Notre Dame Football Mailbag - Part III

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1:00You're a pro at running your life. At committing to your workout, at showing up every day. At Bombas, we're pros too. Pro is at making socks. Our Sportist Orban has specialized socks for whatever sport you're committed to. Running, hiking, golf, Pilates, and so much more. Maybe a sweat-wicking yarns, blister-fighting details, and targeted art support. Bombas Sport is pro-level socks from the pros of socks. For another pro, you go to bombas.com slash audio and use code audio for 20% off your first purchase. That's bombas.com and use code audio. Getting into part four of the Irish Breakdown podcast brought to you by our friends over at Fandall. Rapid things up with a mid-week mailbag. We have Mark Avalon getting us kicked off here. Regarding revshare within conferences, could you see a non-big-time college football

2:03teams who get the same shared money taking alternate paths of focusing on men's basketball instead of college football to the objection of conference commissioners? Well, I think we already see that. I mean, Kentucky, Arkansas, Iowa State didn't put their top five team together by handing out Omaha Stakes gift cards. You know what I mean? That's not how they put that thing together like they chose to spend the money. That regard. Do you look at Yukon and the money they're spending on basketball? But I don't know that that's necessarily going to be to the objection of conference commissioners though. I think it's good to have teams that are really good at basketball. I don't know. Sure, you can do both, but there aren't a lot of teams that are good at both.

3:04Alabama had a couple of years where they were good at both. You know, back in the day, there were years when Michigan was that way. Ohio State's had some years where they were really good. Like, oh, 607. I mean, Ohio State placed for the title against LSU and football and either that year or the year before they played for the title against Florida and basketball. You know, I think, actually, let me go look. So, so Florida, let me go look at this real quick. Florida, I think, won a national championship in football and basketball the same year. I think because Florida won back-to-back national championships, correct? Under Billy Donovan. So they won the 0506 season and 0607 season. So yes, so they won an 0506 and then that fall, the Florida basketball team or football team won a championship. They beat Ohio State. And then that following season, Florida won the basketball championship again by beating Ohio State.

4:04If you remember, that was the Mike Conley, Greg Odin teams from back then. So, I mean, there's years certainly where that's that's the case, but I don't know that they're going to be upset if Vanderbilt doesn't spend all their money on football and decides they want to have a really, really good basketball team. I don't think they're going to, it's like you can't have 17 great football teams like somebody's got to be bottom feeder, but you also, if those teams are going to be good at football, you better be good at basketball because men's basketball still generates revenue. And so I think that would, would not be something that they'd be totally opposed to. Yeah. Now, if you're not spending any of that money and you're investing in like school projects, like, hey, your school president gets a $300,000 pay raise and you're using it to build this new thing over here and then you're not investing that at all in your sports programs. That's when people could get upset and rightfully so. Yeah, absolutely. As long as there's some sort of return for the conference commissioner because like,

5:07it's mine, you can correct me if I'm wrong, but it's my understanding that Jim Phillips is the commissioner of the ACC, that means he also benefits from having good basketball teams. Correct. You know, so it's like, as long as he's seeing some sort of return from that revshare model, it's, I think it's pretty. And if anything, Jim Phillips especially should be trying to convince basketball teams to get good again, because they're not even dominated in basketball anymore as a league. Now, Tuk is really good this year, but as a league, they're not what they used to be now. So I would be like, hey guys, I understand we don't have the revenue to be good at football, but there's no excuse for us to not, you know, North Carolina. There's no excuse for you not to be at a basketball game. NC State, there's no excuse, Wake Forces, no excuse for you not to be better, you know, so yeah, not good. All right, let's go to Joseph Parr as a question here. Is Isaiah Rogers as good as this year's freshman running backs?

6:09No, but he's good. He's the kid for Massachusetts. He's a really good back. I don't think he's quite on the level, but I think he's a top 10 national back this year. This is this running back class isn't quite as good as last year's. Now that's based on comparing them as juniors, but he's still very good back. I'd be very, I'd be fine, totally happy if Isaiah Rogers committed in their name. I don't think Trace Agar is on the level of these two backs. I'd be thrilled if Trace Agar wanted to commit to another name because it's not so much about comparing them to the current backs. It's like, can you get a back where it just take the context of the roster out? Can this kid be the starting running back on a team that competes for championship? And if you ask me that about Isaiah Rogers, forget context of who they get in 27 or who they may have got, may get 28, can he be that player? And my answer for Isaiah Rogers is absolutely. Lathen Wysington. Wysington, is it? Yes, Wysington, is it? Yes. If you ask me that about Trace Agar, yes, absolutely.

