Final Thoughts About Notre Dame’s Win Over Wisconsin With Luke Smith

0:00This is the Lockdown Podcast Network celebrating 10 years of your team every day. Hi, this is Isaac Shade, host of Lockdown College basketball and Lockdown Tar Heels. Today's episode is brought to you by ADT. Imagine you're watching the game at a buddy's house when you get a call that someone tried to break into yours. In a second, everything can change. That's why there's ADT. ADT security systems help keep your home safe 24-7 with the most company operated monitoring centers in the industry. The ADT Plus app keeps you in control the whole time. Don't leave your home wide open during an emergency. When every second counts, count on ADT. Visit ADT.com or call 1-800-ADT-ASAP. Today's episode is brought to you by the Dell XPS. I'm Wes Goldberg from Lockdown NBA Daily and Lockdown Heat. So what does it feel like to have a better laptop like the Dell XPS powered by Intel Core? With a premium design that's thin and light, it feels smooth. With a responsive touch screen, it feels fast and precise.

1:02And with long-lasting battery life, it feels like non-stop energy with a laptop that can keep up. Built for those who want better, the Dell XPS. Built for you. No name won by 28 points in the season opener against Wisconsin, so obviously there's plenty to like from the game, as well as the environment at Lambo Field, but there's also a lot for the Irish to clean up, and we're breaking it all down, coming up next. You are Lockdown Irish, your daily podcast on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team, every day. Hello and welcome in to Lockdown Irish, your daily home for Notre Dame football. I'm Tyler Wojtek, and thank you for making this show your first watcher listen to the day on Wednesday, September 9th. This episode is brought to you by Fandall, get $350 in bonus bets guaranteed when you bet $5 every day for seven days, join all the action at Fandall.com.

2:03All right, now that we've had a couple days to rewatch Notre Dame's win over Wisconsin and really process what happened, today we're going to be joined by a great friend of the show, Luke Smith, to help us put a bow on week one. And I understand that there are a lot of new viewers out there, so just for some brief context here, Luke is one of my best friends from college. He also has a sub stack called Saturday in the stands and Luke and I have been doing these game recaps every week together during the season since 2020. And the format is pretty simple here. We start with our official boots on the ground report from the game over the weekend because Luke is at basically every single Notre Dame game, whether it be home or away. But this week I was there as well. So we're going to take you inside the experience at Lambo Field before getting into the actual football and we're going to each going to share the three things we liked and didn't like from Notre Dame's win over Wisconsin. Here he is. All right, we've got Luke Smith with me here for our first game recap of the season and I am very excited. But before we dive into everything that we liked and didn't like from the game, we've got a star like we always do with the official boots on the ground report from Green Bay

3:07Wisconsin. And this time we were both there. So I'm able to contribute as well. I saved all my thoughts for this segment. I didn't really talk about the environment at all during the reaction show. So Luke, you lead us off. What do you think of the environment on Sunday? I mean, just what a beautiful night for football in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The temperature was perfect. I felt like there was a really nice mix of both fan bases in the stands and just sort of seemed like everybody was chomping at the bit to see football again. And I know that you were up in the area the night before and got to experience some of the bars around Lambo. I had done that on a previous trip when I had been there a few years ago. This time didn't really spend any time in the bars because it took a bus up from Lake Geneva to Green Bay, which was a really fun time in the way there. Not to have fun on the way home, but thankfully there was a win at least. So that was good. But upon arriving in Green Bay on Sunday afternoon, we really shouldn't have blast popping around different tailgates at houses in the neighborhood or in the actual lots

4:10too. And when we got into the stadium, I felt that the stadium atmosphere was good, probably not as raucous as the game against BYU in Vegas was four years back because those two teams are a little bit more comparable to each other than Notre Dame and Wisconsin are this year. But, you know, I'll get into some of my gripes later with the in-game entertainment. All in all, I just thought it was a bit of a perfect storm in terms of the respective expectations and excitement for each fan base. And I think that that played out just with what you had Sunday night in Green Bay. I thought it lived up to the hype in every way. You want to talk about the bars in Green Bay, Wisconsin. You know, there is a bit of a stereotype for people from Wisconsin they can drink. Well, they certainly can and they have great bars that cater to that. I spent a healthy amount of Saturday afternoon, let's say, at stadium view, which is an absolutely massive bar right by Lambo Field. And it was a great experience. Got to see, you know, some friends, a bunch of Notre Dame fans that were in town for

