The Fighting Irish

People get ridiculous about Notre Dame Football. Casual fans, pundits and myself included. Either you love 'em or you hate 'em. Prior to Saturday's schilacking at the hands of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, you had Lou Holtz, who has not always been blindly pro-Notre dame since he gave up coaching for pricy speaking engagements and ESPN, boldly claiming the Irish would win 10 games, while conversely, as part of the very same broadcast, Mark May, who's always been anti-Notre Dame to the point of delusion, claiming they'd escape no more than 3 games this year with a win.

With the benefit of the clarity that has come with this adjacent work week, it appears the ladder will be at least more correct than the former. Be that as it may, proclaimations of permanent doom under the golden Dome or for Charlie Weis' tenure there, are not only unwarranted but they're downright blasphemous. Who do you think is God's favorite college football team is?

Don't get me wrong. Saturday's debacle turned my stomache, but a string of 4 blowouts at the hands of superior tallent, and most recently, at the hands of superior experience, is hardly indicative of major problems in South Bend.

To the contrary, the Irish enter this season a blank slate in some very major ways. A new defensive co-ordinator has brought with him a new scheme, the 3-4. An experienced offensive line, an all-world quarterback and two all-world wide receivers have to be replaced by inexperience. In fact, of the four return starters that immediately come to mind, two are skill position players, and one of them spent the entirety of last season on the other side of the ball.

Defensively, they weren't as bad as the score and the stat lines would have you believe. Handicapped by horrible field position the entire first half, courtesy of an atrocious offensive performance, initially the unite didn't break, holding Tech to three field goals. By the second half, however, disproportionate time spent on the field began to take its toll. In a major way. Take a look at the final score.... And the statistics.

The only way, unfortunately, to address the inexperience that permeates the offensive side of the ball at the present moment.....is experience. The offensive line has to learn how to play together and the skill position players have to develop a repoire with their starting quarterback, Jimmy Claussen (true freshman). These are all surmountable obstacles if you put stock in a coaching pedigree that includes 4 Superbowl rings and a tallent pool that's consistently ranked in the top 5 since Weis' arrival.

If Notre Dame is to return to prominence, as judged by national championships, this is the coach and these are the quality of players that can get them there.