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Notre Dame Loses A Key Player For The National Championship Game · Buckeyes TomOrrow Morning

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Speaker 1: Welcome to Buckeyes tomorrow morning. From Monday, January thirteenth, I'm
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Speaker 1: your host, tom Or. The National Championship game against Notre
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Speaker 1: Dame is in seven days. The game against Michigan in
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Speaker 1: three hundred and twenty days. Hey, we are sponsored by
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Speaker 1: Grateful Griddle oh dot com. All right, we're gonna be
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Speaker 1: previewing this National Championship game and be doing it with
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Speaker 1: the help of Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman, former
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Speaker 1: Ohio State linebacker, former teammate of James Laura Nidis at
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Speaker 1: Ohio State. We're gonna hear a little bit about that,
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Speaker 1: and in this show, we're be hearing directly from Marcus Freeman.
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Speaker 1: On this show, he got a chance to talk to
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Speaker 1: the media to preview the National Championship game over zoom.
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Speaker 2: We're gonna let you hear a little bit from him.
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Speaker 1: We'll have a separate show, Little Bonas Show for you
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Speaker 1: a little later on today with the Ryan Day press conference.
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Speaker 1: So let's start with the d defense for Notre Dame.
1:01
Speaker 1: That is Marcus Freeman's side of the ball. Obviously, he
1:04
Speaker 1: got a chance to watch the Cotton Bowl and he
1:06
Speaker 1: got a chance to see what Texas did against Jeremiah
1:09
Speaker 1: Smith to hold him to just one catch and three yards.
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Speaker 1: So is that something that Notre Dame can incorporate into
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Speaker 1: their game plan.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, as you watch film, not many teams are successful
1:20
Speaker 3: just sitting in Man Coppridge versus receivers. So we'll obviously
1:24
Speaker 3: have to mix some things up and come up with
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Speaker 3: a great plan to try to limit what they do
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Speaker 3: in the passing game. You know, you're not going to
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Speaker 3: be able to stop their receivers totally. They're a talented bunch,
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Speaker 3: and so we'll come up with a plan and be
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Speaker 3: able to adapt and just based off what's going on
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Speaker 3: in the game.
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Speaker 1: The offensive line from Notre Dame is going to be
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Speaker 1: a big story this week leading up to this game.
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Speaker 1: Anthony Knapp their left tackle, he went down with an injury.
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Speaker 1: Rock O Spindler their right guard. He also went down
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Speaker 1: with an injury against Penn State. So what's the update
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Speaker 1: on those guys, and then what about Charles Jagasaw. Now,
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Speaker 1: he's someone who was supposed to be the starting left
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Speaker 1: tackle for Notre Dame this year and then tore his
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Speaker 1: pack during training camp and was supposedly out for the season.
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Speaker 1: All the headlines said out for the season. Well, the
2:15
Speaker 1: season is still going on and he stepped in during
2:17
Speaker 1: the Orange Bowl.
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Speaker 2: So what's the plan there?
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Speaker 1: Is he potentially factoring into the solutions there?
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Speaker 3: Yeah, Naple will miss this game. He had a high
2:26
Speaker 3: ankle sprain and and won't be able to make it back,
2:30
Speaker 3: but we expect Rocco to be able to. You know,
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Speaker 3: we'll see how he progresses this week of practice, but
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Speaker 3: you know, I know he'll he'll give everything he has
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Speaker 3: and to making sure he's prepared. As far as the
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Speaker 3: starting lineup, well, we'll do what's best for our program
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Speaker 3: and we've got to figure that out. We have a
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Speaker 3: week of preparation to make sure we get the right
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Speaker 3: guys to start this game, and we'll see what that
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Speaker 3: is here in the next couple of days.
