Notre Dame Post Game Show - Initial Reactions And Defensive Thoughts About The Irish Victory Over Rice

0:00Football is back and this is believed. You're home for NFL and college football news and analysis all season long. Now let's start the show. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode of the Irish Breakdown Podcast. Brought to you by our friends over at Fandall. Post game show number two coming off of Notre Dame's massive 52 to zero win over the rice owls. The boys took care of business. They did what we expected them to first shut out inside a Notre Dame stadium for the Irish since Boston College of the 2022 season. So lots to take away, lots to talk about. We got Sean Davis, Vincedere on obviously Brian Vriscalin here with all of us today. It's going to be a fun really, really, really fun post game show to dive into.

1:03Brian, you looked a little confused when I said you were with us. Are you with us? No, no, you said obviously like me obviously. I don't get like it. Did you put me on the phone now? Obviously you got to be with us on the post game, man. I was I'm filling in for Andrew McDonough today. That's what I'm doing. And so by the way, they have a game tonight. So that's why Andrew won't be on the show today. This is their only Saturday game in the season. So good luck to the boys. Andrews, the offensive coordinator obviously and off and offensive coordinator out there. So guys, great win. I mean, honestly, like obviously in week two, everybody's got some stuff to clean up. But I thought it was a very dominant win. I think the trev the big thing that you and I talked about this week. And was would this team come out focused and would they come out playing hard? Or would they like rice stinks and we're going to destroy rice? And I thought this team on both sides of the ball, but especially defensively, which we'll get into. I thought this team came out locked in and playing hard. And like yes, we are the better team. And we're going to show you and we're going to put this game away quick.

2:03There's no we didn't know who rice was going to be said after this game. This was an absolutely dominant performance and again, that was 42 nothing at halftime. But the big thing big picture guys and did the home opener drought first FBS win in the home opener under Marcus Freeman. I thought the crowd was great, but I thought this team came out locked in right away. And the defense at the tone, the offense took advantage. It was great team football in all three phases. And the Irish get a big win. And I think they covered by last week, seven and a half points last week. And this week it was a 44 and a half point spread. They covered by seven and a half for the second straight week. So dominant performance by the Irish. You know what else? It's good not to be an organ fan today. Yeah, sure is absolutely sure is you guys know how we do it here on post game shows. We're talking big picture. And despite us being a lot of offensive guys here, we're actually going to start talking defense first. But before we dive into any individual side of the ball, we'll just work our way around the horn.

3:06Mr Sean Davis, first and foremost, how you doing today, man? And then second takeaways from Notre Dame's 52 to nothing victory over the rice house. Absolutely. I'm getting the forms very clean, especially defensively. I'm sure we'll get more depth that love the distribution of the offense, how they came out and really were aggressive and win at rice. You know, tech, I look forward to hearing Brian and Vince talk about the run game on tomorrow. They really come to the film. What we're talking about today, brother. Yeah, from TV copy, I really couldn't see if they were getting the push that they should have been getting, especially against the other man rice on both sides of the ball in the trenches. But other than that, I think big picture. You got to see the offense flourish. I talked to defense was dominant, especially this was a linebacker game, right? Rice, Navy, when you're playing them as the linebacker, you know, you're going to get a lot of action.

4:08And I thought Drake showed up. I thought Jane Osbury at the Fumble recovery. He showed up a lot of guys showed them. This is something we talked about last week in the post game show, like the roster, the talent is such where every one of two plays, somebody different is making a play and showing up. And the early turnover forced Fumble by Don Schubert. I mean, it's just really everything you would have wanted coming off. Everybody was concerned about the fast start, which they got offensively mad, great to see. But I was even more concerned because they got off the snide with the home opener when the home opener, but also after playing a big game. They played Ohio State. They came out flat against March. Right. They played Texas A&M. They came out flat against Northern Illinois. So they didn't play the same caliber of team is Wisconsin and comparing to those teams.

5:09But I was worried about how they were going to come out in this second game. And say they answered the bill. They checked all the boxes that they needed to check. So big picture. That's what I took from the game. And you know, it's a lot to work on. I'm sure that's what the coaches are going to say. But you love seeing them stack this type of game. It really was just a workman like game. That's what it's just just workman like just do your job clean, minimal penalties, no turnovers. You know, you see all the quarterbacks get in. I think it seemed like everybody on the roster play. That's what it seemed like. I can't wait to see with the snap cameras like. Wait, it's seen like on Quincy Porter and. Yeah, Tiki Holod and guys like that to run out there at the end of the game. And I was like, hey, throw some pads on those guys. We got to get them into the game. Well, listen, I this was. I mean, look, I'm not going to be. Well, I've time to talk about all the good, all the bad, you know, big picture wise for me. This is exactly what I expected to happen.

