The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - Brady Quinn on Notre Dame’s big win & Michigan’s QB situation + Freshmen raising ceilings in CFB

Episode Date: September 4, 2024

FOX Sports’ lead College Football analyst Joel Klatt looks at the biggest performances by some high-profile Freshmen in Week 1 and how their performances can change the trajectory of their programs. He discusses Dylan Raiola’s debut for Nebraska, WR Jeremiah Smith emerging in Ohio State’s offense already, how Nico Iamaleava can turn Tennessee into a contender in the SEC and why WR Ryan Williams could be the piece that’s been missing from Alabama the past two seasons. He then considers whether Oregon’s narrow win over an FCS team is just a Week 1 hiccup or cause for concern before revealing why Florida State’s fall-off shouldn’t come as a complete surprise. Klatt then welcomes FOX Big Noon Kickoff Analyst Brady Quinn to discuss Notre Dame’s big win and how Marcus Freeman has been building the Irish for this moment in his 3rd year in the program. The two also break down the Michigan QB situation and preview the Wolverines’ huge matchup with #3 Texas on Saturday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The team that could easily of anybody pencil themselves into the 12-team is Notre Dame. College football has never been better. Interest has never been higher. Believe that we are at the dawn of the golden age of college football. It was an epic day of college football. It was one of those days where you fall in love with the sport all over again. Welcome into the program, everybody.

I'm Joel Klatte. This is the Joel Klaz show. We are presented by Hampton by Hilton. Listen, folks, a lot of people. A lot of people listening this week. And we know why, because we love college football. Week 1, there's been a lot of reaction. So thank you for joining us here in week one reaction of the college football season.

We've got a lot to get into today. I'm going to have four freshmen that I thought played incredible. Some thoughts still on Oregon that I never got to, Florida State that I never got to. Plus I'm going to have Brady Quinn on. Brady Quinn, of course, a big noon kickoff my colleague at Fox Sports. going to come on and we're going to review a little bit more about that Notre Dame win, as well as start to preview and look ahead towards the giant game that we'll be at on Saturday as Big Noon Saturday and Big Noon kickoff. Head to Ann Arbor for the Michigan, Texas Showdown this

Saturday on Fox. So that's what we got going on. Remember, rate review us wherever you're at. Please subscribe to the YouTube channel. We've got some exclusive YouTube content coming out this week. I'm going to have a film study of the Michigan offense coming out this week that you're definitely going to want to see. And if you're just an audio listener, sorry, got to go to YouTube in order to check out that film study. So get over there, subscribe to the show, and invite a friend getting the comments down below. Here's what I want to do with these four freshmen. Okay, we're going to play a little bit of a game called if this, then that. Okay, again, if this, then that with four freshmen who had big games in week one.

To be fair, one of them is a redshirt freshman, but they are all still technically freshmen. So we're going to go with four freshmen. Let's start with the one that I think is kind of the biggest of all of them. Maybe it doesn't turn into the biggest, but it certainly could. And let's start with Nebraska true freshman quarterback Dylan Rayola. So Dylan Rayola went out and he was 19 of 27 for 238 yards, two touchdowns in his first career game as a starter against U-TEP. So what is the if then, then that?

Well, if he is just a net positive for Nebraska, then Nebraska will be playing meaningful games for the CFP when it comes to November. That's actually the standard. You see, everyone has been talking about Dylan Royola being possibly the savior for Nebraska, and he's going to, you know, rescue them and so on and so forth. But here's the thing. if you actually study them and watch them and see what they did a year ago, you'll see that this team was very close a year ago.

And they had, I would say, a net negative quarterback play. Here's, if they don't turn it over last year, they're a far different team from a record standpoint. They are three to four wins better. Think of it this way. Nebraska was minus 17 last year in the turnover margin. minus 17. That's worst in the power five a year ago. Nebraska lost five games by one score last year, five by one score. Four of those were by three points. And the other was an overtime loss to Wisconsin.

And in those games, they had 16 turnovers, 14 were by the quarterback. So all you have to do is extrapolate that out and say, if Dylan Royola is just a net positive and not a net negative, if he's just taking care of the football, those probably turn into wins. Again, 16 turnovers just in those one score losses from a year ago. 14 by the quarterback. That gets cleaned up. There's no doubt with the schedule ahead of them that they'll be playing meaningful games as it relates to the college football playoff in November. It was a bit of a wait and see for me after that first game and he showed some flashes. So yeah, I think he's really good. But again, let's just peel it back and actually say what it is. If he's just a net

positive than Nebraska is playing meaningful games in November when it relates to the college football playoff. So how big is this game against Colorado this week at home in Lincoln? I think it's the difference between them having a loss or two before Ohio State and probably being undefeated if they go into Ohio State. You see, if they lose to Colorado, they're likely going to be in another one-score game against like, let's say, a Rutgers team that's vastly improved under Greg Shiano. So then you can say like, well, if they lose to Colorado, they could probably lose another one before they get to Ohio State. But if they beat Colorado at home, then there's no one else that really scares you because they've put themselves on a level