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Speaker 1: Jagasaw is going to be a big story this week
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Speaker 1: with as you heard him say, Anthony Knapp out at
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Speaker 1: left tackle, could Jagasaw maybe step in at left tackle
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Speaker 1: like he did last year. He's barely practiced with the
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Speaker 1: ones at any point in his career. He has, though,
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Speaker 1: played in some crucial games. He started at left tackle
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Speaker 1: in the Sun Bowl last year after Joe Ault opted
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Speaker 1: out and the Notre Dame offense had a really big
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Speaker 1: day that day. So how big has Charles Jagasaw been
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Speaker 1: for the Notre Dame offense? And then a sort of
3:25
Speaker 1: tacked on question there, the Irish are dealing with the
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Speaker 1: flu around the Orange Bowl game. Has the flu kind
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Speaker 1: of run its course at this point?
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Speaker 2: Yes.
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Speaker 3: As far as Jagasaw, again, unfortunate injury that occurred in
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Speaker 3: fall camp, but he worked his way back and you
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Speaker 3: know what, in the past few weeks or maybe the
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Speaker 3: last month, he's just been practicing and preparing if he
3:50
Speaker 3: did get an opportunity. He didn't know if he would
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Speaker 3: or not, and he went out there and did an
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Speaker 3: unbelievable job, did a great job, just like we thought
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Speaker 3: he would. So credit to him coach Rudolph for for
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Speaker 3: being ready for when his number was called and then
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Speaker 3: he went out and executed at a high level. So
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Speaker 3: it speaks volumes to him in his preparation. As far
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Speaker 3: as the flu, I mean, I'm sure every school, every
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Speaker 3: Ohio State's probably dealing with it too, Like it's of
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Speaker 3: ours that has really I think probably over half of
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Speaker 3: our team has gotten it already. So I don't think
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Speaker 3: it will have an impact on this week's game.
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Speaker 1: Because of the tragedy around New Orleans around New Year's Day,
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Speaker 1: the Sugar Bowl was obviously delayed today, which meant that
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Speaker 1: Penn State actually had a two day head start on
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Speaker 1: their preparations for the Orange Bowl. Now shoes on the
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Speaker 1: other foot in this one because Notre Dame was home
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Speaker 1: and back in South Bend watching the Cotton Bowl on TV,
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Speaker 1: knowing that they would play the winner. So how beneficial
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Speaker 1: is that to have maybe a little bit of a
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Speaker 1: head start on game prep.
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Speaker 3: You know, you don't get any schematic things out of
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Speaker 3: watching on TV. You obviously can see playmakers, you can
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Speaker 3: see big plays, and that was evident in that game.
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Speaker 2: But you know, you have to go back and you got
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Speaker 2: to watch.
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Speaker 3: You gotta really evaluate the coaches copy of the film
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Speaker 3: to look at schematically how you want to prepare for
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Speaker 3: this game. But I saw some guys on both sides,
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Speaker 3: but specifically specifically Ohio State's side making really big plays
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Speaker 3: on offense and defense, and they have playmakers all across
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Speaker 3: the board, and so we know it's going to be
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Speaker 3: a challenge, but we look forward to it.
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Speaker 1: Marcus Freeman, of course, was a linebacker at Ohio State
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Speaker 1: back in the Jim Tressel days and with teammates with
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Speaker 1: James Laurnidis. They played side by side in that linebacker
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Speaker 1: corps on some really good Ohio State defense. So what
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Speaker 1: are some of Marcus Freeman's favorite memories with James Laurenidis,
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Speaker 1: Because remember, not only did they play together, they also
5:44
Speaker 1: work together a little bit on the staff at Notre Dame.
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Speaker 3: I think, you know, there are so many moments when
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Speaker 3: you play together, but you know, he was in my
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Speaker 3: wedding and I was in his wedding. Those are special moments,
5:56
Speaker 3: obviously the days you get married. And we had some
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Speaker 3: great moments when and we work together here at Notre Dame.
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Speaker 3: You know, it was a it's a unique situation where
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Speaker 3: you know a guy you're working with is one of
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Speaker 3: your best friends. And so we got a lot of
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Speaker 3: great moments and probably some that I won't share on
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Speaker 3: this press conference.
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Speaker 2: But uh, he's a great friend.
