Irish to face tough Georgia Tech in opener

By David Murray on July 14, 2006 12:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (9) | RSS

 

The Fighting Irish of Notre Dame open the 2006 season against an extremely tough Georgia Tech team on the road. In the quest for their first national title since 1988--and many say that this is the year when the long championship dry spell will finally come to an end--the Fighting Irish must guard against taking the Yellow Jackets too lightly, or looking beyond to later games against Penn State, Michigan State, MIchigan, UCLA and USC.

 

On September 2, the Irish will travel to Atlanta's Bobby Dodd Stadium to play the Yellow Jackets in an 8:00 p.m. nationally-televised contest. Georgia Tech is coming off of a 7-4 record and big wins over Auburn and Miami in 2005. The 14-10 victory over Miami came on the road, and came at a time when the powerful Hurricanes were ranked No. 3 in the land.

 

In the process, the Yellow Jackets recorded their ninth straight winning season, and also made their ninth straight

bowl apearence.

 

Georgia Tech is coached by former Miami Dolphins offensive coordinator and former Dallas Cowboys head coach Chan Gailey, who is entering his fifth season at the helm. The Yellow Jackets also showcase a bona fide All-American in wide receiver Calvin Johnson, a 6-4 235-pound junior from Tyrone, GA whose picture has graced more than a few college football preview magazines lately.

 

GT returns fifteen starters from a year ago, when they featured one of the top defenses in the country.

The Yellow Jackets will no doubt face their sternest test of the season, however, when they are forced to contend with the Irish offense led by senior quarterback and Heisman Trophy candidate Brady Quinn. The Irish will come after the vaunted Yellow Jackets defense behind a big, experienced offensive line. They also feature 1,000-yard rusher Darius Walker, veteran wideout Rhema McKnight and an All-American wide receiver of their own in Jeff Samardzija.

 

Everybody is talking about the resurgence of Notre Dame football under head coach Charlie Weis, and their return to national prominence. There is a buzz in the air, and the excitement is building. Blue chip prospects are committing to the Irish in droves, and the future looks more than promising. But there is a once in a generation group of young student athletes at Notre Dame right now led by the remarkable Quinn, that seem poised to bring the Irish all the way back.

 

Irish fans can rest assured that Weis will have his men focused on the task at hand and ready for a possible national title quest.

 

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lets not forget about how good GTs defense is. they got a solid defense (but not in the secondary) and they got a very good DC. it'll all depend if ND can pick up the blitz or not.

not sure the irish can pick up the blitz. tech is pretty fast if they get to brady were in for along evening. go irish

Rick, I would say that would hold true for any team, not just ND. If your QB is constantly under pressure, things usually don't go well.

Our line will pick up their blitz, these are some experienced guys (our OL's) w/ great coaching that you seem to be worried about.

Not to metntion Darius is going to be even better at picking up the blitz next year and Harris is gonna shut down Brady's bling side.

Hey Kramer I read the post and got to Harris will shut down Bradys bling side. I knew it a simple typo for blind side but you really hit the nail on the head if he gets an NC ring. Bling!

Hopefully they do blitz us... Only OSU and Tennessee had any success against us on defense and that was because they did not have to Blitz.. when they did it was effective but they could pressure without it.

 

GT is not in the same league as OSU and UT.

hi jag, your right tech isn't in the same league, maybe you need to ask Maimi, , i guess there just a bunch of holigans, i ge reports that say that the irish are looking to penn state and michigan and thats what most irish fans think, ok so be it , iam just saying that we might want to consider that the irish arn't quite as good as we think, remember we lost the last two games and do i need to say more, sure we got some good players, but i guess i try to never under estimate the other team, just throwing out a little pre warning, i hope we beat the heck out of them, as i plan on trying to make that trip down to atlanta, as my reports says its going to be a barn burner. have a nice irish day and god bless. go irish.

if they blitz all the time and Walker is having some trouble then put big Chris Stewart back there as the "running back" and have him knock some tech guys on their backs.

methinks Charlie would love to see them blitz.

 

He'll screen pass them to death.

 

teams that blitzed us last year, got picked apart.

 

GT might give us a good game.

They might have a dynamite defense.

 

They won't win this game by blitzing.

period.

theres one thing the irish offence can do and thats find a way especially with wies calling out plays there not going to have to worry about sacks quinn is a great qb and hes got even better wr's and they ll be open if they bring pressure and i already know that wies will have his offence ready for the first game of the season.....and if they bring a lot of pressure we have darius and thomas to bust through

I tried to ask Miami right after the Peach bowl but they were a little preoccupied firing coaches... Miami was not exactly an offensive powerhouse last year, their offense finished 73rd in the country.

 

I saw the entire GT Auburn game and I am safe in saying it was Auburn that lost the game not GT that won it. I also saw the Virginia Tech game, I think that ended up 51-7. Most telling though was the 381 yards of passing and 38 points they gave up to Utah in the Emerald Bowl.

 

GT ended up with a very respectable 22nd overall defense last year, OSU was 5th in the nation and Tennessee was 6th. Geargia Tech returns five starters on defense and only one DB. ND returns nine starters on one of the best offenses in the country.

 

All that said, I think GT might be the toughest game other than USC this year. It will not be GT defense that beats us... It will be the combination of Ball/Johnson being hot on offense as well as our team coming out and folding under the pressure of the preseason hype.

Well said Jag: What's got me is I can tell just from DD here ND Fans are looking past GT at other games. There are so many automatic wins listed I get nervous. It doesn't help when anyone say Charlie will have the team ready. I look at the other side of the coin and GT Fans are almost solidly in this as THE GAME and they kind of don't give a darn about the other 11 yet. That's exactly where I would wish ND to be. Looking at this GT as THE game and let the others come later.

 

I can't say what the coaches are doing only comment on the fans of Notre Dame. Oh if we rack em up 42 to zip I will be very happy but I don't think that's a gonna happen. Their media says they are preparing and ready. Ours? Not a word about it, if we are ready it's only fans talk.

Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2006 10:16 am Post subject:

 

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I tried to ask Miami right after the Peach bowl but they were a little preoccupied firing coaches... Miami was not exactly an offensive powerhouse last year, their offense finished 73rd in the country.

Couldnt of said it any better myself GREAT POINTS NDLAW

All that said, I think GT might be the toughest game other than USC this year. It will not be GT defense that beats us... It will be the combination of Ball/Johnson being hot on offense as well as our team coming out and folding under the pressure of the preseason hype. go irish