's on it. It is, it's, it's been on it.
So then you go into the game, right?
And we can kind of quickly recap, cap the game.
What more do you need to say? But I love me some Jeremiah,
Jeremiah love. And if you don't respect him or
if you get sick of him, we'll throw the other guy in here and
you can pay the price. It's and it's good.

(08:29):
Yeah. So I mean, that's, I think
that's the story of the game. I mean, and the other thing is I
think defensively we're coming into our own and I and that
coming into this game, that was kind of my thing.
The defense played OK against Miami, OK against A&M.
And then then they play a lot better and and I was on the
maybe Ash isn't the guy. Like that was my thought

(08:52):
process. And I'm backing off of that
stance. I'm coming away from that ledge
now. But but it's like, OK, the
defense is playing better. The communication seems to be
better. You know, guys aren't throwing
up their hands. You know, like, what are we
doing? Who's communicate?
And I'm like, OK, but who have we been playing?
I mean no disrespect to to the schedule, but Boise State, you

(09:12):
know, NC State, Purdue, like those aren't the same challenges
that, you know, A&M and Miami brought to us.
And it's not the same challenge that, you know, USC was going to
bring. And I think A&M may be in the
better offense. I think USC may be #2 and I
think maybe Miami was number three offense as we played.
And I think just I would love a rematch against Miami in the

(09:36):
CFP. Yeah, give, give me that.
Or A&M Would be interesting to see again, right?
Just because our defense is so much better and Carson back
against Louisville last week showed like he can he can have
that not so great game. He could you give him time in
the pocket. He looks all world you're and
you get a little pressure on himand you can you can make him.
To he has some good receivers though.

(09:56):
Oh, I love Miami as a team. Like I don't love Miami the
team. I don't love Miami the players,
but I think they've got a good team, good situation going on.
So. So yeah, I mean, it was
defensively, USC torched us for a ton of yards last year passing
and we knew they would and a lotof it was in the screen game and
they still had a good passing day.

(10:18):
In the rain. In the rain, it wasn't ideal
conditions. It wasn't, I mean, it wasn't
cold. It was cold, cold and rainy.
And that was not ideal for Southern California.
But 300 plus yards pass 3/28 3:20. 8-7 something like that.
I'm sorry, I'm trying to remember because we had someone
in our contest. 327 was the. Yard off, yeah.

(10:39):
We had a 330 guess and a 327 guess 3. 28 I believe.
It was 3/28. Yeah, so it's like, holy cow.
So yeah, I mean, James Fonto, congratulations that we sent you
Adm earlier in the week. Haven't heard back from you, so
we'd love to get you AT shirt after that stellar performance.
That's right, 'cause you're within a yard of it.
So if you listen to this, pleasereach back out to us on X.

(10:59):
You're already in for that ticket draw.
Yeah, and we're working on getting those shirts out, by the
way. Yeah, yeah.
So we got. Those the back, the backlog is
being cleared and they'll they'll be in the they'll be in
the. Hey, need the bye week to catch
up? That's right, man, the Postal
Service, the Postal Service willbe getting those to you this
week. Yeah, and while we're on this
contest, we we did a second contest next week 'cause we
congratulations to us on X, right?

(11:20):
There's a round of applause 5 / 500 followers last week.
So we reached that on the USC week.
We were high for the game, we were high for over 500.
So we're thanks you to all of you people following us on X.
So yeah, we got a second contestwhere I'm going to randomly
select someone that retweeted that post here in a little bit.
Yeah, and you know, here's the thing.
Like we weren't active on X up until earlier this year.

(11:43):
In May. Yeah, and we said let's, let's,
let's, I really like X, You know, the algorithm's better.
Like more sports content, less crap.
I don't want to see. We've kind of gotten away from
the Facebook and Facebook is full of so many freaking stupid
people. I just, I'll, I'll put it out
there. Like if you're not using
Facebook to follow your family, I don't know why you're even on

(12:04):
Facebook anymore. I mean, I see junk articles
about this and Notre Dame and Marcus Freeman quit.
Yeah, maybe, maybe Facebook market.
I could dead scroll some Facebook market looking for some
old sweet Cadillac rides. But you know, I got my
addictions. But hey, as long as I'm shopping
window shop and not going and buying, it's all good.

(12:26):
But yeah, so it's exciting We'vewe've kind of got more involved.
The XI love, the Notre Dame universe, the X community.
It's a lot of good banter going on.
If you're not on X, get on X. And, you know, just, you know,
hit that algorithm hard for Notre Dame content.
There's a lot of great follows out there.
Yeah, a lot of great content, a lot of great follows.
To get into that community. Yeah.

