Andy & Ari On3 - Miami HOLDS OFF Notre Dame in a CLASSIC | Hurricanes vs Fighting Irish Instant Reaction

Episode Date: September 1, 2025

Andy and Ari break down Sunday night’s Notre Dame-Miami thriller! While both team debuted new quarterbacks, Carson Beck turned out victorious as Miami beat Notre Dame, 27-24. Our show is presented by BetMGM! See BetMGM.com for Terms. 21+ only. US promotional offers not available in New York, Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto Rico. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (Available in the US). Call 877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY). Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP (AZ), 1-800-327-5050 (MA), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-981-0023 (PR). First Bet Offer for new customers only. Subject to eligibility requirements. Rewards are non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire in 7 days. In partnership with Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. Join On3 today and get one full year of access to The Athletic included! https://www.on3.com/subscribe/C Subscribe to On3!  ⬇️ youtube.com/on3sports/?sub_confirmati...Welcome to On3 | The best of college football and recruiting https://www.on3.com/ Watch us on YouTube! https://youtube.com/live/tR887l097G0 Hosts: Andy Staples, Ari WassermanProducer: River Bailey Interested in partnering with the show? Email [e-mail]

Welcome to Annie and Arias three presented by BetMGM, your instant reaction. Oh, and we got reactions to Miami's 2724 win against Notre Dame. A massive crazy clock management debacle with Mario Cristobal on the field, and it was not his fault. He was not the perpetrator this time. There's like 19 different angles here. This might be a full episode. Yeah. What was, yeah, what was that?

that like little flick that was a that was a redshirt freshman first year starter getting sacked trying to do something trying to get rid of the ball committing intentional grounding there's a 10 second runoff he then gets sacked again rubin bain is busy posing and it doesn't occur to cj car that you have to snap the ball or the game ends yeah well i mean the truth is if he would have just taken the sack it probably would have been the same general thing they were going to lose at that point i mean Ruben Bain has decided he was not going to get blocked on that last drive, and that was pretty much it.

Yeah, I was actually convinced that we were going to have an actual Mario Cristobald debacle there at the end because I hated the third and five decision there to just willingly give the ball back. To set up the field goal to win the game? You hated that? I hated it because you don't willingly give the other team the ball back in exchange for a timeout when you can run the clock down and kick the field goal with no time left.

guess, you know, they ended up winning. It worked out, but they had plenty of time. Well, they had to get the first down. Would you rather them gone for it on fourth down instead of people to feel able to kick? I just don't think you willingly give them the ball back for in exchange for their timeout. They might have still had to give them the ball back, but he made a decision to allow them to have the ball. No, I mean, if they'd run for more than the more yards than they needed it for a first down, then they wouldn't have. Yeah, I mean, I guess. You're just mad because he ran up the middle. But I don't know. No, no, no. I just, I think that, like, Notre Dame was anticipating that. And they stopped it because they were

anticipating it they wouldn't have been anticipating something creative and they might have gotten the first down and won that's not what's important yeah we don't have to argue about that uh Miami's back is this team better than last year's team am I allowed to ask oh my God you are so reactionary you're such a prisoner of the moment but this defense is certainly better that's what I was saying there was one play the the past of the tight end because there was a giant coverage bust that was the one play that reminded me of last your's Miami defense. Everything else was much, much better. Corey Heatherman, who they brought in from Minnesota, did a great job. They got a bunch of transfer guys. Xavier Lucas from Wisconsin was

one of them. He had a great night. They looked like a completely different team on defense. And that's what you needed because look, Carson Beck had a great night. He was not Cam Ward. That offense was not what it was under Cam Ward. But it didn't need to be because the defense was pretty awesome most of the night. I know you hate me. Is this team better than last year's team? Andy, I here's what I want to say. Let's let him play some more games and we'll see, but

it certainly has a chance to be. Yeah, I mean, I'll take that defense and that offense. We do need to watch them play more games. It is an opener. We talked all weekend about not being overreactionary for week one, and I'm not going to be that, but I do want to react to something. Anybody who listened to our show

for the entire summer and beyond knows that I haven't been overly high on Carson Beck. And it sounds like to me that you don't think he played a sensational game. I don't know that he did. I thought he played a very good game. Well, it depends on who you're going to blame for them after they scored that first touchdown in the second half, just kind of shutting it down offensively. Yeah.

And I don't know that you completely put that on Carson Beck. But he averaged 6.8 yards per attempt. That's not great. Yeah. But he looked poised and the moment wasn't too big for him. And this is probably, is this going to be the best defense he plays? We'll see if I will see if Florida's defense is good. But I mean, this might be the best defense on Miami's regular season schedule.

