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- [00:00]
Tim O'Malley
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Bud Elliott
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Bud Elliott
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Tim O'Malley
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Bud Elliott
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Bud Elliott
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Tim O'Malley
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- [02:01]
Bud Elliott
What's going on y'? All? Bud Elliott here of the COVID 3 college football podcast. And this is Summer School. We are back in session. That's my man. Tim o', Malley, Irish Illustrated joins us once again. It is always a fun chat. Tim, how's the off season treating you?
- [02:12]
Tim O'Malley
Pretty good, bud. Glad to be back. The long off season for Notre Dame this year?
- [02:16]
Bud Elliott
Yeah, man, pretty nice season for another Day in last year. Again, not a lot to complain about. Obviously, you know, the snub, but we're complete. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're forward focused here. Obviously, you know, 10 and two finish. Marcus Freeman, you know, back again, locked up. I guess I'll start on offense here. Like Mike Denbrock enters year three. Where do you see these guys being able to take a step in terms of like familiarity, what they have back? Like sometimes you just get a team where, man, they got the basics down, they can really start, you know, kind of doing all the cool add ons.
- [02:51]
Tim O'Malley
Yeah, they just, they just got. That was a theme of, of the spring. Denbrock, year three, most important, C.J. carr, year two and year three with Denbrock, he was a red shirt freshman. With Riley Leonard, C.J. carr is going from, we think he'll be really good to. He is in charge of the offense. He's in charge of the team. He'll be a team captain among a group of veterans. Carr and Dembrock together have even stated, like now we're hitting.400 level offense in the spring, whereas we expected CJ Carr to win the job last year. So did they. But that, that contest took a long time. Remember, it once involved Steven Jelly and then Kenny Minchi, and Minchi had a really good camp and it was just a surprise how long it took. This is clearly C.J. carr's team, C.J. carr's offense, and it's gotta be because they lost the best player they've had in a very long time and the best quote unquote backup running back they've had since about Ricky Waters. So it is the offense has to go through C.J. carr. We'll get to the running game, I'm sure. But they, no matter what you say about the running game, they don't have Jeremiah Lovage, Atarion Price.
- [03:51]
Bud Elliott
Where can you see Carr getting better? Like, I'm seeing some mock drafts, you know, which I don't think are unreasonable if a jump happens. But, but like for him to go like, like top five and just have like, like that unreal year. He already set the Notre Dame passer rating record, which is, you know, pretty awesome in and of itself. Like, where do you think they want him to take a step forward?
- [04:09]
Tim O'Malley
Certainly pre snap recognition, where he can get them in and out of the right place. Stuff that you don't see when you're watching the game necessarily. Maybe when you watch back and you see he checked. Sometimes checking into the run is the right thing to do as well. For A quarterback and no one thinks about that. Physically, we feel like he could be a little stronger in the pocket. And I don't mean pocket presence. His presence is great, but just the physical stature of. If you compare, the last two really good quarterbacks at Notre Dame were Brady Quinn and Jimmy Clausen. If you grab Brady Quinn, he had no idea you're grabbing him. He's an anomaly. He was super strong. If you grab Jimmy Clauss and you were spinning him down to the ground even when he was a junior, you can't have that from C.J. carr. They do believe they're going to have really good pass protection up front, maybe better pass protection than run blocking this year. So it's a lot of little things like pre snap recognition, stronger in the pocket. They struggled in short yardage situations last year, which just sounds so weird. With the first two running backs taken in the draft, they, they were reluctant to ever have CJ Carr under center for short yardage. I'm not sure you do it now considering your backup used to be Kenny Minchi and now it's all freshmen. But C.J. carr, if you recall that Miami game, first game of the year, they had trouble moving the ball. He was running, he was, he was able to do it. You have to do it judiciously because you can't lose C.J. carr, but you know he's a good enough athlete to do it. He scored. He's the one that converted on fourth down, he's the one that scored the touchdown, scrambled around to throw another touchdown pass. And I think it's those things. If you're going to totally nitpick, he might press a little too much mentally. It might not be fair since he was a first time starter. But you know his. Once he got going, his toughest game was usc and it's a home game against usc. He was probably pressing A and M and Miami were the only interceptions that mattered. Now they were game one and two of his career. The Miami game was a bad pass. A and M is trying to make a play, but if you really want to drill down, if you're having your three tough games against your three toughest opponents, he was clearly pressing in those games. That's something they wouldn't want from him as the schedule gets a little tougher in the second half. I'm sure we'll get to that.