(12:48):
And I mean, there's, and, you know, there's just different
people, different perspectives. I mean, it's, yeah.
And it's fun because you realizelike all these people, like
you've got people from California to New York and
everywhere in between, like it'snot just people that live in
Northeast Indiana or north Northwest Indiana.
Like it's. Yeah, I think we've got 7
contest winners and I think 2-3 are from the state of Indiana,

(13:08):
so four are somewhere else in the country.
I mean, it's yeah, so. It's definitely been awesome
being on there and yeah, we and continue to grow on it.
And I mean, we've got a decent little following here on this
pod. We got a decent little following
on, you know, 500 followers on the X.
By no means are we the biggest baddest sampling of Notre Dame
fans. I mean, we're, we're, we're not

(13:29):
in the Tier 1, Tier 2 category nor nor are we trying to be.
This is for fun, this is for entertainment.
This is the conversation that wehave on a regular basis.
We just are thankful to get to share it with you guys and and
have people comment and be part.Of it made a cool logo and had
to do something. With it, That's right.
Well, someone, someone got fun and, and, and we've we've had
fun with this so. And we're continuing to have fun

(13:49):
with it. But yeah, so it's it's cool to
get in that universe. And if you want to interact with
Notre Dame fans and you know thegreat thing about like with
Facebook, the false statements and the craziness and the
unfiltered is out there, at least in the Notre Dame universe
and in the X universe, there's community notes and that's kind
of fun. So when someone's putting up an
AI video or whatever, you get A tag like, hey, this is AI or

(14:12):
there's no verify back. Yeah, you can kind of parse that
out because I've had people say,oh, I saw on Facebook that
Marcus Freeman, you know, left and he's he's going to go coach
North Dakota State or, you know,people put all kinds and click
bait I think is worse on Facebook than it is on X.
And I know you do some stuff with the Instagram and some of

(14:34):
those and, and it's different, but yeah.
XX is my definite daily go to. Yeah, I mean, I, I use X for
Notre Dame and sports in general.
And, you know, I don't, I, I tryand keep a lot of the political
stuff and other, you know, new stuff out of that area just
because I, I want, I want to have social, which will be a a
fun place. So but let's I'm loving the X.
Yeah, Let's talk about some of the stuff that's been on the X

(14:55):
recently. It's been the coaching carousel
right around college football. I mean, how often in Week 9 do
you have so many big time coaches feel like they're on the
hot seat? Big time coaches already fired
big job openings. I mean, it's, it's, yeah.
Bananas. Absolutely.
Yeah, this is, this is not normally something you've got
this early in the season. This is where you actually feel

(15:16):
like multiple head coaches. I mean, some have already been
fired, but I mean, Penn State's open, UCLA is open.
There's some big brands out there that are.
Penn State was a quarterfinal team last year.
Yeah, and they they final. They're semifinal team and they
were, they were like a lot of People's Choice to, to make it

(15:37):
back and make the national champion.
And some people even thought they'd win it.
And so you used to be traditional college football.
You didn't fire your coach untilafter signing day in December.
It was like signing days December 19th and all the
firings happened on the 20th or whatever, right?
And now we're firing coaches 5 weeks into the season and, and
buy outs are ridiculous. Now, is it because like signing

(16:01):
days early and and I owe money and maybe like, it doesn't mean
as much the coach doesn't mean as much as other things.
Yeah. So let's just talk Penn State,
cause I've thought about this a little bit recently.
And you know, there's, there's all these Penn State people that
have been like Marcus Freeman, you know, whoever, right,
throwing out these names, right.And and you're going to get a

(16:23):
big name and yeah. Which, if you're a Penn State
fan, you better be hoping you get a big name if you fired
James. Franklin and James Franklin is
to Penn State as Brian Kelly is to Notre Dame, right?
I mean, he took a program that wasn't in historically has been
good. I mean.
Had a struggle period. Had a struggle period and came
in stabilized. It made him relevant.

(16:43):
Didn't get over the hurdle, but boy, he got him close, right?
And people forget that. Like people need to recognize
like where he picked that program up at.
Like, I feel like so many peopleforget that.
And same with Brian Kelly. And there it is, like 6 and six
seasons. They had a big scandal,
obviously, like they were in a bad bad.
They were in a really bad spot. But I mean, James Franklin did a
lot for Penn State. And so now you're going to let

(17:04):
him go and now you're going to go out and you're going to, you
got to, you got to have a big swing.
You can't. You.
Either got to get like the next Kurt Signetti that they got
about you. You got to find this guy that's
in it's in the lower tier that'sjust ready to explode with the
right situation, which is going to be controversial because you
fired a coach a lot of people liked in Franklin.

(17:24):
I I know it kind of got a littletense there at the end after the
UCLA loss, but a lot of people liked Franklin going into the
season. I thought he was the guy and
thought it was unfair. This he can't win the big one.
So now if you're a big name coach and you know, all the
names are being thrown out there.
I mean, let's just pick on Nick Saban, who's not going to Penn
State, even though he's upper northeast.
I think he, you know, West Virginia.