5:14the game. Got to see a couple people who tuned into this show. So that was really fun as well. And it was just a great environment. And you and I were talking about this right before we started. I've only been to I want to say four of the shamra 13 shamrock series games. So I can't speak for all of them, but feel like this has got to be right there at the very top for just the ideal shamrock series experience when you consider the programs involved, the location, the environment, the game itself. I just thought it was a really great experience all the way around. Totally. And it's also probably a good reminder of why they shouldn't do it every year too, because I think there have probably been some forces over the years with, you know, whether it be FedEx field where Dan Snyder is trying to defraud the redskins of the money that he won off that game, which is a true thing, by the way, or go into San Antonio in 2016, which is a psych army. We should try to find somebody who wasn't on the team or wasn't in the band that attended

6:16that game because I don't know a single person that went to that game at San Antonio. And they've done it twice in San Antonio, actually. I guess now that I say that. But yeah, I've been to six of them and this was right up there near the top in terms of the overall experience. Like I mentioned, I did think that the atmosphere in the stadium was just a little bit more back and forth. And Vegas, I kind of feel like it was a similar story. I wasn't there, but just watching on TV and Jerry World back in 2013 too, another day of an Arizona State. But what a day it was and certainly just an awesome way to kick off, which should be a really exciting season for another day. That's a good point. They should probably space these out because it's not easy to replicate something like this year and in year out. There's only so many venues that you can pick from. But the scene at Lambo Field was absolutely perfect. It's my first time being there. And I am generally not a fan of playing college football games in NFL stadiums. But this is the exception because everything about Lambo and really Green Bay Wisconsin as a whole has the feel of a college town. The crowd was very into it.

7:17There was great representation from Wisconsin fans. And I have to say pretty much every Wisconsin fan I encountered was a joy to deal with. And it was awesome to finally check Lambo Field off the bucket list. I'm certainly not going to go to a Browns Packers game there. So I really would have no other reason to go to a game there. But it was really fun. Like I said, I think that is the best Shamrock series experience overall. And I'm going to say it right now. We will talk about the in-game entertainment. But I got to admit, I really like jump around. I like that tradition. Even though it's definitely Wisconsin's thing, it is very easy for the opposing team to hijack that moment and make it their own. And that's exactly what Notre Dame did. You know, the players in the Notre Dame sideline were going off. They were having a good time to say pointed out on Twitter. Notre Dame may need to add that to the rotation during home games because dating back to 2021. Notre Dame has now outscored Wisconsin 45 to nothing in two combined fourth quarters after jump around was played. So at some point, you just got to respect the numbers, man.

8:20You really do. And I also wonder if that's enough cause for Wisconsin not to schedule Notre Dame again anytime soon. Or if they do, certainly not doing it, playing this song, going into the fourth quarter because as many people have pointed out, the last attempts they played, the score has been 41 to 13. Both times and both games were very different. We have the same results at the end of the day. And you know, not exactly how Wisconsin wanted to start their 2026 campaign. I thought Wisconsin was much improved. You know, the score is the exact same. We're going to get into this specifics here. But overall, did you feel like Wisconsin is a better team than they've been in the first few years under Luke Vickell? I would say so. I think it helps to have a healthy quarterback as well. Even if he's not the best passer in the world. I thought their defense was impressive. Notre Dame putting 34 points on them offensively. I don't think is anything to, you know, sneeze at or dismiss. I think it's, you know, well, there were some slow starts early on offense. All in all the offense put it together. I think that that's a performance that you're not going to be bragging about.

9:24But it's not one to really, you know, be upset about either. I think it was a good performance from the Notre Dame offense against the Wisconsin team that should easily make a bold this year and the way their schedule is configured have a chance to win eight, nine games. If Wisconsin goes out there, they win nine games. I wouldn't be shocked. And if they do end up doing that, that'd be a huge boost to Notre Dame strength to schedule. Then all of a sudden, people who are making these grand sweeping takeaways about Notre Dame and what they could accomplish to the postseason based off one game and maybe more specifically one half, you know, they might have to come back around to this game later on because I do think Wisconsin is going to surprise some people this year. Are you talking about the Miami fan base? Just in general. Listen, as you have discussed before, you've been bookmarking a lot of tweets from Miami fans, specifically about Notre Dame. And I think it's interfered with your algorithm. I think you're getting exposed too far too many Miami fans. We might need to clear out some of the bookmarks before the game in November for your own sanity. Like I don't know if you're going to make it to November with what you're seeing when you open up your phone. I probably could clear it out at this point too, because there are a handful of bad

10:27actors out there who literally only do this 24 seven. So I'm not going to forget their names anytime soon. You might be on something. But man, that is one obsessive fan base. Real quick though, before we dive into this game, I did want to mention, we started doing this at the end of the last season. We are going to continue it throughout the season. We're going to start off right away. Luke and I are going to be taking fans submissions this season for the boots on the ground report. Luke, as a lot of fall weddings, I do have some questions about the people who are inviting you to these events, but we're not going to be at every game this fall. Usually you are a guy, Luke. So please, if you're going to a Notre Dame game home away, please submit your boots on the ground report, you can do it in the same way that you submit mail of bad questions, whether that be in the YouTube comments or on social media, let us know, provide a report, give us some humor. And you know, we'll read the best ones on the show. We had some good luck at the end of last season, but I'm pretty excited to hear it, because I think people really enjoy this boots on the ground report.

