Georgia Tech Thoughts & Penn State Prediction
by Randy W. Hall

Although it’s tempting, I can’t believe how much Notre Dame critics (yeah I’m talking about you Matt Hayes of The Sporting News)) are making about one game. Hey everybody, this was the first game of the season and these guys were all getting used to game speed. The Irish won the game for crissakes! Granted I thought it would be much easier to win the game given the talent differential I estimated before the game. However those Georgia Tech fans were fired up and that defense was tremendous for Georgia Tech, particularly earlier in the game.

Also, I do believe the 14 points scored by the Irish are somewhat misleading. They missed two field goals, they played ball-control the majority of the second half to wear down the Tech defense and the offense continually shot themselves in the foot either because of how loud it was, concentration lapses, frustration or a combination of them. I fully expect this team to have a much better outing in the next few weeks at home as the crowd will be rooting for them. I expect the game day atmosphere to be electric.

As for the defense, they had some issues, but they bore down and got the job done. They made Tech’s offense one-dimensional after the half and made Reggie Ball have to make plays (which he didn’t for the most part). Granted the linebacking unit looked pedestrian at best (particularly Mitchell Thomas and Anthony Vernaglia at Sam), I was heartened that the D did what it needed to do and held this team down. I don’t think anyone is expecting a dominant crew on defense. But if they can perform well consistently it just might be enough to win every game. We also have play-makers and two freshman looked great on Saturday night (Darrin Walls and Morrice Richardson take your bows please). Toryan Smith, I bet, isn’t far behind playing meaningful minutes.

While the game was subpar performance overall, you have to take a season-opening win on the road against a quality opponent (I know Cal would gladly trade results with the Irish). Also I subscribe to the theory that a team improves the most from Week One to Week Two.

Which brings us to my Penn St. prediction. I expect a tough game, especially early. Penn St. played Akron and looked mostly unimpressive in a sloppy 35-18 victory, yet Anthony Morelli still had three TD tosses. I think Penn State is going to be far more fired up to play the Irish for the first time since 1992 in the famous Snow Bowl game. I fully expect the linebackers for Penn State in particular to be active and looking to blow up the Irish offensive designs. Paul Posluzney would love nothing more than to show Notre Dame they should’ve recruited him. Dan Conner is also no slouch.

As for offense Penn St. is much more dangerous and diverse than what Georgia Tech threw at them last week. The fact that this is Morelli’s first road start will be a factor, but he does have three dangerous receivers to throw to will help him overcome the jitters. The most explosive is super-soph Derrick Williams. Williams is the kind of guy Rick Minter will have to keep tabs on every play and make sure he doesn’t break any huge plays. Backing him up are two other sophomore studs Deon Butler and Jordan Norwood. While not as dangerous, both of them are above-average, solid receivers. The running game looked thoroughly uninspiring versus Akron (averaging 2.8 yard a carry), however Tony Hunt is a returning 1,000 yard rusher. He’s a three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust type who won’t burn you for a long run, but he is solid and has to be accounted for. I don’t see him having a great day against Notre Dame, but you can’t completely disregard him either. After Hunt the running game is totally nondescript.

I expect this game to come down to a mistake or two. I see it being close throughout with ND scoring a late TD to take it home. And I also think Carl Goia will actually make a field goal: Notre Dame 31 Penn State 20