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Speaker 1: Welcome to the solid verbal hell.

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Speaker 2: That for me, I'm a man, I'm forty.

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Speaker 1: I've heard so many players say, well, I want to

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Speaker 1: be happy.

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Speaker 3: You want to be happy for a day?

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Speaker 2: Edith Stake is that woo whoom?

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Speaker 1: And Dan and Tie for Bars, welcome back to the show.

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Speaker 1: I hope you all had a good holiday weekend. I

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Speaker 1: am recording this right now on a Monday afternoon. I

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Speaker 1: believe Dan is probably in the air right now, on

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Speaker 1: his way home from visiting his family out in California,

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Speaker 1: which means that today is one of those self indulgent

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Speaker 1: Tie episodes where we get to talk about whatever I want.

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Speaker 1: I will talk about that and my esteem guest momentarily

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Speaker 1: a little bit of a tease before I go any

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Speaker 1: further though. We've got an episode coming up next week

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Speaker 1: that I have had in the works. I'm not kidding

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Speaker 1: since October the seventeenth of last year. I've wanted to

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Speaker 1: do this for at least four month months now, and

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Speaker 1: it looks like we're finally going to have a chance

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Speaker 1: to publish it next week. So if you're new here,

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Speaker 1: even if you're not Hit, follow Hit subscribes that you

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Speaker 1: don't miss any of our episodes. You won't miss that episode.

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Speaker 1: You won't miss any of what we're doing here twice

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Speaker 1: a week until further notice, but without further ado. When

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Speaker 1: the cat's away, yes, the mice will play. Let's talk

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Speaker 1: some Notre Dame football with longtime friend of the podcast

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Speaker 1: from the Athletic from the Independent podcast, mister Pete Sampson.

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Speaker 1: Welcome back, sir. How are you?

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Speaker 2: I'm great?

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Speaker 3: I guess this is the winner of the Orange Bowl.

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Speaker 3: Got to come out and do the tie it self

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Speaker 3: into indulgent show. So it was not name over Penn State.

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Speaker 1: It was notre name over Penn State, to say the least.

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Speaker 1: How are you man?

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Speaker 2: Good?

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Speaker 3: I think I've fully recovered from the longest season in

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Speaker 3: college football history. No one thinks of the Beat reporters

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Speaker 3: when they expanded the playoff about just how much how

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Speaker 3: much travel and writing you'd actually be doing. It's hard

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Speaker 3: to It's what February seventeenth, we're less than a month

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Speaker 3: removed from the season, which wild, and we're about exactly

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Speaker 3: a month away from spring practice starting, so that is

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Speaker 3: a really bizarre window to get your head around.

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Speaker 1: College football has definitely gone the way of the NFL,

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Speaker 1: very slowly. In terms of the news cycle, if nothing

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Speaker 1: more right, it has been creeping to the point where

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Speaker 1: we have very few, if any months off at this point.

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Speaker 1: Right now we're talking about personnel changes and assistant coaches

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Speaker 1: and things of that nature. And as you said, yeah,

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Speaker 1: a month from now, we're going to have spring practice

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Speaker 1: and things of that nature to talk about. So let

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Speaker 1: me start here, Pete, and I want you to be

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Speaker 1: honest with me. Week two, Notre Dame loses to Northern Illinois.

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Speaker 1: Are you thinking in your mind that the season's over?

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Speaker 1: This is going to be a lost cause? Like? What

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Speaker 1: take me through that thought process for you? As like

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Speaker 1: the most prominent Notre Dame beat writer.

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Speaker 3: I wouldn't go lost cause or the season is over.

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Speaker 3: But I think I looked at more from the Marcus

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Speaker 3: Freeman point of view, where you're like, ooh, is this

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Speaker 3: the right guy? Because they had put a lot of

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Speaker 3: money into him. You know, the coordinator hires, bringing Mike

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Speaker 3: Denbrock back. You know, they're they're they're pretty well funded

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Speaker 3: in NIL. So I was just like, man, do they

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Speaker 3: are they hitched? Do they hitch their wagon to the

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Speaker 3: wrong horse? And it took a while to sort of

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Speaker 3: come back around on that and sort of by the

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Speaker 3: end of the season, you're like, oh, Okay, this guy

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Speaker 3: figured it out. And I always always felt like year

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Speaker 3: three for Marcus Freeman, there's all the you know, the

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Speaker 3: year three Notre Dame stuff, and you know that about like,

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Speaker 3: you know, you either play for a national championship or

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Speaker 3: win for a national championship, or you're you're out the door.

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Speaker 3: And to me, the thing for like whether they made

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Speaker 3: it as far as they did or not, like we

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Speaker 3: had to get to the point with Marcus Freeman when

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Speaker 3: we stopped describing him as first time head coach Marcus Freeman,

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Speaker 3: and we completely got there by the Ohio State game,

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Speaker 3: probably Penn State, maybe even Georgia so so, but you know,

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Speaker 3: you're sitting there in the press box against Northern Illinois

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Speaker 3: thinking like, man, like you're you should be over this stuff.

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Speaker 3: You shouldn't have Marshall in year three. I think we

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Speaker 3: all sort of forgave it in year one. But yeah,

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Speaker 3: you know when we were watching that sixty plus yard

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Speaker 3: fuel goal get blocked or thinking like, man, this this

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Speaker 3: just might not work.

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Speaker 1: Well, it did work, thankfully from the Notre Dame standpoint,

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Speaker 1: it did for me, I think the story of twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty four. Obviously getting to the title game is its

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Speaker 1: own headline, but I think long before that, the story

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Speaker 1: that continually came up this season was that of injuries

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Speaker 1: or dealing with injuries. And I jotted this down this morning,

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Speaker 1: not with any pun in mind. I do think the

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Speaker 1: health of a program is something you can measure by

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Speaker 1: how it deals with injuries, both in terms of depth,

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Speaker 1: in terms of the culture, not losing the locker room coaching,

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Speaker 1: things of that nature. And to your point, it does

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Speaker 1: seem like Freeman figured it out.

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Speaker 2: To what end?

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Speaker 1: Was that a work in progress? To what end? Was

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Speaker 1: there just sort of a plan that they were able

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Speaker 1: to fall back on and feel confident in. Can you

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Speaker 1: describe from your boots on the ground perspective what that

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Speaker 1: is like Behind the scenes, I.

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Speaker 3: Think they've done a very good job of managing the

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Speaker 3: eighty five man roster, better than what Brian Kelly had done.

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Speaker 3: And you know, and some of that is not just

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Speaker 3: down to the differences between the head coaches. You know,

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Speaker 3: the sport has changed. Notre Dame is more liberal or

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Speaker 3: in the use of the transfer portal now than they

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Speaker 3: were when Brian Kelly was here. It's like you wouldn't

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Speaker 3: imagine Notre Dame playing for the national title without Riley

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Speaker 3: Leonard Bo'collins, Jordan Clark. I mean R j Oben made

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Speaker 3: one play, one significant play all year, but a big man,

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Speaker 3: damn it. That didn't turn the Sugar Bowl around. So

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Speaker 3: just you know, Mitch Jeter it. So I think that

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Speaker 3: Notre Dame being more aggressive and managing their roster showed

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Speaker 3: itself at as like sort of a counterbalance to all

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Speaker 3: those injuries. And you know, they did a good job

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Speaker 3: with scouting. I mean the Letard Moore coming in for

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Speaker 3: Benjamin Morrison. If you told me that in August, like, well,

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Speaker 3: good season, I guess you know you're not gonna to

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Speaker 3: stop anybody.

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Speaker 2: And you think back to the.

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Speaker 3: Clemson game in twenty eighteen and the CFP when Julian

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Speaker 3: Love goes out for just a quarter and the game

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Speaker 3: and Notre Name collapses under the weight of Trevor Lawrence

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Speaker 3: T Higgins and Justin Ross like not him handled its

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Speaker 3: business just fine because they they were so much deeper

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Speaker 3: than they've been before. So I give Marcus Freeman a

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Speaker 3: lot of credit about managing the roster. And then I

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Speaker 3: think the last thing he figured out was sort of

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Speaker 3: the game day operations, like their ability to win the

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Speaker 3: middle eight. But I thought his plan for like an

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Speaker 3: overall program really showed itself through those injuries because it

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Speaker 3: didn't didn't feel like they missed many beats when they

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Speaker 3: were losing guys left and right.

