Instant Reaction to Notre Dame's First Step Towards a National Championship

The Notre Dame-Georgia Tech game just ended and whew, Notre Dame survived 14-10. Here are my 8 rapid fire reactions to the game. Why 8? Because I could only think of 8.

1. Bob Davie is INTOLERABLE to listen to!
2. Charlie Weis has HUGE balls! I don't know too many coaches who will run a quarterback draw with 16 seconds left in the half or go for it on 4 and 1, up 4 at midfield with a minute left in the game.
3. Chan Gailey, I think, is missing testicles. Georgia Tech lost this game in the third quarter when they had a fourth and one around midfield and they decided to punt. You ain't going to upset the number two team in the country with conservative playing calling like that.
   
4. Carl Goia, thanks for playing, now please go find a seat on the bench. I can't imagine Ryan Burkhart could be much worse. Today's game reaffirmed one of my fears of the season which is that the kicking game could keep Notre Dame playing for a national championship.
5. Darius Walker, thank you for saving us from an embarrassing opening game loss and eight hundred Sportscenter bits on whether Notre Dame is overrated. He was without question the player of the game.
6. Notre Dame was uncharacteristically sloppy today. 11 penalties, a few of which cost Notre Dame big plays. Notre Dame might be able to get away with slop like this against Georgia Tech, but they commit 11 penalties against Michigan or USC, Notre Dame will lose. I'm sure Charlie Weis will be dealing with this penalty issue at practice all this week.
7. Brady Quinn looked a little shaky at times, as he missed some open receivers and made a few awful throws. Luckily, none of those awful throws ended up in Georgia Tech's hands. It seems to me, based on the success that Ohio State and now Georgia Tech has had in making Quinn uncomfortable, Notre Dame is going to see more teams bring the house in order to slow down Brady Quinn and the Notre Dame offense.
8. Last but not least, let me give some praise to the defense. The defense has been maligned for the past eight months now and they came out and played a very solid game, holding Georgia Tech to only 258 yards of total offense. They contained Calvin Johnson and Reggie Ball. They held Tashard Choice to 55 yards rushing. They put pressure on Reggie Ball. I'm little concerned about the tackling and the linebackers' ability to take on blocks, but hopefully those will be issues that will work themselves out as the season roles on.