College Football Live - 7/18 - CFB Live - Dunn in a Minute/Notre Dame Day

Episode Date: July 18, 2025

The Crew Zubin Mehenti, Sam Acho, Roddy Jones and Pete Thamel continues their media days coverage with Notre Dame. Special guest, head coach Marcus Freeman and superstar running back Jeremiah Love joined the show. We also had our very own intern guest stop by, a big surprise for both Freeman and Love. You don't want to miss this one! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

And we welcome you to a Friday edition of College Football Live, where for the most part, today we're going to hone in on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Plenty to get to. We're going to talk to head coach Marcus Freeman, Heisman, candidate Jeremiah Love. Welcome inside college football live, Sam Hacho, Roddy Jones, Zubin Mahenthe. Let's not waste any time. Let's get right to it to the storyline for Notre Dame. Last year, of course, the national runner-up. 14 wins.

You don't say that often about a college football team, but in this playoff era, Not a huge surprise. They'll open up the 2025 season on the road in a big game. More on that in a second. They're going to have a new starting quarterback for the whopping six straight year. It's amazing. The amount of turnover and there's not much experience for the two guys battling for it. More on that in the second.

I mentioned Jeremiah Love who's going to join college football live in just a little bit. He and Price in the backfield, see if Notre Dame can get over the hump and go from being a National Championship finalist to the national champion. Guess we'll know about Notre Dame pretty darn early. Right out of the gate, your Saturday primetime ABC game in week one at Carson Beck and Miami. Looking forward to that. They've got five true road games on the schedule as we welcome in our Pete Damble. Pete, anytime Notre Dame has a quarterback competition, it's automatically going to become one of the biggest topics in the sport.

So get a set for summer and fall camp. giving us a quick primer of where we are right now. Sure, Zubin. The battle is this, C.J. Carr versus Kenny Minchie. And I think a lot of people have slotted C.J. Carr as the probable starter because he was so dominant in the spring game. He played really well. He flashed. He threw for 170 yards, 14 of 19 passing. But I was cautioned today by multiple people. That's not the case. This is an actual quarterback battle that's going to happen this fall.

Carr comes in with the better recruiting pedigree, and he is a super alpha, I was told, in that building. He's got a strong presence to him. He's obviously the grandson of former Michigan National Championship coach Lloyd Carr. Minchy gives Notre Dame a little bit of a different element. He's a little more electric in the run game, and that's the style of quarterback that Mike Denbrock, the OC has had. There's obviously Desmond Ritter at Cincinnati, Jaden Daniels at LSU, and Riley Leonard last year. so it'd be an interesting style battle as well, Zuban. Yeah, Carr and Minci have combined for zero starts,

which is going to be a huge sea change from Sam Harmon and Riley Leonard, who had a ton of playing experience under their belt before they even got to South Bend. Pete Hang tight. We'll have you back in just a bit. Let's break down the Irish with the fellow. Sam, I want to start with you. Pete and I and everybody else are talking about the quarterback situation, but you're not particularly concerned about that,

maybe not as top of mind as everybody else is. Oh, not even close. I think about last year there were a question, marks that quarterback with Notre Dame last year. And all we saw was Riley Leonard D struggled early, but the offensive line was able to step up and get experience. So I think about the offensive line that has experience, guys like Anthony Knapp, who's going into his sophomore year. Obviously, there's question marks with Charles Jagassau, if he's going to play or when he's going to get back.

But for me, this is a run first physical type of football team. And so my concerns aren't about what the quarterback's going to do. Actually, I have confidence because the offensive line and confidence because of the running game. I agree, Sam, about the running game. I mean, that running back room is going to be in contention for one of the best in the country with Jeremiah, I love, Judari and Price and Annius Williams. But you look at the offensive line, and you mentioned the experience that they gained over the course of last year. Remember coming into last season, this was an offensive line that had basically no experience. Now, these guys that played last year, that developed last year, that got a lot better, now have that experience and the ability to really catapult themselves off of what they did at the end of last year.