You know, it is pretty insane though because like I don't think that we gave enough like credence to the fact that Miami was in kind of a dumpster fire situation with its quarterback. And that Carson Beck just fell out of the sky. Like I don't think that anybody is going. to compare him or say that he's better than Cam Ward, I actually believe in my heart that Cam Ward's going to be one of the next great NFL quarterbacks. And I don't know why I just have this gut feeling about him. Suffice to say, there's no question that he was a highly productive college player and a person that brought Miami to the fringe of the college football playoff as all of his teammates that were on his team last year, get cut from NFL rosters right now.

I think Carson Beck is probably the best case scenario that had happened for Miami, especially given the circumstance in which they got him in the timing of that. I thought he looked poised. I thought he looked in control. It looked like this was not his first game with them. Miami has a lot of really good offensive weapons. You don't have a, you know, Ryan Williams or Jeremiah Smith on your team, but you have a lot of different players that freshman Malachi. Malachi, Tony, oh, yeah, was open the entire game, sensational fast.

That catch, we already got the catch of the year. CJ Daniels. I mean, you know, everybody makes the comparison anytime somebody has a one-handed catch to O'Dell Beckham. The kid from Florida did it too. Yeah, Rennell Brown the third. Yeah, Rennell Brown the third. And I don't know if you saw that. I sent you, I don't know if I sent it to you, but did you see his eyes when he caught that?

Oh, it was incredible. His eyes were like, his head was like this and his eyes were looking at the ball, like, backward. But I'm saying, the C.J. Daniels catch even better because it was for a touchdown against Notre Dame and not against Long Island. Yeah, and also, if he's not there to make that sensational play, that might have been like a hospital ball pick. When he threw that, when Carson Beck threw that, I was like, that's going to be a pick. And that's like such a drive killer, momentum killer, because it was right before the half. And then they go in and they own the middle eight the way that Notre Dame did to everybody last year. C.J. Carr threw that touchdown pass where he scrambled backwards to the 30 yard line and somehow like wiggled out of it and found that touchdown.

And the next time he took the ball, the next time he touched it after a touchdown pass, they were down 217. So it's like, yeah, in the entire game flipped and he never played. By the way, CJ Carr is going to be good. I realize he made a mistake there at the end. but he looked very poised down the stretch, especially considering the circumstances, especially considering the quality of the defensive lineman chasing him. Yeah, you know, with Miami, like I'm super excited.

We can shift it a little bit over to Notre Dame, before I ask you which team in Florida is the best. But I was kind of, and they pretty much all play each other. You know, we were watching this, Andy. It felt like Notre Dame was in no man's land offensively for a large portion of that game. Well, it felt like they forgot Jeremiah Love was on the team. Four carries at halftime and then the first possession in the second half.

After Miami went like eight minutes and took half the clock of the quarter out and scored a touchdown. They go three and out with three consecutive incomplete passes. And it's like you have, you know, what do we talk about all summary? The best offensive line in the country and you have the best potential running back, you know, him or Nick Singleton or somebody else. But he's certainly one of the three best. Speaking of that, and I'm the one who said they're the best offensive line in the country all off season. about Notre Dame. Miami might have the best one.

Yeah, they might not have been in the best offensive line on the field tonight. Miami's might have been. Yeah, they were fantastic. It brings us back to like Francisco Maui Noah. Mario Cristobal program building theory. He's always been lines first. That's been his deal. And I don't know.

We're going to find out as we see more games this year what Miami's skill does from a consistency standpoint. Right now I'm pretty sure I would probably still take last year's skill because they had of Colby George and Xavier Restrepo and Damien Martinez and guys. And Cam Ward. Cam Ward makes all the difference. But like if you're going to be able to push Notre Dame around on an eight minute drive right out of the locker room up seven and then punch it in right out of the gate to flip the game over,

they did to Notre Dame what Notre Dame is supposed to and has done to their opponents. So like I thought that that was highly impressive. And the thing about college football from a narrative standpoint is that like the SEC and the Big Ten play the most physical brands of football. But holy shit, Andy. this ACC kicking the crap out of tough teams on TV two days in a row between them and Florida State. I mean, like, is Florida back? As a state? You live there.

Like, it's Florida back? I don't know. I would love it because that, like, when I was in high school, the canes, the Seminoles, and the Gators were all awesome. And it was so much fun. The trash talk was fun. And I didn't grow up as a fan of any of those teams. I was a kid from another state who moved to Florida. who had a team, you know, that he came with.