6:15Kind of, you know, big plays happen in the first half. You know, the defense came out on fire. The offense was super efficient. They they took what, you know, rice was trying to give them, you know, load the box. Okay. Well, CJ Car can throw it to whoever he wants, whenever he wants. And so that was fun to watch in the second half was boring. Like that's exactly what I anticipated happening. And of course I say boring because all the starters were sitting and all of those kinds of things. It wasn't actually boring. It was fun to see some of those younger guys get snaps and developmental time and all that. So we call it on the night show. We call it developmental time. We don't call it mop up or anything like that. But so, so that part was very exciting. But, but overall, I mean, they put 49 on the board in the first half. And the second half they put up three, you know. So it was lots of fireworks in the first half. Not so much. It was like, hey, let's just get the clock roll on on this one. But as far as I'm concerned, it was a great Saturday. Notre Dame did what they were supposed to do. This is what the number three team in the country does to an inferior opponent. Period. Like that's this is what we Brian, you and I have done this for a very long time.

7:19This is what we talk about. Like this is what it's supposed to look like against an inferior opponent. You go out as Marcus Freeman said in his half time little dialogue when he was running on the field. Look, I don't know who we're going to have in the second half, but you still play to the standard of Notre Dame. And that's exactly what happened. Everybody out there played to the standard of Notre Dame. And that that is my expectation. I think that's the fans expectation. Obviously, that's Marcus Freeman's expectation and guys at the end of the day, the two college teams I root for combined for 101 points and zero given up. So it's a good day in the Diderio household. Sounds like it absolutely sounds like Brian first shut out that Notre Dame has had since 2022. How we feeling about it? I know you talked about taking care of business came out laser focused. I think they checked a lot of those boxes, man. Yeah, I mean, look, and it's not even like, okay, they shut them out and they had like three red zone stops and you know, rice put that one long drive together, but Notre Dame was able to buckle down in the red zone and get a fourth down stop and things like that. They never even sniff the end zone.

8:26I mean, rice went old for one in the red zone. And I think their only red zone trip was at the end of the game drive a leg. They didn't even sniff the end zone in this game. And this is a team that rushed for over 400 yards last week. And again, they didn't play a very good team, but they actually dominated in that game. And when you look at the defense guys, I think they were the tone setters today. Like that was the big thing. They were the tone setters in this football game. And I don't even mean just like coming out and on the fern 14 seconds in your score touchdown on like the I don't even mean that I just mean I just mean, lie into the ball. Let's go back two years from this moment, meaning two week two two years ago. Notre Dame's playing a Northern Illinois team that was eight and five. And we're sitting there in a post game show talking about like this team wasn't even ready to play today. They weren't playing hard. They got out physical. They weren't locked in. You know, and they just this team came out on defense and just fly into the ball.

9:29Playing hard, playing physical, executing an excellent game plan, which we'll dive into. But guys, I just think the big thing was you need a side of the ball early in the year to be that tone setter. We thought it would be the defense because of how much is coming back. And and I mean, I tell you what boy, they came out today with a great game plan. They were flying in the ball. They were hitting hard. I mean, second play of the game. Could could it have gone any better than in this, you know, possibly his last home opener right after losing his father. A Don comes down second play the game and just knocks a ball out with a big hit that they scoop and score. I mean, talk about poetic, you know, but boy guys, I think that's the big thing for me. We'll talk scheme and all that. But Trev, big thing for me was I thought that the defense set the tone for how this game is going to go from an intensity and physicality standpoint. So kudos to the Chris Ash and Charlie Partridge and Aaron Henry and Brian John Marie and that whole staff getting this group ready to come out and that we're not overlooking rice.

10:38We're not looking ahead to Michigan state or anybody else. We're handling business today on September 12th. We got we got an appointment for a butt whooping here about starting about 3 30 and we're ready to roll. And I thought once the defense did that is like just the energy for the whole team just picked up and then it was easy for the offense to score when they kept getting short fields. You know, and I thought that was the big thing for me is just defense came out and set the tone right away, which is why we're going to lead off with the defense in the show because they were the tone setters out the all three phases of the game to some excellent things today and things that they're going to have to clean up. But man, I'll tell you what boy, that defense came out flying to the football and they did it with great discipline. That's a big thing too. And I'll dive into more of that when we get into the scheme. Sean, but that was the big thing is playing fast, playing physical, playing smart. That's kind of what you want into defense, brother. That's absolutely what you need. I mean, I go everything that you just said. I would argue that the defense was the side of the ball that needed to come out and set the tone for all of the.