7:10And then there's some others that are obvious, but yeah, I would, I would, I'd be jazzed if they got Isaiah Rogers. Yeah, I'd feel the same way about Trace Agar. There's some good backs in this class. I just don't know if they're, um, are these good slash or no, but they don't necessarily have to be. I don't think Jardin Price is as good as Jeremiah Love, but he's still really flipping good. You know what I mean? So, yeah, that's really what it's come, comes about, come, that's where it where it comes from to me. Let a super chat pop up your trap from our guy Tyler Evans. What was the funniest thing you've ever cried about? Mine was when I was little as a Mariners fan and Griffey Jr. getting traded to the Reds. I might have cried a little bit that day too, but as a Reds fan, it was tears of joy because he was like, he was always my second favorite player when he was playing Barry Larkin was my favorite player because as a Reds fan, I loved Barry Larkin. But he was my number two, like I loved King Griffey Jr. Now part of that was because his dad was a red and played for the big red machine and all that, but he was so much fun to watch the backwards hat, the smile all the time,

8:14like just such a, a great player. But what's the funniest thing you've ever cried about? Um, I don't know if it's funny. My wife likes to make fun of me. My mom told her one time that I cried when they killed King Kong when I was a kid. And I didn't like movies like that. Um, when I was a kid, I was reading where the red, red firm grows and they've seen where the dogs, they had to put the dogs down. Um, that was, you know, but those aren't funny. Um, I mean, I, I've cried laughing like I laughed, so I don't know why it is. This scene will just struck me as so funny and I understand why there's two scenes that I just actually died the first time I watched them laughing, like literally tears come to my laugh and so hard. The scene in Austin powers, I think it's gold member where the security guards like, no, no. And then they show him on like this really slow bulldozer and I don't know why I found this so funny. The other one is, he's like, no, no, I don't know why I found this so funny.

9:22Um, and then the other one was we were at the movie theater watching Yes Man. And the scene when Jim Carrey passes out in the chicken, cute place, I don't know why I just lost because I had, I've been laughing so much that move because it was such a funny movie. But I was laughing so hard and then that just, that was the scene that just put me over the edge. And he's like, and he just, I don't, I lost it. So I think that's probably the funny is like, dude, that's the, of all the things in Yes Man, that's the thing that caused you to last so hard. You cried. I'm like, yes, it was kind of a culmination of that. But those are probably like funny things. Those would probably be at the top of my list. Mac, I cried when the Broncos won a Super Bowl in 97 tears of drive literally had that. No question. I'm not afraid to admit that. I just on January 25th of 2027, I also hope to be crying tears of joy. I get that completely. And I will no shame. I get that. The funny or the funny, like, when I think of like funniest things I've cried at, I think

10:23of like, that made you cry like, gosh, okay, I was a young sports fan. I was like eight years old. When I learned that players like in college graduate and then don't come back, that made me pretty upset. Like, I was like, yeah, another year of Brady Quinn, let's go. My dad was like, he's done. He's leaving. What? I was like, yeah, I was like, what is he done as a, who's coming in? And yeah, so that made me pretty upset because I was like, I remember my Notre Dame fan of being that. But like, I just always remembered like the NFL a little bit more. I was never a bigger NFL fan than college, but it was just like, you know, Pete Manning was the quarterback at the Colts forever. Yeah. He was the student. That's how it was at college. But so when I learned that, that was pretty sad. Well, it's the last time you cried, Trev. Was it related to the news that you have broken recently? You didn't really. You will when it comes.

11:23Oh, yeah. It's, yeah. So the last time I cried, I think was on my wedding day. Okay. Yeah. That was back in on September 1st of 2024, the last time I can remember like, I, I, I, now, were you crying because of the wedding or are you crying because you were still excited about Notre Dame beating Texas A&M the day before it was both. It was because of the wedding. It was the best day of my life, and I'll never forget it. But no, no, it was definitely because of the wedding. But that was the last time. I've had family members pass away. But I don't, I don't cry at those times. I'm just very, like, stoic. I just kind of sit. Um, I was good at my grandma's funeral until I, until I had to read the, you, I, I had to write. So for my grandma, grandpa passed away. I had to write and, and give the uology for both. And I was, I'm going to be strong and I didn't make it through.

12:26Most recent time I cried was actually a week or two ago. Um, as you know, I'm very, you know, um, have such a great respect for troops. But like, you know, it was the day when they announced the first six soldiers that got killed at the beginning of operation and during, uh, was it, uh, what's it called, um, operation, uh, something fury, right, uh, epic fury, right? And that was called. And, uh, I was kind of sad about that because like, you know, I had a friend of mine from high school, uh, was on the USS Cole and, you know, I experienced that a little bit and coming from a Miller town, but so I was a little bummed about that. And then I, I had my YouTube channel on and it's just in the background. I just, you know, songs come on and then, uh, Mr. Red, white and blue came on. And yeah, I got it. You know, it's the funniest thing that makes me cry and I, and I shouldn't be admitting this. Whenever I see those videos of military people returning home to surprise their kids, that gets me every time and, um, yeah, that one gets me at every time.

13:28But yeah, that day just was like, and I put a tweet out about it, but that day, it just kind of, it's like the culmination of already like, and it's, it's obviously like they, you joined the military, you know, you're putting your life on the line to, to, you know, to, there's a potential for you to either defend our freedom or the freedom of others. And, and, and it's a choice you make, but it's like, but it's also like, you think about the fact and that's what though that song hit to me, it's like, it's, you know, the, the guy that leaves his baby at home, it's the guy from Indiana, you know, it's just, you think about it, it doesn't just affect them. It also, you think of their families and how it affects them and that, that kind of got me. I'm gonna show that. Yeah. And then, and then that's already there. And then Mr. Red, white and blue plays and, oh, man, I was like, yep, getting me a good crying every day. Today. So I, I cried much, but what I do, it hits me, it hits me still to this day. I can't watch the end of Avengers Endgame. Oh, yeah. By still the funeral. The funeral. Yeah. I just, after, after Tony snaps him all back, I just, the movie's done.

