Ahh, it's that time of year again! Saturday was the beginning of the NCAA football season, when seemingly every team in the country takes the opportunity to kick the dogshit out of the someone lower in the pecking order, as Tech did with SMU, and Texas with North Texas. In fact, it looks like the only 2 exceptions to this rule were California (who foolishly thought they could whip up on Tennessee; even when the Vols are on a rebuilding year, you better bring your A-game to that one or you're gonna get embarrassed) and Notre Dame (as every year).
One of the things I love about Irish football is that ND doesn't believe in padding their schedule with early season cupcakes like other teams do; there aren't gonna be any Indiana States or Florida Internationals on the list. Sure, we play the military teams this year, but Notre Dame has a long, long history of playing those teams, good or not. And frankly, the sheer pageantry of those games makes it worth it.
The downside to ND's schedule, however, is early season scares like we had on Saturday. I'm rarely right when I talk about football, but even I knew that Georgia Tech, a team that last season beat Auburn and Miami-- at Auburn and at Miami-- wasn't going to be a pushover. Why everyone expected a blowout is beyond me.
Despite some disappointments with the game, like Quinn's maddening (and very much new) tendency to overthrow his receivers, there were 2 things about the game I found promising. One was the performance of the Irish defense, as everyone has noted. The other, less talked about, observation I had was the lack of turnovers. In fact, the utter lack of turnovers (there were 0 on either side). On the one hand, it may show a D that has forgotten how to cause them, but it definitely shows an offense that could keep them under control despite extreme pressure and frustration. It shows patience and poise. The Brady bunch had faith that their teammates and coaches would figure this team out in time, and didn't try to force big plays. And sure enough, by the end of the first half the adjustments had been made, and it was all over for Georgia Tech.
3 comments:
You and the T on Quinn overthrowing his receivers. I'll grant that there were a few obvious occurrences, but it looked to me like he was just repeating what worked so well last year--throwing to the back corner of the endzone and expecting Samardzija (oh Jesus I hope I spelled that one right) to jump for it. It looked to me like he never quite made it back to the back of the endzone. Then again, I suppose it IS the job of the quarterback to find his receiver and all... Are you tailgating this weekend? We shall make some excellent plans before Saturday gets here, for sure.
We are tailgating, though we don't know where. Give us a ring and we'll figure it out.
We now have a few options, which is awesome. Our neighbors got a stadium pass this year so we'll definitely be stopping by there to get slobbered on by The Most Affectionate Dog Ever, if she gets to come at all. And then there's the Denny Moore tailgate that the T and the SO'B hit up last year. It promises to be much fun. And for a bonus, you don't even have to dress up in 1992 garb. Tee hee.
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