where they can beat two extraordinary players in Shudor Sanders and Travis Hunter. So then all of a sudden, you're looking at that schedule and you think to yourself, yeah, they're absolutely going to be a 7-0 team going to Columbus. So these are the six games that they've had, they have. Northern Iowa, Illinois, Purdue, Rutgers, and Indiana. Then the last five get much tougher, but then they're in it. They're in the thick of it. Now, remember, I didn't say if Dylan Rayola doesn't turn it over, they're going to the playoff.

I say they're playing games that will be meaningful as it relates to the playoff. They would go to Ohio State. They're certainly not going to be favored in that game. UCLA is a team that they should beat. And then they've got three games at USC, Wisconsin, and at Iowa. They would be a one-loss team at that point. they would likely be 8 and 1. And then it's a coin flip.

If you can go 2 and 1 in those games and you're a 10-win team, you not only are going to have an outside shot to be the second seed in the Big 10 and go to the championship game, but probably an outside shot to be in the college football playoff. So that's why this is such a huge development in Nebraska and for all of college football. Because if Dylan Raola is just a net positive for that offense, then all of a sudden they're going to be playing those last three with a lot on the line.

So that's my number one. Number two, Ohio Statewide receiver, Jeremiah Smith. He, you know, all spring, everyone was talking about him and rightly so. And they've been trying to even slow down some of this hype for Jeremiah Smith. And it was, he was very hyped coming in. And, you know, obviously Ryan Day, given the, like, the relief at the podium when he finally committed and sent his letter of intent into the Woody, as they call it, the Woody Hayes Center. he had six catches for 92 yards and two touchdowns against Akron.

And yeah, those aren't going to blow your mind, but some of the catches that he made did. And in particular because of the style of catches that they were going to him for, which was if you're one-on-one, you're getting the ball. So that tells you everything that you need to know about the belief that Ryan Day and Chip Kelly and Will Howard have in Jeremiah Smith. Because even their quarterback, Will Howard, was saying he's the type of player that if he's got one-on-one coverage, the ball is going to him. It's going to Jeremiah Smith. So then what does that mean? Well, if he's him, as the kids say, then he will be the tide that

rises all boats for Ohio State and their offense. If he wasn't going to be him, then all a sudden you can start to cheat as a defense and you can commit resources to stopping the run and you can make Will Howard's life much more difficult. But if Jeremiah Smith is, him like he started to prove against Akron and some of those one-on-one situations, now you've got a problem as a defense because he's probably commanding a double team, which means the safety is high. If the safety's high, then guess what? You can block everybody in the run front, at least to that side of the football. And that run game with Quinn-Judkins and Trevionn Henderson, and even Will Howard himself can start to get loose.

If you've got a double Jeremiah Smith and keep a safety over him, guess who's single covered or doesn't have the ratios, a mecca, abuka. So now all of the sudden, he becomes the tide that starts to rise all boats. Now, normally we talk about that in terms of quarterback play. And listen, I get it. Wide receivers are generally a dependent position. But when he's impacting the structure of the defense before the ball is snapped, he becomes the tide. We saw it a little bit with Marvin Harrison, but I think this is even different, more different, because they're having to commit resources over there. It reminds me a lot of, do you remember the Patriot teams with Grunk and Edelman? Those guys were such matchup nightmares that what ended up happening is they would just sit in a

formation. They did this in the Super Bowl. They did this in the AFC championship against the chiefs, I remember. They would just sit in kind of a basic, like, empty formation where Gronk was like singled over there and Edelman was in the slot. And then Brady would just decide based on the ratios where the ball was going to go. So at that point and moment, an experience, it's quarterback or play caller like Chip Kelly or Will Howard can then say, hey, defense, run whatever you want. You will tell me where the ball is going, but you can only do that if you have guys that are matchup nightmares like a grunk or like a Jeremiah Smith. So that's why I say he could be the tide that rises the boat level of the Ohio State offense. I don't think this offense is even

going to need to score 40 points because of what they do on defense and how good they can be on defense, but I guarantee you this. If he's him, then watch out because that offense can be explosive. Let's go to number three. Tennessee quarterback, how about this? I mean, Nico Ia Maliaava, I believe I said that, Ia Maliava. If he's the real deal, then Tennessee is going to be the 2022 version of Tennessee and not the 2023 version. Nico looked incredible. Granted, it was Chattanooga. And I understand that. But a lot of people, listen, you could say the same thing about Akron, you know, for Jeremiah Smith. These are young guys that are getting a chance to play.