You look at some guys that they're getting back from injury as well. It's going to be an offensive line that should be one of, if not the best in the country, with a running back room that should be one of if not the best in the country. So you're right. The quarterback, I'm not saying they be a manager because they certainly have room to grow from a passing standpoint. I think they will. But lead on the run game, lead on that offensive line. I think this offense should be fine.

Here's the interesting thing, Roddy. We've talked about the quarterbacks. We've talked about the running backs. We just showed the graphic there on the offensive line. But I know you really want to hone in on the pass catchers. I know. After I talk about the running backs in the offensive line and how great they are and how they need to lean all that, the growth in the passing game, I think, will be substantial this season, particularly because of the emergence of Jaden Great House, because of Jordan Faison and the acquisition of Malachi Fields, who had 800 yards receiving last year at the University of Virginia, a big-bodied receiver on the outside, who can really make plays up in the air at the catch point. So if the quarterback is more past century, like a CJ car, then I think this,

I think this passing attack could be a lot better this year. And it was the passing attack that really elevated last season, that season went on. But I go back to the defense as well. This defense is a top five defense. At least they were a top five defense,

top three defense last year. They were number one when it came to an opponent completion percentage. And their two star corners are returning. Think about Christian Gray and Leonard Moore. So I think about, okay, how did Notre Dame get to where they got to? It was the running game.

It was a quarterback run, but it was also the defense. They would take the ball away and they would score on defense. They would return the ball on defense. So for me, I think about the young talent defensively. That's what makes Notre Dame dangerous. They're not just a one-dimensional football team. They can do it on the office side of the ball and on the defensive side of the ball as well.

Hey, as promised Pete is back. Last time you were here. You were talking about a quarterback duel in South Bend. Now you're here to break down maybe the most interesting quarterback dual position battle anywhere in the SEC. Yeah, Zubin. Eli Drinkwitz, the Missouri coach, made plenty of headlines yesterday with some conspiracy theories and some playoff models, but he does have a good old-fashioned quarterback battle on the field between Transfer Bo Perbuella, who came from Penn State, an incumbent Sam Horn, who was recently

drafted in the Major League Baseball draft. He said he's not going to rush this battle. He sounded like Yoda. He said when the QB is ready, he will announce himself. As for the SEC, Missouri was picked 12th in the poll. The leaders in the SEC preseason pool, which was released Friday were Texas, Georgia, Alabama, and LSU, Mississippi State, was picked last. There's no reason the Big 12 didn't have a pool.

They didn't want anyone picked last. The first team all-SEC quarterback, Zubin, was Lenora Sellers. Arch Manning came in third in that pool. Third team. As for Clemson, some sad news for our friends in Death Valley. Legendary Clemson player Willie Anderson passed away at the age of 72, the school announced today. He was an all-ACC performer for the Tigers.

He was also an assistant coach Zubin on the 1981 national championship team. Obviously, a transformative figure at Clemson. And our deepest condolences go to our friends there. Absolutely. He had an opportunity to coach under Danny Ford on that 81 team. And of course, the great Charlie Pell as well. That's our Pete Thammell. And still ahead on college football live, as I mentioned at the top.

Coach Freeman here. Jeremiah Love both joined the show to talk about last season and what it'll take to get over the top this fall. We are back the third of the trilogy. Ready to go at UFC 318 Saturday. Order with one tap, ESPNplus.com slash PBV with the prelends on ESPN. For Marcus Freeman, it's been a pretty good climb. Took over, of course. Now in his fourth full season, the first three complete.

Great ones, nine wins, 10 wins, 14 wins. And it's a pleasure to welcome in Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman to college football live. Coach, just help me understand what your life has been like since December 3rd of 2021 when you busted through the doors for your team to await you all the way to nearly winning the national championship in January. I think it's been a journey. That's what it's been. It's been a journey and a lot of ups, some downs, but what a journey it's been, being around great young people and working with great people. And here we are. I remember watching you compete against Lloyd Carr.