(17:47):
He had a quote today saying he'sgot to keep Miss Terry away from
all these ADS because. That's right, she likes the
money because. She's interested with the money,
which if you're trying to get back in anybody's like, I'm not
interested at all. So if you know, if you want a
lot more money, it's a good negotiation tactic, huh?
Yeah, I mean, I'm, I'm, you knowwhat the rumor was that Miami
earned Florida through $13 million offer to both Marcus

(18:07):
Freeman and Lane Kevin. I mean, what would you pay Nick
Saban? Like there's very few guys out
there that I think of I would want more than Nick Saban.
Like if Marcus Freeman were not at Notre Dame, I I would want
Nick Saban on that short list ofcoaches were calling.
Like if the 80 didn't call. I mean, so anybody out there

(18:28):
who's got to have that, at leastmake the call to his agent and
say, is there a number that he would listen to to come to our
program? But if you're Nick Saban and you
get that call from Penn State and it's $15 million a year,
it's ridiculous money, right to coach.
Is Penn State more attractive orless attractive after Fire and

(18:49):
Franklin? Because they have just said
there is no room for error. There is no margin of error
like. And I want to get this, like,
Nick Saban's not going. He's not back to coaching and
he's not going to go to Penn State.
I I won't say he's not going back to.
Coaching, I'm going. He's not coming back to
coaching. That's my take on it, but.
That Norse closed, but if you're11, coach.

(19:09):
Like Nick Saban, you're not as worried about it.
But if you're an up and Comer, yeah, then yeah, you're, you're
not Penn State's. It's an intriguing job, but you
also know, but you got no room there.
But if you're Nick Saban, you'relike, you know what?
I can go there for three years, make $15 million a year, that's
45,000,000 / 3 years and win onenational championship like.

(19:30):
But they got to get a big name or they got to bring it up and
Comer, right and. I don't know what big name would
want to switch right now to PennState because if you haven't won
a national championship, yeah, you're four years are going to
be. How, how much leeway do you get,
how much lease do you get in those situations?
I mean, and and that goes, we'repicking on Penn State a little
bit, but that goes for any of these coaching openings, right?

(19:52):
Yeah, I mean. I mean, I think it's a little
different when you talk about UCLA because they haven't had
success. Florida hasn't had success.
Oklahoma State's been kind of onthe downward spot, like.
Arkansas struggle. Right.
Exactly. They weren't a drive away from
going to the national championship last year and I
within, what is it, seven games.And I think it's funny from the
Penn State perspective that, youknow, the the names that keep
coming up, you know, or like Lane Kip and Marcus Freeman,

(20:14):
Elka, like, no, you, you got to go find a guy that's in that
Tier 2 level that's ready to explode.
You can't go find that guy that's a, you know, and yeah, I,
I, I just think it's interesting, but I also think
it's not as, it's not as attractive if you're that guy
because. But if you're Coach Orgeron,
let's say, who's been unemployed, probably would be

(20:35):
interested in a Penn State like job, like a big job like that or
a Florida job or an Arkansas or something like that.
I think Orgeron in Florida makesso much sense on a lot of
different levels. But yeah, I'm just saying, but
what? Why would he be attracted to
Penn State if he goes 10 and twoand thinks he could get fired
still, right? Because if he goes 10 and two at
Florida right now, he's probablylike, all right, I'm going to

(20:56):
be. We're on the up.
Yeah, yeah. Go 10 and go down to Arkansas.
Go 10 and 2. Yeah, or 9:00 and 9:00 and 3:00.
You know. 8:00 and 4:00 for a couple years and then you have
one good CFP run and you're locked up for another 6 to 8
years like. Yeah, I think Fire and Franklin
was the worst thing Penn State could have done mid season, mid
season, because it it just it killed like everything.

(21:17):
And I I got thinking about it. I mean, you know.
Is if they fired him at the end of this year and they end up
going six and six, there's like,OK, you went six and six, you
had a really bad year. There's at least a little more.
But yeah, fired in mid seasons after being there for, what, 13
years? Yeah.
Or 11 years, 13 years, or whatever it is.
So here's the other thing that I've been, I talked to a guy at
work the other day who's an OhioState guy, you know, big Ohio

(21:38):
State fan. And, and anyway, the
conversation goes, if there was any coach that Ohio State would
want, they're not looking for a coach.
But if there's any coach they wanted, it'd be Marcus Freeman,
right? And think about how close Ohio
State was to potentially firing Ryan Day last year.
Like, you know, I mean, he was on the hot seat.