- [06:09]
Bud Elliott
I guess, I mean, this is one of the reasons why I love having you on is like, you know, as a guy has to do a lot of different teams, like I wouldn't Notice like hey, when he gets touched in the pocket, you know, things tend to go haywire a little more. Which you know, isn't often, obviously. Like, like the, I mean they're, they're like their left tackle surrendered pressure on 3.4% of fast plays, which is like, you know, at least it's not coming from, from blind pressure, obviously. You know, thank God he gets rid of it quickly.
- [06:34]
Tim O'Malley
He really, the CJ Car processes and gets rid of it quickly too. It's just those things where you're a junior now, maybe you should be stronger than some of the guys coming in there as opposed to the first year player.
- [06:43]
Bud Elliott
That makes a lot of sense. So I guess we'll stick with past game and then we'll go run game. They're pretty good here, right? Like, like pass catchers wise, like Fields is back. Correct?
- [06:56]
Tim O'Malley
Yeah. The best guy. Okay. The real best guy back in terms of C.J. carr's comfort level and consistency is Jordan Faison who was oddly enough at Notre Dame. Now it seems crazy to say, but he was once the preferred walk on lacrosse player. He's given up lacrosse. He's going to lead them in receptions and yards after the catch because he is a D dog. But he, he is ready to fight at a moment's notice too. He's ready to go. He is that quintessential undersized college receiver that will cut you up. What they really need is. And they brought in both Mylan Graham and Quincy Porter from Ohio State. Graham had a sensational spring. He will start. Porter missed the spring. He actually had knee surgery the day he went the portal. They knew it, but they could use him because they don't have that big boundary guy to trust yet. When they lost Malachi Fields, the weird thing is Jaden Greathouse is still on the team and he had four games played last year. Had a hamstring injury. We thought it might have been a. Hey, I want to sit out because I'm not getting the ball. It was both. He kind of wanted to sit out. He decided to play, but then he got hurt. So then he missed. He would have come back for the playoffs. He's admitted like, you know, at some point it became stupid to lose a year of eligibility. He's the only played four games. He was the second best player on the field behind Jeremiah Smith in the national championship game. Yeah, looked nothing like that otherwise. But if you're going to have your two best games ever against Ohio State and Penn State in the championship in semis, you should have reasonable Expectations that this guy can come help Notre dame in the 2026 season, they really need it. The worst news of the spring was when they said Jaden Greathouse has a mild hamstring strength. That's what he missed last year with. He also did not participate, to our knowledge that this spring, which makes it either really cautious or less than mild. You know, those things, hamstring and groin, receivers and corners, it just lingers. They could really use him out there because it's a long. If you plan on playing 15, 16 games, you need a guy that has made plays in the semis and championship to come up. He had. He had eight targets last year and four catches in four games.
- [08:56]
Bud Elliott
And a guy who, like, you know, if he's hitting that kind of 90th percentile outcome like, that changes things when they do face the better teams who have, you know, really good cover guys and like a guy who can. Can win one on one with his size and ability. Yeah, I could see that. If they don't have him, it's still a pretty good group, I think, right?
- [09:15]
Tim O'Malley
Yeah. The key is they recruited well the last two years, so coming back as a redshirt freshman would be Elijah Burris, who is Plexigo's son. Last year, they talked about how wonderful of a camp he had, except he didn't know the playbook. And Mike Dembrock, the office of coordinator, was really blunt. He's like, yeah, he's great when he has some idea where he's going. If you say it that way about a true freshman, you know, you're trying to get a point across. Yeah, we talked to him in the spring. He's like, yeah, my playbook was a mess last year. You know, sometimes it's just difficult high school to college. He kind of touched down the spring game. They have high hopes for him. The surprise of the group, and maybe it shouldn't be because of the bloodlines, but Devin Fitzgerald, Larry's son, was fantastic in the spring. Now, he was beating twos and threes, but when you're always beating twos and threes all the time, no matter when we see you, you're doing something right. So if he could be that sixth guy, that really adds up because, you know, the best teams, you. You're gonna. What if you lose Faison or Greathouse for three games, you need one of these freshmen, a red shirt freshman, to step up. And the final guy would be. He scored a touchdown against Miami last year, but he's been hampered a little bit by injuries, too. Micah Gilbert was a high recruit. He's now a red shirt sophomore. He will battle Quincy Porter for that W role. They're the only, they're really the only bigger guys on the team. Porter seems like a more of a downfield threat than Gilbert. You know, if Gilbert's two big plays were against Miami and A and M before getting injured last year, that's also kind of seems like you could get something out of him as he, as he matures.
