Better men and women than I have already commented on Notre Dame's drubbing at the hands of Georgia Tech yesterday. Their comments appear on their own blogs, found on the links to the right of this page. There is no question that yesterday was a grave dissapointment.
Recently accused of being a "delusional Notre Dame fan" and of making excuses for my team, I will state categorically that we were beat. We were outplayed on offense and defense. We made crucial mistakes. Georgia Tech was without question the better team.
But I feel that there are some distinct reasons that we played so poorly. We are a largely inexperienced team. This is no doubt the explanation of (but never an excuse for) the two lost fumbles, the nine sacks, the many negative-yardage plays, and the missed blocking assignments. Our defense, which had a promising start after forcing Tech into field goal attempts on their first three drives (one of which they blocked), slowly fell apart under the strain of Tech's long drawn-out rushing attack. And I think the optimism in South Bend these last few weeks meant that Notre Dame players came into the game ever so slightly cocky, which only made them more demoralized as the score mounted and their futile offense sputtered.
There is a silver lining. Both Sharpley and Clausen, our second- and third-string quarterbacks, played well (though Sharpley looked hesitant at times), and our young running backs look very talented. And our defense looked much improved from last year. But there is no question that we showed ourselves a bad football team yesterday. I earnestly hope that our coaches and players learn from our embarassing display and come out with a sounder team next week against ranked Penn State.
I salute Georgia Tech. They played with poise, precision, and energy. I hope they win the ACC and contend in a BCS bowl game (perhaps even the National Championship). As for Notre Dame, they are still my team - and I will proudly display my support by wearing a ND T-shirt today. Though disappointed, I look forward to next week.