11:27Yeah, absolutely. All submissions are welcome and always just interested to hear about people's experiences, going on in Notre Dame games, especially when they're not at home, too. I think those are always especially interesting. So interested to see what sort of submissions that come in this year. Before Luke and I share the things we liked from Notre Dame's win over Wisconsin, here's a word from our sponsor, Odo, running a business shouldn't feel like you're trying to connect to a bunch of systems that were never designed to work together. One app for accounting, another for inventory, another for sales. And somehow none of them talk to each other. Well, that's where Odo comes in. Odo is an all in one business management software that brings every part of your business together in one powerful platform from sales and accounting to inventory and marketing. Everything works in one place, helping your team move faster, stay organized and focus on growing the business instead of managing software. The best organizations know that success isn't just about talent. It's about having everyone working toward the same goal. And that's true in sports, just like it is in business. One thing that's really stood out to me about Mark's treatment senior at Notre Dame is how

12:27aligned the entire program feels from the top down, whether it's recruiting player development, strength, conditioning or the coaching staff. Everyone seems to be working from the same vision of what they want the program to become. And so just about landing talented players is about having every part of the organization pulling in the same direction. That's usually what separates good programs from great ones and great organizations win because operations matter. And that's why you should get Odo. Try for free today at odu.com slash locked on. That's od. O dot com slash locked on. This year's girls trip to tell you where I was the best. We won up ourselves with my Sapphire preferred card. And with five times points on chase travel plus three times points on vacation homes with top brands, we got this incredible cabin. It was a mansion. And with three times the points on dining, we ordered a wangu steak dinner. And that pistachio gelato was too good. So we should be going next year. I've got ideas. Chase Sapphire preferred the card that's preferred for a reason. Cards issued by JP Morgan Chase Bank and a member FDIC, subject to credit approval, terms apply.

13:29Now, as for the actual game on the field, what's it out to you the most from Sunday night? First and foremost, I think it's just how in control CJ car was. His numbers aren't going to blow you away. He went 19 to 29 for 239 yards and two touchdowns. But he really impressed me with this command of the offense and the poise he showed. Just running the show face some pressure from Wisconsin early on and didn't seem fazed by it at all, even as the Irish offensive line was still feeling itself out a little bit and the running backs are struggling to get going. And it's really striking just how well he goes through his progressions. I think that's part of the reason we saw him have completions to nine different players on Sunday night. But the play that impressed me most was actually an incompletion. And it's another name's first drive the second half. Car was rushed on first and goal by Cooper Catalano and he simply threw the ball out of the back of the end zone. Last year he displayed a reluctance to just get rid of it at times. And you know, sometimes that characteristic led to an incredible no look touchdown pass

14:33to Mike McGill waiting against Miami. At other times it led to a back breaking literal worst interception I've ever seen against USC. So that played to me was a clear sign of maturity in his game. And he's really just exactly the guy you want leading your team as the rest of the offense continues to find its footing. Yeah, I'm not going to lie. I had some concerns early on because CJ was a little amped up. He was a little over eager. He was missing on some throws. There are a couple plays that I noticed on the rewatch were like, there was a check down there. He tried to force it. But that's a huge area of growth for him, especially compared to last season. And that's something that people have been wondering about. You know, last year he started pressing during the USC game because of early struggles. And it affected him throughout the rest of the game. Well now on Sunday he comes out. It's not clicking right away. But rather than just getting stuck in a rut, he settles down, gets in a groove. And he was awesome in the second half. And it's just 10 of 13 passing 133 yards. He really only missed one throw to Jordan Faiz on the other two or throwways, including

15:36the one you just mentioned. So as you talk about areas of growth for him going from year one is it started to year two. The fact that we saw him calm down and really settle into a groove like he did is really, really encouraging for what he can do the rest of season because like we know he can make throws down field. We know that he has a lot more in him than what he showed on the field on Sunday. But that was something that I had questions about going in and it might have already answered that after one game. I think so. And like I said, you know, there's some things that we'll get into on the, but we didn't like side of things that the offense still needs to sort out a little bit. But when you have that sort of calm and just trust and reliability at the quarterback position, that really raises your floor quite a bit and allows the rest of the team to continue to grow. Well we're talking about standout performances on the offense. I want to highlight Anthony Nabb. He is what I liked the most after the rewatch. He is the only offensive player who played great for the full 60 minutes. You know, the no rem offense at a slow start, but Anthony Nabb did not start slow and