Now, I know that Iaamaliava played in the bowl game. But, man, if this guy is the real deal, then Tennessee becomes a factor. And they become a 2022 version of Tennessee, which was a problem in the SEC. Nico I'm just going to say it until it's ingrained in my head. Iam Aliava was 22 of 28, 314 yards, three touchdowns, all in the first half. So that's incredible stuff. And it wasn't just that he put up huge numbers. His wide receivers weren't having to adjust a lot.

You watch him, and I watched some of the film and some of the highlights. He was throwing the ball so accurately, driving it down the field. Our colleague on Big Noon kickoff, and remember, Brady Quinn's coming up later in the show. But our other colleague and quarterback, Matt Liner, has known Nico for a long time because because Nico's a Southern California kid. Matt's a Southern California guy, obviously. So he's seen him throw from a young age. Matt has always said that Nico is one of, if not, the most impressive young passers of the football that he's seen. And that came to fruition on the field for Tennessee. So now all of a sudden Tennessee makes it a really deep race in the SEC, similar, very similar to what Miller Moss has now made USC and DeAnne and has made USC. So if USC is reek,

now all of a sudden the top of the Big Ten becomes much different and more difficult. I was stuck between different and difficult there, but difficult is what I was looking for. We know this intuitively. Well, the same thing can be applied in the SEC to Tennessee, very similar to what USC is doing over there. That becomes a problem. And now all of a sudden, their schedule, which is very difficult, you know, they've got Georgia on there. They've got Alabama. they've got Oklahoma. And now it becomes a huge problem for those teams.

How do those teams navigate Tennessee? Because if Nico is really this good, then this is a version of Tennessee that can go and compete for a spot in the SEC championship game. That becomes a really, really good team. And now you know why they were so aggressive with him in recruiting because he seems at least through one game to be that guy. Last one, as far as a freshman goes, if this, then that. we're playing is Alabama wide receiver Ryan Williams. If Ryan Williams, if he is this good,

then Caleb, Kalin DeBoer has answers at wide receiver for the tide, which is not what they've had in the last two years. If you were to ask me, what has been the biggest difference between Alabama's teams the last two years and the ones previous to that? And in particular, when you get to that 2020, 19, 18, You're used to seeing you can go all the way back to like Julio Jones, Amory Cooper, Jerry Judy, Jalen Waddle, Devante Smith, James and Williams out there. And they haven't had that the last couple of years. They just have not. Now if Ryan Williams becomes him, if you will, then all of a sudden they are back in that mold. And they have an elite playmaker on the outside. And now they have it, not with, you know, some random offensive coordinator. I know all those guys didn't have random offense coordinator.

You had Kiffin in there. You had Sark in there. but now you've got Kalin-Dibor. Think Rom Adunze. Like, look at what DeBore does with elite wide receivers. He just took Washington and went to the national championship game. I know Pennix was outstanding, but a lot of that was the fact that he had great elite wide receiver play. So if Ryan Williams is an elite player on the outside, watch out for Alabama, because Kalin-Dibor specifically knows what to do with a room like that. Ryan Williams could grow into that. He could be DeBore's new Adunze.

And that's scary for everybody. So for freshmen, that if then, then that, these guys are very good, man, very good. I do want to give a quick shout out to a couple of other performances that they weren't freshmen, but they deserve a shout out. Ashton Gentie, the running back from Boise State, if this guy is going to be that good and productive, then Boise State is going to have a great chance to not only maybe knock off Oregon this week, but certainly represent the smaller schools in the college football playoff. Teteroa McMillan went off for Arizona. That guy is one of the premier players in all of

college football and certainly a guy that I think a lot of. So those performances, I just got to at least mention out of week one along with those freshmen that kind of burst on the scene. Brian Williams, man, elite, elite, elite. All these guys are elite. And there was some other ones in there too that I just couldn't get to. Let's see. Let's go to Oregon. Should we be concerned about Oregon? Should we be concerned about Oregon? They beat Idaho from the FCS 2414. And it's like in one hand, you know, we're saying like, hey, Oklahoma State played pretty well. And hey, even if Colorado didn't look great and made some mistakes, they at least beat North Dakota State, which wasn't an easy game. This is kind of that regional style game.

And yet, it feels way different. And so the answer to me for should we be concerned about Oregon is yes. I actually have major concerns. Major concerns for Oregon. 2414. They were favored in this game by as much as 49 and a half. And they were in one, folks, like in one. The offensive line was only replacing two starters. So you've got to think to yourself like, okay, they've got three returning starters. They should be good. But they're trying to replace their center, Jackson Powers Johnson.

And everybody knows, or at least if you followed Oregon or if you've followed Oregon or if you've heard Dan Lannin talk about his club, you'll know that Jackson Powers Johnson was a big loss for them. But here's what's more concerning is that they had three starters back and Idaho sacked them three times. Now, you might be thinking to yourself like three sacks is not a ton, but it sure is when last year you gave up five total sacks on the year. Five total sacks.