11:45I guess you could say the flack that Chris Ash got how they started the season off last year. And this was the more gimmicky side of the of rice was their offense. It was more so that you know, you're running like a spread option type of deal. You're it's not quite the triple, but it's definitely not a traditional offense. And this was the side of the ball that we had some questions about. How are you going to go from, you know, you have your segments over the summer where your game plan in for Navy and then you have a very grounded pound heavy run offense in Wisconsin. And now you have this gimmicky rice offense. How are you going to handle that came out didn't waste any time. Set the tone and Sean. I don't know if there's a better way to kick off a game than with a scoop and score on the second play the game. Absolutely. Don Schueler and Booba card trade already combining before step form, but trade already scooped it up, tasting in for the down and burn this week. I was you know, at the watch and the film. I really said I was more worried about them facing Navy than rice, even though this is the form with similar offenses.

12:45But this is amazing to me. Well, this offensively and defensively can't wait to see what you guys have to say because I harken back to the USC game, right. We were all mystified. How USC kept their safety back. And we're like, yo, you're just going to let them run for 200 yards. And the one thing you heard about this Notre Dame defense is how fast they were. And usually when you run this type of offense, you try to go with body blows early and then get to perimeter later on. Right game. I'm trying to get to the perimeter. I guess they were forced there that can just run. Just run. And I was just like, that's interesting. And then by time they tried to get back to running on the interior. It was too late and they would just look. I'm in a bit of front. Just flat out dominated up front. They couldn't get anything going. I saw a jacquery around a couple of times, like almost deer in the head.

13:45Like just couldn't believe that what it was. It was like it was couldn't believe what he has seen on film. That's a they practiced supposed to be there. Supposed to be there guys. We work on it. We do this. We did it all summer. We did it against Houston Christian. This works. And it's like, yo, you're not supposed to be there. I turn where did they got come from. And then I looked up and there's another guy coming up from a periphery. It was just absolutely astounding to see the amount of speed. Like you said, the aggression, the discipline and the speed. We hear Marcus Freeman talk about playing violent all the time. I played violent from the first snap from the first snap. And you just saw it was bright. It was a dawn. Then it was KVA. It was telling Jane Osbury and Drake, you know, hit somebody. They just played an absolutely amazing game. And it's so funny. Their first play action.

14:49They go at the clinic more. I can't see you. It's just going to try. They're going to try. I guess. They're probably thinking Vince. That's the last thing no dream is going to expect. There's no way they're going to think we're throwing a lantern on the first play the game. We're going to smart them stupid. Like the defense, you know, my overall thoughts on the defense are real simple. They they came with an intensity today to prove to the country that they're one of the best defenses in the country. I mean, they force four fumbles. Now granted, I will say that the rice wasn't very good at holding on to the football, but it's hard when you're getting rock by a Mac truck every other play too. So, I mean, they put the the ball on the ground for different times. You know, they force all those punts that they had. I mean, that's like the MVP of rice was their punter because he's the one that got the most playing time. But I mean, the defense just they absolutely dominated this game period end of discussion. I mean, it was a clinic. You know, our boy on on NBC Jason Garrett loves to say that's clinic tape right there.

15:58Well, the entire defensive game plan and execution was clinic tape. That is that's what you want to see. The fact that they had 128 total yards of offense and most of that probably came I could have had to look most of it probably came in the fourth quarter. When they were moving the ball, there was a point I think in the third quarter where they had negative passing yards. I mean, I don't care who you're playing. It doesn't matter who you're playing. When you play like that, when you have that kind of intensity, when you're coming downhill with the veracity. I mean, that this team was coming downhill because they knew that rice was going to throw the football. I mean, excuse me, run the football. And if they did throw it, they had faith in, you know, they're back guys to take care of take care of it. It was reckless abandonment. I mean, it was, it was just fun to watch, man. That those are the kind of defensive performances that are fun to watch. just let the talent go out and play. And all credit to what you mentioned,

16:59Brian, all credit to the defensive staff because they had these guys ready. But like during the game, it didn't really matter what they call because this defense like these guys that were playing were just better. They were faster. They were more intense. They were just hitting harder. All of the things. The coaching staff did their part up until the game started and then the players took over. Like that's how I see this game going. When you're and we've all been there, like as coaches or as players on a team or whatever, when you can just sit back as a coach and call pretty much whatever you want. And you know that it's going to work. That's how the defense was for me today. And it was it was fun to watch, guys. Yeah, it was. Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, Vince, you talked about at the high level of talent the talent gap between Notre Dame and Rice was very, very, very large. But in the same vein, you need to be put in the right spot to be able to utilize that athleticism. I mean, look, Notre Dame was favored by 44 and a half points by our friends over at Fan Duel and they were able to cover that easily because Rice and