- [10:40]
Bud Elliott
Offensive line, you know, providing the protection that they do. There's a couple guys obviously who are moving on to the next level. How do you see this shaking out?
- [10:49]
Tim O'Malley
So I'm sick of saying their best player is not going to play because it keeps happening every year. Charles Jogis, he has had five surgeries since that UTV accident last July. Wow.
- [10:59]
Bud Elliott
Okay.
- [11:00]
Tim O'Malley
They hope he will play this year. That is the new statement play this year. So let's pretend he plays in November. And you think, well, can he assimilate now? You know, he sat out 11 months, then came out and started against Penn State and had a great team, so he probably could. But keeping him out of it for now. They have moved Anthony Knapp to your starter, left tackle to left guard because they love redshirt freshman Will Black. So now you have a veteran. Knapp, who is a true junior, might be a captain next to Black. They assume they're going to get Ashton Craig back in September from acl. If not, Joe Otting started the last seven games of the year anyway. Craig is better, better athlete, stronger veteran. But Otting did a good job. His first game was against USC and noting ran for 300 yards. Now I know you give the ball to Jeremiah Love, but there's got to be holes, right? So that's probably his calling card. Gerbe Lambert was the right guard. They love him. He's moving to right tackle. Right guard is a little bit of a competition still. There's a red shirt freshman named Matty Augustine who right now is their backup at four spots. People think he could unseat Sullivan. Absher, who started a little bit at right guard last year. He and Lambert were in a rotation against Miami. It looked kind of ugly. Part of it was it was Miami number two was it was their first game for both of them. Lambert kind of took the role. Absher is a big mauler. They love Augustine's athleticism. But you know, I just named seven guys without including Jaguar, so good group. If joggers comes back, that's what I think takes them over from, hey, this Team is really good against the top 25 to. They can blow holes open against the top 10.
- [12:28]
Bud Elliott
Damn, man. I. That ATV accidents, that.
- [12:31]
Tim O'Malley
That's just surgeries, man. Cleanups. And it was just a. It was crazy. And that's been. I mean it was. You're looking at. It was July 4th weekend, so you're looking at a. And he was really on his way too. Yeah, yeah, he. He kind of starred in the. If you sit out an entire season, they throw you in at halftime of the Penn State game. And Joe Rudolph says, I could put a teach tape on for what he did at guard. And he had never played guard. They just put him in. Then he starts at left tackle against Ohio State and holds his own. You know, it's. It's incredible to sit out of here and do that. So they had such high hopes for him.
- [13:05]
Bud Elliott
All right, now we gotta get to the running back. Obviously losing. Losing Love and Price is. Is insane. Has the team ever had two first. First round backs before?
- [13:14]
Tim O'Malley
They're. They were the first team to ever have the first two taken in the draft. USC had Bush and Lindell White, but it was after somebody else. And then those Auburn teams had a couple Cadillac, but somebody was in between there. I think Felix Jones might have been in there too. But they were the first program to ever have the first two, which is incredible. And boy, Jadarian Price going to Seattle. That doesn't hurt.
- [13:37]
Bud Elliott
That's a nice spot to land with that offensive line for sure. Anas Williams is back.
- [13:43]
Tim O'Malley
Yeah.
- [13:44]
Bud Elliott
They did not hit the portal here. No, they love their depth or they just didn't find the right fit.
- [13:50]
Tim O'Malley
They went big game hunting and decided that wasn't the right fit.
- [13:54]
Bud Elliott
Stuff got expensive. Yeah, there. There were some. I'm not calling stupid because like in college, a bat can change things, as Notre Dame fans found out last year. But yeah, it. I mean, look what happened with Smothers.
- [14:09]
Tim O'Malley
Yeah.
- [14:09]
Bud Elliott
You know. Yeah, stuff got crazy.