Now, that's not, Dylan Gabriel is a quick release, get the ball out of his hands. He is. He's not sitting there holding the ball, taking a lot of sacks. This is not a difference between Bow Nix and Dylan Gabriel. This is all of a sudden this offensive line getting beat up front. They gave up three sacks. They gave up five sacks total on the year last year.

And they give up three to FCS, Idaho. That is not good. They ran it for under three yards per carry. So yes, alarm bells should be going off heavily. around Oregon and their offensive line specifically. This is not something that's all that sustainable if you're talking about the expectations that Oregon is bringing to the table. Now, if you're just thinking to yourself like, well, you know,

Oregon will get better and they'll be fine. Okay, that's one thing. But remember, Oregon was a lot of people's national champion pick. Now, you might be thinking to yourself, like, why are you unconcerned about Michigan and you're more concerned about Oregon? All of that has to do with the expectation level and the fact that Michigan doesn't mind winning this way. Oregon was a 49.5 point favorite and won by 10 and averaged under three yards

per carry against FCS Idaho who sacked them three times when last year they gave up five total sacks on the season. That is alarming. This has got to get better and it's got to get better in a big way and fast, fast. They play Boise State. They host Boise State this weekend. Did you know Boise State has never lost to Oregon. Oregon's 0 and 3 against Boise State in their history. Oh, and 3, there was the, what was it, the 08, 09, or 07, 08, back to back, home and home. And then there was a bowl game in 2017. Boise beat them each time. One of those was the LaGarrett Blunt game in Boise. They have to face Michigan's defensive line.

They've got to face Ohio State's defensive line. they have to play better than this up front. We thought that this was going to be a team that was going to be able to go out there and handle their business at the line of scrimmage, certainly against an FCS opponent. So Oregon is concerning. There's no other way to put it other than that.

That offensive line has got to get better. Another team that is in real trouble and maybe just like the alarm bells have turned off and it's like the lights have gone out. And that's Florida State. If we look at, you know, history in college football, and I like to do this, what we'd see is that at least one preseason top 10 team has finished unranked in 16 of the last 17 seasons.

And we found this year's team. All right. They're not coming back from this. You don't lose to Georgia Tech and Boston College in the way that you lost to them and come back from this if you're Florida State. And I guess we shouldn't really be surprised. It's like TCU from last year. FSU has been very reliant on the transfer portal. And guess what? Last year's group had major difference makers that were transfers and now they're gone.

Keon Coleman from Michigan State. Brady Fisk from Western Michigan. Jared Verse from Albany, Trey Benson from Oregon. They were all there for two years as transfers but are gone now. Not all of them, but a few of those were two years. And now they're all gone. They've got to replace Jordan Travis. and then all of a sudden, DJU is clearly a drop-off. So there's a problem. This is the problem when you're playing with the fire that is the transfer portal. Now, in some cases, it can heat your whole home. It's unquestionably just like that old Christian Leitner line from Mike Shoshiewski.

Mike Shishovsky used to say, like, Christian Leitner was like the furnace. If he's controlled, he can heat the whole home. He can make everything go. But the furnace can also burn the home down. Well, that's the transfer portal in college football. If it's done right, it can heat the whole home. But if it gets out of control, it burns it down and it can do it quickly. And we're seeing that.

And then this is even more evidence like we talked about with Clemson that if you miss on a quarterback, and by the way, in this case, it seems to be missing with the same guy, DJU. I hate it for him, but it's certainly not the type of play that we were expecting out of DJ O'Yunga Lai. They went heavy in the portal again this year. They had 17 transfers. They had the number seven ranked class, but it isn't paying off for them. It's just not. And that's the downside if you're going to play that way.

If you miss it quarterback, if you have a couple of misses, now all of a sudden, you're out of luck. And that seems to be what's happening with Florida State. Why? Because these teams aren't just like beating them with five turnovers. They're dominating them. Boston College out gained them, had more first downs, had less turnovers. They had the time of possession battle.

Like Boston College thoroughly beat Florida State in Tallahassee. Big credit to Bill O'Brien. How about Bill O'Brien and the BC Eagles? Maybe Boston College is just way better than we give anybody credit, and they're going to be there right in the end. By the way, Georgia Tech might be in the same boat. Georgia Tech plays Syracuse this week. Syracuse looked good all of a sudden.

Now, all of a sudden, these teams are trying to rise in the ACC while the face. or preseason favorites, all faltering, except for Miami, Florida State faltering, Clemson faltering, North Carolina State did not play great. Virginia Tech lost to Vanderbilt. And yet you've got these other teams that are starting to build. Maybe they're better than we think. Maybe the Cuse is going to go on a run. The CUS have one of the easiest schedules in all of the country. There's a chance Syracuse goes 9 and 0 until some late games in the season. You know, like there's that chance. We see the imbalance and schedule and it's out there. Georgia Tech could be a lot better.