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Speaker 1: Is there another headline that you would choose as maybe

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Speaker 1: the main thing, just again from your perspective, the thing

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Speaker 1: that underpinned the season, not the highest of highs, the

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Speaker 1: lowest of lows, but something like dealing with injuries, some

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Speaker 1: other program aspect that maybe didn't get the love you

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Speaker 1: think it deserves.

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Speaker 2: You know, it's it's probably did get the love but deserve.

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Speaker 3: But I just thought it like Marcus Freeman sort of

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Speaker 3: growing into like he's just head coach Marcus Freeman, not

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Speaker 3: first year head coach Marcus Freeman now. And I thought,

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Speaker 3: you know, the way he managed end of half situations,

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Speaker 3: beginning of the third quarter situations. I think even just

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Speaker 3: as messaging was really good the Army game where he's

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Speaker 3: talking about violence in pregame, you know, to the NBC

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Speaker 3: sideline reporter, You're just like, Okay, he feels like he's

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Speaker 3: got his finger on the pulse of the team in

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Speaker 3: a way that maybe he didn't the first couple of years.

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Speaker 3: And then you know, just like you think about the

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Speaker 3: fake punt that really wasn't a fake punt against Georgia,

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Speaker 3: Like that's something that like coaches who have been around

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Speaker 3: the block do, and like Kirby Smarts won two national

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Speaker 3: titles and he didn't really know what to do with that.

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Speaker 3: So I think he to me, like he just got

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Speaker 3: a lot smarter in his game day operations. And you know,

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Speaker 3: they ran into a brick wall at the end. But

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Speaker 3: I thought the way that he managed in game situations,

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Speaker 3: I mean even sort of the Penn State James Franklin

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Speaker 3: press conference was kind of you know, I think in

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Speaker 3: the past maybe he would have sat there and just

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Speaker 3: sort of taken that because like, I'm the young head

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Speaker 3: coach and like this is my spot, and like you

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Speaker 3: just saw him stick his chest out a lot more

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Speaker 3: this season, and I thought the team and the program

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Speaker 3: really responded to that.

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Speaker 1: This is perhaps a cynical take, but just to play

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Speaker 1: Devil's advocate, do you think he's really figured it out

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Speaker 1: or do you just think he had a good season

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Speaker 1: with a good team.

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Speaker 3: I think he's figured a lot of things out. I

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Speaker 3: don't think he's figured it out in the way that

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Speaker 3: like Notre Dame's going to suddenly turn into Ohio State

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Speaker 3: and go fourteen and one every year. But I think

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Speaker 3: he's figured out, Okay, this is what it takes to

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Speaker 3: get to the top.

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Speaker 2: Of the mountain at Notre Dame.

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Speaker 3: That doesn't I don't think Notre Dame has top of

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Speaker 3: the mountain material coming back next year. But I do

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Speaker 3: think that he's he's figured some things out how to

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Speaker 3: manage games. You know, the hired a director of analytics,

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Speaker 3: which I know is kind of in vogue now, But

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Speaker 3: I don't know what else to put that down to

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Speaker 3: other than he's got good people around him that he's

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Speaker 3: listening to. So I don't I think he took a

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Speaker 3: huge step forward as a head coach. But that's not

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Speaker 3: to say that Notre Dame is going to play for

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Speaker 3: the national championship five times in the next six years.

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Speaker 1: I think that's fair. I remember way back when talking

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Speaker 1: to you about Brian Kelly, and the impression that I

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Speaker 1: got from you was that he was a fabulous politician,

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Speaker 1: like the ultimate politician, who was good at keeping people

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Speaker 1: at arm's length, but not so far that they didn't

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Speaker 1: feel like they connected with him, just really that nobody

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Speaker 1: truly knew who the real Brian Kelly was. What is

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Speaker 1: Freeman like behind the scenes? What does that comparison look like?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it's completely different.

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Speaker 3: It's you know, Brian Kelly didn't like to be touched,

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Speaker 3: like just but he you know, he didn't want you

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Speaker 3: to get close to him. Freeman, I feel like his

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Speaker 3: default setting is like more of an embrace, like whether

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Speaker 3: that's the fan base or the roster. I mean he's

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Speaker 3: pretty easy with the media for the most part. Uh,

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Speaker 3: you know, is he does he have a harder edge

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Speaker 3: behind the scenes, absolutely, but you know, in some ways,

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Speaker 3: like I don't know if being a good politician is

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Speaker 3: when everyone knows you're a politician, Like isn't being a

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Speaker 3: good politician when nobody knows you're being a politician? And

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Speaker 3: like maybe that's sort of where Marcus Freeman is because certainly,

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Speaker 3: like he's he's got that hard edge behind the scenes,

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Speaker 3: and like he can get on players and like, you know,

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Speaker 3: he occasionally ticked off with you know, some media stuff

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Speaker 3: is real rare, but I I feel like he's he's

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Speaker 3: much more willing to sort to get to know you,

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Speaker 3: like I think he knows, like just from a media

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Speaker 3: point of view, he knows way about much more about

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Speaker 3: me than Brian Kelly ever did. Like I covered Brian

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Speaker 3: Kelly for twelve years, I don't think Brian Kelly can

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Speaker 3: tell you one thing about me, and like and who

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Speaker 3: really cares.

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Speaker 2: I'm a beat reporter. But like Marcus.

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Speaker 3: Freeman knows like the sports my kids play, and just

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Speaker 3: like he can interact, he can find some personal ground

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Speaker 3: and you feel like he's actually having a conversation with

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Speaker 3: you opposed to just saying whatever he needs to say

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Speaker 3: so he can move on to the next thing.

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Speaker 1: You mentioned the hard edge a couple of times. What

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Speaker 1: does that look like?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that just like in the locker room,

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Speaker 3: you know, to get on players, like he coaches them

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Speaker 3: hard and you know, for the most part, I think

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Speaker 3: players respond really well to it because like he's in

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Speaker 3: the trenches with them. I Mean, what's the saying is basically,

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Speaker 3: people don't know what you care unless or Yeah, people

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Speaker 3: don't care what you know unless they know that you care, right,

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Speaker 3: And I think that Marcus Freeman like really leans hard

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Speaker 3: into that. Whereas he is going to make sure he

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Speaker 3: has a relationship with these players so then he can

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Speaker 3: ride them hard when he needs to. Yeah, it's like

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Speaker 3: I think that the Peacock documentary did an okay job

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Speaker 3: showing that they're not going to give you the real

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Speaker 3: good stuff because it's you know, it's an infomercial for

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Speaker 3: Notre Dame. But I do think he got bits and

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Speaker 3: pieces of that of like what he's like in the

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Speaker 3: locker room after Northern Illinois. You know what he's in

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Speaker 3: the locker room, you know, mid halftime of Penn State

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Speaker 3: when like things are kind of going against them a

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Speaker 3: little bit. So he's I mean, he's he coaches. I

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Speaker 3: think he's his edge is sort of like an old

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Speaker 3: Midwest middle linebacker, which is what he is. What he is, right,

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Speaker 3: He's like I think for how much people view him

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Speaker 3: as like this modern head coach because he's got the

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Speaker 3: tailored suits and he looks good and all. Like he's

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Speaker 3: got some good sound bites, and I mean he's he's

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Speaker 3: a Jim Trussell.

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Speaker 2: Middle linebacker, and I think that like the old school.

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Speaker 3: Big ten vibes in him are like I'm going to

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Speaker 3: I'm going to ride you hard and you're going to

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Speaker 3: play hard and we're going to win a bunch of

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Speaker 3: games together. And I think that the players respond to that.

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Speaker 3: It's kind of like a no nonsense approach.

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Speaker 1: As you know, this is a national show with a

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Speaker 1: big community, and i'd imagine there are a great number

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Speaker 1: of our listeners who saw the title to this episode

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Speaker 1: and took a hard pass. But for those that didn't,

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Speaker 1: thank you for sticking around. Whether you root for Notre

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Speaker 1: Dame or not, I think you and I are used

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Speaker 1: to more of an old school landscape among people, just

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Speaker 1: the college football community at large, which is what I

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Speaker 1: describe as a two party system. You've got the people

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Speaker 1: that love Notre Dame, You've got the people that hate

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Speaker 1: Notre Dame. And what was truly confounding for me this

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Speaker 1: season was the rise of almost a third party, which

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Speaker 1: is agnostic but still interested.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, curious Notre Dame.