- [14:11]
Tim O'Malley
It was. We thought they might go. They thought they might seal the deal on Smothers, but I think his asking price was insane. So they really like Aeneas Williams. He under the previous running backs coach, dealing McCullough. He was the third back as a true freshman in that 24 season and he was the spark against Penn State. Love was hurt. Price was kind of still not quite Jadarian Price that we saw last year and he is. Williams sparked up against Penn State, but they brought in Joanne Sider, who was Penn State's running back coach for Singleton and Catro, and he literally told Everybody, I like to use two backs and we didn't take him at his word because they had three backs and Aneus Williams. Well, when your two bags are Love and Price, he stuck to his word and he used those two. So we really thought Aeneas Williams might sit out last year after not getting used enough and transfer. He did not. Found out later he had a really bad elbow injury. So if you're really bad elbow injury, you're playing through it and you have Love and Price, you're not going to beat those guys out. That's just not going to happen. They love his versatility. He's more Kyron Williams than anything near Love and Price. He's that versatile guy. They'll still shift him out to the slot, throw it out of the backfield. I wouldn't be surprised if Aeneas Williams is third on the team in receptions this year. And he's, he's. When I first saw him, I don't go to a lot of recruiting camps. I went to Irish Invasion and he was working out with the wide receivers as a junior in high school and I was like, well, that's a really small wide receiver, but he's the best one out there. He's a running back that I thought was the best wide receiver out there. So that's, that's what he could do in the passing game. And they've done something strange with their backups. They've illegally cloned them. They all look the exact same. They're all 59205. So they love Nolan James who is under recruited guy. They just said he's the guy that when you hit him at 3 yards he gets 5. When you hit him at 7, he gets 11. Now when you hit Jeremiah Love at 7, he got 87. It's a little bit different. So Nolan James is going to be one of those undersized compliments. I think that's grinding out yards and, and even their best freshman Jonas Walton, faster than both Williams and James. He's a true freshman though. I'm not sure how much they'll trust him early. The good news is against the first half of our schedule, you can trust anybody early probably eventually, but he had a great spring and it really helped him. The other freshman that came in, Javion Osborne, I thought would be the number three guy. He had a really bad wrist surgery that involves taking muscle out of your leg. So it was a real, it was a real. When you're limping around after a surgery, there's something wrong in your spring. So you know, maybe, maybe he could be a guy that helps later in the year, but you just missed, he missed the whole spring, so that'll do it.
- [16:42]
Bud Elliott
I feel like when you see some of these projections, you know, Notre Dame, legitimate national title contender, which I don't disagree with obviously, but like a lot has to go, right. It seems, it seems like great house Jackassaw having somewhat optimal outcomes is, is the path here. Like that's the unlocked where this just nobody stops this offense.
- [17:02]
Tim O'Malley
Yeah, that's the. Okay, joggers is back two weeks before Miami. They're going to handle Miami's defensive line now. But more important, if you just beat Miami because.
- [17:11]
Bud Elliott
Yeah, right.
- [17:12]
Tim O'Malley
The toughest team joggers is back for the playoffs. That's when. All right, their offensive line can do this in the quarters, the semis and the finals. I just truly believe elite defensive lines in college are better than most elite offensive line. You have to be dominant. Like Miami's offensive line was great last year. Is there that line in college football this year? I don't know. Other than that it is hard to stop to, to fend off a great defensive line in college football.
- [17:40]
Bud Elliott
100%. Which we will talk about here in a second. Let's take our first break and we'll come back with a little defense, a little schedule. We're talking to o', Malley, of course, of Irish Illustrated here on Summer School.
- [17:51]
Tim O'Malley
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Bud Elliott
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Tim O'Malley
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- [19:20]
Bud Elliott
Alright guys, welcome back into summer school here. This is the Notre Dame episode. That's Tim o'. Malley. Irish Illustrated just gave us a brick. Great breakdown on the offense. Chris Ash, obviously, you know, defensive staff here, they were pretty good last year and I mean I have a couple changes. I love the Chris Parker tire. I mean like Charlie Parker. Excuse me. I mean he was a stud for so long like obviously like being a Florida guy. Like, like the, the fines he would get routinely were just like all right, Charlie's on him. I need to take a second look at this guy. You know, just really good. Evaluate our talent. And Tim, I mean they were, they're like top 10 in the nation. Returning production on defense by pretty much any measure. You look at it, where do you, I, I expect them to take a step. Like where do you think the step comes from?
