About a month ago, I thought this would be one of CW's most important games for a two reasons: 1) There would be no "sneaking up" on anyone this year. 2) The season expectations are unreasonable high. In my judment, the outcome of this game would go a long way in the team's and public perception of the state of ND football. The outcome really couldn't have been better. Having said that, let me be the first to say it--ND is not the (at this time) the #2 team in the country. They might be a top 10 team//certainly a top 15 team. Maybe later--but not yet--but I digress. ND went into a very hostile environment--went down by 10, and came back to win. Say whatever you want--but they played--what I believe--is a very good team in GT (fortunately for us, GT has a Davie/Ty clone for a coach). In my view--GT has any number of players who are every bit as athletic as ND--in some cases more athletic. This game said more about the coaching staff than the players: mid 1st half adjustments--aggresive play calling, and no excuses. ND will go as far as this coaching staff can take them---and I would think that is a fairly far. I found it interesting visiting the GT board--they see this loss the result of the officials and I remember too many times in the past when we (ND fams) blamed officials when we lost--bad calls/good calls are all part of the game (but God are Big 10 officials bad!!!) As I said last year--get ND in the next 2/3 years (now the next 2 years) y because after that it will be very difficult--To a large degree its the coaching staff, but it's also a revised view of the importance of FB on the part of the Admin (post Monk). Stephen
The box score shows that the officials called 11 penalties on ND and 5 on Ga. Tech. The penalties against ND often resulted in drive-killing yards. Tech hit Quinn over and over again after he'd thrown the ball. He took every legal hit and a few cheap shots. They were dirty, and they paid the price. Screw 'em.
nd/gt <t>Gipper you are 100% correct. GT got all the breaks in this game and still lost. Next up, Penn St.!</t>
Ga.Tech fans are claiming the B10 refs stole the game from them. They claim the hit on Brady was clean. Somebody over on NDNation had screen captures of the hit, the Tech LB was clearly leading with his helmet. They also screamed that Ball was the victim of the same thing but not called, it was on a sack and Victor dove over him, hardly a helmet to helmet contact and it was clear that he was trying to dive overhim. Any doubt looking at this??
the problem is <t>most Tech fans at the game thought it was a late hit, not a helmet to helmet hit. The few Tech fans in my section were screaming about him being inbounds on the replay, but once I told them it was helmet to helmet and not late, they calmed down a bit.<br/> <br/> The officials in this game just sucked. ND was called, mostly justifiable, for everything. However, the same couldn't be said for Tech. The few Tech fans in our section were A-holes with the exception of a precious 3, and those 3 knew that they were getting the calls going their way.<br/> <br/> I'd venture to say that freshman angst and that officiating crew, had as much to do with stopping ND's offense in the 1st half (if not more) than John Tenuta's defensive scheme.<br/> <br/> Most people seem to overlook the fact that if ND makes two chip FGs and/or Quinn doesn't overthrow a wide open WR on about 6 occassions, this game is at least a 10 point walk in the park.<br/> <br/> at least.<br/> <br/> i'll post more later</t>