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Speaker 1: Curious, right, And I wonder if we attribute that vibe

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Speaker 1: shift to Marcus Freeman, to a program maybe that's a

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Speaker 1: little bit more media savvy, to just an interesting team.

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Speaker 1: I think it's probably all of the above, but I've

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Speaker 1: been trying to put my finger on it now for months.

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Speaker 1: On end, it was tangible. I do think there were

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Speaker 1: an added number of folks that were just as you said,

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Speaker 1: Notre Dame curious, do you have any theories as to why?

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Speaker 3: I mean, when's the last time not Urame had a

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Speaker 3: head coach that was like had a positive public approval

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Speaker 3: rating like Loujo sort of like Era Parsigen, Like were

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Speaker 3: they were you doing a podcast back then?

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Speaker 2: Like I don't it just I mean.

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Speaker 3: To go from where they were with Charlie Weiss and

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Speaker 3: Brian Kelly back to back.

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Speaker 1: Like these older cantankerous white dudes, right.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, just like to Marcus Freeman, who feels like new

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Speaker 3: and fresh, Like it's not just down to Marcus Freeman,

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Speaker 3: it's about replacing the guys that.

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Speaker 2: Came before him.

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Speaker 3: Like I think whoever no names next head coaches, if

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Speaker 3: he was he looked and talked and rest exactly like

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Speaker 3: Marcus Freeman. I don't think you would see this huge

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Speaker 3: bump that comes up like I do. It's like for

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Speaker 3: that initial debut in the locker room video that Notre

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Speaker 3: Dame put out, I think was a million dollar ideal

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Speaker 3: because that was like, ooh, I like this guy. They

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Speaker 3: like this guy, Like I'm gonna like look checking out

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Speaker 3: Notre Dame.

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Speaker 2: A little bit now.

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Speaker 3: So yeah, the for not raame to sort of not

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Speaker 3: be in the like you're either with us or against us,

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Speaker 3: and like not name still likes to to protect and

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Speaker 3: act that way, but like, there is a large section

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Speaker 3: of the fan base that I think once the National

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Speaker 3: Championship Game got there, like, yeah, you know, like Notre Dame,

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Speaker 3: let's let's see them get at this time, and that's

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Speaker 3: it's been a long time since I've sort of since that.

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Speaker 3: I don't frankly, I don't think I've ever sent that

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Speaker 3: vibe never Notre Dame since I've been covering them as

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Speaker 3: long as I have.

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Speaker 1: Now it caught me off guard as well. One of

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Speaker 1: the popular themes I think as we talked through specific

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Speaker 1: teams really the sport in general is how much it's

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Speaker 1: changed over the last five years. I think it's part

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Speaker 1: of the reason why Notre Dame decided to hire Marcus Freeman,

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Speaker 1: because of obviously being a good defensive coach, but also

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Speaker 1: being really aggressive on the recruiting trail as well. How

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Speaker 1: is he dealing now with having that added responsibility of

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Speaker 1: running everything in this portal era. I mean, it has

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Speaker 1: changed a lot even since he got there. The easy

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Speaker 1: answer would be to say, yes, as you eluded at

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Speaker 1: the top, right, they've brought in a fair amount of

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Speaker 1: talent from other places. Recruiting has remained strong, but this

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Speaker 1: is just a much more complex job right now. He

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Speaker 1: seems to be dealing with it pretty well. Do you

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Speaker 1: still sense that motivation from him that we sensed in

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Speaker 1: day one in that video that you mentioned.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I do.

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Speaker 3: You know, he's he's maniacally competitive, and like I think

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Speaker 3: that comes through and how they manage recruiting, how they

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Speaker 3: manage the poral. But I think they've had to mature

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Speaker 3: and grow up a little bit. And you know, I

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Speaker 3: just look at where they are at the GM position,

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Speaker 3: which is kind of all this new. You know, that's

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Speaker 3: the evolution of the sport right now. You go from

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Speaker 3: Chad Bowden, Well, I think it was kind of more

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Speaker 3: like your recruiting coordinator, like dressing up like a leprechaun

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Speaker 3: for recruits and like doing the carnival barker stuff.

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Speaker 2: And he was really good at that, Like it's really

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Speaker 2: really good at like the relationships. Okay, he goes to USC.

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Speaker 3: They hire Mike Martin from the Detroit Lions, who's got,

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Speaker 3: you know, twenty plus years of scouting, and so I

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Speaker 3: feel like it's kind of a I don't think he's

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Speaker 3: going to be dressing up like a leprechaun. Like it's

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Speaker 3: more of like, who are the best players? We got

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Speaker 3: to go find them. We like, we're not going to

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Speaker 3: win by a show. We're going to win by finding

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Speaker 3: more Leonard Moores.

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Speaker 2: You know.

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Speaker 3: That's and then when there's a Jeremiah Love, you got

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Speaker 3: to go get him too. But I think that that's

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Speaker 3: that's sort of the approach. Like I think that even

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Speaker 3: you know, the Marcus Streaman's control over the program, hiring

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Speaker 3: a GM with more experience is a signal that, you know,

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Speaker 3: not that he's giving some of it up, like you're

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Speaker 3: just sort of evolving in the next way the sport

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Speaker 3: has to be run. I don't think the head coach

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Speaker 3: can do everything all the time anymore. Like Marcus Freeman's

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Speaker 3: approach to recruiting was like he wanted to be the

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Speaker 3: lead recruiter on everybody that no day went after. I

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Speaker 3: don't I don't think that's really realistic in twenty twenty five.

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Speaker 3: The way that it maybe was when he was hired

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Speaker 3: at the end of twenty twenty one. So yeah, I

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Speaker 3: think that they're just they're kind of maturing a little

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Speaker 3: bit in terms of how they staff this out, and

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Speaker 3: you know how Marcus Freeman handles the demands of the job.

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Speaker 1: If the narrative during the season was one of injuries,

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Speaker 1: one of a team trying to dig out from that

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Speaker 1: NIU loss back in Week two from AFAR, I think

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Speaker 1: the offseason narrative has been one of, Oh, this program's

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Speaker 1: turning over. Now you've got administrators leaving. You mentioned Chad Boden.

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Speaker 1: He took a director of player personnel with him. Al

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Speaker 1: Golden goes to the NFL. They had a running back

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Speaker 1: coach go to the NFL. They had a couple guys

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Speaker 1: transfer off of the line and elsewhere. If you don't

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Speaker 1: follow the program closely, it does appear as if you've

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Speaker 1: got your normal amount of turnover that comes with any

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Speaker 1: championship caliber program. What is the reality of that situation? Now,

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Speaker 1: again from your first hand perspective, somebody who knows the

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Speaker 1: inners of the program, how are they dealing with personnel,

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Speaker 1: player coach movement.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, l Golden leaving was a blow.

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Speaker 3: It was also not unexpected as soon as the Cincinnati

396
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Speaker 3: Bengals job came open, You're like, all right, well that's

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Speaker 3: it. It was sort of like when the Vanderbilt job came

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Speaker 3: open and you had Clark Lee as r DC, You're like, okay,

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Speaker 3: well that was the one. Enjoyed the three years. They're great,

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Speaker 3: best of luck to you. And so I think that

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Speaker 3: they sour of sort of saw El goldenoff as like, hey, job,

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Speaker 3: well done, thanks Chris.

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Speaker 2: Ash is a defensive coordinator.

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Speaker 3: Some Golden parallels there about a guy who was like

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Speaker 3: a rising star a while ago, was kind of falling

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Speaker 3: off the map a little bit.

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Speaker 2: You know.

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Speaker 3: They the rest of the defensive staff back, So I

409
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Speaker 3: think overall they feel pretty good about that, but it's

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Speaker 3: kind of hard to overstay just how good El Golden

411
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Speaker 3: proved to be, you know, Dela McColl of the running

412
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Speaker 3: backs coach, you just you replace them with Jaywanzider from

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Speaker 3: Penn State. I feel like that's sort of like a

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Speaker 3: six of one half dozen, another type of hiring. And

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Speaker 3: then yeah, the GM thing that was, I think they

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Speaker 3: wanted to move in a different direction anyway, So I

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Speaker 3: don't sort of feel like that is a loss, you know,

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Speaker 3: from the transfer point of view, It's like they lose

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Speaker 3: two starters on the offensive line, but because of all

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Speaker 3: the injuries they had, those guys probably weren't going to

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Speaker 3: be starters next year with everything that came back, So

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Speaker 3: I think they sort of saw the writing on the

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Speaker 3: wall there sot overall.

