00:00A quick preview of Notre Dame here under Marcus Freeman. It's his fourth season.
00:05I know that you've gotten to know him now, you know, as well as you can know a coach at this
00:09point covering a team. 14-2 last season, four bowl wins. Of course, getting to the national
00:15championship was quite the surprise, I think, for some to see the Irish go that far last year.
00:20Is that fair to say? Certainly after the Northern Illinois loss in week two,
00:27the smart money was not on Notre Dame running off 13 straight wins. They did it. They had a softer
00:35schedule last year than they appear to have this year. And they have two back-to-back real tough ones
00:42at the start. Miami on the road, Texas A&M coming here after a bye week. I would not bank on being
00:48able to flip the switch after an early loss. Would not be wise to chance that. But the talent level
00:56keeps rising, the top five recruiting class, if not a top three recruiting class coming in in 26.
01:03And they really know how to develop these young guys right onto the field. Freshmen making an impact
01:09a la Leonard Moore last year. Yeah, it was a great season for them last year. So let's show what
01:15Mike is alluding to here. The premium game of the season is the opener because it's the only game on
01:22the board that night on August 31st, Labor Day weekend when Notre Dame takes on Miami. And then
01:27they play Texas A&M, USC and Syracuse. Notre Dame's got three straight home games against three quality
01:34teams. So we'll see how those go. But let's start off with the Miami game, Mike. Now this goes back a
01:41bit, but the Hurricanes really their win against Notre Dame under Manny Diaz with the whole turnover
01:47chain game. We're going back, I guess, like eight years ago, seven years ago, something like that. I mean,
01:52that's Miami's biggest win in the last 10 years. And I'm guessing that the Irish are not gonna forget about
01:58that as they enter that game. Well, some of these guys were quite young at that time. I'd say, you know,
02:07maybe the freshmen were 10. But no, I mean, I think, and what, it goes back to 1977 since Notre Dame won a
02:16game on the road against Miami, a true road game. They don't play nearly as frequently as they did for
02:22decades. But, and Hard Rock Stadium is no Orange Bowl. We know that. Notre Dame has the recent memory
02:30of winning a game and Orange Bowl in the semifinal against Penn State. They know the lay of the land,
02:36but perhaps a little more speed, perhaps a little more of a chip on the shoulder for Miami as
02:42Notre Dame comes in. It's a lot of transfers on both sides of the ball, obviously, for Miami. And
02:48that's been something that Notre Dame will have to navigate because it's not unusual in the opener
02:53to have that level of uncertainty. But new defensive coordinator as well for Miami. So,
03:00and new defensive coordinator for Notre Dame and Chris Ashe.
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