And how about BC? That was not a fluke. Give Bill O'Brien a lot of credit. That team played really, really hard. All right, here's what I want to do. I want to bring in our colleague, my colleague, and the esteemed Brady Quinn from Big Noon kickoff. So here we go.

Let's bring in Brady. So without further ado, the man, the myth, the legend himself. Brady, Quinn joins the show. Brady, what's going on, my man? How are you? I'm doing great. I mean, I finally got on the, Joel Clatt show. Some people call it JKS. I just said it was the week after Josh Payne.

I really thought I would be able to get on the show before Josh Payne. Those of you that don't know, Brady threw some shade out on social media. He was just like, to him and Matt, like, what do we got to do to get an invite? And so you got the pity invite the next week. Congratulations. And I took it. So that's how pathetic I am. For those of you that don't realize this, I've actually worked with Josh Payte. I know Josh. Well, great dude. We see him on the road. In fact, we might be seeing them this week, I think, Joel. I mean, I would assume anyone that travels to games is coming to this game. You'd hope so. And if they're not, I mean, I'm not really sure what you're doing in college football.

I agree. I agree. Brady and I are going to be in Ann Arbor for the Michigan, Texas game. Before we get to that, and I do want to talk about that, in particular, kind of this Michigan possible two-quarterback system that we saw against Fresno State in week one. I have to get your thoughts, though, on your boys. I mean, I was high on Notre Dame in the preseason. I know you were as well, but there was some cautious optimism, in particular with the youthful offensive line. That performance in College Station, I thought was maybe not remarkable, but man, it was impressive what they did.

What were your thoughts on that win? I would just describe that win as the culmination of what has occurred over the past three years for Marcus Freeman and its staff. So I'll start with Marcus. If you have looked at the past couple of years, you really saw the growth in this game as far as how the fourth quarter played out. And I think it speaks volumes to how the game started, his emotion, how he led the team on the field. A lot of those clips are going viral. Yeah.

And how he's constructed his staff and really everyone. I'm including the strength coach as well. But, you know, the bedrock of this team, and he's a defensive-minded coach, former defensive a player. So you kind of figured that's usually where his bread and butter is going to be. And that's what he's done by getting a guy in Al Golden, who they extended this offseason, making sure they retained him. But he applies this scheme that plays to the personnel. They put so much pressure on opposing quarterbacks with the different coverage looks, blitz looks, pressure looks, fronts and things that they do. And they're able to do that because

they've got Ben Morrison out there. They've got Xavier Moss. They've got Christian Gray. So it's a combination of, to me, what Marcus has been able to do with his staff, coupled with his recruiting and building it off the foundation he knows on defense. Yeah. And the surprising part would be on the offensive side because I agree with you. That defense. And I think that we would probably say we both expected the defense to play really well. Wouldn't you agree? Yeah.

Yeah. I said A&M was going to score nine points. You know, they ended up, oh, it's 13. So right around there. But the surprising part probably was on the office. offensive side. You agree? Yes. And then for a number of reasons, but I guess not so much in this sense. Is Notre Dame's got an identity now in offense? Like if I said you right now, what is Notre Dame going to recruit, going to develop, you're going to pop off into the NFL? You probably say offensive line,

tied in and running back right now. Is that fair? It's totally fair. And that's it. In that order, I would say, well, maybe O line first, but yeah, tied in O line, line of scrimmage, and then running backs. and that's exactly what they featured in the second half, and in particular in the fourth quarter. And I think, you know, for some people who, there's always going to be criticism, right? You're the Notre Dame quarterback. There's going to be national attention.

There's going to be criticism. And I think there was some concern. Like, hey, we all know Riley Leonard's a good athlete. He's a dual threat athlete, but like what's he going to be like the passing game? I'm going to take people back. Remember, he missed the spring game. This was the first really true live action,

like in a stadium in an environment like that with this team, in this offense with this group. So whatever your preconceived notions were or your after a game thoughts or the passing game is, just pump the brakes. Like this is week one. Like I dare you.