- [20:05]
Tim O'Malley
Yeah, the secondary, the secondary step is. It's absolutely ridiculous. They brought back their starting four, Christian Gray, who people are going to turn onto the TV and see Christian Gray out there like that guy is still at Notre Dame because he's a senior now a three year starter. Leonard Moore is the best corner of the country. He's back. They still went out and got two starting corners, veterans Jaden Sanders from Michigan and D.J. mcKinney from Colorado. Sanders had a good spring. McKinney comes in June. So there's four starting veteran corners on the team. Plus last year their two best recruits were two corners, Mark Zachary and Dallas Golden. So they are as stacked as they've ever been in the history of Notre Dame. You don't think of Notre Dame and cornerbacks, but the last few years they have been. Now they lost Mike Mickens, the guy that brings all these guys in and develops them of course, but it is, it is plug and play at corner. They brought back both safeties, Adon Shuler and Tay Johnson, who was last year's best kind of breakout player. Tay Johnson at safety for another name. Both Tay Johnson's mocked in the first round already. Shuler's a returning captain and three year starter. I think Shuler might still be the better college player. There is no Doubt Tay Johnson has the highest ceiling because he's, he's like a skinnier Kyle Hamilton running around out there. He's. He's just incredible instincts and great athlete. That's kind of a Fort Wayne kid. There was a two sport star basketball and they brought back all their linebackers, their five man rotation at linebacker. Now the key though is the best one, Kingston Villiamuasa, who we've talked about a couple times on the show. Etora's ACL in November. So if Norton was starting with Miami and A M, you'd really be worried about your best linebacker not being out there. They're not. They're starting with Wisconsin and Rice and then they ease into it. He is supposed to be back. I'm sure he'll be back by mid season because ACL is not like Achilles these days. But you know that's something to monitor because torn ACL November is not the same thing in September when you know the guy's going to be back. But they bring back the leader Linebacker Drake Bowen, three year starter. Jaden Osbury started last year. He's back. Jalen snead has started 30 games. He's back. And then Madden Ferremo had wrist surgery. He was a freshman last year. People loved but he played the whole year with the same wrist injury he had in high school. He had cleanup surgery. He had the same major surgery. The running back. We discussed JV and Osborne, where you're getting such procedure done on your leg to help your wrists. So it's a major problem. The scaphoid bone right here. I only know that because I broke that as well. But for a mo. I love Faraimo's future. I think he's taken someone's job eventually this year is how good he is. It was between Notre Dame and USC a couple years ago but when I'm naming 10 defensive backs and five linebackers at Notre Dame, that is a different back seven than you're used to. When you see just like the plugging linebackers back there and quality zone coverage, that is not what they have to do anymore.
- [22:41]
Bud Elliott
I'm curious as to your thoughts on Tion Gray and we did the Oregon episode with Matt Prim who does a great job for us out there in the Northwest on, you know, on the Ducks obviously. And he was like look, depth for them is a concern because like they really liked the job they'd done developing some of these young guys but like they probably. And I don't think Matt gave a specific number but like I'M guessing Oregon starting defensive line makes north of 6 million combined this year. Like, like, I mean they, they legitimately got four guys with like top hundred starting for them. So at some point like you can't, I, I, I can't run a 12 million dollar defensive line right. Like that's going to be an issue and you're not going to turn down the opportunity to keep that many like that many stars who are actually starters for you. But I think he actually, he was like they really like Gray and you hated to lose him but you know, obviously it, it is what it is. How has he done at Notre Dame? Because like I looked at him, it's a big dude. Like I'm like they could use somebody like that.