16:39he has been receiving a lot of praise lately. It's well deserved. The only bad play that you could say that he had was a holding penalty that wiped out a nice chunk gain down the field to my land gram. But as many have pointed out on social media, that probably should not have been called the holding Marcus Freeman was also very complimentary of Anthony Nabb during his press conference on Tuesday. He used a few words that say a lot. He called the nap a grown man and a dude. And even though the offensive line is still kind of figuring out some pieces, if Nabb continues to play like that and they figure out the right guard situation, I am confident that will black is going to come along as he gets more experience. Ash and Craig, we know how good of a player. He can be when he's healthy. I thought Gerby Lambert played really well as well. So this offensive line could definitely live up to the preseason hype with a guy like Anthony Nabb leading the way. Yeah. Nabb was great on Sunday night. I think helped anchor that line too as they were trying to become sure themselves early on in the game.

17:39And I think they weren't 100% sure themselves earlier on. And that was reflected in some of the play calling because clearly Mike Denbrock didn't feel like they could hold up in past protection. But we saw that evolve a little bit as the game went on. And the end of the day, four of Notre Dame's top five offensive graded players on Sunday were offensive lineman. That's a good place to be at. I also think it's so beneficial for Will Black who came in with the ton of high five star recruit. He's starting as you know what we used to call a retro freshman. Now he's just a true sophomore in the five and five era. But he's got all the talent and all the potential in the world. It didn't start out great for him. But I think having a guy next to him like Anthony Nabb, a leader on the offensive line who has also played his position before and understands what it's like to be thrown into the fire that early. Like that's some of the stuff that you know, it might we might not see it on the field immediately. But I think long term just net provides so much of this offensive line. I was surprised that he wasn't named a captain, but he doesn't need to see on his chest to be a leader for this offensive line, the offense and really the entire team because he brings

18:43a level of tenacity that is really fun to watch. And it's not quite the level of Quentin Nelson, but he did have a couple plays where like, you know, I think I've seen that before from a Notre Dame left guard. No doubt. And I think it's a good point on bringing that level of tenacity and focus and leadership despite not being a captain because another guy who a lot of us were very surprised was not a captain is Leonard Moore. And while Wisconsin was wise not to throw at him, Shy have won third and long where he almost made an incredible one handed interception despite being interfered with by the receiver. He made his presence felt regardless. You tweeted about this, but he was so physical as a tackler and Wisconsin really sought to challenge him in the run game early on. There's a few plays to stick out to me. There's one where he chased down the back from the other side of the field and then another where Abu Samo, who's a good running back tried to disarm him and he was still brought down short of the sticks. You know, there really wasn't much that Moore had to work on this off season, but it appears

19:45that even then really ticky tack stuff. Stickler could have pointed to has been sorted out as well. Right. And it's not just Leonard Moore. It's him. It's Adon Schuller and it's Drake Bowen. I think those three guys really set the tone for the defense. Now I want to highlight Schuller and Bowen here for a moment because I'm probably happiest. For Adon Schuller, after the way he played on Sunday, as most people know by now, he's obviously dealing with the tragic loss of his father who passed away the week leading up to the Wisconsin game, but he made the decision to play. And man, he played extremely well on Sunday. He looked like a guy who was playing with a ton of action like he always does, but it also looked like he was playing for something that meant more than just one game. Schuller was tied for a second on the team with seven tackles. Bowen led the way with nine. But every single time either one of those guys get their hands out of ball carrier, it is going to be violent. And even if Wisconsin game guards and they did at multiple points throughout the game, when you're a receiver or you're running back and you get hit like that by those two

20:46guys, Bowen and Schuller, it's going to make you think twice about going in that direction. Again, Colton Joseph, the quarterback of Wisconsin made the very peculiar decision to talk trash to a Don Schuller when Schuller just knocked him out on the sideline for a gain of no yards by the way, but he said amongst other things he said, a Don Schuller was too little. I think it was either the next play or two plays later where Colton Joseph kept it on a read option and it just came downhill and lit him up. Colton Joseph was slow to get off the turf after that play and a Don had some words for the Wisconsin sideline. But those are two two time captains who set the tone for the entire defense and the entire team with their physical standard of play. And I think you could see that from the very first play on Sunday. Yeah, it helps them tone setters like that. There's just a few heat seeking missiles out there on that defense and that is an intimidating factor to any opponent. So no, it's very fortunate to have those guys and it was really a blast to watch Sunday