Talk to me after week two. Talk to me after week three. It's only going to get better from here. I mean, you have a number of transfers to in Bo Collins. It came from Clemson, Chris Mitchell, from South Florida, or excuse me, FIU, but, you know, from the South Florida area. You have a bunch of people who are added into

this offense that he's still developing chemistry with because of the injury he was coming off through the spring. And mind you, the offensive line, you know, as we kind of touched on how youthful that group is and going up against that front. So they leaned heavily on their identity. And I thought the best thing was the way Marcus managed the game. And I think the way, you know, Mike Denbrock, who had been there before, by the way, and really made it kind of a perfect fit, put together a game plan to allow Riley Leonard to make a big third down throw for a first down and then kind of push and isolate Bo Collins to give him an opportunity to make a big play along with the big running

plays. So those are the two things. I think when you look at the staff of what he's constructed, the last thing I'll say is this. Did you see the shot of Connor Wigman throwing up during the game? Yeah. As he's walking and you can tell he's trying not to and then it's just like, yeah. So you know this because, you know, you're from Colorado, but Notre Dame hired Lauren Landau, who's arguably one of the best strength conditioning coaches, I think I've ever been around. I was around him at the Denver Broncos, even back before he was coaching for the Denver Broncos. I was with him in draft prep, like before he was with the Broncos. So he trained me, he trained a lot of the Denver Bronco guys for a long time.

He's really good. He's better than really good. Again, I put him up against like Mickey Marotti, who I had back in his college and now is at Ohio State. But the general point is this, when it came down to it in the fourth quarter, It wasn't Notre Dame who looked like the team that couldn't handle the heat, humidity, and everything else in that environment down in Texas. It was Texas ANM. He didn't look at their shape who got leaned on and eventually ended up getting worn on.

And so again, that's a credit to Lorlanda. But going back to the initial point, it's a credit to Marcus Freeman. And the job he's done of constructing all of this, this entire ecosystem, this program in Notre Dame to be able to display the growth that he's as a head coach. but the programs had over his tenure so far. So I don't want to make too much of one game, but I thought it was a pretty defining moment for him in particular. Well, listen, I'm going to make a lot of that game because there's not a lot of tough ones left.

And so that's why that game was so important. And obviously it behooves them if A&M goes on and has some success in the SEC. It actually behooves Notre Dame that USC played well against LSU and got a win in week one. Because now with Florida State falling off the face of the earth, you know, at least they've got kind of this book of quality opponents at the beginning of the season, hopefully in an A&M, and then at the end of the

season in USC, Brady, of all the teams in week one, Miami looked good, all these teams looked great. You know, you could say Georgia, yeah, pencil them in. No, no, no. The team that could easily of anybody pencil themselves into the 12-team playoff is Notre Dame. You start thinking about that schedule, taking care of your own business. I just don't see them losing more than one game. I don't see it. I don't either. I said before this season, even back when we thought, Texas NM and Florida State and the challenges those would be. And obviously they got past NM, but even looking at Florida State right now,

which is just seems like a mess, I still felt like the floor was 11 and 1 with this team. I felt like they've got one of the best defenses in the country. Their offense with Mike Denbrock back and the way he could scheme things up to get the ball of the playmakers and Riley Leonard, who's a veteran capable enough of handling all of this, I really felt confident in their ability to at minimum go 11 and 1, if not 12 and 0.

That's how the schedule sets up. So the next step for them is to not get tripped up by the Georgia Tech's, the Louisville. So we'll probably both ranked by the time they play. I think Georgia's ranked in the AP poll now and have those games where they stumble. Kind of like they did last year versus Louisville and almost getting beat by Duke. That's the next step is now being able to be the hunted and being able to handle that as they move forward and maintaining that number five spot. because as you said it, this thing sets up very easily for Notre Dame to be hosting a first-round

playoff game. And I can't wait to see what that environment's going to be like. There's no doubt. And I was speaking of this earlier in the show before he came on in terms of Nebraska, this idea that when you're building a program, and Marcus Freeman wasn't building a program, and this goes all the way back to Bobby Bowden. He used to talk about, you know, with a program, you've got to lose big before you lose small. You're going to lose small before you win small. you win small before you win big. Maybe that's the maturation we've seen over the last couple of years, that winning small last year is going to turn into winning big.

At least that's what Irish fans will hope for. Let's move on to our game. Huge, huge game in Ann Arbor. As Michigan takes on Texas, it is a three-hour edition of Big Noon kickoff. That's right, three-hour edition. So 9 a.m. Eastern, the lovely and talented Brady Quinn is going to be gracing your televisions on five.

and you've got to be there because it's going to be a really cool show. It's going to be a huge show as we prep for that game. Now, Big Noon kickoff, you'll be there. The guys will be there. Charles Woodson will be there. We've got a lot of stuff going on. And then we get to the game and Brady. I'm watching the film of each of these teams.

Texas knows exactly who they are. They know exactly what they want to do and how they want to attack. And then there's Michigan. And you watch that offensive game tape and you're like, okay, they are still in absolute figure it out mode. and that starts with the quarterbacks. They go with Davis Warren, you know, the former walk-on, which, by the way, don't disparage because got us hang with my walk-ons.

And then Alex Orgy sparingly, by the way, only two snaps in the first half. It's not even like they had a real two-quarterback system, but they were parsing him in there at times. What do you think we're going to see from Michigan offensively? I wonder if Michigan was holding some stuff back. and the only reason I say that is I'll never forget. And then this happens to a fault at times, by the way. It happened to be my sophomore year.