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Speaker 1: Every coach has their mantras, and one of Marcus Freeman's
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Speaker 1: mantras from Notre Dame this year has been a team
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Speaker 1: first mentality. So how has that helped them get to
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Speaker 1: where they are right now? And how do you continue
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Speaker 1: that with the biggest game of the season on deck?
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Speaker 3: This is this that mentality has got us to this point.
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Speaker 3: It's it's every person in this program putting this football
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Speaker 3: program in front of itself. And that's what we continue
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Speaker 3: to do and we demand of each other is that
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Speaker 3: you know, everybody outside of this football program will find
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Speaker 3: ways to to give individual glory or individual praise or
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Speaker 3: whatever it is. But we know inside this building that
6:55
Speaker 3: every person has a vital role for us achieving the
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Speaker 3: results that we have and that's what it's going to be.
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Speaker 3: As we prepare for this game. Your roles will be
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Speaker 3: determined as we get in you know, finished with prep
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Speaker 3: here soon, and we need you to execute your role,
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Speaker 3: whatever that role is, to the best you can to
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Speaker 3: make sure that we can achieve the results that we want.
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Speaker 3: And uh, that's what we'll continue to preach.
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Speaker 1: One of the big storylines around Marcus Freeman is he
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Speaker 1: is not only the first black head coach to make
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Speaker 1: the National Championship game, is also the first Asian head
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Speaker 1: coach to make the National Championship Game. So does he
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Speaker 1: feel like this is them something that might give other
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Speaker 1: minority coaches a chance Seeing someone like Marcus Freeman reach
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Speaker 1: this stage by the program like Notre Dame that has
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Speaker 1: had trouble getting over the hump in the past, and
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Speaker 1: also the importance and meaning of playing in Atlanta on
7:46
Speaker 1: Martin Luther King Day.
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Speaker 2: I sure hope.
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Speaker 3: So I hope that you know, somebody gives the right
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Speaker 3: person an opportunity.
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Speaker 2: I was. I was given an.
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Speaker 3: Opportunity by by our former athletic director Jacks Warbrick and
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Speaker 3: father John Jenkins.
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Speaker 2: They made the decision to give me an opportunity.
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Speaker 3: And what I continue to hope is that you know,
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Speaker 3: people get opportunities based off their actions and not the
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Speaker 3: color of their skin. And and and that's that doesn't
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Speaker 3: point to just one group of people, but that's that
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Speaker 3: that we want to make sure we continue to give
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Speaker 3: the right people opportunities.
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Speaker 2: To lead our young people. And and and I believe
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Speaker 2: in that.
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Speaker 3: And if this me being a black and Asian head
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Speaker 3: coach in the college football National Championship gives others that opportunity,
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Speaker 3: and that's awesome. I've always said this, I don't want
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Speaker 3: this to be about me. I want this to be
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Speaker 3: about others and about others getting opportunity. About our team
8:55
Speaker 3: as far as playing in the National Championship game on
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Speaker 3: m LK Day, to me, the attention should be on
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Speaker 3: MLK Day and what he did for our country and
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Speaker 3: the progress he made for equal rights and for progress
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Speaker 3: for all people. The courage he had as an individual
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Speaker 3: to stand for what he believes in and that was
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Speaker 3: his with his words and his actions.
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Speaker 2: And so.
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Speaker 3: This Martin Luther King is about celebrating Martin. Martin Luther
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Speaker 3: King Day is about celebrating that man and the impacts
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Speaker 3: he's made on our country.
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Speaker 1: This will be the third year in a row that
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Speaker 1: the Ohios Date Buckeyess in Notre Dame fighting Irish have
9:43
Speaker 1: faced off during the season. Buck Eys opened their twenty
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Speaker 1: twenty two season with a win at home in twenty
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Speaker 1: against the Irish, and then in twenty twenty three they
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Speaker 1: went to South Bend in late September pulled out a
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Speaker 1: classic win over the Irish there as well.
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Speaker 2: So with this team having a.