14:29Yeah. There you go. I get that. I've seen everything I need to say. And it's not just the death. It's when happy is talking to his daughter at the end and he's like, are you hungry? She's like, yeah. He was like, what do you want? She's like cheeseburger. She's like, your dad love cheeseburgers. That gets me every time. Don't know why it's just like, so I'm like, okay, they saved the day. Movie's done. I get you. I'm all for that. The snap can be. I wish it would be the end of the movie. Me too. Yeah. I'm with you. I'm with you. Yeah. Good stuff. Really good stuff. Here's one from Chris Hossfield. What's your gut telling you about Cam Williams? Do you think it clicks for him? Look, I'll say this. I don't really have a gut feeling right now. By April 25th, we're going to either be talking about, okay, Cam, Cam's going to play for another name this year or it's just like, it's not going to happen.

15:31I mean, like, I don't care that he did nothing his first two years. Miles Boykin did nothing his first two years, I mean, I mean, Javon McKinley did nothing his first three years. I mean, we, that's not new. Kevin Austin caught like six passes or something stupid like that his first three years. But if it doesn't happen now with the youth behind him with the transfers coming in, it just isn't going to click by his junior year. That's kind of where I'm at. But I'm still giving him this spring to say, okay, bro, go, go prove yourself, you know, no Quincy Porter. Jaden Greathouse is going to be a little bit limited early, you know, if Braylon Robbins is not practicing, this is your chance. So I'll have a much better feel of that by, you know, April 25th than I do today. But this spring is going to, it's going to be big for him. And so I want to at least wait to answer that question before I see that, before I see what he does there. Yeah, that's, that's how I'm looking at this one too, man. I mean, look, I agree with all the players that you brought up, but the benefit that they

16:33had that came Williams doesn't is they didn't have a Mylon Graham on that roster of Quincy Porter, a Caden Finley and Elijah Burris of all players kind of nip into his heels. So it's going to be a huge spring for him. And we can evaluate this on, on April 25th, I agree. From Jay Melvin, Brian, do you think that the only teams that likely have a legit chance to win a title this year or Georgia, Ohio State, Texas Tech, Miami, Oklahoma with the top being Notre Dame, Texas Oregon and maybe IU, okay. So Georgia, Ohio State, Texas Tech, Miami, Oklahoma. So first of all, I don't think Texas Tech is a team that I have in the going to win at all categories. They had a better shot last year and they didn't get it done. And I think there's better teams this year. Does Georgia have a legit chance? Yes. It's Kirby's team. They're still talented. They've got a veteran quarterback. Yeah, they've got a shot. Ohio State has a shot.

17:34Miami has a shot. Oklahoma has a shot. Notre Dame, Texas Oregon and maybe Indiana. I agree with all of those. I think that Notre Dame, Texas, and Oregon, I would put in a higher love category than Indiana for this year's team. If I had more faith in LSU at quarterback, I would consider putting them in this conversation, but I don't think that they're there now. Nobody else in the ACC, Trev, I mean, look, I can't completely write off Alabama yet. Like they got to prove a lot from a coaching standpoint, but they're still going to be a really talented football team. They're going to have to be a lot better than they were last year, but I have a team on there in Oklahoma that beat that got beat by them in the playoffs last year. So I can't completely write them off yet. They'd probably be at the bottom of my list, but they'd be on there as well, Trev. Let's say you. That team for me, the one that you can't count out, and I understand that what their season

18:36was last year, I'm keeping my eye on Clemson, man. I am. Could be one of those. No, I'm not. Yeah. I'm, this is just me personally, I'm putting them above Alabama. I'm not high on them, and I haven't been shy about that fact. I think that, yes, I know they made the playoffs this year, didn't last year, but on the field, they have regressed in certain areas under Caleb DeBoard, not excelled. Yeah. So I'm going to need to see some big turnaround before I'm like they're getting ready to compete now. Clemson is obviously also digressed, but I have more faith in Davo than I do Caleb DeBoard. 100% agree with all that. My point is simply, Alabama's got a roster that if the coaching comes around, they can win it. I don't know that Clemson does, and that's that, but I have more faith in Chad Morris and Davos Weenie and Tom Allen than I do in Caleb DeBoard and his dad. I agree with you completely. I just think their roster is still good enough that if they put it all together, sure,

19:39they've got a shot to do it. That's all. But that's going to be the question for several teams, like, do they have the coaching to get that done? That's going to be interesting, very interesting, because like we had Clemson's D line in our top 10 D line, the receiving core is going to be in our top 10 receiving core whenever we do that ranking. I don't think we've done that yet this off season. We will promise you Clemson will be in there somewhere, really like Chris Vazina as a young quarterback. Their linebacking core is probably, if not in my top 10, in the conversation to be in the top 10, my questions at Clemson are going to be offensive line and secondary. Can they get those two positions rolling? That's going to be the key for Clemson, because I actually like Chris Vazina as a quarterback. I do. I mean, he looked pretty solid in his one start last year against a pretty good SMU team. He's a highly ranked kid. Noted any like them. It's a good player. Town to player. If Texas A&M can get short up in the trenches and find answers with how much they lost out, also put them in this conversation, if they can make it through the end of their regular season schedule, which is a gauntlet, they might be one that might be a sneaky