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Speaker 2: It's like.

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Speaker 3: Considering Notre Dame was basically a billboard in college football,

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Speaker 3: and other programs are probably like, you know what, I'd

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Speaker 3: like some of what Notre Dame is doing. I don't

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Speaker 3: think they look at what they lost as anything more

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Speaker 3: than just sort of business as usual.

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Speaker 2: If you like Ohio State, had the same thing. You

431
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Speaker 2: lose both coordinators.

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Speaker 3: If you're at the top of the sport, your other

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Speaker 3: teams are going to want a piece of your success.

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Speaker 3: And I think not Rame's just sort of dealing with that,

435
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Speaker 3: and it's not none of it has been totally unexpected,

436
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Speaker 3: but you know, losing Al Golden that is a that's

437
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Speaker 3: a big, big office to fill for Chris Sash.

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Speaker 1: For a moment in time, there were some rumblings that

439
00:21:26,760 --> 00:21:28,920
Speaker 1: Notre Dame was going to make a move at Jim Knowles,

440
00:21:29,160 --> 00:21:32,000
Speaker 1: or they at least inquired about Jim Knowles. Everybody inquired

441
00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:33,960
Speaker 1: about Jim Oles Knowles who had money to spend.

442
00:21:35,160 --> 00:21:39,680
Speaker 3: Chris Ash though, Chris Ash get your heart pumping, No,

443
00:21:40,119 --> 00:21:43,439
Speaker 3: I mean he doesn't. And that's but it's like I

444
00:21:43,480 --> 00:21:46,320
Speaker 3: remember talking to somebody at Notre Dame, like in the

445
00:21:46,320 --> 00:21:49,159
Speaker 3: football program about Golden when they hired him. I was like,

446
00:21:50,160 --> 00:21:54,440
Speaker 3: really like, this is this is it? This is the guy.

447
00:21:54,640 --> 00:21:56,040
Speaker 1: That's true. I felt that way too.

448
00:21:56,119 --> 00:21:58,480
Speaker 3: They're like, this is this is the guy, Like you

449
00:21:58,560 --> 00:22:01,200
Speaker 3: tell me who's had success at Miami And I was like, well, okay,

450
00:22:01,200 --> 00:22:03,440
Speaker 3: that's kind of a good point, you know, but like

451
00:22:03,520 --> 00:22:06,679
Speaker 3: Chris Ash hasn't even had like the Temple experience on

452
00:22:06,760 --> 00:22:10,080
Speaker 3: his resume lo way al Golden did. So it's more

453
00:22:10,119 --> 00:22:13,959
Speaker 3: of a gamble there. Chris Ash has worked with Joe Rudolph,

454
00:22:13,960 --> 00:22:16,480
Speaker 3: their offensive line coach. He's got the Ohio state connections.

455
00:22:16,480 --> 00:22:19,640
Speaker 3: I think that helps a little bit. And I think,

456
00:22:19,680 --> 00:22:23,640
Speaker 3: you know, when they hired out Golden, Marcus hired him

457
00:22:23,680 --> 00:22:27,440
Speaker 3: to come in and essentially run, like you learn our

458
00:22:27,480 --> 00:22:29,680
Speaker 3: system and then if you want to adapt that that's fine.

459
00:22:29,760 --> 00:22:33,360
Speaker 3: But like we're not going to have forty five defensive

460
00:22:33,359 --> 00:22:35,879
Speaker 3: players learn a new vocabulary when we can just have

461
00:22:35,920 --> 00:22:38,000
Speaker 3: a new one, new coach do it, and I think

462
00:22:38,040 --> 00:22:42,640
Speaker 3: with the entire defensive staff back Mike Mickens included their

463
00:22:42,680 --> 00:22:44,879
Speaker 3: you know, their DB's coach who did such a great job.

464
00:22:45,400 --> 00:22:48,879
Speaker 3: I think Chris Ash comes in as like kind of

465
00:22:48,920 --> 00:22:52,080
Speaker 3: a defensive coordinator but also like a collaborator with the

466
00:22:52,119 --> 00:22:54,520
Speaker 3: rest of the staff. So I don't I don't think

467
00:22:54,560 --> 00:22:57,600
Speaker 3: it needs you don't need to sort of start over

468
00:22:57,680 --> 00:23:00,159
Speaker 3: on defense as much as maybe you normally would with

469
00:23:00,200 --> 00:23:02,639
Speaker 3: a DC. But I mean, you're right, it's like you

470
00:23:02,680 --> 00:23:04,639
Speaker 3: look at Chris Ash's resume and it's like, okay, you

471
00:23:04,680 --> 00:23:07,679
Speaker 3: were a scout with the Jacksonville Jaguars last year. Like

472
00:23:08,880 --> 00:23:11,480
Speaker 3: and you look at Notame's past defensive coordinators. You go

473
00:23:11,480 --> 00:23:14,919
Speaker 3: from Mike Elko to Clark Lee, to Marcus Freeman to

474
00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:17,480
Speaker 3: Al Golden. You would think the job would be a

475
00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:20,760
Speaker 3: little bit bigger than to hire somebody who's like almost

476
00:23:20,840 --> 00:23:24,040
Speaker 3: out of it. But I do see at least some

477
00:23:24,080 --> 00:23:27,679
Speaker 3: connections there for Marcus and Ohio State, you know, and

478
00:23:27,720 --> 00:23:31,320
Speaker 3: then also obviously that there are some light parallels with

479
00:23:31,359 --> 00:23:33,640
Speaker 3: Al Golden. Whereas if your Notre Dame, that's what you're

480
00:23:33,640 --> 00:23:35,240
Speaker 3: telling yourself about why it would.

481
00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:38,600
Speaker 1: Work, I'm assuming you were at that playoff game, the

482
00:23:38,600 --> 00:23:46,080
Speaker 1: home playoff game against Indianga. How was that received? I mean, clearly,

483
00:23:46,080 --> 00:23:48,560
Speaker 1: it's an exciting moment for the program. We all know

484
00:23:48,720 --> 00:23:51,960
Speaker 1: that being in the playoff, having a chance to play

485
00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:54,520
Speaker 1: for something greater, even after that week two loss, is

486
00:23:54,520 --> 00:23:57,639
Speaker 1: a big deal. Some people take issue with that. But

487
00:23:58,440 --> 00:24:01,120
Speaker 1: completely separate is the fact they got into the game,

488
00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:04,040
Speaker 1: they had the home playoff game. What was the reception

489
00:24:04,200 --> 00:24:09,080
Speaker 1: like among the fan base? Was it as crazy as expected?

490
00:24:09,280 --> 00:24:12,119
Speaker 1: Was it? I know it was cold, but what was

491
00:24:12,119 --> 00:24:12,840
Speaker 1: that environment? Like?

492
00:24:13,480 --> 00:24:14,640
Speaker 2: They they killed it.

493
00:24:14,840 --> 00:24:18,840
Speaker 3: I mean it's like I try to be slightly skeptical

494
00:24:19,080 --> 00:24:22,160
Speaker 3: about like the pageantry stuff, and like this is you know.

495
00:24:22,080 --> 00:24:24,120
Speaker 2: It's the first time, Like okay, it's the first time.

496
00:24:24,160 --> 00:24:27,359
Speaker 2: I get it. They did a phenomenal job with it.

497
00:24:28,840 --> 00:24:31,720
Speaker 3: This is only this is my only anecdotal evidence of

498
00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:35,520
Speaker 3: how good it was. But my wife took our teenager

499
00:24:35,560 --> 00:24:38,240
Speaker 3: to Taylor Swift in Indianapolis in November, and my wife

500
00:24:38,280 --> 00:24:40,440
Speaker 3: took our eleven year old son to the Indiana game

501
00:24:40,520 --> 00:24:43,920
Speaker 3: in December, and she said that the Notre Dame Indiana

502
00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:46,040
Speaker 3: game was better than the Taylor Swift concert.

503
00:24:46,119 --> 00:24:49,200
Speaker 1: So really that is is she swifty?

504
00:24:49,920 --> 00:24:52,520
Speaker 3: Not really, But I wouldn't say she's like a big

505
00:24:52,560 --> 00:24:55,320
Speaker 3: notre name football fan either, So I think she kind

506
00:24:55,320 --> 00:24:57,840
Speaker 3: of came into it slightly agnostic about both and said

507
00:24:57,880 --> 00:25:01,080
Speaker 3: the Swift show was amazing, but then name football game

508
00:25:01,119 --> 00:25:02,040
Speaker 3: went above and beyond.