But watching those, those teams and watching all the fans interact, it was unbelievable. And the level of trash talk going on right now, the discourse on Gator's Twitter and Kane's Twitter and Noel's Twitter is spectacular. It feels normal. Oh, it feels so good. It's nostalgic. And they, but they all play each other because you've got Miami, Florida coming up in week four. You've got Florida, Florida State Miami coming up shortly after that.

I believe week five or week six. Then you have Florida State will play Clemson. You're going to have Florida and Florida State at the end of the year. Like this is going to be a lot of fun in the state of Florida. Yeah. I mean, if I'm a Gators fan right now, my schedule just got a little harder and you're not, you're not here for that. Oh, I think they realized it was hard. Anyway, Miami kicked the crap out of them last year.

I don't think they've forgotten that. Yeah, well, I mean, I don't know if, you know, you're a culprit here. I feel like I am. I underrated Miami all offseason. Like they were much better tonight. And, you know, again, one game, not over, but like, they looked more functional and much better than I thought they would tonight. So take that for what it's worth.

Having a, having a, this was a good defense. There's one major bust, everything else, they were solid. They were a terrible defense last year. And that's kind of part of the reason. That's a huge difference. You know, and I know that, like, I am reactionary and I need to go see a therapist over it. But, like, Miami's defense was so, so bad last year that, like, I almost feel comfortable blindly taking whatever we just watched on TV. Because you know for a fact that they couldn't stop anybody last year.

And it's like, no, I mean, I know, it's just like they, this game would have ended completely differently had that been last year's Miami defense. First of all, Miami wouldn't have started Miami wouldn't have been leading the way it was in the third quarter because Notre Dame would have been scoring much more. more easily. This was an excellent, I mean, you think about making a good hire, fixing the personnel. It's sort of, they did it in one off season, what LSU has needed two off seasons. We talked about this last night. We were at LSU Clemson. You know, Blake Baker came in and schematically fixed things, but they didn't have quite the personnel they needed defensively last year. And they do now, and you saw that come to fruition against Clemson. And I think they did it all in one offseason of Miami. You know, I was actually kind of

confused a little bit because, you know, USC's defense two years ago was awful and it took a marginal step forward. It was marginally better, but wasn't great. LSU's defense two years ago was awful and they took a marginal step forward. And like, I think I convinced myself this offseason that you could be a marginal step to really good or proficient or average or above average in one off season. So, you know, again, I think that if you have defensive linemen that can control, the line of scrimmage that does a lot of work for you and and miami clearly possesses that

reuben bain was injured a lot of last year um and he played a vintage rubin bain game where he was in a keem messador they were dominant bane was incredible at the end of the game just to remember he also had an interception yeah earlier in the half that was a you know right before that i posted online that i thought that uh this was going to be uh jeremiah's loves drive and then two plays later, Ruben Bain picked that. I was like, sorry, guys, got the wrong four, got the wrong number four. But, you know, I think I like the elements of what I saw. Now, I'm not going to go say that they're the favorites to win the ACC. I still think that Clemson, even though they lost on Saturday, would be my pick right now. No, Knowles? If I had to make a blind pick right now on a

Sunday night after a week one of who I think could win the ACC, I would believe I would probably still go Clemson. I don't know if you disagree or agree. I don't know that I have a lot of a pretty firm foundation to stand on in that opinion other than just preconceived notion in what we saw in Death Valley on Saturday night. Listen, I think Kate Clubnakes getting chased by Miami the same way he's getting chased by LSU.

And it's possible that they might have a hard time scoring against Miami too. But, I mean, tough physical football. Miami was arriving at the ball. They looked like the two teams we saw last night in Death Valley. But both these teams did. Notre Dame did too. And Notre Dame, of course,

made the national title game last year and brought back an awful lot. You know, here's the other side of the conversation because we can't get there. Well, you have Clemson's page up. Why don't you finish that five? Well, I was just looking at Clemson's regular season schedule. I wanted to point out that Clemson and Miami do not play in the regular season. So there's a conceivable finish, and I realize I'm getting way ahead of myself here. But there's a conceivable situation where you could have a three-way tie at seven and one in ACC play with Clemson, Miami and Florida State, depending on how things shake out.

If Miami beats Florida State, Florida State beats Clemson. Oh, sorry. No, no, I'm sorry. Florida State beats Miami. Clemson beats Florida State. And then somebody takes another loss. Yeah. Yeah, you are getting a little, you know, I'm not the,

I'm not the one getting ahead of myself here. You just put a three-way tie of seven-and-one at the end of these, you know, I think it's possible. Honestly, I think Duke's going to be good. Duke has a huge game against someone that we're going to pick. You know, the ACC, I'll say, you know, I'm not going to crown them as an equal to the Big Ten on the SEC after week one by any stretch of the imagination. But, you know, Clemson was physical. Florida State was very physical.