- [23:36]
Tim O'Malley
He is and that's crucial because he's the only one that is that 330 can move guy. They have, they have brought in Tian Gray and Francis Brew from, from Pittsburgh. Now Brew is unnaturally strong, but he's £285. So when you pair him with Gray that could be the starting tackle tandem. Two, two transfers in. Jason Onye comes back for a sixth year perfect number three guy. If he has to start, I'm not sure it is a playoff championship team. He's a playoff defensive tackle. I like to differentiate now when you're at those levels with the top 10 teams. Elijah Hugh is his second year transfer from USC so they actually hit the transfer portal pretty hard inside. Those are the main four inside. They'll rotate any. They're going to rotate anyway. That's the way defensive tackles work these days unless you have a top tier player on the edge. Now Tian Gray had a great spring. Francis Brew, he had a little bit of a pec injury unrelated to a showcase he put on Twitter for weightlifting that they talked about. But they really love what they brought in on the edges. I think the key is Boubacar Traore. He tore his ACL in September 24 so he missed that playoff run. Had he been in that playoff run and last next year would have been his junior year, I don't think he'd be at Notre Dame now. I think he'd been a second round draft pick. So that helps that they have a senior that could have been a second round draft pick. People are saying he can go get Justin Tuck sack record. I don't know about that because I think there's a lot of different ways of blitzing these days. But Traore is their best end. Bryce Young is who we all predicted would break out last Year, turns out he probably put on a little too much weight. He went from 6, 7, 2, 40 and a guy that only played football for four years to six'7, 270. Maybe he needed to grow into that a little. So you kind of like it's Bryant Youngson. You like him. On the other edge, they brought in Keon Keely from Alabama. He was originally an overdrain pledge, so people love it because they finally got Keon Keely back. Well, is Keon Keely a five star? Probably not, but Keon Keighley has a reserve. The Keon Keely I saw in the playoff game against Oklahoma is great for Notre Dame. If it's the Keely we saw against Indiana where nobody got breathed on anybody after play number two, then that's not what you're looking for either. But I think that's a good addition. But the number one thing that happened this spring is their number one recruit, Rodney Dunham, five star defensive end. He had a great spring and it got to the point where we were like, kept noticing Dunham, like, wow, he keeps making plays. And finally someone's like, yeah, he is a five star defensive end, top 10 player for Notre Dame. So he had a great spring. And I think that's crucial. It was our Drew Mentalka actually that said that he's like, you know, he's not a three star. Right. But I think if you have four edges and four man rotation inside, that's pretty good. It almost is the minimum these days. Yeah. For going 15, 16 games, you can't just name the four guys. So I think that's really important point. But you know, you're talking to Oregon. You know, you lose a guy like Tian Gray, that's Maybe that's just 1012 plays made for Oregon, but those are 1012 plays that could really matter. And Notre Dame will of course get more out of him.
- [26:31]
Bud Elliott
So turning to the schedule here, I mean, just numbers based. They play the only two teams in the Big Ten that are 300 to 1 or more to win the Big Ten. They play the only four teams in the ACC that are 100 or more to win the ACC. So like they get the worst two teams in the Big Ten by the odds and the worst four teams from the accurate by the odds. Wisconsin, which I think will have a shot to make a bowl. But like, there's probably a hard ceiling of what they can be. They get Rice, they get Navy, which,
- [27:03]
Tim O'Malley
you know, okay, Notre Dame should handle Navy. When Nordam's good though, that's.
- [27:07]
Bud Elliott
This is Like, I mean, I guess the first question here is they better be playing a lot of guys through the first two months of the season, right? Like, I mean, there's a real load management opportunity here, I think, to like to hit this playoff run fresh. I mean, Tim, this is like, for a team as good as I think they're going to be, this is cake through the first few months.
- [27:25]
Tim O'Malley
You have six games in seven weeks. And I did this yesterday for my monthly musings column. This is the over under for those wins. Wisconsin starts it five and a half. Two and a half. Three and a half. Two and a Half. Three and a half. Two a half.
- [27:35]
Bud Elliott
Yeah.
- [27:36]
Tim O'Malley
That's insane. Every ACC team they didn't draw has an over under at least five and a half, yet they drew three and a half, two and a half, three after. It's insane. After that there's a buy and then, excuse me, they're not. Not a buy. There's BYU at byu, which replaced USC on the schedul schedule. At BYU is tough. Then there's the buy. But then there's the Navy game and Navy loss. You know, Navy. When navies, when Notre Dame's good, Navy's not a problem. When the name's average, Navy can beat you. And because it's just. It's a much different world when that option starts working out. But good Notre Dame teams hammer Navy because they score so many points too, obviously. Miami is the big one. November 7th. It's a night game. It is going to be the wildest atmosphere Notre Dame has seen because like most Notre Dame fans thought they belonged in over Alabama and Oklahoma. Right? Some felt they belonged in over Miami. Everybody felt they belonged in over Alabama. Oklahoma, if you're not a fan. But it's going to be painted that it was Miami who's the one that got in over them because it switched on the last day. But that's not really what the comparison should have been. Miami did win. They are even. You can, you can look at it that way. That game is going to be nuts at Notre Dame Stadium. Then you have like the BC break another two and a half over under team. And I think what's interesting is they moved and it was. It was SMU that wanted to move it. I believe they moved SMU to Senior Day. SMU kind of sees that as their showcase game. If you could go win at Notre Dame, that is what makes you go from 18 to 13 going into the championship weekend. So that's a fun thing for SMU coming up here. I Mean, Nordam hasn't seen SMU up here since they came off of the death penalty. So you're looking at 40 years ago. And finally they end. This is pretty funny because someone mentioned, you know, Syracuse being at Syracuse ends the year with Steve Angeli. Well, it used to be at usc. So you can talk about any trap of Syracuse. It's not usc.