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Speaker 1: Lot of guys who have now lost to Ohio State
10:01
Speaker 1: once or twice. Is that maybe a little bit of
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Speaker 1: an extra motivation heading into this game.
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Speaker 3: If you need that to motivate you to get ready
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Speaker 3: for this game, then you're not the right person. And
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Speaker 3: that's the reality of We don't need motivation to be
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Speaker 3: prepared for this game. We got a chance to playing
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Speaker 3: a national championship game. This isn't about the past. This
10:20
Speaker 3: is about this opportunity we have right in front of us,
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Speaker 3: and we'll continue to focus on this opportunity right in
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Speaker 3: front of us. If there's learning opportunities from other games
10:27
Speaker 3: or previous games, absolutely we're going to use them. Right
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Speaker 3: If it's going to help us be more prepared for
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Speaker 3: what could happen in this game, we're definitely going.
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Speaker 2: To use it. But it isn't from motivation at all.
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Speaker 1: Talked about all the offensive line injuries earlier in the show,
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Speaker 1: but that's not the only injuries that Notre Dame is
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Speaker 1: dealing with right now. Running Back Jeremiah Love, you have
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Speaker 1: seen him with a big brace on his right knee.
10:49
Speaker 1: Why does you evervoke Collins? He's been fighting through injuries
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Speaker 1: as well. What's the update on those guys?
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Speaker 2: Now, Jay Love is good to go. Jay Love will
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Speaker 2: be full going.
10:58
Speaker 3: Bo's are still healing from me, yes, calf strain, and
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Speaker 3: so he'll he'll work back into practice uh here in
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Speaker 3: the next couple of days. But I hope that as
11:08
Speaker 3: long as he progresses, h he'll be He'll be good
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Speaker 3: to go.
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Speaker 2: For the game. But we got to make sure that
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Speaker 2: he progresses as we go through this week.
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Speaker 1: In both the Sugar Bowl against Georgia and the Orange
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Speaker 1: Bowl against Penn State, the Notre Dame offense got off
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Speaker 1: to a really sluggish start before kind of kicking it
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Speaker 1: into gear around halftime or in the in the second half.
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Speaker 1: So what has caused those slow starts and what has
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Speaker 1: opened up later for them?
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Speaker 3: Yeah, I think you're talking about two really good defenses
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Speaker 3: that we faced, two of the best in the country,
11:36
Speaker 3: as this one we're going to face this week will
11:39
Speaker 3: be two. It's a game of adjustments and a game
11:42
Speaker 3: of you know, taking care of the football and taking
11:45
Speaker 3: advantage of the opportunities that are presented. And that's what
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Speaker 3: we did versus Georgia, all Right. We took care of
11:50
Speaker 3: the football and we took advantage of opportunities that were
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Speaker 3: presented and found tough, gretty ways to get first downs.
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Speaker 3: Penn State early in the game was given us some
12:02
Speaker 3: unique looks and probably we're running the ball into some
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Speaker 3: difficult looks that we hadn't seen going into the game.
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Speaker 3: But we had to make some adjustments. And that's what
12:11
Speaker 3: this game is going to be about, is Okay, everybody's
12:14
Speaker 3: going to have a plan going in. How do you
12:15
Speaker 3: make adjustments, how do you find a way to get
12:18
Speaker 3: the tough yardage that you need to get a first
12:21
Speaker 3: down and keep the sticks moving and you know, take
12:24
Speaker 3: care of the football.
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Speaker 2: We got to do it.
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Speaker 3: We didn't do a great job at that versus Penn State,
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Speaker 3: and that's probably one of the couple reasons that the
12:34
Speaker 3: game was really close.
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Speaker 2: We got to take care of football and we got
12:38
Speaker 2: to find ways to run the ball.
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Speaker 1: Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard went out with what appeared
12:44
Speaker 1: to be a head injury during that Orange Bowl, but
12:46
Speaker 1: was then cleared to return. So what is that process
12:50
Speaker 1: like to sign off on guys returning or whether they
12:53
Speaker 1: go into concussion protocol? Is that different for the college
12:56
Speaker 1: football playoff than it would be for a normal game.