And now you're not coaching his son. You're coaching his grandson. You want to talk about time flying. Tell us a little bit about CJ and just sort of your unique role in this sort of recruitment slash rivalry. That was a unique. experience. You know, he committed, oh, I think it's two years ago now. And it was a situation where you're like, yeah, he is the grandson of Lloyd Carr. His father played at Michigan. Mother went to Michigan. Her father played at Michigan. And so, you know, it was a unique

experience. But at the end of the day, we're all in this to support CJ. What is going to be the final missing piece to get you guys over the top after being oh so close? Well, I don't know if it's just one missing piece, right, is that you always try to enhance your talent. You develop that talent, and you have a culture that hopefully the process of your culture and the process of the things you do, you know, put out a really good result. And so that's the formula for us, is like, how do we continue to increase this talent level? How do we continue to develop this talent level and how do we continue to have a culture that helps us help us have the results that we want? And so that's what we've done this offseason.

And, you know, we're going to get ready for training camp and look forward to 25 season. Coach, I know you're never really surprised in the world of college football. You've got to expect the unexpected. But are you expecting this? Take a look at who's joining us. Coach, it's great to see you. Done, man. How you doing?

We were just talking about you. I was hoping to get a chance to run into you. But they told me you were in Connecticut. And so I love seeing you virtually, man. That's awesome. too, coach. They've been taking care of me over here at ESPN, but I'm definitely missing, missing the guys. I can't wait to get back. This is, I'd say, done.

Cornerback, ready to go. Of course, Marcus knows that, but for our audience. So let's see if you can make your national television debut. We've seen you on the field with a helmet, but your son's helmet now. So you think clearly. Ask coach whatever you want. Coach, I got one question. It's nothing too crazy. I want you to be honest. Let's say we're in camp. and you have to pick one DB to get a pick.

It's a random Tuesday. Who are you picking at all the DBs? Be honest, I'm biasedly. Who are you picking? You couldn't come upstairs and ask me this in my office. We've got to do this on national TV. National television. There's one guy that I've been with for a couple years now

that's doing extraordinary things. His name is Dunn Man in my heart. You know, Isaiah Dunn. I would love to see him have a huge interception on a bloody Tuesday in South Bend. Coach, I appreciate you, man. It's so good to see you. I'm missing you like crazy.

This is why the recruiting is on fire. You see that answer? That was so smooth. And just in case you didn't catch that, he does roam the defensive backfield. I'm going to let you get going, Coach. You better start crank on that Miami film. We're about 45 days away from the season beginning. Marcus, thank you so much.

Love you, coach. Thank you. Great to see you, ma'am. Love you, buddy. Good to see you, too. On the way, one of Isaiah's teammates, Jeremiah loves going to join us to look back on one of the. greatest moments that he authored in last year's playoff and talking about being a

Heisman candidate this fall. We're ready tomorrow for the quarterfinals of the flag football championships. Where else would they be held? Canton, Ohio on ESPN, ESPN Plus, and NFL Plus. And it's a pleasure to welcome in Notre Dame's Jeremiah Love to college football live. First things first, I think some people were electrified on that Friday night when you had the flu and they saw you tote that thing, 98 yards to the house in the first ever playoff game on a home campus. Just take me what was going through your mind with the whole

football world watching you. So that play was crazy. Once I seen the hole, I seen just daylight, broke out, got down the sideline, just going and going and going. And at some point, I started looking up at the scoreboard or at the little jumbo trine, making sure know, Nobody behind me was getting a little bit too close. And man, that whole play, I just think I'm tired. You know, I'm not feeling good. I hope nobody will hark me down so I don't look slow. And once I scored a touchdown, I was just like, man, we're here.