21:48night. Schuller, especially like Notre Dame is going to be without Breonte Johnson for the foreseeable future. We're going to talk about the impact that that could have on the Notre Dame defense. But last year we really saw it in the first half of the Purdue game. The Notre Dame defense did not look the same when it on Schuller was not on the field because he was still serving the one half suspension from the targeting penalty that he suffered in the Texas A&M game. But like it's guys like that. It's guys like Schuller. It's guys like Bohn where yes, obviously they're going to impact the game with their style of play, but their impact goes far beyond that. You can experience it off the field. It's really interesting like a guy like Leonard Moore. Every guy is trying to play up to the standard. I believe that it's Schuller and Bohn who are sitting the tone across the board. Yeah, it does seem to have a real domino effect across that defense and that can only mean good things for Notre Dame moving forward here. One of the things that I like from this game, it pertains to the offense, but also special teams. Look, it's early, but they took a big step in fixing two of last season's biggest issues. Notre Dame had one of the worst kicking situations in the country last season.

22:51It has been well documented on this show. They went out. They grabbed Spencer Porath from Purdue to fix it. He had a great start going two for two on field goals and five for five on extra points. The 52 yarder for Notre Dame's first points of the year was a great way to announce yourself. But I got to ask you when he went out there to kick it, how nervous were you or were you feeling confident? Oh, somewhere in between, I think there were definitely some nerves just because at that point in the game, Notre Dame was down. Three nothing and it was a feel goal that meant something. The week before I had said that I was hopeful that we would see a feel goal, go through the uprights just so that our long national nightmare could be over. But I hope there would be a feel goal to make it 38-3. Maybe it was better because this came when there were very much stakes attached to it and it was from distance. Seeing that go through, we finally saw it and we no longer have to say the date October 11, 2020. It was a no doubt or an oddly enough, I felt pretty confident.

23:52He was going to knock it in. He just walked out there, looked very calm, a great approach to it and he buried it. It might not look or sound the same as Spencer Schrader who could kick from 58 or even 60 a couple years ago, but Spencer Poreth is deadly accurate and most importantly, he's been there before. So it's great that Notre Dame got some consistency out of the kicking game and it's also great that they were able to finally convert in some third and fourth down situations. Last year, Notre Dame was one of the worst teams in the country at converting on third and fourth and short. Again, I understand, small sample size, it's game one, but the Irish converted three of their four short yardage rushing attempts on third down and the one time that they didn't get it initially, they converted on the ensuing fourth and short. So four for four in those situations, that is a big step in the right direction considering how much Notre Dame struggled to convert in those types of situations. I like the fact that they had two future first round running backs. I think having Cooper Flanagan and James Flanagan out there certainly helped, but also got to give credit to the running backs for just finding a seam and finding a way to convert

24:55and get that first down. That's something that Notre Dame has to be able to do this season and it was a very encouraging sign from game one. Yeah. You couple those guys in with an offensive line that seems like it has a lot of potential and maybe short yardage won't be such an issue this year for this underneath team. Anything else you liked before we move on to what we didn't like? I got one thing. So after Notre Dame's first touchdown, the woman in front of me was high five in the crowd and when she got to me, she asked me if my name was Luke and when I said yes, she told me that she's a huge fan of lockdown Irish. Maybe. Columbus, Ohio's biggest fan actually her name is Molly there with her family, knew her stuff thoroughly and was really just a joy to watch a game with as well as talk with throughout the game. I'm also really glad that we had the chance to talk with her in a little bit more detail later on in the game, not only because she was delightful, but also because my girlfriend missed our initial interaction. I don't think she would have believed me that somebody recognized me in public. If she didn't see it herself and get the chance to chat with Molly later on in the

25:57game. So a big shout out to Molly, a huge supporter of this program and an awesome Notre Dame fan. Yeah, shout out to you Molly. Thank you as always for tuning in and for the record you have been recognized before but it's almost always been at the backer on the Friday night before the game. Those are our people, man. We always seem to find them before home game. Yeah, this was I guess more of a ringing endorsement as opposed to what are you going to be upset about in comments commentary. So yeah. All right. Well, that's great. Thank you to Molly and thank you everyone else who's been tuning in and said hi over the weekend. We really appreciate it. But now it is time to move on to the things that we didn't like. Luke and I are about to break down everything we didn't like from the game on Sunday. But first, I want to tell you about a great new promotion courtesy of our friends at Fandall. Folks, you have waited all off season for this. Now it is time to make every NFL week count because Fandall is making this your most rewarding season ever, whether it's backing a favorite team, building a same game parlay, betting player props or making picks on the biggest matchups, Fandall gives fans more ways to play throughout