18:00Scores weren't able to get over the 50 R line until their final offensive possession of the game. And then even that drive ended in a fumble. So Brian, let's talk a little bit about, you know, the scheme and then the level of execution that we saw within that scheme to lead them to this dominant defensive performance. There were really four things that I observed from the game. Number one is, as we kind of expect the Trev, you and I talked about this, they did go with four, three personnel to start the game. But there was a little bit of a wrinkle that we saw. They did a lot of walking that third line backer, which was Jaylen's need up on the line. And they did almost like a five, two in this game. And there's a couple of reasons for that. Number one is, you know, you'd mentioned trying to go east west on this team. I think they were kind of forced to. And I think that defensive alignment did a lot for that. That was number one. Number two, they did a lot of pre-snap shifting. And that really convinced you you played in an option offense. So you'll understand this option offenses have a count. And what the count is basically is

19:02you count after the center, you count like one, two, three, four. And like you're going to block one, read to pitch off three, you know, or depending on the play call, you may block, you know, two, pitch off three and read one, you know, that kind of thing. So you line up, that's one, that's two, that's three. Well, then all of a sudden, no name shifts. Now you got to do the count over again. And the ball's being snapped. And there was some confusion there. And then they would shift to a lot of odd front. So, you know, start starting overs, unders, then shift to odd. And that really had rice confused. That's point number one. That's that's point number two. The second point was I actually thought the D line on the detacles in the first couple series weren't quite as like strong as I wanted them to be. They settled it in real quick. And once they got rolling, that's when rice really was cooked. Francis brew our mouclem like there was one play for example, where they, they blitzed Drake Bowen backside, which can be risky. Drake comes through. They're kind of running away from Drake.

20:04So they called it right. Well, our mouclem is sitting there in the B gap. If he doesn't keep gap integrity, they're cutting underneath Drake for big play. Not the Drake to some wrong. This is where they blitzed him. But our Mel did a great job of keeping his inside shoulder or his outside shoulder free. And then as that guy cut inside, he comes off and he tackles them for like a two yard game. Just little things like that. And, and so this game plan required the detacles to be monsters at the point of attack. I thought they were once they got going. I thought the defensive ends were brilliant. The third thing that they did in this game that I thought was good guys is they did a tremendous job of funneling everything back inside. So they stretched here by eating up all the inside blocks, which they did against Wisconsin last week. These teams, I don't think, look, we'll look back at the film. I don't think these teams are like, Hey, let's try to outrun Notre Dame. I think that's like, there's nowhere to go. They were also taken the full back out of the games dramatically. The only, go ahead, Vince. I was just going to say to your point, they, the game plan wasn't to go outside.

21:09They watch film. They know how fast Notre Dame is. Yeah. But when you run the option and an option principles, right? You take what's there and the defense tells them that they have to stretch it out that they have to get it outside. It's everything to be taken away on the inside. So it's just a way. It's the offense that you run. It tells you to go outside and then not, obviously that's not going to work against Notre Dame. But that's just what they were told to do. Cause you know, Vince, to a degree, if they're going to run an option, you can dictate where the ball is going to go defensively to a degree. 100% and they did that today. They took the full backs out of the game. And they said, look, your car rounds a nice athlete. He ain't faster than us. Right. And they were going to make him string. But then the third thing. So like Luke Taoist did a great job of constantly staying outside and forcing everything back inside. He had one job, man. And I tell you that he did it really well. Did it great. And then he had some plays where he got off the block and beat the guy outside. And was able to make the play as well.

22:09It doesn't that suit his game so well. Like that's. Oh, yeah. Travel and I talked about this. I think it might have been off air. But we talked about like if it, if it was of a brand, they getting hurt. I would have wouldn't have been surprised that they went with a 425 with Luke playing that third linebacker role. Or you know, and so that was kind of a big thing. And then the fourth thing, guys, was you had to be prepared to handle the misdirection. And they did a lot of mixed direction in this game. Open it up once I'd gone the other. The discipline on this on the by this defense to not over pursue, to not follow the ball to do your job. I thought was excellent. And then the final piece is, you know, their players were way better than Rises. But it wasn't, you know, guys, we've watched Notre Dame play triple option teams every year of our lives except for 2020, right? I mean, we've seen it. And we've seen overly really talented Notre Dame teams or teams that had way more talent than navy struggle with being disciplined against that defense.

23:11And this offense or this defense today was exceptionally disciplined. So great scheme by Chris Ashton, the defensive staff. I thought great like preparation like they had this team perfectly scouted. And then great execution by the players. It was about as good of a defensive performance. You expect that look, I know, Rice isn't very good. But they they dominated rice me guys. Rice ended with 128 yards of offense. I'm looking at their drive chart real quick. Let me let me find their drive chart in this game. I already know that it's amazing. What was their last two drives, Vince? Do you have the drive chart with you now? So the last two of the game, the last two drives that Rice had in this game. They they got so they had it was the one where there's one in the third quarter. Was their second to last drive of the game. And it was three plays for two yards. And then the last drive of the game was 12 plays 75 yards that ended with a fumble. So Rice had 128 yards of offense and they got 77 yards in the last two drives.