509
00:25:02,040 --> 00:25:02,359
Speaker 2: Wow.

510
00:25:02,800 --> 00:25:04,640
Speaker 3: When I heard that, I was like, all right, Yeah,

511
00:25:04,800 --> 00:25:07,080
Speaker 3: I think they they kind of knocked this one out

512
00:25:07,119 --> 00:25:07,560
Speaker 3: of the park.

513
00:25:08,400 --> 00:25:10,200
Speaker 1: It was cold. I mean I felt for I knew

514
00:25:10,200 --> 00:25:12,000
Speaker 1: you were there, we were watching, we did a stream

515
00:25:12,080 --> 00:25:15,680
Speaker 1: during it. It was cold, but it did seem as

516
00:25:15,680 --> 00:25:17,840
Speaker 1: if the environment was on point for that one.

517
00:25:18,200 --> 00:25:19,800
Speaker 2: Yeah, they did a really nice job.

518
00:25:19,840 --> 00:25:23,080
Speaker 3: I think, just like it was the Friday night timing

519
00:25:23,160 --> 00:25:25,520
Speaker 3: was a little bit. It took that took some getting

520
00:25:25,600 --> 00:25:27,960
Speaker 3: used to it, like they're doing college game day in

521
00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:31,560
Speaker 3: the library lawn on a Friday night. I think I

522
00:25:31,560 --> 00:25:36,239
Speaker 3: think in some ways Indiana helped the environment because it

523
00:25:36,359 --> 00:25:39,080
Speaker 3: was a game that I think a lot of people

524
00:25:39,119 --> 00:25:42,199
Speaker 3: locally wanted to see, you know, in the state, in

525
00:25:42,240 --> 00:25:45,480
Speaker 3: the region where you don't have one fan based flying

526
00:25:45,520 --> 00:25:48,520
Speaker 3: across the country on like two and a half weeks notice.

527
00:25:48,840 --> 00:25:52,760
Speaker 3: So I think that actually really helped the environment. But yeah,

528
00:25:52,800 --> 00:25:54,560
Speaker 3: I just thought that like the entrance and the game

529
00:25:54,640 --> 00:25:57,080
Speaker 3: day stuff, and I mean even the game itself. I

530
00:25:57,080 --> 00:25:59,159
Speaker 3: think if you're a Notre Name fan, you know the

531
00:25:59,240 --> 00:26:01,920
Speaker 3: Jeremiah Love the eight yard touchdown run is You're probably

532
00:26:01,920 --> 00:26:04,760
Speaker 3: gonna remember that for a long long time. So it

533
00:26:04,800 --> 00:26:07,680
Speaker 3: was I commit Notre Dame. I did a really really

534
00:26:07,760 --> 00:26:10,280
Speaker 3: nice job with like the stage and the scene of

535
00:26:10,320 --> 00:26:11,720
Speaker 3: the whole the whole operation.

536
00:26:12,720 --> 00:26:14,880
Speaker 1: What was it like as a writer as a reporter

537
00:26:15,640 --> 00:26:19,240
Speaker 1: going to what four rounds of playoff games? So, I

538
00:26:19,240 --> 00:26:21,119
Speaker 1: mean we joked before we hit record that it was

539
00:26:21,160 --> 00:26:23,439
Speaker 1: the longest season ever. It felt like the longest season ever,

540
00:26:23,480 --> 00:26:26,440
Speaker 1: because literally it was the longest season ever. Notre Dame

541
00:26:26,440 --> 00:26:27,640
Speaker 1: played sixteen games.

542
00:26:28,560 --> 00:26:30,840
Speaker 3: I did not know what day of the week it was,

543
00:26:31,160 --> 00:26:38,000
Speaker 3: from December sixteenth to January twenty second. I think that's

544
00:26:38,480 --> 00:26:44,199
Speaker 3: it was very disorienting. The games were were awesome, you know,

545
00:26:44,240 --> 00:26:47,679
Speaker 3: it was like there was you know, obviously we had

546
00:26:47,880 --> 00:26:51,280
Speaker 3: the terrorist attack in New Orleans the day before or

547
00:26:51,280 --> 00:26:55,119
Speaker 3: the night before the scheduled kickoff time, so yet you

548
00:26:55,160 --> 00:26:57,879
Speaker 3: know that on top of it. It was it was

549
00:26:57,920 --> 00:27:00,960
Speaker 3: just it was just a lot, you know. And it's like,

550
00:27:01,800 --> 00:27:04,920
Speaker 3: as someone who's covered Notre Dame for twenty four years,

551
00:27:05,240 --> 00:27:07,960
Speaker 3: you know, they haven't won a major bowl game since

552
00:27:07,960 --> 00:27:10,200
Speaker 3: I've been on the beat, and then they won two

553
00:27:10,240 --> 00:27:12,919
Speaker 3: in a week, So that was that was also kind

554
00:27:12,960 --> 00:27:16,320
Speaker 3: of hard to process. Like the Penn State game really

555
00:27:16,400 --> 00:27:19,399
Speaker 3: was one of the best games that I've covered in

556
00:27:19,440 --> 00:27:22,639
Speaker 3: twenty four years. You know, the ebbs and flows of

557
00:27:22,680 --> 00:27:24,640
Speaker 3: that one, and you know the stakes and all that,

558
00:27:24,760 --> 00:27:32,280
Speaker 3: so it was thoroughly exhausting and exhilarating at the same time. Yeah,

559
00:27:32,320 --> 00:27:34,840
Speaker 3: It's just there was still lot to stay on top of,

560
00:27:35,560 --> 00:27:37,919
Speaker 3: and it was by the end, I felt like I

561
00:27:37,960 --> 00:27:41,760
Speaker 3: had aged four or five years from December twentieth to

562
00:27:41,840 --> 00:27:42,720
Speaker 3: January twentieth.

563
00:27:42,760 --> 00:27:45,240
Speaker 2: But it was it was a very fun season to cover.

564
00:27:46,080 --> 00:27:49,439
Speaker 1: What about that National Championship game? Surprised you didn't surprise

565
00:27:49,520 --> 00:27:51,560
Speaker 1: you with respect to how Notre Dame matched up with

566
00:27:51,560 --> 00:27:52,200
Speaker 1: Ohio State.

567
00:27:52,880 --> 00:27:55,040
Speaker 3: If there was a surprise, I thought it was like

568
00:27:55,119 --> 00:27:56,920
Speaker 3: Noteame's response in the second half.

569
00:27:57,840 --> 00:27:59,520
Speaker 2: I didn't think they.

570
00:27:59,440 --> 00:28:02,480
Speaker 3: Necessarily they were going to have that in them after

571
00:28:02,920 --> 00:28:05,120
Speaker 3: you know, Ohio State, what's I think it's four touchdown

572
00:28:05,240 --> 00:28:08,000
Speaker 3: drives in a row, you know, I thought I thought

573
00:28:08,040 --> 00:28:10,119
Speaker 3: the way Notre Dame came out was exactly how I

574
00:28:10,160 --> 00:28:12,640
Speaker 3: expected them to come out and then Ohio State came

575
00:28:12,640 --> 00:28:15,399
Speaker 3: out exactly how I expected them to come out and

576
00:28:15,520 --> 00:28:18,760
Speaker 3: just stayed that way, and Notre Dame was struggling. So

577
00:28:18,880 --> 00:28:22,359
Speaker 3: it's I thought, Notre Dame being able to find something

578
00:28:22,400 --> 00:28:25,960
Speaker 3: in the past game, which was surprising. And even though

579
00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:29,120
Speaker 3: Riley Leonard has gone what you saw from Jaden Greathouse,

580
00:28:29,119 --> 00:28:31,600
Speaker 3: you're kind of like, okay, Like Notre Dame has been

581
00:28:31,600 --> 00:28:36,120
Speaker 3: looking for Jaden Greathhouse for like five years. Uh, and

582
00:28:36,240 --> 00:28:39,320
Speaker 3: to find finally have a receiver, You're like, Okay, if

583
00:28:39,320 --> 00:28:40,880
Speaker 3: we throw the ball up he can go get it.