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29:03Indeed.com such podcasts terms and conditions apply need to hire. This is a job for indeed sponsor jobs. Luke, I'm not sure we could even have you on without some gripes about what happened inside the stadium during the games. So please take it away. Yeah, it would not be an appearance for me for unlocked on Irish without some sort of right with the in game entertainment and boy, I've got quite a few coming out of a Sunday. And I know you're going to talk about the jerseys which under armor. What are we doing? But first off the DJ DJ. It was his name. Yeah, every song he played was some horrific EDM mix. I had never heard before in just like at an obscene volume for no reason. I'm not saying he was as bad as the infamous DJ sticky boats from Notre Dame stadiums ghosts of in game. Intertainments passed, but I'm not saying he was far off either. There are also just a couple other things with the in game entertainment that I really

30:03didn't like. Now somebody had told me before the game that this was the first Shamrock series game where the ticket allotment was split evenly between the two fan bases. I don't really understand why Notre Dame agreed to that. It wasn't in 2021. I felt like a 50 50 split. Maybe just was the first one. But I don't know why you would sacrifice a home game and then not even guarantee yourself having the majority of fans in the stadium. And on that note, I felt like way too much of the in game entertainment was slanted towards Wisconsin. The intro video on the big board was shown legends from both schools. They even had a segment where they were called Wisconsin R.B.U. and they had Melvin Gordon, Nancy Ball and Ron Dane and a couple others on the field that we're getting recognized. And I talked about the EDM music earlier, but like Notre Dame's got third and short. And the music's jacked up like it's a Wisconsin home game. I just don't get what we were doing there. And as we discussed in the open, I'm generally not a fan of Notre Dame Sacrificing a home

31:04game for a neutral site game. I think Lambo was a worthwhile exception. But going forward, they should not voluntarily level the playing field from an in game experience perspective as they did with the Shamrock series game. Yeah, it didn't feel like a home game at all. It felt like a ball game. 50-50 both ways. And you're right, like Notre Dame is going to sacrifice a home game inside their own home stadium. You probably want it to be a little slanted. Of course, there were things around the stadium. You're like, okay, it does feel more Notre Dame, but you're right. In the crowd, it's 50-50. And Wisconsin fans were loud. All credit to them. There's a couple plays when the Notre Dame offense was sort of backed up under the Wisconsin side of the field. It was loud. So you're right. At certain points in the game was definitely like playing in a way environment. Now for me, as we talk about what we didn't like from the Shamrock series, you already mentioned it, man. I could not determine who anyone was because of the jerseys. It's to be clear, the jerseys look cool up close. They look cool in pictures. I'm sure that all the players on the team, like they're going to get those framed and it

32:07will look cool. Recruits are going to wear them. All that stuff is great. But even with the names on the back, which I am a huge proponent of, by the way, I wish they always had names in the back of the jerseys, especially in the NIL era, but selflessly. So it's even easier for me to keep track of who is who. It was just almost impossible to recognize who is who from where I was sitting in the crowd. And then even during the rewatch, I thought it would be better. It was slightly better, but not by that much. And there were multiple points during the game where I struggled to pick up on who made a play or didn't make a play. And it felt like even the PA announcer was struggling. So it didn't even always get cleared up after the fact that it's not a criticism of the PA announcer. It was impossible, especially when the ball was on the far side of the field. There was a crowd Wisconsin's uniforms were just as difficult to read. And if you look at either one up close individually, okay, it's fine. But when they were on the field together, man, it looked like Buffalo Bills, New York Giants, Color Rush Game on a Thursday night on Amazon Prime. So I just, I didn't really like it. It made the viewing experience just a little bit more difficult because I'm like, wait,

33:10who was that again? Anyway, that's my great. It was extremely difficult to see any numbers out there. I mean, after that, Jayden, or sorry, after that DJ McKinney, and I almost did it, like, to the numbers after that DJ McKinney picked six. I wasn't sure immediately if it was him or Sanders who had it because I saw two on the Jersey, but I couldn't see if I could see a one or not. And this is not the first time that Under Armour has done this. It's a similar type of story in Yankee Stadium a few years back and just my plea to Under Armour is you barely have any properties left because you're a lousy company at this point. At least put some effort into making the numbers legible. It's not that freaking difficult. Yeah, it was difficult. As for the actual product on the field, I would say the main thing I didn't like from this. And it goes on both off or both the offensive line and the defensive line, the rotation on the interior. Now, I already expressed my disappointment with the decision to start styles, press

