00:00But I do want to go back.
00:01Obviously, I'm a little bit on this game here with Miami-Notre Dame here.
00:06What was your takeaway?
00:07And I just got through talking with someone else about catch or no catch.
00:11After seeing the videos, Chris, what do you think?
00:14Catch or no catch in that ballgame?
00:17I didn't think a catch.
00:19I mean, that was a catch in 1988, you know, when we remember that stuff.
00:23But it hasn't really been a catch now ever since Des Bryant, Calvin Johnson.
00:27And I feel like we're kind of used to this insane process of the catch.
00:31Live, I didn't think it was.
00:33Lofton didn't really seem to think it was.
00:35I understand the case, but I think, eh, I didn't think it was a catch.
00:40But overall, I came away, like, pretty impressed with Miami.
00:44I came out of that game feeling good about both teams.
00:46For Miami to fight back like they did on the road without Malachi Tony,
00:51that was an adjustment to figure what that was out.
00:53I think they come out of that game a lot tougher of a team.
00:57A bit of a chip on the shoulder now with the way the game ended.
01:00And as long as you can get Malachi Tony back by the postseason,
01:04I would still feel pretty good about the Canes.
01:06What does a win like that, in your eyes, do for a team like Notre Dame?
01:11I mean, you know, when you look at the schedule that they've had this year,
01:14compared to even the schedule they had a year ago,
01:16they had a lot of tougher opponents on that schedule.
01:19What does a win like that do for Marcus Freeman and his guys?
01:24I mean, they had to have it.
01:25I mean, if they lost this game,
01:26they were going to miss the college football playoff two years in a row.
01:29And it would have marked two straight years without a big win.
01:33I mean, they played two, like, top 10 teams last year,
01:36lost to both of them close, lost again to BYU to start this year.
01:39There's not that many opportunities for Notre Dame to get these big wins
01:43just based on the quality of the opponents turn out to be.
01:46And if you'd gone two straight years without getting kind of a big win,
01:50it makes you question just kind of what is this Notre Dame program?
01:53Can Marcus Freeman get them over the hump?
01:55They went to the national championship game in 2024.
01:58But outside of that, it's a lot of like, okay, like pretty good.
02:02Can you take that next level?
02:03You've got to win some of these games.
02:05They win this game.
02:07Unless they get upset by SMU, I don't see them missing the playoff.
02:11And then we'll see where they go from there.
02:13You know, I've been asking this question also about the metric.
02:16Chris, what's the metric that the committee is using?
02:19Is it strength to schedule?
02:21Is it conference strength?
02:22Is it common opponents?
02:24What are they using?
02:25Because it's so all over the place the last two weeks.
02:28I don't really know how they're ranking these teams.
02:31I look at UCLA.
02:32They're sitting at number four.
02:34And I'm like, UCLA hasn't played against a ranked team all year.
02:37And you got them the fourth best team in the country.
02:40I know Oregon at the time was ranked.
02:42But, I mean, you look at that schedule they've played.
02:44They've played nobody also.
02:45They haven't played a ranked team yet this year.
02:48What metric are the committee using?
02:52Well, UCLA, I mean, Oregon is ranked now.
02:55They're back up to number 16 because they've suddenly won two games in a row.
02:58And so that's one of the reasons UCLA jumped up from, what, eight, seven or eight to four.
03:03Yep.
03:03Because suddenly that Oregon win looks a lot better than it did at the time.
03:06And when you're an undefeated, you're just, if you're an undefeated power 14, you're going to be up there.
03:11But for everybody else, they're just leaning on big wins.
03:15Like, that is clearly what the committee values.
03:17Big wins, strength of schedule.
03:19They added a strength of record metric last year, which is like strength of schedule, but also takes into account
03:25how you did against those teams.
03:27And that's why Alabama's up there at number three with two losses because they won big on the road at
03:33Kentucky.
03:34They beat South Carolina big, beat LSU big on the road, and Mississippi State when they were full strength.
03:40And they won all those games by three touchdowns.
03:43So, like, they're winning those big games and winning them big.
03:46Like, that's why Tennessee is not in the same group getting compared to them.
03:51I think Tennessee should be ahead because they played and Tennessee won by 16.
03:55But Alabama's resume otherwise is very, very strong.
03:58The three-point loss to Georgia at home, controversial with the non-call to pass interference.
04:04And if you just, that's, it's big wins.
04:06That's why it's where they're at.
04:07That's why Miami fell all the way to number seven with the loss because they only have the Wake Forest
04:12win, and that's about it.
04:14If you only have one kind of notable win, you're more prone to falling.
04:18It's also why Indiana fell from, what, four to nine despite not playing because they got jumped by five teams
04:26who got big wins.
04:27Alabama, Texas, Notre Dame, and UCLA.
04:32Like, that is, Indiana doesn't have any big wins to lean on.
04:36They got USC this week, and they got to win that one.