20:43one. Well, you're saying it. Look, if you're saying what I think you're saying, and I agree with it completely, if A&M can do what they need to do to get to the playoff, they become a team that's dangerous once they get there. Because that means they would have short up by the end of the year, those two big issues in the trenches. I agree with you 100%. They're going to have a very talented back seven, you know, good second, really good secondary talented receivers, down to tight ends. Marcel Reed is what he is, you know, talented back field. So yeah, I could see them. That's a good one. That's a good one. All right. Here we go. From Sinco, Sin Tangent, the spirit of getting the best 11 on the field for defense. How much sense would it make to train Luke Taliget, Nickel? I wouldn't. I think that there's some things that Luke can do. I think if I'll tell you what, Luke Taliget would have been a monster in Mike Elko's 2017 defense. Yeah. Like playing that rover position and what they asked that guy to do with what they asked this nickel to do, I don't think that's playing to Luke Taliget's strengths.

21:46It's not. If you felt he's one of your best 11 and it's not close, I would say then you better cross-trained Tay Johnson to play nickel as opposed to or or field corner or something like that. Like, you know, maybe even a Don, but even then, I don't think that I would have him there. I just don't think that how they use that position doesn't really fit his skill set. Now, would I say, okay, could I have him as like a third second level player in like a three, three type of nickel package? Sure. That's technically a dime package because you've got a 6DB on the field, sure. But that might be as like a Sam, you know, where he's covering a backer tight end or blitzing or something like that. Sure. Dropping into the middle of the field, playing hook curl, something like that. Sure. Absolutely. But not as a nickel. No, here's, here's how I view this sign. Let's just say Christopher Burgess has a breakout we think that he's going to have and he's one of your four best defensive linemen. You don't bump Jason O'Neill to big end to get Christopher Burgess on the field just

22:46for the spirit of getting the best 11 guys on the field. He'd be more like safety depth is a question mark on this team past Luke Talich. You take Luke Talich out of the safety room. It starts to get a little bit more shaky. So I would, I would keep him at safety and also personal preference. I don't know how much I love the idea of a six foot four nickel just for some of the things that they get asked to do. So that's, that's where I am with this one. Good one. For Josh Bufo, Bufo, excuse me, what team would you build by position group from these Notre Dame seasons, 88, 93, 05, 2012, 15 or 18, thank you and Trev for filling our Notre Dame addiction. This is my pleasure, very, very much my pleasure. And I truly mean that one of the things that I feel most blessed by is that, you know, God's giving me this platform to be able to, in some way,

23:48fit form or fashion bring joy to people's lives. It's not as important as a lot of other things, but you know what, it's important to people. And I appreciate that. I appreciate saying that quarterback, 05, pretty Quinn, Tony Rice is probably my favorite all time quarterback, but in today's era, the, the offense that I would want to run, he's not playing quarterback for me. Now I've said before had Tony grown up in the modern era, I think he would have been much better quarterback because he would have been taught to run a more non-option oriented offense. And he had a bazooka for an R. I'd go Brady Quinn a quarterback. My running back room would be, oh man. My running back room would probably be probably 88, and I hate saying that because my guy Lee Bechtin was on 93, I love Lee Bechtin, but 88 give me, you know, Ricky Waters and,

24:48and Mark Green and Rodney Culver and Tony Brooks and Anthony Johnson. Yeah, that's a heck of a running back room. My wide receivers would be 15, yeah, 15, no. My wide receivers would probably be 05, yeah, Somarja. Can you give me the 05 receivers before Reyma's injury against Michigan? That would make it even easier for me. Yeah, we'll say start of the season. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because that's it. I mean, Somarja, Reyma and Stovall, oh my goodness, with Matt, with Matt Shelton coming off the bench, I have to go 05. Tight end. That would be, hmm. See, they're 88 or 90. I'd have to go, I'd have to go 93. I'd probably go 93. That's a tough one. Yeah, Derek Brown in 1992.

25:50And part of this is honestly, it's my bias towards the 93 team. They had just lost Erbsmith, but, you know, a friend of mine was a tight end on the 93 team. So it's kind of like, I feel like I kind of have to, I kind of have to, you know, put the 93 team with Oscar on there, but, sure, yeah, I kind of feel a little obligated to do that. But 88 would be a fine pick too, but I'd probably go 93 for tight ends. Offensive line. That's actually an easy one as much as I love the 88 and the 93 offensive lines. It's 15. This Ronnie Stanley, Quentin Nelson, Mike McGlinchee, Steve Elmer, and Nick Martin. That's a pretty easy one defensive line. I'd probably go 93. Love the 88 D line with Chris Zorich and Jeff Alm and Andre Jones Jr. Frank Stams.

