00:00Chris, I'm going to start it right out of the gate here.
00:02We go to South Bend.
00:04Catch or no catch?
00:07Whatever the rule is, whatever the definition of having possession of the ball,
00:13having it here, getting two feet down, taking a step out of bounds,
00:18and then a player knocking the ball out, whatever that is, that's what it was.
00:24I thought that was good enough.
00:26My entire life, that's kind of been a catch.
00:30It felt like one of those deals where whatever they ruled on the field
00:33was ultimately going to be what was going to be the ruling,
00:37and that's clearly what happened.
00:39I will say that was not the reason Miami lost.
00:44I mean, even if Elijah Lofton is able to hold that ball and continue it through,
00:49Notre Dame had three, three and a half minutes or so to get in position to try and kick.
00:54Miami would have got all the momentum in the world,
00:57and you would have liked maybe Miami's chances if that game had gone to overtime.
01:00But yeah, the drive in the first half where Miami couldn't get the touchdown from the one-yard line,
01:06clearly that was a factor as well.
01:09Miami just would have needed a field goal there or needed a field goal on that final drive as well.
01:15But look, I don't know what you were thinking, but at halftime, this looked like it was headed down like
01:21the 38-10 type of path.
01:23So like for Miami to come back on the road to play as poorly as it did in the first
01:28half
01:29without the best player in college football and have an opportunity to tie that game or win it,
01:34like arrow up the rest of the year.
01:36Like if they – like that's what I try and do.
01:39That's what I tried to do last year with the college football playoff,
01:42and I know I'm going on a – you asked me one question, and now I'm going here.
01:47Like seeing the forest through the trees, you get Malachi Tony back.
01:52You get ideally OJ Frederick back.
01:55Ideally, you get Jabari Antoine back.
01:58You get Max Buchanan back on the offensive line.
02:00Like it's a team that when they are healthy, like the only team that I would fear
02:06or really be worried about is Georgia.
02:08Like I think the list of national title contenders is Notre Dame, Miami, Georgia, Alabama,
02:15and I could see Texas with that talent making a run if they get healthy as well.
02:19But, yeah, there aren't many teams, if any teams,
02:21that I would trade positions with a Miami – a healthy Miami team.
02:26Would you subscribe to this, Chris?
02:27I had a conversation on Sunday with Mario Cristobal about this, and I said,
02:32listen, in 1987 when we lost to Penn State in a national championship game,
02:37the following year it made us focused.
02:40And a loss, believe it or not, Chris, can actually galvanize a football team
02:45to give you more hyper-focus that, hey, listen, we've got to play here like this.
02:49We can't have a first half like we did against Notre Dame because the first half was really –
02:54I think they wobbled a little bit without Tony until they gathered their footing in the second half.
02:59They started playing a little bit better defensively, but you get, like you said,
03:04you know, a full Miami team back.
03:06If you put a full Notre Dame team, they miss players too on that defensive side of the ball.
03:10So on the other side of the ball, do you think if you have a full force of Notre Dame
03:15guys
03:15and you have Tony on that side of the ball, you think Miami's still the better team?
03:20I do think Miami would win the game.
03:22I think one thing that really hasn't gone very – hasn't been talked about, I think,
03:28nearly as much surrounding the Malachi Tony injury was when it happened.
03:34It happened at the end of practice on Wednesday.
03:37Like you had no time really to adjust and practice a new game plan
03:43without Malachi Tony in the lineup.
03:45So, like, if it happens Monday, okay, maybe you have more time to get people ready.
03:50But the fact that it happened when it did, knowing that Miami went to South Bend,
03:54I believe, on Thursday, like there wasn't an opportunity to get everybody on the same page.
03:59I think that's why they started so slow.
04:01And I think once they got going in the second half and they got a barkhead on those
04:05underneath routes and Dre Jacobs made some catches and Lofton has turned into an insanely good weapon.
04:11So, like, yeah, but I agree with you.
04:14Sometimes a loss like that – and that's what happened last year, I think, after the SMU game.
04:20It was like, what the hell?
04:21Like, we're too good to piss away this opportunity.
04:25And that was really what set them on the path forward and they got motivated.
04:29And we'll see.
04:30I think – like I said, the loss can be good.
04:32But I think going there and they can – hey, all of our goals are still intact.
04:36We're four games away from winning being ACC champions forever and getting to the college football playoff
04:42and having an opportunity to finish what we potentially started last year.