Did you see that block that has been going viral today? I missed it while watching the game. That one were, you know, Alabama's defender, I don't even know who I got to go back and figure out who it was when flying. I mean, Miami, like that's what Notre Dame's calling card is. Who was more physical tonight, you know? Miami was more physical. Miami, and all you need to do is look at the, look at the last two plays of the game. Yeah.

I mean, that's the difference between Miami this year and Miami last year. Yeah, they definitely would have given up a touchdown at the end last year. Yes. Yeah, without question. So I'm excited to see the way this shakes out the rest of the year because, I mean, look, Florida goes to Miami in week four. That's going to be a fantastic game, you know. And the one thing I want to say also, there are a lot of Miami thoughts, but Miami made a slam dunk splash higher of their own during the same cycle that Lincoln Riley went to USC and Brian Kelly went to LSU.

And I think that those two. And Dan Lannin went to Oregon and Marcus Freeman got hired. But I think that the two that I started with got the most attention because it was people who were at destination jobs who left voluntarily for another job. And I think Mario Cristobal, to a certain extent, I mean, not a certain extent, it is in that same category. In Miami, it kind of felt like if he couldn't do it, nobody could because he is the epitome of recruiting and has a background of coaching at Alabama and is from Miami. You know, like it's the perfect, and it feels like it's starting to come together. And you played offensive line. You have an office.

He has a center's group chat on his phone. Like how many years does it take for you to finally get the foundation on the lines on both? sides to be where you want it to be and my guess would be three to four yeah i think he's got it now if he hasn't yeah like that that's and these are guys for the most part that they've signed out of high school or like messador came as a transfer but a long time ago he's been at miami a long time uh brockermeyer center is is really the only new guy yeah and they have they've really done a good job developing those guys on the line of scrimmage and that's what you expect from maria Chris ball teams. You saw it when he was at Oregon, too.

I mean, hell, you saw it when he was at FIU years and years and years ago. Yeah. So I just, I'm so excited for what this can be. And now, let's talk Notre Dame, because you're the one after they lost to Northern Illinois last year who said, hey, don't worry, they're going to run the table.

I don't feel like I can say, don't worry, they're going to run the table. But if they can bounce back, beat Texas A&M in week three, I think they could be 11 and 1. Oh, yeah. Like, there's no question that Notre Dame isn't buried here, you know, not playing in a conference and having the automatic bid,

you know, for all you people who they need to join a conference like that could hurt them, you know, if they finish 11 and 1, they'll probably get it. My bold prediction that they're going to be a top four seed, probably not, not coming true. Well, you know, if they finish 11 and 1, that could still come true. Maybe. Yeah, depending because 11 and 1 is, and especially if Miami is even higher.

But I also feel like starting that year in that hole, and they're going to ANM, aren't they? No, A&M's coming to there. Oh, that's good. Yeah, they beat them at A&M. So they have a chance to go one-in-one. You know, A&M, I think, struggled at times with UTSA. We'll see what they are.

A&M's always a mystery. But I wouldn't, I thought that if I'm a Notre Dame fan, I'm frustrated as hell right now because you feel like they left some points on the table and some offensive. Well, I just want to know from Mike Denbrock why Jeremiah Love was basically ignored the first half. That doesn't make any sense to me. You have the best back in the country. you have one of the best lines in the country just giving the ball and let him cook especially because you have a first time starting quarterback in a hostile environment that should help him settle down i just i feel like that you're right and i and i there's definitely questions to be answered but i'm totally with you in that cj car looks the part to me yeah and i do feel like if they are somehow able to beat a and m they will be fine and he made the one goofy play at the end which is something

blame him. I don't even blame him. Older quarterbacks make the same mistake, but he looked like he was fine in the moment. It didn't look too big for him. And I also think now that he's made that mistake, he's probably never going to make that again. And honestly, Andy, it was a mistake, but he had two options, that or gets sacked. Either way, like, you know, he had no time to process anything on those last two plays. So, you know, I think that Notre Dame is a team that is tough. And the one thing that I think we have to give them credit for is the same trait that last year's team had, which is when it seemed like they were cooked, they tied the game.