584
00:28:42,200 --> 00:28:44,640
Speaker 3: That's a huge luxury going in the next season. So

585
00:28:45,600 --> 00:28:49,640
Speaker 3: I think that, yeah, kind of the the the offensive

586
00:28:49,720 --> 00:28:52,360
Speaker 3: rhythm that they finally got into when they were desperate

587
00:28:52,440 --> 00:28:54,400
Speaker 3: was surprising to me because I wasn't sure that they

588
00:28:54,440 --> 00:28:57,320
Speaker 3: had that in them, And there are bits and I

589
00:28:57,360 --> 00:28:59,000
Speaker 3: think there are bits and pieces of that. If you're

590
00:28:59,000 --> 00:29:01,120
Speaker 3: Mike Denbrock, they're off it's coordinator that you can sort

591
00:29:01,120 --> 00:29:03,720
Speaker 3: of take into next year and feel like, Okay, maybe

592
00:29:03,760 --> 00:29:06,800
Speaker 3: there's a different direction we can take this offense. With

593
00:29:06,880 --> 00:29:09,240
Speaker 3: Riley Leonard out of eligibility.

594
00:29:09,760 --> 00:29:12,480
Speaker 1: It's a perfect setup for my next question because I

595
00:29:12,560 --> 00:29:15,320
Speaker 1: was going to ask exactly about that. What was the

596
00:29:15,360 --> 00:29:19,719
Speaker 1: deal with Riley? Like he was obviously one of the

597
00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:25,120
Speaker 1: top transfer quarterback targets. They landed him relatively early on

598
00:29:25,200 --> 00:29:27,680
Speaker 1: after Mike Elka left Duke, Riley Leonard was in the

599
00:29:27,680 --> 00:29:30,360
Speaker 1: portal lickety split. He was at Notre Dame. It was

600
00:29:30,480 --> 00:29:32,480
Speaker 1: the worst kept secret that he was going there the

601
00:29:32,480 --> 00:29:35,280
Speaker 1: second he threw his name in the hat. I don't

602
00:29:35,320 --> 00:29:41,840
Speaker 1: feel like we got the full, unfettered version of Riley

603
00:29:41,920 --> 00:29:43,960
Speaker 1: Leonard that we had been promised when he signed on

604
00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:46,880
Speaker 1: with Notre Dame. And it seems like the turning point

605
00:29:46,880 --> 00:29:50,720
Speaker 1: in the season from my perspective, was when Mike Denbrock

606
00:29:50,840 --> 00:29:55,160
Speaker 1: realized exactly what Riley Leonard was and started leaning into

607
00:29:55,200 --> 00:29:59,240
Speaker 1: his running ability, his improvisational ability, as opposed to trying

608
00:29:59,280 --> 00:30:00,560
Speaker 1: to turn him into something else.

609
00:30:00,880 --> 00:30:03,920
Speaker 3: Is that a fair assessment, Yeah, And I think that

610
00:30:03,960 --> 00:30:07,120
Speaker 3: Denbrock knew that all along. Like if you look back

611
00:30:07,120 --> 00:30:09,320
Speaker 3: at the A and M game, like I thought, Denbrock

612
00:30:09,400 --> 00:30:10,960
Speaker 3: called the game he had to call, not the game

613
00:30:10,960 --> 00:30:13,600
Speaker 3: he wanted to call, Like he probably thought Riley Leonard

614
00:30:13,640 --> 00:30:14,240
Speaker 3: was going to be able.

615
00:30:14,080 --> 00:30:16,200
Speaker 2: To do a lot more than Riley Leonard proved able

616
00:30:16,280 --> 00:30:16,600
Speaker 2: to do.

617
00:30:17,440 --> 00:30:21,520
Speaker 3: And I think I do think that missing all of

618
00:30:21,560 --> 00:30:26,160
Speaker 3: spring practice was a killer. And you know, they talked

619
00:30:26,160 --> 00:30:28,600
Speaker 3: about mental reps and YadA, YadA, YadA, but like they

620
00:30:28,600 --> 00:30:31,000
Speaker 3: have spring practice for a reason. It's not so you

621
00:30:31,040 --> 00:30:32,880
Speaker 3: just sit there and watch it, so you do it.

622
00:30:33,000 --> 00:30:36,120
Speaker 3: And I thought that that set Leonard back. I think

623
00:30:36,120 --> 00:30:38,600
Speaker 3: that Leonard maybe processed thing and the things in the

624
00:30:38,640 --> 00:30:41,160
Speaker 3: passing game not quite as quickly as No Name wanted

625
00:30:41,240 --> 00:30:44,360
Speaker 3: him to or thought he would. Got better at the

626
00:30:44,440 --> 00:30:47,560
Speaker 3: end of the year. But I mean, even you look

627
00:30:47,560 --> 00:30:51,400
Speaker 3: at the Penn State game. That's the second pick he threw.

628
00:30:52,200 --> 00:30:54,479
Speaker 3: There's a defensive ends standing there, he throws it right

629
00:30:54,520 --> 00:30:57,240
Speaker 3: to him. That's not the kind of thing you'd expect

630
00:30:57,240 --> 00:31:01,160
Speaker 3: from a fourth year starting quarterback. So it's I thought

631
00:31:01,320 --> 00:31:04,160
Speaker 3: No Name got a lot out of Riley Leonard. Probably

632
00:31:04,200 --> 00:31:07,120
Speaker 3: Riley Leonard, if he was being honest, would have liked

633
00:31:07,160 --> 00:31:09,080
Speaker 3: to have developed more if it's a passer here, than

634
00:31:09,160 --> 00:31:09,960
Speaker 3: he was able to do.

635
00:31:10,720 --> 00:31:13,360
Speaker 2: But I give sort of like.

636
00:31:13,360 --> 00:31:15,480
Speaker 3: Leonard and den Brock credit for being like, all right,

637
00:31:16,360 --> 00:31:18,600
Speaker 3: we're going to win the way that we have to win,

638
00:31:18,880 --> 00:31:20,960
Speaker 3: even if it doesn't look good all the time. I mean,

639
00:31:20,960 --> 00:31:24,560
Speaker 3: what I think they passed for what ninety yards against Georgia. Yeah,

640
00:31:24,880 --> 00:31:27,400
Speaker 3: that's that was a winning box score for Riley Leonard.

641
00:31:27,440 --> 00:31:29,760
Speaker 3: Like it's the only thing you remember at Ryle Leonard

642
00:31:29,800 --> 00:31:34,320
Speaker 3: for that game is the somersault sneak off to the

643
00:31:34,400 --> 00:31:38,400
Speaker 3: left where Malachi starts flips him over. So yeah, I

644
00:31:38,400 --> 00:31:40,800
Speaker 3: think look from a leadership point of view, and like

645
00:31:41,120 --> 00:31:43,680
Speaker 3: the run threat of Leonard, I think is you can't

646
00:31:43,720 --> 00:31:47,240
Speaker 3: overstate how effective that was. I don't think any of

647
00:31:47,320 --> 00:31:49,239
Speaker 3: us do a good job of looking at quarterbacks and

648
00:31:49,280 --> 00:31:52,560
Speaker 3: like just viewing is the rushing ability is like this

649
00:31:52,640 --> 00:31:55,400
Speaker 3: sort of like bonus, Like that was the main thing

650
00:31:55,480 --> 00:31:57,840
Speaker 3: for Leonard, Like in some ways, like the passing was

651
00:31:57,880 --> 00:32:02,080
Speaker 3: the bonus, but he was he was a dominant runner

652
00:32:02,320 --> 00:32:04,200
Speaker 3: and he didn't always like look at it if you

653
00:32:04,280 --> 00:32:07,040
Speaker 3: just were standing next to him, but guys are bouncing

654
00:32:07,080 --> 00:32:09,000
Speaker 3: off of him. He's flipping over guys. You know, if

655
00:32:09,040 --> 00:32:11,360
Speaker 3: it's in the red zone, forget it. Like I think

656
00:32:11,360 --> 00:32:14,600
Speaker 3: he finished with fifteen rushing touchdowns, So yeah, I think

657
00:32:14,800 --> 00:32:17,200
Speaker 3: they figured out, Okay, look, would we love for you

658
00:32:17,240 --> 00:32:20,280
Speaker 3: to throw over thirty five hundred yards, of course, but

659
00:32:20,560 --> 00:32:22,520
Speaker 3: we're going to take these fifteen rushing touchdowns in a

660
00:32:22,560 --> 00:32:24,760
Speaker 3: thousand yard rushing and just we're going to roll.