24:12The game that meant going into actually the fourth quarter, they had 53 yards of offense guys. Yeah, he's exactly right. Yes. I don't care who you're playing at 53 yards of offense against an FBS opponent. Correct. That is a absolutely dominant, brilliant performance that does require great scheme, great preparation, great scouting, great execution. And everybody involved as absolute dominant, absolutely dominant today, guys. And they did it without two starters, two very good starters, by the way. Sean, we talked scheme. We talked big picture. Let's start talking about the individual position groups. We're going to start up front with the big boys and you don't, you don't hold stylistic team like Rice to the amount of offense that they had, unless your defensive wine takes care of business. What were some of your takeaways from how the defensive wine played this afternoon? Fundamental. Just fundamental sound. I mean, that's the against the office and that type of office.

25:16You do your job, you allow people to play as the flow and run to the ball. And that's really what it was. Like I said, it was a safety, mind backwards dream today to be come down. He really without worrying about any type of pass over your head. You know, worried about that everything's in front of you. And now you just plan with your hair and fire. But the most impressive thing was they did it in such a disciplined way. Where it was just like, you know, this type of offense just finds, finds a mistake, right? Either guy gets cut, doesn't get up. They find a mistake to pop one and they were just so fundamentally sound today. And assignment and consistent assignment based in consistent that you just never saw that happen. Right? Even when, you know, the backups came in, you know, that same mindset continued on.

26:19You know, you could tell, especially up front that, okay, these guys aren't as good as the starters. And they're not as dominant as the starters, but as far as doing their jobs, like they did their jobs and they were flying around as well. And so that's what you love to see. Like when the message gets across to the entire team, right? And you love to see that message continue even when the backups come in. So for me, the guys are front. They really set the tone. Like Brian said, I saw the same thing early in the middle, like we're just worrying about the nice shopping of things. But everything else was, I'm a man, look, this is a dog of defense, bro. This is the dog with defensive front. This, I dare say, it could be market stream is best defensive front since he's been in no today.

27:23I know it's only two games, you know, but I think it's pretty apparent. And I think you're just really scratching the surface on how good they can be, you know, moving forward. So. Vince Notre Dame's defense ended with eight tackles for a loss. Bryce Young had two and a half of those definitely an impact player in this one. He's really starting to come alive. Overall takeaways from the defensive line. What do you think? Yeah, and look, Bryce Young is obviously coming into his own. I believe it's his junior year. And, you know, we saw flashes. We saw flashes on special teams. We saw some flashes on defense, you know, things like that. But just he wasn't as consistent and he wasn't getting, you know, as many snaps as he's been expected to get now. Let's just put it that way. And he has earned the right to be on the field as much as he is. And he's taking advantage of it. And again, we're two games in, but man, I tell you what I mean, he is really, really coming into his own.

28:26He is becoming he's the guy that people are talking about. And that's saying something since Bubacars playing pretty darn well too. Now, some of that has to do with his last name. I get it. But some of it has to do with his attributes as well. And when he walks into a room and what he looks like and things like that. And so he's absolutely coming into his own. And I, you know, defensive line is a whole man to Sean's point. It just allowed everybody behind them to just do whatever they wanted to do. They were able to flow freely. Bryce had a really hard time getting to the second level, which that's all credit to the defensive line. Because they were in the way. And not only were they in the way, but they were also making plays behind the line of scrimmage. So it was a pretty dominant performance by the defensive line. That's what you want. You know, we know Chris Ash wants to be stout in the run game. They were stout in the run game today. There were a couple of misfits, but that happens. Like that, that's not overly surprising. But overall, man, they couldn't get anything going.

29:28There was no rhythm to Bryce's offense. And when you're going to run any kind of triple option, any kind of option offense, it's all about rhythm. It's all about being in rhythm. It's all about all and it just wasn't happening. They allowed they did not allow rice to feel any kind of rhythm in this game. Yeah, they weren't 100% The pump that's a good. So, so to illustrate the point Vince is making. Here's a perfect play. The fumble that Kingston and William Oslo recovered. That play they were running an option and Bryce Young just blew off the line and forced the quarterback to bow. And when he had to bow, what did that do to his pitch relationship? The relationship was so screwed up. That's why it pitched behind this running back. Exactly. Exactly. So Bryce won't get credit with a force fumble, but Bryce Young forced that fumble. 100% And that's the rhythm that Vince is talking about. Like, it's hey, you're on this track and you keep this distance and you get this.

30:30This timing and they had none of that today. And it was all about what the Notre Dame defense was forcing them to do to your point. There was no rhythm. They strung them out. I mean, and that was the whole point is to string them out. And yeah, guys, Bryce Young was absolutely dominant today. Look, I thought Francis Bruce so far in the first two games has been a monster. He was outstanding today. Armour Mucum was good today. Tion Gray was he's probably the most inconsistent of the detacles. Like, there was one play. He got blown off the ball. And I think it was like a player two later, he dominates. He's just got to be a little bit more consistent. But boy, when he's locked in, he's a force. And you know, Elijah Hughes came in today and had some really good snaps. So this D line to depth, they have Keon Keely was more active today. Just he looked more comfortable today than I thought he did last week where you could just kind of tell there was a little bit of thinking going on last week with Keon. He was fine. So, boy, Rodney Dunham in the first half said, welcome to Notre Dame.