26:53Andre Jones Sr., excuse me. 93. You've got Bryant Young, you've got Brian Hamilton, you've got Jim Flanagan, Oliver Gibson, got Burt Berry was a freshman, you've got, I think Ronaldo win was on that team. I believe you've got Thomas Knight on that team. I probably have to go 93. It was a great D line. Lineback in core. Oh, man, I'm torn between, you see, the problem with 12 is I love Manta and I love Jalen in 12 and 15 but I didn't love what started next to him. Linebacker, I'd probably either go 88 or 18 would probably be the two years I'd go there and I'd probably lean towards maybe even 18 because they'd fit more of a modern style of play. 88 was pretty good too. Michael Stonebreak. Now I have to go 88. Michael Stonebreaker, let's bridge it. He had a net bowl car on the bed coming off the bed.

27:53Yeah, I got 88 barely of 18. And then secondary again, I'd go 88. Todd Light, Pat Terrell, Stance Magala, like that was a, you know, that was a Dwan Francisco, George Street, or I'd probably go 88. If I didn't go 88, secondary, I'd go 18. The difference between those two units is the 88 team had a star and the 18 team did, and I mean like star star, like Todd Light was a top five NFL draft pick. That Terrell was a second round NFL draft pick, like that team was probably really good. I'd go 88 or 18 for secondary as well, and I'll probably lean towards 88. What's a Utreff? And this is a little tougher for you because two of those teams, you don't really have a lot of recollection on. I'll try to blend it as much as I can from what I know, but O5 is easy. Give me Quintet quarterback running back and you'll have to hear me out on this one because I get 88, but this kind of comes into not seeing them play. And if we're going based on the start of the season, I would actually go 2015 and have

28:54a rotation to CJ pro size and Terry and Fulston. I think that would be pretty interesting. Wide receivers, probably out of the Dexter Williams's. Yeah, so 15 would be my running backs. Receivers give me O5 with a healthy Rima McKnight. Tight end is easy for me. Give me Tyler Reifert and Troy Nicholas from the 12 team. Offensive line is 15 D line. I won't cheat. I'll be cool. I was going to say, give me the 2012 interior if I could make Stefan two with a nose, but I won't do that. So I'll go D line, I'll go 93 line backers, I would go 18 corners, I would go 93 safeties, I'd go 18. Okay. In your frame of reference, not being able to consider 88 or 93, agree with that on the

29:57safeties. And it's not close. As much as I love Zibakowski and Chinny, like that 18 safety room was really, really good. That's really good. Fun fact, I believe this is true. Somebody in the chat cracked me if I'm wrong, but Notre Dame in 1988 had five new starters on the offensive line. The one asterisk is Andy Heck played tight in the year before, which back then was a glorified offensive tackle. They moved them to tackle the next year, but you have five new starters on the offensive line. Oh, and for kicker, give me 15s kicker. By the way, yes, you don't want the Reggie Ho team, they had Reggie Ho and Billy Hackett in 18. That better depth than 18. Reggie was the money guy Billy Hackett had the big, big leg, he had Craig Hentrick a punter. I'm totally kidding. I got to go with the, I got to go with the hometown brand, dude. I got it. I got to go. Reggie Ho doesn't count, but I watch Justin, you know, OK, OK, OK, I just, I'm upset that

30:57you just like kicked Reggie, Reggie Ho out of the company, out of the crew, out of the, you know, to mean the brand. It's a little upsetting. It's all about the brand, buddy. I get it. I get it. The Bleacher Report app is your destination for sports. Right now, the NBA is heating up, March Bandit's is here, and MLB is almost back. Every day there's a new headline, a new highlight, a new moment you've got to see for yourself. That's why I stay locked in with the Bleacher Report app. For me, it's about staying connected to my sports. I could follow the teams I care about, get real-time scores, breaking news, and highlights all in one place. Download the Bleacher Report app today so you never miss a moment. The Maps app that came with your phone, it's fine. If you enjoy waiting and guessing and inefficient routes, or you could use MapQuest, MapQuest is back with live directions, real-time traffic, and faster routes.

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33:00star casino, or 18 plus in present in DC, Kentucky or Wyoming, opt in required. One two leg Parlay required bonus issued as a nod with drawable boost builder tokens. Restrictions apply, including any token expiration and max wager amounts. See terms at sportsbook.fandall.com gambling problem call 1 800 gambler or 1 800 my reset call 1 8 8 8 7 8 9 7 7 7 7 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut or visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. gamblinghelpline ma.org or call 800 327 50 54 24 7 support in Massachusetts or call 8 7 7 8 hope and why or text hope and why in New York for Louisiana call 1 8 7 7 7 7 7 7 0 7 8 67. All right, let's go, uh, Jay Melbourne. Do you think the mission statements surrounding this season changed a bit a lot of Notre Dame

34:01fans wanted to win the title to stick it to the committee, but now a lot of Notre Dame fans want to win it from Lou. I think it changed in that they're adding on to it. Yeah, like I do. I think they're adding on to it a little bit. I think it adds even more fuel to the desire to, to, you know, win it, you know, like I'm a Broncos fan. So I'll always remember Pat Bolin saying this one's for John, you know what I mean? And just thinking of like not that he would do it, but like in my mind, I'm like in picturing Marcus Freeman holding up the trophy and saying this one's for Lou. You know, so I'm like, I mean, I don't know that he would do that nor nor necessarily should he, but like it'd be amazing. Like that's just like that's what I think. Yeah, I could see that, but I would say it's that I don't think it's adding anything to the players. Like none of them really new coach holds like David, you know what I mean? Like they didn't play for him. I think Marcus Freeman has a greater attachment to what he means to Notre Dame than maybe what players do. I don't know how often C.J. The car was around the volts. You know what I mean? Like especially since his health had been good in the last couple of years, but for fans