(22:00):
After losing to Michigan. After losing to Michigan and
then went on the run and won thenational championship.
And it's like, had they lost that first round of the College
Football Playoffs, you know? Tend to beat them.
That that seat would have probably been open.
So I mean, and you look at Penn State and I mean, they, they
were like on the cusp of beatingOregon and then boom, they lost
and the slide happened. So it's it's like, OK, the lease

(22:22):
is short, but a lot of kids thatare committed to Penn State have
left. How many kids are going to the
transfer portal? Like if you know, like it's
going to be tough for that next coach to come in and and have
A89-I. Hate to say a program reset, but
I mean, they can. They can be 8 and four I think
of the next few years. But yeah, it's going to be hard
to be national championship defenders right away.

(22:46):
So like, yeah, it, it's a tough position and you know.
Are you willing to take, are youwilling to take three to four
steps back to try to take that one step forward, right.
Like that's, that's what they'rebasically saying they they want
to take three to four steps awayto try to take another shot at
it versus continuing and hit that last step.
And what will yeah, I so they'rethey have to be realistic in

(23:10):
that they're going to take two or three years.
You're not going to have the Curt Signetti situation happen.
Very likely where he came in from James Madison to IU,
brought a bunch of his James Madison's players in and quickly
hit the transfer portal and built up and I I think that's
interesting with Signetti and I've done that before yeah he's
proven body there so you. Just saying he's hit like

(23:32):
brought guys from the last place, hit the portal, like
yeah. Can he do it again?
I mean, can they find? Because he's not.
His name was thrown out there. Yeah, if you're Signetti and
you're an IU, why would you wantto go to Penn State?
Statue built for you? Like having like doing what?
Like winning anything huge. They haven't done anything since
I think 46 at IU. Like he, he is, he's in a great

(23:54):
spot, great program, all the support in the world.
The IU fan base loves him. Like he's not, he's not leaving
and going to Penn State. I, I, I can't see that
happening, you know, and I thinkit's interesting talking to a
guy that's a Purdue fan and, youknow, he's kind of giving up on
Purdue and his daughter goes to IU.
So he's both love and hate IU. And he's like, I got to respect

(24:14):
Signetti, though. I got and you do.
I don't like Signetti as an individual.
He just rubs me the wrong way. He just a little arrogant, I
guess, but he keeps backing it up, Googling him.
He wins unless he's playing Notre Dame.
But if you've noticed, he hasn'tbeen as much this year as he was
last year, which you can tell isa tactic, which is.
Oh yeah, it's. Which is it was just, which

(24:35):
makes you respect him a little bit more because it was such
like. It was, it was strategic, right?
You need some attention. It's US against the world.
I've got to get attention. And that's the question, right?
So now he's getting a lot of praise.
I use getting a lot of love. Second best team in the in the,
you know, the Big 10. They're ranked two right now.
Right. Like like, yeah, he's and I
think this is kind of like if I were to criticize Marcus Freeman

(24:58):
on anything at this point in hiscareer, it's he is really good
when he's the underdog and it's US against the world.
You know, we saw it, you know, where we we take frickin Ohio
State to the frickin, you know, final seconds and then turn
around and lose to Marshall. You know, we saw it last year,
you know, where like we come out, win a big game against A&M

(25:20):
and then boom, we fall off the NIU and then our backs against
the wall and we go on a heck of a run to clear the national
championship. And you see it a little bit this
year, like, you know, just didn't quite hit it.
And there's a lot of reasons forthat against Miami.
Played a good game against A&M and fell apart.
But now our backs against the wall.
And it's like it's easier to rally A-Team around a common

(25:41):
enemy of cause than it is to be on top and have to defend that,
you know, being the hunter versus being the haunted.
So can Signetti survive as the haunted versus the hunter?
I think he's great as the as as that guy that's being haunted or
being the hunter. I how good can he be?
And you know, not only him to pivot and but can he pivot the

(26:03):
team because you know, heis Mendoza talk and all this other
stuff. Well, these guys, as Nick Saban
would say, it's like a Nick Saban tribute show.
It's rat poison, right? All that stuff tastes good, but
it's going to kill you. So I think that's, I think it
makes it interesting. And, you know, and, you know, I
think Florida State jobs coming open soon, you know, they they,

(26:24):
we have complete confidence in him through the season.
Yeah. Whoa.
I mean, you talk about a team that beat Alabama Week 1 and
then, yeah, did annual success very well, right?
Yeah, again, it's it's easy to do that.
And then there's teams like Vanderbilt.
I mean, what's this talk about? Vanderbilt might flip a five
star freaking quarterback from like Vanderbilt.
Which surprised me that Clark Lee's not been in some of these

(26:45):
talks, but I don't see why he's going to leave right now.
But I mean, he's done an incredible job at Vandy like.
But he's also at his alma mater.Like, I think that Vanderbilt's
Vanderbilt's a good school. A lot of lot of wealthy alum.
And I think they're enjoying thefact that they're actually
successful. I don't know how the NIL is
going there, but there was like huge, huge amount of money spent

(27:07):
into the university and the campus.
Nashville's a growing city, and they follow Tennessee and
Alabama when you're listening tonational talk radio.
But boy, I'm betting the Vanderbilt talk is controlling
the airwave, especially since the Titans, which is their NFL
team, has. New stadium's coming.