It was a great play, beautiful play. And, yeah, it was a lot going through my mind. It was awesome. A lot of people who have you on their mind because ESPN came out with the list of the top running backs in the country are at number one, which would generally mean you should be a Heisman Trophy candidate. How are you handling all the attention? You know, I try not to just, I try to just keep the noise, you know, just the noise.

I try not to pay attention to a lot of things that people say, primarily because people's opinions can change just like that. All that really matters at the end of the day is, you know, how I perform, you know, how I see myself doing. So when it comes, you know, other people saying things, I try not to pay attention. You know, it's nice to see here and there. But, like, you know, I don't want to get no big head. You know, I don't want to, you know, think of myself, you know, as, like, you know,

like, you know, cockier, like, I'm just better than everybody, you know. You know, I've still got, you know, things that I got to grow in. I'm still, you know, growing as a person as a player. So, you know, I try to just keep all that, you know, away from my head and just try to be in my own headspace and just focusing on the right things and, you know, not just focusing on what other people are saying.

Yeah. And, yeah, that's what I try to do. What are your expectations for this coming season? Expectations. You know, this season, I just want to be better than I was last season. You know, I'm not really going into this season, you know, thinking like, oh, I got to win a national championship. I got to do this, I got to do that, I got to win this award. You know, I just want to be better than I was last year.

I want to be the best version of myself that I can possibly be. And I feel like that's how everybody on the team thinks. I feel like, you know, everybody's not, you know, too focused on, like, material or, like, individual glory. All right, I know you're busy. So we'll get you out of here in a minute. And, in fact, I would say we're going to be done with you in a minute. but it's not exactly D-O-N-E. It's D-U-N-N.

Bring them in. Jeremiah, your teammate, Isaiah Dunn, is joining us. All right, go ahead, fellas. Jay Love, you're looking fresh, man. What's up, man? You got the suit on and everything. You're in New York and looking fly. So he's an intern with us.

Yeah, you guys know that. He's joining us for the summer. He's our teammate this summer. Go ahead. I'm their teammate this summer. They've been taking care of me. But I'm definitely missing the guys, man. I'm missing the guys.

I'm excited for camp coming up. But you've been bawling on and off the field, especially with your comic book. I saw. I'm checking it out. But it's been awesome. I don't know. No, tell us about the comic book. I got a comic book coming out. It's called Gerimonstar.

Basically, it's just my way of telling, you know, my story in like a little fun way in a comic way. You know, I grew up watching anime. I love comics. You know, I just loved, like, the whole just everything about, like, just comics and manga and, you know, Marvel, DC, like everything about it, I think is very, very cool. So, you know, me and my dad got together and, you know, just thought of an idea to, you know, bring, you know, a comic to life. And that's what Jared Monster is.

It's just telling my life through a comic form. It's for every, it's for all ages, really. Just want to give back to football. Gerimonstar is coming out in September. And, yeah, it's just my life story in a comic form. I'm just hoping everybody's going to enjoy it. Good stuff. You want to go rapid fire with your teammate?

Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's do rapid fire. We got done in a minute. So you've got a minute to answer rapid fire questions. Jay Love, are you ready? Yes, sir. All right, let's go.

You're on a deserted island. You only can save one coach. Who are you saving? One coach, coach free. Safe answer. What is the toughest stadium you played in? Um, Texas A&M. Take Z&M.

For sure. Cats or dogs? I grew up. with cats. Really? Cat? Oh, he's going to cat. What would you name it?

My cat? My sister then came up with some crazy name for cats. My sister named one of our black cats, Ishmu. Like, what is it Ishmu? We got 30 seconds, say, well, we gotta go. Biggest pet peeve. Um, biggest what? Pet peeve?

Pet peeve? Yeah. I don't like when people are over-accessorizing football. Too many accessories. Okay. Name one thing that you'd like to try, but you're too scared to. Mushrooms. I hate mushrooms.

Mushrooms are disgusting. I never would try some mushrooms. But I'd like to skydye. One thing you aren't scared of is writing those comics. We look forward to seeing them in September, and I hope you ball out the way you did last year. Best of luck. It was a pleasure to talk to you. Love you, Jay Love.