31:32Y'all, he was a dog in the first half of the game. He had one play. He had a, I think on one of the runs early, Rodney didn't get off a block. It was the second quarter. They had to scramble for a first down and Rodney didn't get off a block and then a Don missed the tackle. And I think they're like, next two plays, Rodney just dominated. He was really good today, really good today. And like, Booba Cars like getting overlooked, but he's been strong in this game. But there was a place when you talk about how well Bryce Young is playing. There was a play today. They were going left to right on TV because I look, I went back and look. So from the stadium where we're right to left, yeah, they were going left to right on the TV. They ran a play and the defense did a nice job of stringing it out and then forcing it back inside. And then Jakarta Brown cut inside of a Don Schuhler made a Don miss and Bryce Young drilled him for a loss. Guys, Bryce Young was the opposite end on that play.

32:33He was the backside end on that play and he didn't even like get on block. He ran around a dude and then just took off running. He has been playing like a man possessed so far this season. Super disruptive defense today, guys. Eight tackles for loss. Let's see. One, two and a half, only two and a half of them were from the defensive line. They were off from Bryce. Why? You guys nailed it because the defensive line and forcing everything to bow and go east west is why the linebackers and the safeties were getting so much production behind the line of scrimmage. Eight tackles for loss. One sack, three force fumbles and extremely tight coverage. This is a very disruptive day from the defense and it starts up front boys. It does. Linebackers played great, but they were allowed to play great because they were running free all day long all day long. Running free all day long.

33:34I was going to play in the jubbit. Two plays you mentioned. Most impressive was the one right before the end of the first half. He was like a miss. To my Ronnie. Oh. Did you draw the cubie? Oh, yeah. I was like, okay. Yeah. That's for me. I don't know. It harkens back to Blue Host days, man, where it was just the talent was just endless. Like Blue would put backups in in the second quarter and it was just like an avalan. It was just never ending. Right? I can only feel. The fact that you Cory Brown was still standing in the fourth quarter. Yeah. That's impressive. He showed me some progress. He was getting lit up. He was getting lit up. He was still out there. Let's get you go. And playing in the fourth quarter and making some decent throws in the fourth quarter. Yeah. On that last drop. So, you know, you took your cap to the toughness of a kid like that.

34:37You know, but yeah. This is a, and we still have people that are coming back from entry on the D line. They're going to return. You still have youngsters that have yet to get in like EB. It's what they're building. Who? Ebenezer. Ebenezer, yeah. Who started on special teams today, by the way, started on kickoff today, almost blocked the punt as well. Yeah. Sorry. My reaction was to Steve Angelic throwing a pick at the end of the game with Syracuse trying to drive us. That's where I thought they're, they missed it. They just missed a field goal. Got the ball back and he made a great downfield throw and then just looks like the receiver didn't run a good route, but yeah, he's got picked off. Anyway, sorry. Trev, continue. Stay on top of Driscoll. Come on. Vince, at the start of the segment, Sean talked about how this was a, like a linebacker's day, like the linebackers were going to have to eat. And I think that's reflective on the box score.

35:38Three of the teams leading tacklers were linebackers. And I think it speaks volumes that one of those guys wasn't Drake Bowen. That's not Drake Bowen didn't have a good day. He was doing his job. I think a lot of what his job was is filtering in, flowing back, like preventing cutbacks. I think he did. Right. And so when you start looking at what the linebackers did today, Jaden Osbury had five total tackles, Kingston had five, Jalen's need had four. And what were some of your takeaways from this room? Well, and then Luke Talich had four. I mean, I almost considered him a linebacker in this game to be perfectly honest with you. I mean, he had more solos than those other guys too. Yeah, 100%. Like he, he was a linebacker today in my eyes, but to your point and, and for all the, the Drake Bowen haters out there, his job in this kind of going against this offense is to tackle the fullback. The fullback wasn't getting the ball. It took away the fullback. Fullback was not existing because of what Drake Bowen was doing. So it's not something that's going to show up necessarily on the stat sheet. But I mean, the linebackers were just flying, dude. They were flying downhill.