(27:27):
Step back, right? New stadium's coming.
Step back for the Tennessee Titans.
So, So yeah, I think Vanderbilt's a really good spot.
I don't think you know Clark Lee's the name that should be
out there. Right.
But it's right. This is all modern.
But it's just like that, dudes. Yeah, if you're looking.
If you're a Notre Dame guy, you know him like he was.
He was Think about Notre Dame's like last three defensive
coordinators. So Marcus Freeman is now a head

(27:52):
coach, Clark, Lee, Elko and lookat the success, all three of
those guys. Are having talking about that
Penn State job good Al Golden bethat would be an interesting 1
Penn State alum. Yeah.
So yeah, that would be a really interesting name for that job.
Played tight end at Penn State back in the day obviously with
the Cincinnati Bengals is the DCright now.

(28:13):
But he was head coach at Miami. Was he head coach anywhere else?
In the college he was at Miami 'cause he was a turnover chain,
he got in Miami, right? I think he, I don't know.
I don't know but. Does he want I mean.
Does he want to go back to college head coaching?
Yeah. Does he want a head coaching
job? I.
Don't see him getting an NFL head coaching job, just you the

(28:34):
way that taking that. I mean, I get making that leap
from college defensive coordinator to NFL defensive
coordinator, but if you look, ifyou follow the NFL whatsoever,
the Bengals aren't paying nobodyon defense.
They got all their cap room and three guys on offense and they
don't have. And with Burroughs injury it's
it's gone SI. Was going to say that defense.
It's a tough, tough spot so. So now you're looking at like

(28:55):
NFL, like for Al Golden, does Penn State, does he want to go
to college? Because the time, the hours, the
effort, like he's a great recruiter, great coach, but the
NFL is a lot less demanding of your personal time.
And and so I kind of felt like, you know, he's he's a little
little more aged, like probably part of the reason he went back
to the NFL was that's a grind. The college is a grind.

(29:18):
And you've got to be in it. You got to love it.
It's. Not just XS and OS.
Yeah, and he's phenomenal, XS and OS.
So the question to me, if I were, I don't think he'd go to
Penn State, but boy, that, that'd be a call they should
make that Alma. Mater Like you said though.
I'm, I'm hoping he doesn't 'cause I would hate for him to
be there, 'cause he would be phenomenal there.
I'm hoping maybe he goes to Miami and coaches the Dolphins.

(29:40):
You know, he deserves a head coaching job in the NFL.
That's a little, little personalbias though, just 'cause I don't
want him in Penn State. So, yeah, I think the coaching
carousel in this offseason is crazy.
And you know, we're we're on a bye week.
So a lot of just general talk I think here.
And you look at the slate of games going on on Saturday and
it's, you know what? What's the most intriguing game

(30:02):
to you this week? I mean, you got to go old.
I mean, I guess Vandy and Misery, as I like to call them.
That's an interesting one because two teams that you
wouldn't necessarily reject to have game day week nine of the
college football season and herewe are.
But I mean, UCLA has been on a heater since they fired their
coach. They got IU today.
I use like 28 point favorites. So that'll be an interesting

(30:24):
one. And and this is my feeling I use
going to drop a game they shouldn't only because it's
going from the hunter to the haunted, you know, like
situation. And it's like, I'm not calling
an upset, but boy, if they're going to drop one of those
games, it feels like it's eithergoing to be UCLA or Purdue or
Penn. State they play Penn State,
which would be They could do thefunniest thing, right?

(30:46):
Yeah, Penn State's got the talent to do it if they get the
if they. But yeah, I just feel like of
those three teams, like Purdue and UCLA are the two teams by
far you should not. But you know, we'll see.
Yeah. So I think the IU game's
interesting today. Old Miss Oklahoma's another good
one. It's got some intrigue.
And yeah, I mean, those are the big Texas A&MLSU need A&M to

(31:08):
keep winning, especially after that Miami loss.
And then you got Battle of Michigan tonight, Michigan and
Michigan State. And everybody, yeah, Remember,
Elko A&M was defensive coordinator for Brian Kelly.
Yeah. And I think if anybody knows how
to stunt a Brian Kelly offense, yeah, it's going to be Elko I.
And I, I, I like Elko in that game.
We'll see how it plays out, but I think big game Brian needs to

(31:32):
win back. I was going to say because he
could be another guy that's on the hot seat if he loses
tonight, because will that be two losses in a three losses in
a row? They lost to Vandy and fans are
not happy. So I think he'll be on the hot
seat if they lose to A&M and lose another ranked game.
Yeah, because let's see how I think it's three straight
losses. No, OK, never mind.