Thank you. Love you, buddy. Obviously, I wasn't going to let the conversation end on the moment. mushroom, so I had to do something to swing it back to the comments. As you take a look at the schedule there, we mentioned how difficult it is. We're going to try to keep this up here a little bit because Roddy, when you look at some of the bold-faced names here, bottom line, we're going to know about the Irish sooner rather than later.

Yes, we are. Hold on, Zoom. Before, I can't let the mushroom discussion. Yeah, I know. I know. Go ahead. First, thank you. Thank you for defending the mushroom.

The mushroom is a wonderful, wonderful side piece. It can be a side dish. It could be a topping. I'm with Jay Love, man. I don't want to try the mushrooms. I don't want the mushrooms, that's why you're over there. What are you talking about?

No, man. I'm not afraid of them like he is, but I'm just like going to try it. That's a bad take. It's objectively bad take, Sam. You need a mushroom pizza with some purple oil on there. We'll get you straight. Now, back to that Notre Dame schedule.

You're right, Zubin. Look, we will know if Notre Dame is legit week one against Miami, a Miami team that's loaded on the offensive and defensive line so they're going to test Notre Dame. How good is that, offensive line. How good is that defensive line? Are they able to get pressure on Carson Beck? They're going to test Notre Dame

secondary with those receivers. But if you look at Miami and then Texas A&M and then the rest of that schedule, we may know of Notre Dame as a college football playoff team by the end of September because if they split Texas A&M and Miami, they're going to be favored in all the rest of those games

probably by double digits. We'll see what USC is. We'll see what Arkansas is. But Notre Dame, the bulk of their resume for the college ball Playoff is going to be said after those first two weeks. But just because their favor doesn't mean they're going to win those games. Go back to, I believe it was week two of last season, losing to Northern Illinois, a game that really shocked everyone.

And of course, Notre Dame, they rallied from that. They rallied and got a chance to win after that game. But I go back to thinking, okay, Notre Dame, huge win week one. All of a sudden, week two, Northern Illinois, pretty much Northern Illinois, just ran the ball at their will. And so that was a game that, to me, opened to my eyes. And so you think about looking at the schedule, okay, their favorite here and favored there. Yes, that matters, whether it's a team like a Boise State with Spencer Danielson, who's a phenomenal coach.

Maybe it's a Syracuse with Fran Brown who's really improved that team. There could be a couple hiccups and or slip-ups on that schedule. I'm not as concerned about week one against Miami because Carson Becker would be his first game. But I think that there could be some potholes that we're not ready for. Roddy, let me ask you about a game we always see every year. And I don't think there's as much pressure for Notre Dame this time around because it's such a big game. It's worth mentioning. And that is what the game against USC might mean.

It's a big rivalry, but you got a huge spot here for Lincoln Riley. And as always a prove it moment for Notre Dame. There's a lot of question marks about USC coming into this season. And so I do think that is a big game. Look, on paper right now, it's all we can go by in the preseason. Notre Dame's a better football team in just about every single area. But this is a USC team that people are kind of excited about, that people are looking at and might be improved.

So that is a big one. And obviously the rivalry aspect comes into it as well. But I would just say this, if the strength of USC's team, even for Miami's team is their passing offense. That's the strength of Notre Dame's team. It's their passing defense. So I don't have as many concerns for Notre Dame playing USC. All right, one more for you on the way out the door.

Give me a yes or no. Over under for Notre Dame is 10 and a half. Oh, no. That's a lot. Under. I'll go under. I'll go 10. All right.

I'm going over. I'm going over. Somebody will be right, because I don't think you can finish it exactly 10.5. So we'll mark it down. Hope you enjoyed Notre Dame Day with Coach Freeman and Coach Love. and Isaiah Dunn. We'll be back Monday at 2 p.m. Eastern for more. College Football Live.

Have a good weekend. Shout out to mushrooms.