36:39They, this was an opportunity to really see the speed and athleticism of the linebacker room because they weren't being encumbered by an offensive lineman. Because all the linemen, folks, could look like. 100%. We, we talk about it all, even at the high school level, we talk about it all the time. The linebacker's best friend is a defense tackle. 100%. And, and we already talked about how exposed to the defense of tackles were and how, how good they were. Well, they were good because they didn't allow that defensive line to get to those linebackers. And so those linebackers were able to come downhill. They were, I mean, they were making plays the entire game. It was beautiful to see. I love the athleticism from this room. It is just so painfully obvious how talented these linebackers are. And I, it's almost like one of those situations where I want to sit back and I want to, I want to, I want to feel and cherish this group of linebackers because this will be the last year that they're all together. This is the last year we might see any of. No, no, no, you're absolutely right now.

37:40I'm not saying there's not talent behind them. There is, but can I appreciate the moment because these guys are so talented. And they fly down the hill, fly downhill so well and make plays so well. And they did it all day to day. I mean, start to finish. They just did it all day to day. It was, it was fun to watch. It really was. Shane Osberg was a dog today, Trevor. Yeah, interesting. I thought the linebackers played great last week. I did. I thought they were very good last week. And then it was like, hey, Kingston, welcome to the party. I mean, they were great last week. And then you add Kingston, really, I'm a osuited, I'm mixing your lips. Like, oh my gosh. This is great. He looked, I thought I was a little nervous about him playing in this game. You know, like, because in the reason why it's not not even so much for his injuries, but like, he's going to be rusty. Is he going to be overly aggressive? And you don't really want that in this game. And he looked like he had played 60 snaps a week ago. I mean, he was locked in, absolutely locked in explosive. Because that's the other thing too that I was a little concerned about guys is when a guy's coming off an ACL injury.

38:41Sometimes it's like the second year that they are explosive. This really comes back. Yeah, they're hesitant. And just physically. Yeah. But like, we'll see how he is once he's got 300, 400 snaps on his knee. But he looked like he was shot out of a cannon today. Jay Nolzbury played probably the most violent game I've ever seen him play at Notre Dame. You know, the most unharbled linebacker and overlooked linebacker they've had in the last two years. Drake was doing a great job getting everybody lined up. I thought he was doing a great job of blowing up the inside, forcing them all outside. This great team defense. D-line did their job. And then that meant the linebackers had to do their job. They did their job. I thought this defense, the front seven today was absolutely a force. And I loved what they did with it. I mean, it's where there were times that it was like, it's there in a five two right now. Like, they're in an odd front five two defense right now. And with Jaylen's need up on the edge. And I just, I thought the linebackers played a big role in that.

39:41Because if the linebackers don't do their job, I don't care if you're unblocked. If you still over pursue, they're cutting it back for a big play. And I thought they played great inside out football because Vince, the whole, the whole key to playing this kind of option offense where he's stringing out like you and I talked about, you got to play inside out. Because if you don't play inside out, they're going to cut it back on you. And I thought they did a great job of that today as a unit. They were really good. Well, and you mentioned earlier about how Rice was trying to do some counters. They were trying to do some misdirection. They were trying to do that. Dude, they reached into their bag today. They did everything that they could do to try to pull one over on this defense. And, you know, they had one drive where they had six plays. You know, like every other drive was five or less. You know, it's like, I just, I don't know if the defense could have played much better. And, you know, they were very disciplined too. You know, and it was not only were they athletic, not only were they coming down hill, not only were they fast, but they were disciplined.

40:41It's hard to be all of those things. You know, it really is. But they just were. They really have a good feeling for this defense right now. And whether that's, you know, I mean, you had to give credit. We were, we, we dished out the blame last year, right? When it came to scheme and then the way they were playing in it and all of those things, it is the polar opposite right now. They are playing within this scheme. They are playing fast and dangerous, like they are incredibly comfortable with what they're being asked to do. So, just great job by the backers. I'm going to ping pong this back over to you, Sean. In order to stay disciplined against the team like Rice, we talked about the defensive line. We talked about the linebackers, but the back end also had a very important role today too. Brian and I talked earlier in the week about we don't know if Chacari Brown and we didn't see the other quarterback, Galo Choa. We didn't know if he necessarily had the skillset to be able to hurt Notre Dame vertically in the past game.

41:44But the secondary made sure that he wasn't going to be able to today. And they also did a tremendous job and run support as well. Yeah. Yeah. You spot on with that. And I think what you said when the linebackers, you start as a front man, start as a front. This... Today is probably the first time in a long time. Not that the defense line hasn't played with it. Right? But under the market stream, the defense from a strength standpoint has been back to front for a long time. Like the best unit was the majority of time in the back. Today, you still have talent in the back, but they're involved by now what's in front of them. Right? And so it seems like the linebackers got better in front of them, right? And we're elevated. And now they've gotten to a point where that defense line is now better in front of both units in the back. And like you said, we saw a last week.