34:13cod over Sullivan, Absher at Right Garden. The reaction show yesterday. We don't need to rehash all of that. Mark Sramon did provide some clarification that the plan going in was to give each guy styles and absur, 30 reps. I also don't think it's a coincidence that the line looked a lot better when Absher was out there compared to press cod. Although it wasn't all on press got either. That's not what I'm saying, but still I feel like Absher's got to be the guy moving forward. Even if he doesn't play the entire game, he should definitely get the majority of the snaps defensively though. It seems like Charlie Partridge really likes working the defensive tackles in two man tandems where you'd rotate two guys out at once. They basically would go out there as pairings. If you want to do that fine, the Frances Brute's young a great tandem needs to be out there more. That Armel Mucum, Elijah Hughes and Sean Sevelano played bad, but Brew and Grey just look different compared to the rest of the guys. It's tough to include Jason O'Neill in that because he got hurt, but either way, it looks like Brew and Grey are going to get a lot more run with the first team defense starting this weekend. I think that is going to bow very well for this defense long term.

35:16Yeah, I've got a couple of ways of mind about that. I don't know if that's a practice thing. Did those guys just not practice well because when you look at them out there, it's pretty obvious they're the most talented defensive tackles on the roster. But is it also maybe a thing where they like pairing those guys together just because they're a little bit different physically than everybody else in that room or maybe even else like, you know, Charlie Partridge knew that they have some time to figure out this from a rotation perspective. He wants to give people some run because you've got some run until BYU to really figure this out. Hey, I think Wisconsin had 12 drop backs on Sunday night and nobody had got pressure on nine of them. The personnel was not really an issue or preventing pressure from getting there. Maybe it's a combination of all three of those factors and just trying to make sense

36:16of what you have still. But I agree. I would like to see a little bit more of those two guys. Yeah, I don't want this to come off as a criticism of the other guys like Mookam and Hughes and Sevalano. They played fine. It's just that I thought Brew and Gray played better and they should be the two main guys going forward with the understanding, of course, that you need to rotate at defensive tackles, especially a team like Notre Dame who wants to play really long season. But I was just really impressed with what I saw from those two guys when they were out there. Yeah, no doubt. And speaking of Onya, I mean, the injuries, that's another thing. Just obviously a part of football and it feels like Notre Dame has always victim to a big one every single year in the first few weeks of the year. In the case of Bronte Johnson and Jason Onya, it sounds like they'll probably both return at some point this year, but it just sucks to lose him in week one. And with Johnson, especially, it's gutting just because it felt like he was primed to make elite super start him. And maybe he'll be back for Miami. Maybe he won't be back until the playoffs and maybe that'll serve Notre Dame better.

37:17But it's just a bummer because I was really excited to watch him play and he's definitely going to be out for some time now. Yeah, Notre Dame has had a bad run where some of their best defensive backs get her early on in the season. The third year with the program started with Hamilton, Benjamin Morrison and now T Johnson, although the difference between Johnson and the other two is that Johnson is expected to come back this season. And as our friend Harrison pointed out to us, I think this is a really good point. Let's say Johnson is out for six weeks. Say he's out through the rest of September and he's out the rest of October, but he's back in time for the Miami game. That would be November 7th. If Notre Dame makes the national championship the season in terms of like the length of the season, that would basically be the halfway point, not in terms of the amount of games played, but considering the national championship is not until the end of January because of just how ridiculous the college football calendar is. It's like, OK, if you get Johnson back as long as he's ready by November and he can play against Miami, he can play against SMU and he's still in the playoff.

38:19He can still have a really good season, but I'm with you. It's definitely disappointing because he made a couple plays early on, man. He almost picked off that one pass and he just came down like a heat seeking missile to make that play. He's just a different caliber player and I really like Luke Talch. I think he's going to do great in this role. But Johnson is a guy who's going to be playing on Sundays for a really long time. Luke Talch is just a really quality college football player, in my opinion. Yeah. And maybe my prediction on him leading the team in picks. I thought about that. That's one of my ex now. Yeah. One other thing, this isn't really like about anything on the field. I was pretty surprised at the harsh criticisms from, or harsh criticisms of the Notre Dame running backs from Notre Dame fans. Like this is actually a positive thing when it comes to the product on the field, but a lot of fans were highly critical of Williams and Nolan James Jr. and obviously they're not the same as Jeremiah Love and Jadarian Price. It's going to look different. And at the beginning, it was a little bit jarring because it looked so different than what we had been accustomed to seeing the past couple of seasons. But let's be honest, we were spoiled.