Like that team fights. Yeah, they were down 21-7. It felt over. When Miami took the first half of the third quarter to score that touchdown and go up 21-7, I thought, oh, man, if Notre Dame goes three and out here, this game is over. But Notre Dame fought all the way back, tied the game. Yeah. But even when it was 24-14.

late. I think it was 2414. We had seven minutes left and they got the ball back. Well, they tied the game. They didn't just get the ball back. They tied the game and they didn't get that big defensive stop. You would think they would have considering their reputation. But, you know, it wasn't a, I think it's a dumpster fire game would have been C.J. Carr looks overmatched.

Yeah. They lose 28 to 10. They can't move the football. You know, I don't think that's true. I think the future is bright with C.J. Car. I'm very encouraged by what I saw tonight and think. if you can do that in your first start in that environment, what happens after you got some home games on your belt?

After you played some teams that are fairly easy for you guys to be. He gets credit for tying it back at 24. Yes. Like that's not easy, especially on the road. It looked like every single Miami legend who ever lived was in the building. We were like, remember during the quarterback competition,

we were like, oh, Kenny Menchie's the guy who can run. CJ Carr looked great. Yeah, that quarterback draw for the touchdown was awesome. I saw some people mentioning when's Menchie coming. into the second quarter. I was like, guys, you don't, like, his leash isn't that short. And certainly I don't think it's that short at all now. So, and I'm also, you know, talking

quarterbacks. I'm excited about what Carson Beck can do. Because again, this may be the best defense he faces all regular season. I do kind of feel good for Carson Beck because, you know, this is probably a topic for the, for the show sometime this week, Andy. But I was kind of amused by how many Georgia fans were in my mentions tonight, like complaining about Mike Bobo. I just I think I'd like to complain about Mike Bobo in general. But the one thing that you have to isolate here as fact is that Carson Beck didn't have the best year last year, a lot of drops. A lot of drops. And he got bailed out in a big way one time tonight.

But I think that, you know, this notion of he was not welcome back. And like they had a Carson Beck problem last year. I didn't watch that game thinking that Georgia had a Carson deck problem. No. And so the other part you need to think. remember about Carson Beck is this is his first game since major elbow surgery. Right. The last time we saw him play was in the SEC championship game where his elbow, like his arm

got ripped the wrong way. And that was a major operation. So I thought it was pretty impressive. I think he can get better than I thought he was. Yeah. And I think he can get better as the season goes on because, again, he's not going to be playing that defense every game. So a lot to look forward to for both of these teams.

teams. I don't think anything's over for Notre Dame yet. I still think they can make the playoff. Miami, you revive, like, because your question was, what is the defense going to look like? How different will it be? It is vastly different. So you revise your expectations now. If you thought, okay, maybe they might be as good as they were last year, that'd be great. No, no, revise your expectations and say, they should win the ACC and they should go to the playoff. That's how you should feel right now. Yeah. Wow. Sunshine State is back baby uh right yeah i'll be i'll be back there tomorrow i'm driving home tomorrow so uh when i cross the state line see if uh if footballs just start flying over the car i'm very excited to see

the big three they're back usf look great by the way they've got to play florida miami consecutive weeks so the challenge gets a little tougher yeah you're a little scenario of them going to the playoff because they uh they would need to go one in one these next two weeks yeah well Also, we don't know what Florida is yet. Oh, we have no idea. They play Long Island. That doesn't count. You know, DJ Lagway had efficient stats and, you know, he got off to a slow star,

but they've got riding. We don't know that. But, you know, I, we are going to talk about freaks this week. We are. We are talking about. We saw Dylan Stewart in person today. Holy crap. I can't even tell which one's a bigger freak.

Nick Harbor or Dylan. Dylan Stewart is the bigger freak. He is. Yes, he's the better football player. Dylan. I just mean like physical specimen. Yeah, Nick Harbor probably because he's, he's, he's, so big and fast. But we'll talk about that this week.

Obviously, we were at South Carolina, Virginia Tech, and seeing a couple aliens was very intriguing and enlightening. So we're going to talk about that and just kind of who are the aliens around the country, which teams have the most aliens? Sounds like a good column for you, too. Yeah, well, I'm going to wait until you do all the work, and then I'm going to take what you say on the podcast. I love our dynamic. And a little bit of a special news for the people in the show is that because I have a flight early in the morning, we won't have time to pre-record, so I think we'll be live tomorrow. Yes, I have a show, live pick show 3 p.m. Eastern Time Monday.

So live pick show. And then of course, yeah, we're coming back after Bill Belichick coaches his first college game tomorrow night. Yeah. That's a great weekend. Sport in the universe. College football always delivers. And we will talk to you to tomorrow. Mark.