661
00:32:24,600 --> 00:32:25,080
Speaker 2: With that too.

662
00:32:26,120 --> 00:32:27,600
Speaker 1: Maah well, I mean, you win it the way you

663
00:32:27,640 --> 00:32:30,560
Speaker 1: have to. And it seems like they figured figured out

664
00:32:30,600 --> 00:32:33,120
Speaker 1: that formula down the stretch. Who's the smart money on

665
00:32:33,640 --> 00:32:35,520
Speaker 1: as a starting quarterback next year? Is it CJ?

666
00:32:35,600 --> 00:32:38,160
Speaker 2: Carr? I gotta think it's CJ.

667
00:32:38,320 --> 00:32:38,640
Speaker 1: Carr.

668
00:32:38,680 --> 00:32:42,840
Speaker 3: Like there's just everything that you hear about him has

669
00:32:42,920 --> 00:32:45,640
Speaker 3: been like, okay, this is sort of you know, the

670
00:32:45,680 --> 00:32:48,760
Speaker 3: prince who has promised quarterback that Notre Dame has not

671
00:32:48,840 --> 00:32:51,720
Speaker 3: had in a long long time, and he had an

672
00:32:51,720 --> 00:32:54,640
Speaker 3: elbow injury in late September. You know he's going to

673
00:32:54,680 --> 00:32:56,680
Speaker 3: be scout team anyway, but like didn't really get to

674
00:32:56,720 --> 00:32:58,480
Speaker 3: develop maybe as much as he would have wanted to.

675
00:32:59,440 --> 00:33:02,160
Speaker 3: It's you can see this a mile away, Like they're

676
00:33:02,160 --> 00:33:04,280
Speaker 3: going to go through spring practice and Marcus Freeman isn't

677
00:33:04,280 --> 00:33:06,840
Speaker 3: going to tell you who the quarterback is. Spring games

678
00:33:07,360 --> 00:33:09,360
Speaker 3: come around. It doesn't matter who looks good and who doesn't.

679
00:33:09,400 --> 00:33:13,200
Speaker 1: Marcus, we have a quarterback competition. We feel confident in

680
00:33:13,240 --> 00:33:14,360
Speaker 1: both our guys.

681
00:33:14,120 --> 00:33:14,800
Speaker 2: Working like that.

682
00:33:14,920 --> 00:33:16,520
Speaker 3: We're going to let it play out into summer and

683
00:33:17,280 --> 00:33:20,880
Speaker 3: maybe even training camp. And I could even see a

684
00:33:20,920 --> 00:33:25,600
Speaker 3: situation where Steve Angeli starts at Miami. But I just

685
00:33:25,760 --> 00:33:28,240
Speaker 3: think for the program to go where it wants to go, CJ.

686
00:33:28,360 --> 00:33:30,040
Speaker 3: Carr is going to be the guy who takes it

687
00:33:30,080 --> 00:33:35,560
Speaker 3: there and the staff knows it. What glimpses we've seen

688
00:33:35,560 --> 00:33:38,960
Speaker 3: of CJ. Carr, which is all pretty much always limited

689
00:33:39,040 --> 00:33:41,080
Speaker 3: till spring last year when Leonard.

690
00:33:40,760 --> 00:33:42,600
Speaker 2: Was out, was phenomenal.

691
00:33:43,320 --> 00:33:46,000
Speaker 3: He just he looked like he did not look like

692
00:33:46,040 --> 00:33:49,560
Speaker 3: a freshman quarterback I'd ever seen before here. So if

693
00:33:49,600 --> 00:33:52,040
Speaker 3: that comes back this spring, I just I feel like

694
00:33:52,080 --> 00:33:53,840
Speaker 3: the writing out as a wall for CJ. Car to

695
00:33:53,880 --> 00:33:56,480
Speaker 3: be Notre Dame starting quarterback eventually. I don't know when

696
00:33:56,480 --> 00:33:57,760
Speaker 3: that's going to be. I just feel like it's going

697
00:33:57,800 --> 00:33:58,200
Speaker 3: to happen.

698
00:33:58,600 --> 00:34:02,959
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean everybody has raved about CJ. Carr's ability

699
00:34:03,000 --> 00:34:06,640
Speaker 1: to process and understand the offense very quickly upon stepping

700
00:34:06,640 --> 00:34:09,000
Speaker 1: on campus. I mean those are I think positives. You're

701
00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:11,480
Speaker 1: a Notre Dame fan to hear that you've already got

702
00:34:11,480 --> 00:34:15,439
Speaker 1: that sort of waiting in the wings beyond the quarterback role,

703
00:34:16,719 --> 00:34:19,120
Speaker 1: as he said earlier, Fairmount coming back along the line.

704
00:34:19,480 --> 00:34:25,480
Speaker 1: But you have questions about whether they're what elite top

705
00:34:25,600 --> 00:34:29,600
Speaker 1: level final two. With regard to the playoff, I mean,

706
00:34:29,600 --> 00:34:32,200
Speaker 1: the schedule is very front loaded and they're going to

707
00:34:32,239 --> 00:34:34,759
Speaker 1: be tested right out of the gates. But as you

708
00:34:34,840 --> 00:34:38,360
Speaker 1: assess things from AFAR months in advance, where are your

709
00:34:38,719 --> 00:34:39,640
Speaker 1: areas of concern?

710
00:34:40,520 --> 00:34:44,680
Speaker 3: Defensive tackle is a huge concern. You lose Riley Mills,

711
00:34:44,680 --> 00:34:47,799
Speaker 3: Howard Cross there, gab Rubio comes back, who filled in

712
00:34:47,840 --> 00:34:50,920
Speaker 3: pretty well for Riley Mills after he went down against Indiana,

713
00:34:51,920 --> 00:34:54,399
Speaker 3: but they just they don't have a lot of depth there.

714
00:34:54,960 --> 00:34:57,120
Speaker 3: So that's that's a big concern for me. You know,

715
00:34:57,200 --> 00:35:01,759
Speaker 3: Xavier Wats was phenomenal to time All American safety. Can

716
00:35:01,800 --> 00:35:06,200
Speaker 3: you replace him with you know, transfer for Virginia Tech

717
00:35:06,520 --> 00:35:11,680
Speaker 3: Stroman maybe, but no one's adding an All American in

718
00:35:11,719 --> 00:35:15,759
Speaker 3: the transfer portal. Those guys go pro. So that's that's

719
00:35:15,760 --> 00:35:19,080
Speaker 3: a step back, you know, it's to next year. I

720
00:35:19,080 --> 00:35:20,919
Speaker 3: feel like it's gonna be a much more balanced team,

721
00:35:20,960 --> 00:35:22,880
Speaker 3: Like they're gonna have to win games on offense in

722
00:35:22,880 --> 00:35:26,480
Speaker 3: a way that they just didn't last year because their

723
00:35:26,480 --> 00:35:29,320
Speaker 3: defense was so good and their offense wasn't. But I

724
00:35:29,360 --> 00:35:31,400
Speaker 3: think next year, with whether it's c J. Carr or

725
00:35:31,400 --> 00:35:33,879
Speaker 3: and Jelly, you know, Jeremiah love Jadari and Price back.

726
00:35:33,920 --> 00:35:35,839
Speaker 3: I think the offensive line will be a lot better

727
00:35:35,880 --> 00:35:38,920
Speaker 3: than it was this year. They're gonna have to outscore

728
00:35:38,960 --> 00:35:41,279
Speaker 3: some people, and that's a notame is not lived that

729
00:35:41,360 --> 00:35:44,680
Speaker 3: way in quite a while offensively. So it's to me,

730
00:35:44,760 --> 00:35:46,359
Speaker 3: it's like if you had to like put not name

731
00:35:46,400 --> 00:35:50,520
Speaker 3: in a group of teams, they're a team that probably

732
00:35:50,560 --> 00:35:52,400
Speaker 3: should make the playoff.

733
00:35:52,239 --> 00:35:52,399
Speaker 2: But.

734
00:35:53,960 --> 00:35:56,560
Speaker 3: You know, maybe he's on the road in round one

735
00:35:56,719 --> 00:36:01,640
Speaker 3: opposed to hosting, whereas last year's team will as you know,

736
00:36:01,680 --> 00:36:05,640
Speaker 3: playoff hosting or bust. Like if they hadn't hosted a game,

737
00:36:05,880 --> 00:36:08,759
Speaker 3: the season would have been a disappointment. Next year's team

738
00:36:08,800 --> 00:36:10,880
Speaker 3: just feels like it's kind of one of those teams

739
00:36:10,920 --> 00:36:12,279
Speaker 3: in the mix for ant at large.