39:21You don't typically have two first round running backs in the same backfield, but it's also not really fair to judge Williams and James relative to those two guys because they're both elite of the elite. And just because they're not ripping off 60-yard runs does not mean they weren't productive. Shout out to our guy Greg Femong from Iar Sports Daily for these numbers. Williams, Nolan James Jr. and Keedron Young accounted for 14 of Notre Dame's 21st downs. And they combined for 229 all purpose yards and three touchdowns on 33 touches. It didn't have the same look or style as what Notre Dame had last year, but if that's the first game from those guys against what is likely going to be one of the best defense as they're going to face all regular season, I'll take that man. Right. There was always going to be a drop off. Maybe it just took some seeing it for people to actually realize that. And I understand that it wasn't pretty early and maybe even Nias missed some holes early on. But to be critical of those guys coming out of that game, I think just misses the plot

40:21a little bit. I think they were highly effective. And ultimately War on Wisconsin's game went on and you saw that in a second half. Right. And I would attribute most of the struggles running the ball early on in the game to the offensive line. Like where there are a couple plays, if you want to nitpick, like maybe Williams could have cut back on a certain play and gained three or four more. Like, of course, I'm not going to debate that. But I feel like that's a little bit nitpicky. And people were so critical that they kind of dismissed all the good things they did. And there were a lot of things to like from both Nias Williams and the James Jr. that second half. They're really were. And I think honestly, the bigger question Mark that I would have coming out of Sunday night is which receivers, not named phase on in Gilbert, are going to step up and develop some chemistry with CJ car because phase on did have a nice night on Sunday at four grabs for 80 yards. I thought Gilbert had a solid night, two, three catches for 34 yards. But I thought of that. I mentioned that CJ car had nine had compilations to nine different players. But a lot of that was running back since I didn't.

41:23And I think some of that was a byproduct of how Wisconsin played the Irish and some of it was based on how Notre Dame felt they could hold up and pass protection. I'd really like to see some flashes from Miley Graham and Jaden great house next week. It sucks that Graham had a nice catch wiped off the board on a bogus holding call and he also did draw a PI too, but you just you'd like to see him start to develop some chemistry with with car. And I think it's it's the same story for great house. Who's a guy that I had a lot of expectations for this season? I think it's totally fair to have questions about them. I'm not sounding the alarms just yet. Not only was it a nice play by Graham, he absolutely torched that defender. And you're like, okay, that's what you want to see from a guy like Miley Graham who is all these elite trades and he really put it together on that play through the past interference penalty like you mentioned. I think that's going to come in time. I think the game plan kind of dictated who got the ball because Wisconsin was playing so deep. Like their safeties were so far back they were not going to let Notre Dame attack down field.

42:24They started having success running those inside digs with their wide receivers credit to CJ car made a couple really nice throws and like he made it look easy. Those aren't easy passes. I think Graham is going to have a big game here. I'm not saying it's going to be right. But I think he's going to have one game where it's like, oh, we had five catches 85 yards in a touchdown. He's going to gain some confidence and then build off that with Jane great house. I think they just have to force the issue there eventually. You think about what he did in the college football playoff like a couple of those throws were really he wasn't open. Riley Leonard just threw up in the ball and he went up and made a play. CJ car didn't really take any of those chances against Wisconsin. He didn't need to but to get him involved, I think that's just where you're going to have to do. So again, I'm not sounding the alarm just yet totally fair to have questions about what that wide receiver can be. But I think after rice, I'm assuming they're going to try to push the ball down field a little bit. If they're still not producing, I think then we can have a bigger conversation about Notre Dame's wide receivers. Yeah. Now, I think that's a good point. And like I said, hopefully we do start to see some of that this week.

43:24All right. Before we get out of here, you got any final thoughts. Looking ahead to rice, you're going to be there this weekend. I will be there excited to be there for the home opener. Hopefully Marcus Freeman wins his second home opener in his five years as the home, but should be a nice day in South Bend very much like forward to it. I can't wait to watch that game on television. A bummed I won't be there. But yeah, let's hope Mark Freeman gets a second win in the home opener. It would be the first time he did it against an FPS school. But remember, if you are going to the rice game this weekend, please. Submit your boots on the ground report. We're going to read the best one on the show. And of course, make sure that you are following Luke's written work throughout the season as well. He's got a new sub stack very appropriately named Saturday in the stands where you can find more of his thoughts on weekends in South Bend or in last week's case in Green Bay, plus Notre Dame football, college football at large really. So that's Saturday in the stands on sub stack. Luke enjoy the game at rice and we'll see you right back here next Tuesday morning. We're going to be back to normal next week with our schedule.

44:26Can't wait. Talk to you next week.

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