Number 2 Notre Dame squeaked by the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on Saturday 14-10. At one point in the game, the Fighting Irish were down 10-0. Scores in the 2nd and 3rd quarter helped Notre Dame take a 14-10 lead, which was the final score. Was this really the number two team in the country? This win over unranked Georgia Tech was very unimpressive. After all the touting of Notre Dame in the offseason, I expect much more out of them.
Next up for Notre Dame is ranked Penn State who beat up on Akron 34-16. The task will be much tougher for Notre Dame. Despite only putting up two touchdowns, the offense did move for 384 yards, including a critical fourth down conversion. Notre Dame also won the time of possession game by ten minutes.
Notre Dame QB Brady Quinn was 23 of 38 for 246 yards. He didn't throw any touchdowns, but he didn't throw any interceptions either. It was a fairly decent start for Quinn. He opened the Fighting Irish scoring by scampering for a 5 yard run as time was expiring in the first half. That score almost didn't happen. This game could have been much different.
Darius Walker, RB for Notre Dame, took 22 caries and was 1 yard off from a 100 yard game. His longest run of the day was 19 yards. In the 3rd quarter, he scored on a 13 yard run with 6:33 left. The receivers were not too impressive when you take into account that the bulk of McKnight's and Samardzija's yards came from a single play. McKnight had a 44 yard catch and finished with 108 yards. Samardzija got 42 of his 74 yards from a single play.
For the Yellow Jackets, Travis Ball was 12 for 24?just 50% accuracy?for 140 yards and a TD. That strike came as time wound down in the first quarter. Reggie Ball connected on a 4 yard TD pass with Calvin Johnson. Ball was also the leading rusher for Georgia Tech. He had 11 carries for 55 yards. His longest run went for 17 yards.
Next week we should get a more accurate gauge of this Notre Dame team. Perhaps they just came out flat for this one. Their offense must do a better job next week against Penn State if they want to stay in the game. Georgia Tech gets a lighter game in Samford next week.