42:46I thought the defense back room last week was really good in run support. It had to be with the quarterback they were facing, right? To seal the edges. And this week, you know, once again, run the alley, fill the edges, come up on run support, be physical. And the safes, the Don Schuhler and Luke Talich, what they did today. Playing physical, making plays, making sure the perimeter was pretty much sealed up. And then when they try to take their shots, they hit a couple of, you know, RPOs down the theme. They hit them a couple of times, but other than that, you know, that's the solid game, man. Solid game is really nothing you can ask from them. It's Malik tells me all the time. It's a Sean, nine, eight percent of time somebody's open. Just a matter of whether nothing quarter bank has time to find the guy that's open. Right?

43:47I don't know. I would love to see if they had a camera on Jakory Brown, they'll get today. I would love to see what he saw all day. They were probably going to call it Malik. Jekari Skull called it Malik. Lier. This is probably just clashes. I listen to your show. You're full of it. There's nobody open. It's just. It had to be crazy. It had to be crazy. And just impressive, man. That entire defense was flying around. And I'm still amazed. Teams feel like, you know, it's a bad honor to try. Let it more like they get a medal for Notre Dame after the game. You try to throw a little bit of it. We're men. We're not going to chip on Reggie Wider, Lawrence Taylor. We're going to go right at him. Good. We'll throw it. Deon. Well, as well. I mean, you know. I mean, just once again, you just talk about the talent. Now, how many teams in a nation can go to a loop talent?

44:50You lose a player like Breonte and go to a loop talent. And he gives you this type of performance. You know, it's just. Just absolutely amazing. I think this is a game where I mean, we didn't see. A lot of DJ McKinney. I'm not sure if he's played against this type of deep offense. He was he was good at what he was asked to do, which is keep everything inside. Yeah, they didn't go at him much. There in over the middle throwing team in their quick game throwing team. He had there's a couple plays. He did a nice job on that that that that they did that quads now screen. He did a real nice job of fight through that kind of thrown off the timing of that. And then one of the few times he was really targeted in this game, Sean. They didn't they didn't really go with him. He had one tackling the game. Yeah, I thought he did good. It was a good day. I think this is one of those games where they kind of get overshadowed.

45:54The secondary get overshadowed by just how dominant the front seven was. It's not that they, you know, people say, oh, they gave up this pass. They gave up that pass. Yeah, but you know, you basically talking about backups and on that last drive. But they played really good. Just the front seven was just that dominant today. Yeah, yeah, they weren't they weren't challenged. Yeah, today. I mean, honestly, and we didn't expect them to other than run support. We didn't expect them to. We knew that Bryce couldn't throw the ball. And so we said all week is if you shut down the run game, they have nothing. They have nothing to turn to. And that's what the defense did today. I don't have anything to add. You guys nailed what the defense, the secondary did. I thought they, the big thing for the secondary is they could only hurt you today. If you're a Notre Dame, you know, undisciplined in coverage. You know, because you're not, it's like, what was he gets Navy? Because you're not getting challenged a lot. You kind of fall asleep on a double move or a post-nap wheel or something like that.

46:55The only negative that I could say about the secondaire is I did think a Don was a little out of control. A couple of times coming down hill and he missed a tackle. Just want to see him break down a little bit more. I think he was looking for another force fumble after the big hit he had earlier. But he was super sound on that play. I mean, came inside out, put his help, his shoulder right through the ball. I thought a couple of times after that, he was kind of looking for that, that crushing, punishing blow and just be a little bit more sound and come to balance and drive through the guy, you know, play inside out, you know, and make that play. But other than that guys, I mean, there's not, there's not a whole lot to complain about the defense. There's like, there's like a couple snaps I have, but you know, you know, zero, get pushed off the ball. And then I think the next play, he like just destroyed somebody. It was a heck of a performance. And in, in some of playing team football, the defense doing a great job of giving the Notre Dame offense great field position today. Two fellows was huge. Not only did you get a points, but Notre Dame second drive only went 38 yards for touchdown. Their next drive went 58 yards for touchdown because the kid kicked the mess out of the football.

47:59I mean, they're punter had a, like Vince, did you see the kick off that kid had in the second half? The, the rice kid, he kicked it like six yards outside of the goal out of the back of the back of the end zone. Good look. And it came off his foot like a rocket. Yeah. But you know, their punter had a couple bombs. Notre Dame had a six yard touchdown drive, a 38 yard touchdown drive. You know, I mean, that helped. They only had two touchdown drives over 60 yards today. And that's not because of anything that's a problem that they did. It's just they kept getting short fields. Field position was great today. Defense played a big role in that. So just to, to your point, their Notre Dame's average starting line was their 43. The 43. The plus 43. No, the minus 43. Oh, no, yeah, no, minus 43. Okay. They're all 43. You're 57 yards away from the end zone. Like, that's a great, that's a great place to start on average, by the way, whereas rice is on average, was 24.

49:01So I mean, that's a, that's a massive difference in the field position game. So. Thank you for listening.