(31:52):
They beat South Carolina, lost to Vandy, but then next week
they got Alabama or no, they gotto buy and then Alabama.
So yeah, I mean, this is an LSU team that if they lose to A&M,
yeah, they yeah, they lost to Ole Miss.
If they lose all their ranked games this year, OC fans aren't
going to be happy. What do you think the odds are

(32:14):
that Brian Kelly gets fired fromLSU?
Goes to Penn State. Ends up at Penn State and James
Franklin gets hired. I feel like I made that comment
in the preseason, did I not? Did I not say this in the
preseason? I was going to say, I think I.
I got to go back and check the tape.
Check the tape we we called the firing of.
Pretty sure in one of those preseason pods I need to go back
and rewatch them, but I'm prettysure I called Brian Kelly to

(32:35):
Penn State at one point. Yeah, I I just, I was going to
bring that up because would be our second preseason prediction
of coaching fires and changes that would potentially come
through so back and. Check it out but.
So anyway, yeah, that's how I call it that one.
I think that's crazy. It's crazy, the whole, I just
can't believe the the whole. This mini coaches thing gone, it
says big programs. Hey, you know what I was
thinking about throwing out at you today just for fun?

(32:57):
What's that conspiracy theory, right?
I sent you, sent you and Jordan a text about a high school
football game here in the local area.
That was just just context of this game.
A-Team and Sectionals is up likea touchdown.
Eight points. Eight points.
Yeah, and they're on the 10 yardline with like 10 seconds to go.
Could have kicked a field goal and iced it.

(33:18):
They decide to try and run a play kill clock, right?
And they killed like 7 seconds aclock anyway.
Offensive penalty in high schoolfootball, offensive penalty you
get an untimed down unlike most most sports.
So just kind of a crazy ending anyway that that.
You guys say it was a hook and lateral and they scored like a
90 yard touchdown and came back because of a holding.

(33:38):
Yeah, so they get the ball like the 35 yard line.
They couldn't decline the penalty because the touchdown
been a touchdown, so they had toaccept it.
And high school football, it's an untimed down and.
Then the hell Mary from the 35 or 40 to to tie it 2 point
conversion go into overtime and win it.
Yeah, so just the crazy, crazy stuff.
And I joked in the in the message and said how deep does
the NBA mafia gambling ring go? No betting a loud.

(34:01):
League. Yeah, right.
Yeah. So now I'm going to talk
conspiracy theory. Oh, man, it's a good week for
that. The missed the missed call of
hold against A&M, Notre Dame andMarcus Freeman has been
phenomenal against the spread. Yeah, did the mafia take one
from? Us.
I think so. I I need to know I need some
receipts from DraftKings and youknow all the sports books.

(34:24):
I need to know if there was large bets placed for.
I want to, I want to check on Tyler Buckner.
What was the spread on that Game6 1/2?
That's right. I mean, I don't mean to call
people out for maybe Mafia TylerBuckner.
I want to check. On there.
Sounds like a traditional mafia name.
Doesn't. It I was going to say it was a 6
1/2 point spread. We missed the kick.
I mean, Buckner is just trying to make sure we didn't cover.

(34:45):
I mean he. Didn't think we're going to lose
often. He was just trying.
To make you're just trying to make sure he didn't.
Yeah. He just don't cover the spread.
Yeah. He said if he was, if he was a
New Jersey kid, like peanut butter and Jelly, I'd be a
little more nervous. That's out of California.
I don't think Mafia ties nearly as much.
So anyway, I thought that was kind.
I thought about throwing that out at you.
What do you think, man? You, you think the Mafia's into
college football? Because we've seen some

(35:06):
horrible. And I get like I get some of the
calls on the field. You miss them.
Replay that. But not and it's not just Notre
Dame games. It's and I saw the SEC has
suspended A referee already fromthe Georgia Auburn like like
there's been some replays throughout college football
across the landscape. It's like.

(35:26):
And the but most of them haven'tbeen like the big ACC ones
'cause they're giving you the inside access.
Yeah, like that, which is so cool like the inside, like the
replay studio to the ref and hasn't been in those games.
You haven't seen those terrible calls.
Like it makes sense. But yeah, some of those other
lower ACC crews and. You know what the average NFL or
NCAA ref makes? I have no idea 100,000 80,000

(35:51):
high low. You're high now.
The average NCAA ref makes like 62 a year.
Yeah, now. Is that including Division 3?
That's yeah, that's probably some division two, Division
Three, I think starting pay is like $24,000 a year or something
like that. So that's a good part time job
if you like football and but youknow the better refs.
But let's just say that the average Division One refs making

(36:14):
eighty, $90,000 a year. Are they are seriously, are they
like making so much money you couldn't buy influence from them
when you look at when you look at like what's going on in the
NBA? Oh, yeah.
And I don't know that you can pay them $1,000,000 a year.
And and because, yeah, politicians have proven for
years it doesn't matter how muchmoney they make, they can still
be, you know, influenced by donors.