35:04absolutely. And that's what the question is for fans. I think it's stick it to the committee while also, Hey, Lou, this one's for you, brother. I absolutely think that's that's more to it, you know, yeah, I agree. I mean, there was definitely a tonality shift because big picture. A lot of fans are also, you know, on the train to leave no doubt and all that stuff. But before it was leave no doubt because the committee sucks. Now it's like leave no doubt because that's what Lou Holts did. He left no doubt of himself as a leader of men and as a leader of a football program. So that's big picture. I think the message has stayed the same, but the tone around it is a little different. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Good question. All right. Let's go to Josh Buffo, the motivational business maker. In your opinion, do you think Brady Quinn's NFL career would have gone differently if he was drafted by the Dolphin 7th overall and not to again? I don't, I don't know. I don't have to go look and see what that dolphins, I mean, the dolphins in 07 went 1 and 15.

36:07I don't know how much better things would have gone for Brady Quinn if he was part of that team. You know, Travis, I'm looking at their, like, who are their receivers? Marty Booker, Chris Chambers, like, did they all get like a better team in the next couple years? I don't, I, you know, I mean, their best receiver by 08 was Ted Ginge on your, you know what I mean? So, now he would have been able to play the Anthony Pasano, but yeah, the dolphins also sucked back then. I don't know if things would have necessarily gotten any better for him. Yeah. I think there's teams where had Brady Quinn by drafted by this team instead of the Browns could have had a better career shore. But not, I don't know that the dolphins would be that big. By default, because of how the NFL was handing out at that time, I'm going to say yes, and it could have been literally any other team not named the Browns, because for 20 years, that's where quarterbacks went to die. Oh, yeah. So, it's still kind of there. I mean, there's a little minor, you know, thing a couple years ago, yeah, Baker Mayfield

37:11kind of broke the curse, but it's still to me. It's like, okay, you just got out, you know, you, you, you, you escaped, you know, it's still, it's still that place. Yeah. Yeah. Good questions. Let's go to, um, here we go. From Tyler Odinger, what are your thoughts on the new bipartisan bill meant to amend the 1961 Sports Broadcasting Act, creating exemptions for any trust laws and allowing colleges to voluntarily pool their media rights? Um, you know, we talked a little about this last week. I don't know that that's going to have necessarily a change much right now, because teams are still kind of, they've given the authority to negotiate their rights to their conference. That's just, I mean, that's, that's what they've done when they had joined that they agreed to be part of the league. So I don't know that it changes a whole lot now. I think it does ramp up the, the, the, um, the conversation of whether they should do that or not. I think that certainly adds another layer to it, but I don't know that it necessarily changes

38:17a whole lot immediately. Like even when the Supreme Court case happened in 84, it took six, seven years before a team like Notre Dame broke away from the CFA, which existed before the, the, you know, Oklahoma border regions versus the NCAA Supreme Court case, which was decided and it was, I think it was filed in 81 and was decided in 84, I think, um, those are the dates, but it wasn't until like Notre Dame signed that big deal in 1990 that they broke away from the CFA, which was still kind of doing everybody's pulled together a little bit. So in the point being, it's a different circumstance, but the point being it took a while before teams could do that. A team who's currently under contract with the SEC can't just say, hey, we're going to do our own TV negotiations or they'd be in violation of a contract that they have signed with their conference. So, um, if they all decided, hey, this is what we ultimately want to do. There's contracts that have to either be amended or honored with TV networks before they

39:18do that. So it would take a while for that to really kick into, into play if it even does it all. From sign co-sign tangent outside of great house and phase on, who would you prefer to see cars go to guy B? Whoever's open. I mean, I'm seriously like, I'm not someone who necessarily is into the whole go to guy. I mean, outside of that, you're asking me to answer a question and it's a fair question, but I, it's what do I want to throw it to Quincy Porter, he of four career catches and out this spring. Do I want to throw it to Micah Gilbert, who's got nine career catches and has struggled to say healthy? Do I want to give it to Martin Graham, who's got six career catches, Cam Williams, Elijah Burris? Like, I don't know who you'd want that to be outside of those two. I will say this, if I had to project someone, it's whoever plays the best between Micah

40:19Gilbert and Quincy Porter, because it'd be nice outside of those two to have that six foot two plus strong fiscal guy, which is what Cam and Quincy Porter both are, as that really big time, like, we need a big play, let's go to one of those two type of guys. I would probably be my preference, whoever, whoever wins that job between, whoever the top guy is between those two boundary guys, because it could be Milan Graham, certainly. And you know, depending on who I talk to, like, there's the people that he might have the highest ceiling of any of the receivers outside him. And based on who I've talked to, pretty much everybody believes that Milan Graham and Cam Williams have the two highest ceilings in that room. But I also think they're both have things that they need to continue and prove upon it. I would say that right now, Milan's ahead of Cam by quite a bit, but it could be them,

