Why Miami's Notre Dame Loss Could Fuel a Title Run

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