(36:36):
More money, right? Right.
Always wants more greed. Greed.
Greed against greed. It's crazy.
Such as NBA guys like you're making 20 million bucks a year
and you're going to go do this for another two or three?
Couple 100,000 Yeah. Craziness.
So yeah, that's why I'm always get rid of the conference ref
affiliates. Does that make the NCA have
refs? Yeah, that's where the NCAA

(36:57):
could bring value to the whole thing.
And they've lost control is justsay we're going to do away with
conference affiliation of refs. We're just going to have refs
and, you know, we're going to assign the best refs to the best
games. And you know, that's where the
NCA could bring value and salvage the whole thing.
They won't because the NCAA is inept and I I don't.

(37:17):
Yeah, I hate to bash the NCAA, but find it hard to support him
in some cases. Like they don't make it easy to
give. You, I want to like you and you
won't. You won't give me reasons like
why? Why do you make it hard?
So anyway, I was just gonna throw that out there for fun.
I thought it'd be an interestingconversation.
I do not think that the mafia ispaying off referees.
I just think it's. Crazy.

(37:38):
Talking to human error, Notre Dame is not getting a top
player. Poker though.
But yeah, I'm not. Hey back.
On celebrity poker events, That's right.
Or I need some extra glasses first?
If Chauncey Billups invites me to a poker game, I'm out.
Yeah, no. Kid, I think he's about to about
my Yeah, the R-65 podcast will not be there, Chauncey.
That's right. Just save the invite.

(37:59):
So, yeah. So what else, man, in the
college football landscape? Anything else?
I not that, I mean, I think we covered most of it's bye week.
I mean, we, we talked about thisa little bit before we get into
it, Boston College next week andit's our, we're going to make
our one road trip for the year. Yeah, Irish 365 was going on
site to BC. I'm excited.
I mean, not that this is the rivalry game that USC is, but

(38:21):
it's a it. Used to be a little bigger of a
rivalry, not as much as it used to be, but trophy on the line.
Yeah, I, you know, I've got thissick thing about like watching
Notre Dame games and not leavingbefore they're over.
And I, I go back to 1993. I was, I was in college, Jason
Turney was down to the IUI, was watching the Notre Dame game.

(38:44):
It was like, we're going down toIU.
All my buddies like, hey, we gotto get in the car, go like after
the game, after the game, and weleft the at halftime because I'm
like, Notre Dame's going to win.I'll listen to it.
And I listen to the IU game or the Notre Dame Boston College
game in 93 in the car on the wayto IU and we lost on the last

(39:06):
second field goal. I think two things happen
subliminally that day. One is I'm like, I'm never
leaving the freaking stop watching the game to go on TV.
And two, I was so mad. I think from like Indianapolis
to Bloomington, and this is before the 69 extension existed.
I did not say a word in the car.I was so.
So I think two things happened subconsciously that day.
I didn't talk after losses and Ididn't, I didn't leave games

(39:28):
early and I didn't give up on games even it was just on
television. So I think I really kind of
figured that out. So Boston College is a different
place for me because they prevented what should have been
a national championship that wasawarded to Florida State and
should have been our last national championship.
And who knows if we go on that one, there might have been some
others come along the way. I mean that that was kind of the

(39:49):
start of the end for the Lou Holtz era.
So I, I, I, but I, I, I love the, you know, the, the rivalry.
It, it, it, there's a lot of tradition.
I mean, Boston's a cool city. So I'm excited to, you know, to
get out there and spend some time in Boston.
It's going to, you know, this, this what?
40,050 thousand person stadium. I mean super super super.

(40:09):
Small, but because 40,000 peoplewith a lot of people, but yeah,
I mean it's a compact stadium. It's.
A smaller stadium in the middle of the on the edge middle city.
I mean, you know, it's like likewe've been to Georgia Tech and
you know, it's just, it's just ain the middle of the of a big
city vibe. I mean, you're yeah.
So there's just a lot of cool stuff and question and you know,
we won't know till probably Sunday.

(40:31):
When's kickoff going? When's kickoff going to be I
got? Yeah, we're convinced it's noon,
but yeah, we don't know. I don't want ATV production.
Yeah, so there's the whole lot of decisions, what channel we'll
be on, you know, was it going tobe ACW game, I mean.
Is it, yeah, you assume ABCESPN,it's not going to be ACC
Network. I can tell you that because
they're booked all day, but yeah.