41:20but ideally, give me that boundary guy that can do some of that stuff. You guys know my answer on the tight end guy. Oh, it's James Flanagan. I knew you'd go there as soon as you started smirk. And when I was starting to talk about receivers, those like, oh, he's going to say something different. Yeah. Yeah. Another one from sign in the spirit of the Batman question, who's your spider man, Toby Andrew or Tom? Hmm. Mine would probably be Toby number one, Tom Holland number two and Andrew is at Garland Garfield Garfield Garfield number three. They were all decent. I just thought the Andrew Garfield was a break from Peter Parker's typical character. He went from being like the, like he was the skateboard guy. You know, like it just was a different personality and a different character. So I wasn't, I didn't dislike it, but I didn't love it either. Toby, Toby to me, two reasons why he's my favorite spider man. Number one, when I think of Peter Parker in my head from growing up, thinking of Spider

42:24Man, I think Toby McGuire looks a lot more like what I think Peter Parker should look like than Tom Holland does. But also I think that spider man is probably my favorite because I think he's less about the tech and more about the natural. He can actually shoot it from his, his body a little bit. You know, I think some of the things that he did, I think he was a little bit more of a powerful, physically powerful, Spider Man that wasn't necessarily Toby McGuire, but it was the character, a little bit in my opinion, but so those are the reasons why I'd probably go Toby McGuire over the other two drive, I have feeling you're going to go in a different direction. So there's, well, to a degree, this has been a, this has been a hot topic of debate between me and some of my friends that love Spider Man. Okay. So I think Toby McGuire was the best Peter Parker. I think because of his personality, I think Andrew Garfield had one of the better, like actual Spider Man performances, like the, in the middle of the fight had all, like, the

43:27little snide remarks and all, like, the little quips and like, that's who Spider Man was. Now, I think Tom Holland is the best blend of the two, like, Toby, like Peter Parker is, like, he's a nerd. That's who his character is supposed to be. That's why it's so impactful. It's like, okay, so you're also the superhero that saves the day when nobody thinks it's you because you're kind of dorky. Andrew Garfield was not a dwarf, like, who that is, he was playing a high school character, during the time that I was in high school. Those were, like, the cool kids in high school. It was the alternative, like, long kind of hair, like, the cool- Right. The skateboard. Yeah. You know, like, that was him. That was cool at the time. Spider Man's Peter Parker is not supposed to be cool. Yeah. And then I'm with you. Tom Holland is just, like, him as an actor, Tom Holland looks too cool to be Peter Parker, but I think he plays Peter Parker well. Mm-hmm. I agree. I'm going to debate club and he's doing all this other stuff. He's going to Washington DC. When he starts talking about how smart he is, like, you kind of buy it.

44:28Yeah. You know, he's just too small for me. That's my issue. He's too small. Like, it's just, like, I wish he was, like, five inches taller and not nearly as narrow shouldered. That's one of my issues at Tom Holland. But I know my favorite Aunt May is. That's a no-brainer. First one. First one, right? No. No. That is not the pick for that one. Got another movie one before we're wrap it. We're getting close to wrapping up, but yeah, here's another movie one. Best plot twist movie. Joe Marx is Shawshank, the sixth sense, and the sting. Okay. Number one, I never watched the sting. Did you watch the sting, Trev? So you... Okay. I'm going to go... I've only... I don't know that I've ever watched Shawshank in its entirety. I've watched enough of it to have an idea, and I would say that's the probably the top

45:34one for me. Because as soon as I watch six cents at the verb again, I was like, oh, he's already dead. I mean, like, I am still shocked that people didn't catch that. Like, I thought that was kind of pretty easy to figure out, like, right away. So the rest of the movie was like kind of annoying, like, okay, can we just get to the part where he realizes he's dead? Okay. You know what I mean? Like, it just... It was kind of over within the first, like, 10, 15 minutes of the movie. So yeah, I... That wasn't much of a plot twist for me. I mean, it was a plot twist, but it wasn't one that was surprising or shocking or whatever. I got a sleeper for a really good plot twist in a movie, and it's a romcom. Crazy, stupid love has a really good plot twist. Like, I remember the first time I watched, yeah, when, yeah, man, when... How? What are you doing here? That scene? Yeah. That one when I was like, oh, yeah, I was like, okay, yeah, that was, that was a really

46:37good slept on. Mercy Tell Me is also in that movie. That's right. Not like her character in that movie, to be honest with you. Yeah. Yeah. It really did not. That was a weird one. So, that's... Here we go. Her best character, somebody in the chat said, her best character was absolutely as Mona Lisa Vito and my cousin Vinnie. There's no question. Yeah. All right. Here we go. Um, do that. From Sinco, Sin Tangent, was Notre Dame dominating USC the past three years in X, and BIMO effect, or was it an out-golden effect? Well, it was out-golden when they were, when they did do well. The thing that was so frustrating about out-golden is the game planning had on the road against USC was very different than the game planning had against, at home against USC. Yeah. And that was a little frustrating. The, the Notre Dame dominating USC in 2023 was first and foremost about the defensive line, destroying USC's offensive line.