- [29:24]
Bud Elliott
I mean not. I've been doing this a lot on the teams that I think are, you know, more than playoff aspirant like Nadia, like Indiana. I was like, okay, nine and three, they're dead. Ten and two. I think there's. They're in the argument. Notre Dame's like 100 dead at 9 to 3. Obviously I don't think it's going to happen.
- [29:44]
Tim O'Malley
I think too I was gonna ask you. Yeah.
- [29:47]
Bud Elliott
I. It would sort of depend on like how competitive those games are and you would need Wisconsin, I think to be really good.
- [29:55]
Tim O'Malley
Yeah. So maybe Wisconsin clips them by a point and Wisconsin wins 10 games. Something along those lines.
- [30:00]
Bud Elliott
Something like that. And I think 11 and 1, they're. They're for sure.
- [30:03]
Tim O'Malley
Yeah. 11 on there for sure. And it could be anybody, could be losing anybody. Eleven, one, you're for sure. And because if you lose to somebody else and beat Miami then I mean
- [30:10]
Bud Elliott
they're going to have to do some hard practicing, especially against like opponent. Like I love the secondary. I don't know if I like any of these passing games you face before you face my, before you face Miami. And I do think Miami like skill, like the receivers this year are really good.
- [30:24]
Tim O'Malley
Yeah.
- [30:25]
Bud Elliott
And Mensa I think is better than back.
- [30:27]
Tim O'Malley
I, I have a theory about the Miami game. Notre Dame's working some guys, different guys at nickel. They in fact moved Christian Gray, a two year starter to nickel. We think he's going to win the job. But they also have Dallas golden, who is one of their top recruits. Two years ago, he can play nickel. Jaden Sanders from Michigan, they're working him a little bit at nickel. So it's, it's an interesting dynamic they have because I think when Miami comes to town with Malachi, Tony, unless he becomes the guy that moves all over the field, which he easily could be, I think you're going to see Leonard Moore go do what he did against USC and Makai Lemon. Leonard Moore out of nowhere just went and played nickel one on one against Makai Lemon the whole game. And other than one catch for 18 yards, you completely shut him down. It's not Leonard Moore's number one strength. He's a Boundary corner that's six, two long, but he's super fast. He's also tremendous and can be the first corner taken. I think you, you get this rotation going for these six games and you let Malachi Tony cannot beat you in Notre Dame Stadium when you have Leonard Moore covering someone else. So it's got to be mixed in, in some way. And I'm sure Malachi Tony, considering how good he is, will no longer be slated just in the slot. I'm sure they're going to move Malachi Tony around. It will be worth the price of admission and television. If you watch Leonard Moore follow Malachi Tony around, that's two of the 10 best players in college football. I was watching, watching that IU game last year because I saw Malachi Tony's debut up close and personal against Notre Dame. He was there. He was the main reason they won. Other than the pass rush, he was one of the top 10 players in college football last year as a true freshman. That reclassified by the end of the year. That's amazing. But more in Tony that day is gonna be. That's better than Makai Levin and more. And Makai Levin was the what, third, third receiver taken in the draft.
- [32:05]
Bud Elliott
Yeah, he's, he's exceptional. I, I, I mean, there are certainly some good players on this thing. I like the, the run up to that and byu. I, I, Bachmeyer, you know, may take a step. They definitely have receiver concerns after doing summer school. Like the I, I'd like to be a fly on the wall for, like, how they handle. All right, we got to really test our defense against what a real passing attack looks like. The only way we can really do it is us. Yeah, there's probably got to be some good on good, you know, going on in those couple weeks leading up. I, you got to, well, I guess you get the bye week. So you got to rep some option prep for Navy just because it's, it's, you know.
- [32:43]
Tim O'Malley
Yeah, they tend to do that all year. Actually now they've probably already started it. It's a hilarious thing. Like Navy's on the schedule, so they have their scout team guys, at least on offense, doing Navy because they want to be sharp enough to give you a look, and it's even impossible to give a real look. But they literally dedicate time all year to Navy. It started with Brian Kelly because Georgia Tech ran the option.
- [33:04]
Bud Elliott
Oh, right.