(40:52):
That would have been the logicalthis is the be the game that ACC
Network picked up. But there's some good ACC games
on, and they had to paint 1, andso probably some that mean more.
And I don't think anybody's expecting the Boston College
upset. I mean, no one's expecting Doug
Flutie's son to show up and throw a Hail Mary like he did
against Miami back in the day, like, you know, so.

(41:13):
But it's going to be an excitingtrip.
I'm excited for it. I mean, ought to be a good time.
So we'll hit a pre pregame pod later this week and get that out
to you guys. So if you got any questions
about the comments about BC comments, let's film out at us
on the X, man, get on the X and hit us.
Or the YouTube comments. We do check those two.
I know we sometimes. Yeah, YouTube we get.
We get quite a bit of comments on YouTube.

(41:33):
Comments. Get on there.
Hit us up or yeah the X. Some of the Spotify pod and
sometimes we get comment, not very often.
I get a lot of likes and thumbs ups and things of that nature.
So yeah, we'll get a lot of support and you can find us pod
on a lot of different platforms.I think YouTube's probably
YouTube and X where you can gauge with us the most is the
easiest. We're on Apple, we're on Amazon,

(41:53):
we're on all those. Yeah, yeah.
And there's listeners on all those pods.
I don't know how many. I don't try and keep track
anymore. It's just, hey, we're doing this
for fun, so. All right, well, before we get
out of here, unless you got anything else, I got to do a
random swipe here to pick someone randomly.
Oh yeah, we got to. Enjoy our contest 'cause we had
39 retweets. Shout out to you guys.

(42:15):
Yeah. Thank you for that.
I'm going to got the X up here. Gonna swipe sometimes, tell me
when. Now.
Congratulations to rational ND fan.
Rational ND fan, he's a. Good one.
He's a good followers. Yeah, good follow on the old X

(42:35):
But yeah, you've been entered towin 2 Notre Dame Syracuse
tickets, so congratulations to rational ND fan.
We'll hit you up on Adm Yeah, yeah.
To win 2 Notre Dame versus Syracuse tickets.
We're a couple weeks away from that draw.
Yeah, it's coming up. We got to, we got to get a draw.
Yeah, we're doing that after thePitt game, which, yeah, 'cause
that game, Senior Day is November 22nd, so we'll be doing

(42:57):
that draw after the pit game on the 15th, that's the 16th.
So you got 123 more games to winour contest to get entered into
that. Yes, 3 weeks and then we're
giving away some. Then we're doing the official
draw. So yeah, how many people got in
there? This will be our eighth person
in there, this. Will be the 8th.
Yep. So yeah, yeah, keep entering
that contest. Last week was awesome.

(43:17):
Yeah, that's what was awesome. So thanks.
Sarah and a lot of good retweets.
I mean, there's a lot of good follows on.
And yeah, if you want to follow recruiting, there's a lot of
good stuff on indie recruiting out there.
There's a lot of and indie focused media that's out there.
There's some good follows, so we're more than happy to give

(43:38):
recommendations. I know like indie wine and
cheese is a good follow. Oh yeah.
And good dude, good follow. Louise 559.
You want to talk about passion? Notre Dame fan from the West
Coast. Follow Get any more about that?
Right. Follow that dude, he has got
energy for days. So fire you up.
Yeah, I mean, he was at the Backer last week, and when I saw
he was at the Backer, Joe Montana was passing out Guinness
beers. And indie wine and cheese was

(44:00):
there. And indie wine like, you know,
we should have been. We got the invite.
We were on the invite list, we just didn't pull the trigger off
on that. I was working that Friday night,
sadly but. Yeah, so we got to make that
happen at some point this season.
So don't don't plan on doing theNotre Dame basketball season.
That's all I can say. Because, Coach Shrew, I love
you, my man, but. Need something?

(44:21):
I'm in DePaul, DePaul, DePaul. Yeah.
I'm just did you, did you see the box score on that?
I did not. I saw I sent you the final score
and it popped up, but I didn't go.
I was I didn't watch it had someother things going on last
night, but like 6 for 14 on layups and dunks like come on,
come on that stuff. I think they've got a good

(44:42):
squad. I just we'll see.
I'm I'm holding out hope still. Hockey.
Hockey, ball, hockey, fencing's always a good count.
You can always count on fencing,Pepe foil, you know, on the
Sabre. We got it on lock.
Olympic champions the banner. That's right, If you want to go
be one of those guys that gets apre tattoo thing, fencing's a
good one to do it for, you know?Yeah, that would be my over and

(45:04):
undertake fencing for national championship.
It's all right, we'll get out ofhere.
Enjoy your bye week. We'll be back later in the week
with some Boston College preview.
BC Preview. So, as always, go Irish.