47:39So, think about the picks that he had. Believe that all three of them were out of corrupted pockets. The first one you had a pressure coming up the middle, he throws off his back foot, it goes over the tight ends head and Benjamin picks it off, right? The second one was the Xavier one. He's rolling, he's, he's pressured again, he throws quick and Xavier undercuts the route and picks it off, right? The third one, he's literally flushed out of the pocket, flips his hips and tries to throw the ball and Benjamin steps in front of it and picks it off. Those were all built around the fact that the Notre Dame defensive line absolutely destroyed USC. And even in 2024, they gave up, if you take away half of the big plays that USC made in 2024, that game is not even close. They couldn't really run the ball on Notre Dame, they relied entirely on big plays in that game. And you know, yeah, I think it was more about the domination of the offensive line was first and foremost. And then of course, you had guys like Benjamin and Xavier, the played great in that season

48:41and that came in 2023 as well, but it was more so about Riley Mills was a dog in that game in 23. Javante Jean-Baptiste was going to, I mean, heck Bubacar comes off the bench, plays one snap and sacks Caleb Williams, you know, I mean, like it's like, okay, you guys are dominating. I thought Howard played well that game. The blitzes were hitting home that game. I mean, they, and again, that was Al Golden having an aggressive game plan and it's still to this day blows my mind while he did not do that again in 2024. Still don't get that. And also you said, I agreed with everything that you said. What I genuinely think it is, the reason why Notre Dame dominated USC, I think it's the Lincoln Riley effect. You have to play with a certain level of, I think the best way to put it, you have to play this game, especially a rivalry game like this with like a certain level of onions, when you play Lincoln Riley just doesn't have that about his football programs, they're not tough. Big picture, that's what led to a lot of what you're talking about getting dominated

49:43by the defensive line and things like that. I mean, hey, Clay Hilton certain years was more competitive against Notre Dame than what Lincoln Riley has been in the last couple years. He has. And the only time he had a win was when his quarterback won the Heisman Trophy, talking Lincoln Riley. And Notre Dame was playing their backup quarterback and yeah, Notre Dame was a fumbling the ball inside the 20 away from tying it in the second half. Okay. I honestly think it's more of a Lincoln Riley effect than everything put together. Because it's Notre Dame, just not a team, especially under Freeman that you can just go in and finesse like it's just not that. Last question Trev from optimistic in Defam. If you could go back to any game within the last 10 years that we've lost besides the Natty and magically make us win which game and why in the last 10 years. So that basically is from any game between 16 and 25. Is that correct? That's an easy one.

50:45Texas saying M last year. I actually would not change the Miami game and the reason why is I think they needed that wake up call. I think they needed to realize like, Hey, our offensive line needs to figure some stuff out and we can't play this passive stuff on defense. Like we got to, if I can go back and magically, like here's what I would do, I would go back in time. I would tell Chris Ash, Hey, man, I'm from the future and here's what's going to happen the next two weeks. If you don't do this, this, this, and this. And they start playing defense in week in game two like they did against Boise State the rest of the year. They not only beat Texas A&M, they beat the piss out of Texas A&M. When they were up on Texas A&M, I believe twice by double digits and blew that game. I think that would have been a 44 to 24 game if, if, if, maybe even better, if they would

51:45have had the game playing saw against Boise from Boise on, no doubt. And you win that game. You're 11 to 1 at the end of the year. You're hosting a home playoff game if you're not getting a buy and this team is cooking. So yeah, it would be that game because like you said, I can't change the matting 24. And there's no other season like, okay, I can't, I mean, I guess I could say, you know, the only other one that I would say is 18 Clemson Orange Bowl or Cotton Bowl because I think Notre Dame would have beat Alabama. Well, now see, I can't even say that because I think Notre Dame should have beat Alabama, but I don't trust Brian Kelly to go win a big game against Nick Sabin. So yeah, yeah, screw it. I'll go last year, Texas A&M last year. That's the one I would change. I'm two. One of them is Texas A&M for the last year for the implications that you talked about. The other one personally is Ohio State in 2023. That game stung. And I know that if the rest of the season panned out the way that it would have, they still

52:47would have gotten blown out by Louisville and lost the Clemson on the road. But how they lost that game against Ohio State in 23 just absolutely stung. I was there in the crowd. I mean, it was, oh, it was gut wrenching the way they lost that game. I know it was tough. That was tough. Well, Trevor, my man, that's going to do it for today's show. Folks, another really fun midweek rundown slash midweek mailbag. If you haven't gotten enough Irish breakdown content, be sure to tune into IB Nation sports beat tonight. They're also talking about what Freeman covered in the press conference, talked about some of the injury losses, things like that injury limitations for the spring. So be sure to tune into them, but that will be doing it for us today. In the afternoon show on the Irish breakdown podcast brought to you by our friends over at Fandall, Brian and I will be back tomorrow to kind of continue on with the preview of spring that's getting ready to the spring practice kicking off on Friday.

53:47On your way out of here, be sure to hit that like hit that subscribe, hit that notification bell, be sure to share this podcast with your friends and family. Anybody that you know loves Notre Dame and College football as much as you do, but as always, Brian put links in the chat earlier in the show to Intel pieces. Spring practice starts on Friday. The best way to support what we do here, the best way to stay in tune with everything. Notre Dame footballs, be a premium message board subscriber at boards that Irish breakdown.com. So until tomorrow, that's Brian. I'm Trevor. We'll see you back here very soon in the Irish breakdown podcast.

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