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Podcast: Cover 3 College Football Episode: Mailbag! Big Ten Scheduling, Notre Dame’s Win Total & MORE! | College Football Segment: North Texas podcast segment **Team-Specific Podcast Notes** - what does this win total mean for this team, for this coach? - I mean, they they don't have an easy schedule, but comparatively, But it's like the Wisconsin game doesn't look like a Wisconsin game might look and when it was scheduled, for example. - **Episode:** what does this win total mean for this team, for this coach? - **Episode:** I mean, they they don't have an easy schedule, but comparatively, But it's like the Wisconsin game doesn't look like a Wisconsin game might look and when it was scheduled, for example. Transcript excerpt: And if you think that you're going to be the wise guy and be like, "Oh, I'm going to jump on the other side of the hype." It'll cost you a pretty penny. So, in in we always have said if Vegas is right, what does it tell you about the expectations for the season? The expectations for the season is that Notre Dame's going to should win every damn game. Yeah, I mean, it's funny because like we've approached it so far. Like, what does this win total mean for this team, for this coach? If they exceed it, if they go past it. Like, this is a crazy number, especially in the modern era. But like when you look at the schedule, it's not impossible to think Notre Dame goes 12 and 0. I mean, they they don't have an easy schedule, but comparatively, But it's like the Wisconsin game doesn't look like a Wisconsin game might look and when it was scheduled, for example. And Michigan State doesn't look like you would think Michigan State would. At North Carolina doesn't really look that difficult. But like there's not a oh, they can't they have no shot in hell of winning that game. But I think honestly, more than the win total, like Notre Dame's entire season will be judged by and this is going to be the case every year until the sport changes. Are they in the playoff or not? That's really the only Yeah. >> this team is also do you win a playoff game? I don't think one and done would cut it for this team. Like if they go 11 and one, great. But if they don't win a playoff game while they're there, they're not going to be happy with the season. If they go 12 and 0 and they don't win a playoff game, they won't be happy with the season. So, they could go 10 and two and finish below this total like a game and a half. And as long as they're in the college football playoff, it's fine. So, I I think that is the expectation and really what matters more than the record. It's do they get in and how far do they go in when they're there? Because this is a team that should be competing. Like like this is a I don't know if if we want to start talking about teams this way, but this is like a team with final four potential. You know what I mean? >> Well, I I think it's fair to say um I think it is fair to say that this is the one of the seasons the first season maybe in a while that you're going in very clear-eyed saying Notre Dame's a top three team. I mean, they're going to be top three, I assume, in the preseason polls. Defensively, they're going to have one of the best defensive backfields in the country. Just like just hands down. They've got a lot of pieces to replace up in the front seven, but they've been recruiting at a pretty good level there. CJ Carr, based on what he showed as a redshirt freshman, gives us a lot of reason to be excited. And the while the wide receiver room has been something we've always pointed to and always kind of picked apart, feel like they're getting enough right now out of that group to be able to think that that's not out of place. Now, you are losing an absolutely bananas outstanding running back. But Audric Estime has been pretty good, too, uh running at that second spot. And I know that there's some depth in that running back room. Well, Price is gone, too. Oh, Price is gone, too. Who's our running back? Uh it's probably going to be Anias Williams. They got Kedren Young. There's a freshman coming in whose name escapes me that I know they're high on, but I don't know how much of a role he'll see right away. Did Was Anias I know Price did some special teams. Did Anias ever do special teams? Like any return work? Couldn't tell you off the top of my head, but I mean, it was mostly Price from what I can remember. Yeah, Anias, he returned two kicks and he returned zero punts. So, yeah, he has some special teams. >> Some, yeah, yeah, yeah. But it was Price it was Price probably what I was thinking of in my head. >> [clears throat] >> Um the there are all of the pieces to be there. And I don't I cannot think off the top of my head the last time that we've gone in. Notre Dame has occupied a space where under Marcus Freeman and really even in the late college football playoff era, when you think back to, you know, making the college football playoff in 2018, making the college football playoff in 2020 under Brian Kelly. Uh Marcus Freeman being able to string together some successful seasons back-to-back, I think that for the Fighting Irish, this is the one year where I'm jumping them out of yeah, they're somewhere eight to 11. Like you would never get to 12 or 15 in your ranking of teams going into a year. Do you agree with this? Do you think 10 and two is Notre Dame out of the playoff? It depends on the two and the 10. I mean, like >> We just saw 10 and two Notre Dame miss the playoff last season. If if they lose to Miami and they lose to BYU and those are the only two like kind of playoff contendery teams that they face. I mean, I I think BYU on the road is more likely than SMU at home, but I digress. And like your best win is then either BYU or SMU. And like Wisconsin maybe is still like a six and six team. Michigan State maybe is in that six and six range. North Carolina, what we talked their win total yesterday was what? Yeah, so or four and a half. It was six and a half. So, it's like it could be a very similar situation to last year where they're up against other teams for at-larges that maybe they have a head-to-head loss to in Miami if Miami somehow fails to win the ACC. Or BYU if they don't win the Big 12. So, or SMU, you know. So, it it's going to depend on who it is. Like if they go 11 and one, they're in for sure. If they go 10 and two, I mean, that's part of the down like they get the automatic where they're in the what top 10 now they're in top 12. They're automatically in yeah. But that's a bonus, but one of the downsides is if you are not in a conference and you don't have a automatic birth as far as the conference championship, if you go 10 and two, you kind of leave things