We were playing BYU in Provo to open the season. Week two was against Michigan. And they were going to be, I believe, a top 10 ranked team at that point in time, maybe even top five. And our entire training camp towards the end, we had prepared for Michigan. Then we get out of Provo.

They're running a 335 defense. It was tough for our offense. A line to adjust. tough for me to adjust. You see the field a lot differently in that case. End up losing, stumble. Now we come back to beat Michigan the next week, but we had kind of prepared and held some stuff back

in preparation for that game thinking we could get by. And we didn't. So that could be sometimes a cautionary tale. And I think that's one of the reasons why when I went back and watched, I thought, this is kind of vanilla. Maybe there's some things, too, that they didn't want to show, that they're going to introduce next week and seeing how Texas adjusts to it. So that was my first thought going back watching the tape.

The other thought was, you know, this whole two quarterback system, I personally have never been a fan of it for this reason, is you're making all 10 players adjust. Everyone else has to adjust besides the quarterback for whoever it is when you're trying to run two. You either have a guy in there who's in Davis Warren's case, probably going to run more of a conventional offense from the pocket, etc. If Alex Orgy is going in, it's probably more rundown, etc. But everyone else has to adjust to their cadence, their leadership,

All those intangibles, their pocket presence, you know, the timing with the football, how they're holding onto, or their type of styles of plays you're running, the different football they're throwing, too, if you're a receiver, a pass catcher. So I've never been a fan of it from that standpoint is interjecting that into your team. And then in the locker room standpoint is, you and I both know college football and really football in general. There's two people that everyone looks to when adversity strikes. It's the head coach and the quarterback. When you got two, you're naturally creating potential fraction. within your locker room when that adversity does strike.

And there's not that one voice. You know, it's funny. Like, we never say that with coaches when adversity strikes. Like, the coach has to say something. And if he doesn't, they're going to can't them. They're going to put someone else in there who will, right? And but for some reason with quarterbacks, we try to make it seem like, oh, this can work, it'll be copacetic.

So I just, I've never been a fan of it. I think you have to kind of pick your lane and go with it. And if it's not Davis Warren, if it doesn't work out, then you go to Alex. If it is Alex, go with that. If it doesn't work out, go to Davis, sworn, but I've always been a big believer, like, put the guy out there that you feel like gives you on every single play throughout the game the best chance to win. And we'll see if that happens this week. And the fascinating part for me is going into watching the film, you know,

I'm sitting there and I'm preparing for this two-quarterback system in my head. You know, I'm like, okay, let's watch these guys play. And, you know, Orgy plays nine snaps total. And two in the first half. And I was like, oh, wait, wait, this is just a limited package of plays that this guy comes in and runs. Very similar, by the way, to the team that we saw in week one and a guy that actually got more than that, you know, and Bo Perbula for Penn State. He came in and did a little bit. Now, he played more at the end and kind of mop up duty. But I do wonder in the back of my head if you can get away with this, if you're internally saying to yourself, Davis Warren is our starter, but we have this other guy that has to get on the field and they play two very different

roles within the system. Now, your point about everyone else adjusting all the other players, the 10 on the field is an excellent point. And that's why, yes, I'm with you. I'm not ultimately a fan, partly because I'm a quarterback and most of us are narcissists. And so we just want to be on the field anyways, right? Like, I know you're laughing a little bit, but like, you just want, like, don't take me off the field. It's true. Because it's true. Yeah. I'm with you. And so there's, there's obviously a little bit of that going on. When I watch that film, here's, here's what I'll say. When Davis Warren is the quarterback, it reminds me so much of the early Harbaugh teams that Michigan had 2015, 2016. There's not, there's not a lot of dynamic play on.

on the field, but it's serviceable and they wear you down, kind of eventually. And you saw that. There was a lot of mistakes early in the game. Then they put together a drive late in the game and end up pulling away. I just don't know if a team can beat Texas playing that way. That's what remains to be seen because I think Texas is an elite team. Okay. So I think I think Texas is, but this will be the game that helps me truly believe that

they are because I think this game comes down to two things. For me, we know what Michigan's identity is and the challenge and really what this game's all about is Sharon Moore is taking over now for Jim Harbaugh. And it's the question of can he continue to run this program the way Jim Harbaugh did where your identity is defense and on offense you're going to run the football and you're going to grind them down and you're going to dominate the line of scrimmage? Because that's really what's at play here. The only problem with that.

is if you look at the past two years, and so tired of hearing the Connerstallion stuff, and that's why Michigan had success. So we don't need to go into that. But one of the reasons why I hate it is because it discredits J.J. McCarthy. That's right. When J.J. McCarthy was called upon, he stepped up and made a play.