- [33:04]
Tim O'Malley
Georgia Tech and Navy on the schedule. So that was the. But they've learned, hey, you got to be prepared for this. Otherwise it looks like you know, there's the fastest thing that's ever happened to you in the world on these option plays. So you're right though. I mean, even SMU comes after Miami. If you're looking for Jennings as the next best quarterback, even Steve Angelli is the last game of the year. It's all after Miami for passing Bachemier. Tough as nails. But Notre Dame's. Notre Dame's corners will shut down Brigham Young's wide receivers. They're going to have to win the ball by playing great defense, Brigham Young and running on Notre Dame.
- [33:35]
Bud Elliott
I mean there's a really good chance that Notre Dame or Miami in this case, like that they would beat an all star team of the first eight teams that it'd be a game, right. Well compensated guys. But like, is there anybody on those offenses who would actually start for like for, for Miami or for the Irish?
- [33:53]
Tim O'Malley
Probably not. It's a tough find. Yeah, it's really. It was very unfortunate the USC didn't want to play Notre Dame anymore because this is the year. Notre Dame needed it desperately for their schedule. Now if they played him in week zero, that would be a great highlight situation for both teams they played. At the end of the year, you know, you'd be looking at a rough November for Notre Dame. You'd have, you have Miami, SMU and USC in a four week span. That's a, that's your own showcase. You could, you could ease your way up to that all the way through. It was really poor timing. It was poor timing for me because instead of going to Manhattan Beach, I'll be going to Syracuse. So that's a little bit different. But yeah, it's Notre Dame's secondaries test is coming in November and that's. But they are a great, they're legitimately a great secondary. Last year, Leonard Moore on the first, not a Malachi, Tony's touchdown, that was Carson Hobbs, but the leaping, incredible catch on a Don Shuler. Why can't I remember Amazing catch more.
- [34:49]
Bud Elliott
Or was it Daniels?
- [34:51]
Tim O'Malley
It was Daniels.
- [34:52]
Bud Elliott
Okay.
- [34:52]
Tim O'Malley
Incredible one handed catch. There was 22 seconds left. It was third down and Leonard Moore went to jump the route. And he said, to this day he's like, I don't know what I, why I would. Even with zone coverage behind him, he's like, I don't know why I would jump around with 22 seconds left. All I have to do is let him catch it. He's like, I know better than that. And it turned into the highlight reel. Touchdown Schuler and more in this Game. It is going to be an amazing matchup between the Irish secondary and Miami. As you said, if men says better, if Mensa's better than Beck, that's going to be. That's just going to be one of the best games of the year. And now the funny thing is, Beck was really calm and accurate against Notre Dame. Like Notre Dame fans going to that game thought, all right, we already have a better quarterback than Carson Beck, and they do now. But credit to Carson Beck, he did play. He played a very good game and that he managed the game and he made the throws he had to make.
- [35:36]
Bud Elliott
For sure. Tim, it's gonna be really fun to watch. I. I, like, obviously, like, I just, I'm really, I'm fascinated to see, like, how do they handle low management stuff? Like, are some of these guys playing, you know, 30 snaps a game so you get some more. More depth built up for the playoff run and you're super fresh for, you know, for the big ones. But like, I, I fully expect them in the playoff and to make a good run, especially, like, you know, if, if the D end and Jackassaw and. And great house, like, if they get those, like, if they get all three of those guys, like, meaningful contributors come November, like that, that's a serious unlock for this thing.
- [36:08]
Tim O'Malley
It is. It's a big difference. Jogisa makes it so you can impose your will a little running the ball and great house gives you that other weapon that, look, you can win. You can go 111 in college football with good, decent receivers. When you get in the playoffs, you need people to make. You need people to make plays. If Ohio State didn't have Jeremiah Smith, they wouldn't have beat Notre Dame. And they were amazing team. They were. I mean, they had 12 guys drafted on defense in two years, but Jeremiah Smith was a differentiator. They had Jeremiah Smith. It's, it's. No one else has Jeremiah Smith, but it makes a difference when you have. Well, think about it. Carnell Tate was the third receiver on that team, which is insanity with a. It's just a different world when you hit that final eight. I think you need those playmakers outside.
- [36:51]
Bud Elliott
Totally. Yeah. You're competing against other rosters that are mid to high 30s or low 40s, depending on who's reporting. You believe there, obviously. So Tim enjoyed this man. Always fun. We'll be following all your coverage all year long on Irish Illustrated.
- [37:03]
Tim O'Malley
Hey, been a lot of fun. Thanks for having me on again, bud.
- [37:05]
Bud Elliott
All right, take care.