13:00
Speaker 2: I don't know, there's nothing different with the CFP game.
13:05
Speaker 3: We have a medical professional team of athletic trainers and
13:09
Speaker 3: doctors that will do a thorough evaluation of our players
13:14
Speaker 3: when they think they have a concussion. The health and
13:17
Speaker 3: safety of our players are more important than anything and
13:21
Speaker 3: I want to make sure that's clear. And so they
13:23
Speaker 3: would never put a player at risk if they did
13:25
Speaker 3: not think he was physically ready to play in the game.
13:30
Speaker 3: And they made the decision after a thorough evaluation that
13:34
Speaker 3: he was okay to return to the game. And so
13:39
Speaker 3: that's you have to trust your doctors. And there's times
13:43
Speaker 3: that they say a players not available to come to
13:45
Speaker 3: the back into the game, and you got to trust
13:48
Speaker 3: your doctors. And so we have professionals that handle the
13:51
Speaker 3: evaluation and they felt like Riley was good to return
13:55
Speaker 3: to play.
13:57
Speaker 1: And finally, Notre Dame has not won a national championship
14:00
Speaker 1: since nineteen eighty eight. Of course, going into this season,
14:03
Speaker 1: they had not won a major bowl game in thirty years,
14:06
Speaker 1: and they've just now done that twice, winning the Sugar
14:09
Speaker 1: Bowl and the Orange.
14:10
Speaker 2: Bowl back to back.
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Speaker 1: So what would a national championship mean for Notre Dame
14:14
Speaker 1: and for the fighting Irish players.
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Speaker 2: That would be something special.
14:19
Speaker 3: Obviously, this place hasn't won a national championship since nineteen
14:22
Speaker 3: eighty eight, and every year the aspirations are to win
14:25
Speaker 3: a national championship. That's why all these players choose to
14:29
Speaker 3: come to Notre Dame. One of the reasons is to
14:33
Speaker 3: be a part of a program that can win a
14:36
Speaker 3: national championship.
14:37
Speaker 2: And so.
14:39
Speaker 3: I think it's something that they'll be able to say
14:42
Speaker 3: for the rest of their lives is that they were
14:44
Speaker 3: a part of a national championship football team. And so
14:47
Speaker 3: there's a lot of work that goes into getting to
14:51
Speaker 3: that outcome, and that's what we got to focus on.
14:53
Speaker 3: But it would be special for this university and for
14:58
Speaker 3: these players that have poured so much work into getting
15:01
Speaker 3: the results that we have.
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Speaker 1: Well, I feel like we're just sort of scratching the
15:05
Speaker 1: surface there. With Marcus Freeman, gonna be so much interesting
15:08
Speaker 1: stuff to talk to him about. We will get a
15:10
Speaker 1: chance to talk to him down in Atlanta for the
15:13
Speaker 1: National Championship game. We've got a whole bunch of media
15:16
Speaker 1: opportunities down there. A full media day coming up on Saturday,
15:19
Speaker 1: the usual head coach press conference coming up on Sunday,
15:22
Speaker 1: and then of course the game on Monday. We're gonna
15:25
Speaker 1: get down there on Friday, get a chance to talk
15:27
Speaker 1: to the teams as they arrive on Friday, and then
15:30
Speaker 1: get that full media schedule in for you. And boy
15:32
Speaker 1: do we have a lot of stuff coming up this
15:33
Speaker 1: week as well. At buckeye huddle dot com. We got
15:36
Speaker 1: all sorts of coverage coming. Should have our x's and
15:39
Speaker 1: o's breakdown with Ross Fulton, We'll have lots of conversations
15:43
Speaker 1: about the Ohio State Higher State preparations, Notre Dame preparations,
15:46
Speaker 1: all sorts of good insider information there as well. At
15:49
Speaker 1: bucke huddle dot com, we are also right now in
15:52
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Speaker 1: That will do it for now, Thank you guys all
16:38
Speaker 1: for joining us. We'll be back with another bonus show
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