And that's what we're going to find out about this Michigan team. Because if Sharon Moore wants to run a system very similar and run this program, just like Harbaugh did, then he's going to have to have a quarterback the way they look to be playing right now. One of these two is going to have to step up. up and beat that guy when called upon. He's got to deliver that, that throw on third down. And he's got to deliver that throw in a two-minute drive and that big play to make something happen or take off with his legs, make something happen. That's the reality of what won Michigan

the national championship last year and took him to the playoff two years ago. It was that those plays by J.J. McCarthy, to me, combined with what they had offensively up front and running the football and that defense. So that's really what I'm curious to see if Michigan is going to be able to find and execute. And then on the flip side, for me, it's about Texas's defense, in particular, their two defensive tackles. Yes. We're now gone to the NFL. Because you know Michigan's sitting there saying, we know what you want to do. We're just going to make sure, we're going to test out to see how good the interior of your defense is. And if you can stop the power, the counters, all the different schemes that we're going to throw your way in the run game without

Tamandre sweat, without Byron Murphy. And obviously, no disrespect to, you know, Texas opponent last week. It's just, it's going to be a different challenge this week. you see Michigan on the field in a real live game scenario and you have to have those one fits on point and the personnel to do it. And they don't have those game records. I don't believe now in the interior of their defense. So that's what this game is all about, in my opinion. We're going to find out, to your point, like, is Texas part of that elite conversation of teams we're seeing right now? And I tell you what's fascinating to me is that last year, Texas was able to get away with playing in the vein.

This is the last thing I'll say. And then Brady will let you go. And I appreciate you being on, man. I really do. Texas wants, at least their coordinator, Pete Kwikowski, his history is he wants to be an open middle of the field coverage guy. He wants to have two safeties back and he doesn't want to give up the big play. A few years ago, it burned him because teams like Oklahoma State could just run the football on him and they ended up beating Texas. Now, last year he could do that because he had great defensive tackles. So you can play two safeties back when you've got great defensive tackles. and without those guys, can you really stop the Michigan run game with two safeties back? Because it's against his nature to drop down. Now he will. I'm not saying that he won't,

but I'm just saying like that he wants to keep them back. And if you watch the Fresno State game, there was not a snap of football that Fresno State, at least that I can remember, didn't have run ratios or at least a guy creeping down, at least looking at the run ratios in order to be the unblocked player in the defensive run front. I'm sure there's a snap here or there where they played too deep, but certainly not something that they were trying to sit in. That, to me, becomes the game. If Texas can sit there and stop the run, then it's going to be lights out for Michigan. But if they've got to drop their safety and get out of what they want to do,

then it becomes a much bigger question because that's when Colston Loveland could get one-on-one coverage and Michigan can potentially throw the ball a little bit. that's what I'll be looking at them for. It's interesting that you say that because I always feel like Pete Krikowsk and going back to those days of Washington, right? I thought he played more post-tie safety then because the cornerbacks that they had. They had the Kevin Kings of the world of people like that,

who they could isolate on islands and be able to put that extra defender down in the box. But a different time, different team, different personnel. And I think to your point, you know, you hear about, you know, everyone gap integrity. Well, gap and a half is what you can play when you have a Tavondres flight of Byron Murphy, where those guys can cheat.

And I think one of the things that I'll look to see if Pete Kukowski does is not that Michigan's going to try to spread you out oftentimes. But when orgies in, sometimes you might not, you know, you might be surprised if they do try to spread them out to get him a lighter box to run the football. But if they cheat, if they're cheating, you know, whether it's out in a slot with that nickel defender or however they go about cheating with one of the safeties, to be able to have him essentially responsible for a gap, even though he's still trying to play back, you know, more depth because they're not concerned about the passing game of Michigan. I mean, right now, no one scares you outside of Cortland-Lauvelin on that Michigan offense as far as creating a big play. And so again, that's another thing is like, this is a great opportunity for Michigan and for one of those guys to emerge. Otherwise, to your point, it could be a long day. Like Texas could be able to put up some big plays, some big numbers versus this Michigan team. Brady, I appreciate

your time, man. I can't wait to see you guys and the show and everything that you've got going on. Again, big noon kickoff 9 a.m. Eastern, three-hour edition, live from Ann Arbor. I appreciate you, man. Thanks for coming on the show. Thanks for traveling. All right. That'll do it for Brady, and that'll do it for us. Appreciate you watching again. Subscribe on YouTube. Make sure that you're there. We're going to have some extra YouTube content, some Michigan film coming out this week. Our preview episodes are coming out tomorrow on Thursday. I break down my games last week, five and one against the spread. That's all I'm going to say. Five and one against the spread. spread. Wherever you're listening, go ahead, rate review us, do all that fun stuff. And listen,

enjoy your Wednesday night, everybody. We'll talk to you tomorrow.