SI.Com: Lay Off The Irish

[jiggafini19]

Lay off the Irish
Notre Dame's tight win is nothing to be ashamed of

For eight months I read e-mail after e-mail bemoaning Notre Dame's high preseason rating considering its "awful" defense. Saturday night, that same Fighting Irish defense shut out Georgia Tech in the second half of a 14-10 victory, and I was greeted the next day by a whole new set of "Why Notre Dame is overrated" e-mails -- apparently because the Irish didn't blow Tech out of the water.

Here's the deal: Notre Dame may well prove to be overrated -- at No. 2 on my ballot, if they reach anything less than the national-title game they'll be considered to have been "overrated" -- but it won't be based on what happened Saturday night. As a voter, why would I dock the Irish for a close win on the road against a quality ACC opponent? ](Based on some of the e-mails, you would think they played Louisiana Tech, not Georgia Tech.) Because Brady Quinn looked shaky in the first half? Sorry, but I'm not exactly worried about Quinn and the offense. On the other hand, Florida State's horrific rushing performance against Miami is cause for concern, hence my dropping the 'Noles despite beating a decent foe on the road.

 

[jiggafini19]

Yahoooooooooohoooooo!!

 

[scooper]

Nice.

 

[Dannyboy Ayers]

i like his outlook on the whole thing.

 

[jiggafini19]

i like his outlook on the whole thing.

Me too.

He's basically calling people out for being fickle idiots and/or dumb haters.

That La Tech analogy just kills me. Hurts so good.

 

[IrishCPA]

Wasn't that Stewart Mandel that wrote that. I actually think he did a good job analyzing the whole situation and putting it in the correct context.

 

[NDgettysburg]

Was listening to the college football show on Sirius while out to pick up my kids from school.....Jack Arute and Terry Bowden. Bowden said basically the same thing.

 

[Dannyboy Ayers]

its nice to see that people outside of the Notre Dame lovefest see it as common sense

 

[A2McGowan]

I've been fuming all week over the snub in the polls. I know it doesn't matter at all, but it would have been interesting to see(hypothet) how many of the teams in the top five would have gotten out of that environment unscathed. I'll bet not many, from those that I've spoken with that were there(GT).......that place was a berzerk hornet's nest. OSU/NIU wow. And let's not get started on WVU............

 

[Dannyboy Ayers]

how about USC playing Arkansas. Granted I thought that they were going to beat USC but it still isn't a tough match up

 

[BGIF]

OK, so I do have one concern about the Irish: Their veteran offensive line didn't do a very good job handling Georgia Tech's tricky blitz schemes. On a more encouraging note, WR Rhema McKnight (eight catches, 108 yards), injured most of last year, looks poised for a huge senior season.

Stewart Mandel

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/20...05/college.football.power.rankings/index.html

 

[jiggafini19]

Ga Tech could give Arkansas a beat down.

Oh, and did Rhema McKnight get off to a good start from coming off a serious injury?

Answered a lot of my questions.

Mandel puts it in perspective.

 

[ralphwaldoemerson]

Mandel also said in a mailbag column that he expected ND to beat PSU pretty easily.

Of course in a column released at the same time, Matt Hayes spends the whole column ripping on the Irish D, saying they'll be exposed against PSU, Michigan, et al.

Some people get it. Some people don't.

 

[NDgettysburg]

its nice to see that people outside of the Notre Dame lovefest see it as common sense

I've never thought much of any of the Bowdens so it was interesting hearing it from Terry B.