740
00:36:12,320 --> 00:36:16,319
Speaker 1: Bit, you are a prominent beat writer for a very

741
00:36:16,360 --> 00:36:19,720
Speaker 1: prominent team. It was the longest season ever. We joked

742
00:36:19,760 --> 00:36:22,200
Speaker 1: at the top that before you know, it's going to

743
00:36:22,239 --> 00:36:26,719
Speaker 1: be spring football. What do the next six months look

744
00:36:26,800 --> 00:36:29,120
Speaker 1: like for you? Like, go month to month and tell

745
00:36:29,160 --> 00:36:31,600
Speaker 1: me what you are focused on. How you're going to

746
00:36:31,600 --> 00:36:32,440
Speaker 1: be covering this team.

747
00:36:32,640 --> 00:36:35,560
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean spring practice is interesting. I would really

748
00:36:35,640 --> 00:36:40,160
Speaker 3: like to get into like sort of the the strength

749
00:36:40,200 --> 00:36:44,480
Speaker 3: and conditioning recovery elements of this, because I mean, the

750
00:36:44,520 --> 00:36:47,200
Speaker 3: season kicked my butt, but like I didn't do anything,

751
00:36:47,320 --> 00:36:49,960
Speaker 3: Like I just wrote words if you're a football player,

752
00:36:50,040 --> 00:36:52,480
Speaker 3: Like how do you manage that differently in the recover?

753
00:36:52,520 --> 00:36:55,200
Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, how many times we were in about

754
00:36:55,200 --> 00:36:57,239
Speaker 3: the strength coach who's like more aggressive in the weight

755
00:36:57,320 --> 00:36:59,239
Speaker 3: room and the gravelly voice and like we're just going

756
00:36:59,320 --> 00:37:01,840
Speaker 3: to grind them in the ground, Like I don't know

757
00:37:01,840 --> 00:37:04,719
Speaker 3: if that's a good idea anymore. Like that's so I'm

758
00:37:04,760 --> 00:37:07,160
Speaker 3: interested to sort of see how spring practice in the

759
00:37:07,200 --> 00:37:09,800
Speaker 3: off season has to be reimagined when you play sixteen

760
00:37:09,840 --> 00:37:11,080
Speaker 3: games at the level Notre Dame.

761
00:37:11,160 --> 00:37:13,000
Speaker 2: Did you know.

762
00:37:13,160 --> 00:37:14,880
Speaker 3: I'd like to get out on the road and visit

763
00:37:15,080 --> 00:37:18,879
Speaker 3: recruits in person, other commitments or targets. I'll be doing

764
00:37:18,920 --> 00:37:21,560
Speaker 3: some of that next month or so.

765
00:37:21,560 --> 00:37:23,240
Speaker 2: So yeah, I mean those are the big things.

766
00:37:23,239 --> 00:37:25,200
Speaker 3: And then, like you know, you're kind of planning out

767
00:37:25,200 --> 00:37:26,799
Speaker 3: what the season is going to be, and now I

768
00:37:26,840 --> 00:37:28,400
Speaker 3: have to start getting used to planning out for a

769
00:37:28,440 --> 00:37:32,080
Speaker 3: season that we'll go to maybe mid to late January.

770
00:37:32,080 --> 00:37:33,440
Speaker 1: If we're lucky, Yeah, if.

771
00:37:33,239 --> 00:37:36,120
Speaker 3: We're yeah, if you're lucky as a fan, and I'm

772
00:37:36,200 --> 00:37:40,040
Speaker 3: there as a writer, it's yeah, that's sort.

773
00:37:39,880 --> 00:37:40,480
Speaker 2: Of the main thing.

774
00:37:40,480 --> 00:37:43,800
Speaker 3: And then you know, in some ways, readers reintroducing myself

775
00:37:43,800 --> 00:37:45,600
Speaker 3: to my own family because they did not see a

776
00:37:45,640 --> 00:37:48,560
Speaker 3: whole lot of me, you know, in December and mostly

777
00:37:48,600 --> 00:37:49,239
Speaker 3: January two.

778
00:37:50,120 --> 00:37:52,920
Speaker 1: His name is Pete Sampson. He is the first call

779
00:37:53,040 --> 00:37:58,280
Speaker 1: out of the bullpen whatever Dan is away from the microphone. Pete,

780
00:37:58,280 --> 00:38:01,759
Speaker 1: thank you for being so. Pete was super flexible for

781
00:38:01,840 --> 00:38:04,360
Speaker 1: people listening at home. My internet was out here. We

782
00:38:04,400 --> 00:38:07,880
Speaker 1: had crazy high winds, so Pete was more than generous

783
00:38:07,920 --> 00:38:09,560
Speaker 1: with his time. Originally we're going to do this in

784
00:38:09,560 --> 00:38:12,040
Speaker 1: the morning. Now we're doing in the afternoon. So just

785
00:38:12,160 --> 00:38:14,319
Speaker 1: know that I am forever grateful to have you here.

786
00:38:14,400 --> 00:38:15,680
Speaker 1: I appreciate it so very.

787
00:38:15,640 --> 00:38:18,319
Speaker 2: Much anytime I consider myself a friend of the show,

788
00:38:18,360 --> 00:38:19,000
Speaker 2: so you are.

789
00:38:19,200 --> 00:38:20,320
Speaker 1: I got to send you some gear.

790
00:38:20,680 --> 00:38:21,359
Speaker 2: Oh, I love it.

791
00:38:21,480 --> 00:38:23,839
Speaker 1: After we hit stop, I'll send you some gear. Where

792
00:38:23,840 --> 00:38:24,719
Speaker 1: can people find you?

793
00:38:25,480 --> 00:38:27,960
Speaker 3: We can certainly find me at the Athletic everyone knows

794
00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:30,319
Speaker 3: what that is by now, and you can also find

795
00:38:30,320 --> 00:38:34,520
Speaker 3: me on Twitter slash x at Pete Sampson Underscore and

796
00:38:34,560 --> 00:38:37,280
Speaker 3: if you're really jones of for more notre name centric podcasts,

797
00:38:37,360 --> 00:38:39,279
Speaker 3: and if you're still listening to the show, you probably are.

798
00:38:39,800 --> 00:38:43,120
Speaker 3: I host one with my friend Matt Fortuna. It's called

799
00:38:43,120 --> 00:38:47,200
Speaker 3: The Independent, so you can check us out all your

800
00:38:47,200 --> 00:38:50,880
Speaker 3: favorite podcast spots. So that's The Independent Podcast with Matt Fortuna.

801
00:38:51,120 --> 00:38:51,919
Speaker 3: Come check us out.

802
00:38:52,920 --> 00:38:57,000
Speaker 1: Beautiful. Well, on that note, verballer hood, I will leave

803
00:38:57,040 --> 00:38:59,319
Speaker 1: it here big thanks to our guest of honor, Pete

804
00:38:59,360 --> 00:39:02,239
Speaker 1: Sampson from Athletic from the Independent podcast. As Pete said,

805
00:39:02,280 --> 00:39:05,200
Speaker 1: go and check that out. They do a fabulous job

806
00:39:05,239 --> 00:39:07,680
Speaker 1: with the show, him and Matt. We will be back

807
00:39:07,800 --> 00:39:10,560
Speaker 1: a little bit later on this week. Dan is, as

808
00:39:10,600 --> 00:39:13,960
Speaker 1: I said in the air, probably about to land at

809
00:39:13,960 --> 00:39:17,800
Speaker 1: time of recording. We'll be back doing our normal thing here.

810
00:39:18,400 --> 00:39:21,879
Speaker 1: Next episode drops publicly on Thursday. Of course, if you're

811
00:39:21,880 --> 00:39:24,359
Speaker 1: a Patreon subscriber, out overballers dot com and get access

812
00:39:24,480 --> 00:39:27,760
Speaker 1: to everything without the ads and a little bit early

813
00:39:27,840 --> 00:39:30,400
Speaker 1: in the interim until we talk next time for myself,

814
00:39:30,440 --> 00:39:33,000
Speaker 1: Ty hilde Brand, for our guest of honor, Pete Sampson

815
00:39:33,080 --> 00:39:36,600
Speaker 1: for Dan Rubinstein not with us today. As always, stay soft,