Irish Narrowly Escape Yellowjackets, 14-10

Saturday night was a tense one for Notre Dame fans around the country. The Irish came into Bobby Dodd Stadium ranked #2. Georgia Tech came into this game expecting to win and pull off an upset, as you could see by the energy the whole team had. The stingy Georgia Tech run defense blitzed all night, performing stunts all around, pressuring top Heisman Trophy candidate Brady Quinn for most of the first half. The Notre Dame offense stalled for most of the first quarter, resulting in three punts. Georgia Tech was pressuring inside Notre Dame's five yard line when Georgia Tech quarterback Reggie Ball dropped back a few steps and threw a jump ball to stud wide receiver Calvin Johnson. With a 6-inch height difference between him and Notre Dame cornerback Mike Richardson, Johnson easily nabbed the ball for a touchdown. After two Notre Dame drives in the second quarter, Notre Dame lined up on Georgia Tech's 5-yard line with sixteen seconds to go in the first half. With an empty backfield, Quinn took the snap, dropped back, and ran the ball in for a touchdown. It was a perfectly executed draw play that caught the whole Georgia Tech defense off guard. The Irish trailed 7-10 at halftime.

The whole second half was an entirely different atmosphere. The crowd was not into the game as much. The whole Georgia Tech team was fatigued. The Notre Dame offense was finally back on track. The Notre Dame offensive line was blocking the blitz, Darius Walker was getting yards, and Brady Quinn was completing his throws to the receivers. After the first Notre Dame drive of the second half, Darius Walker scored on a 13-yard run, stretching his body to break the plane of the goal line with the ball. After the Irish touchdown, it remained scoreless for the remaining time of the game. The Irish defense stepped up and held the Georgia Tech offense to 52 total yards, and allowing them to score no points. After Georgia Tech punted on 4th down late in the 4th quarter, Notre Dame has it's final drive as the Irish celebrated their 14-10 victory over the Yellowjackets.

Grades:
Offense:
Quarterback: Brady Quinn had a good night, not great. He had some trouble in the first half handling all of the pressure from the Georgia Tech defense, but came up with a rushing touchdown in the final seconds of the first half. He finally calmed down and led Notre Dame down the field in the second half, which led to a Darius Walker touchdown. He finished 23-38, with 246 passing yards, and one rushing touchdown.
Overall Grade: B

Running Backs: Darius Walker had a great night with 104 rushing yards, one rushing touchdown, and 18 receiving yards. Walker scored on a 13-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. Travis Thomas also got some time at runningback, rushing for 19 yards. Asaph Schwapp had a great night himself as a fullback, rushing three times for 13 yards, while blocking for the other runningbacks and Quinn.
Overall Grade: B+

Receivers: Rhema McKnight was making some impact on his first start since last year against Michigan, getting eight receptions for 108 yards, including a long reception on a 44 yard pass. He almost came down with a spectacular diving, one-handed grab, but it was ruled incomplete after an official review. Samardzija did not do so well, though, getting only six receptions for 74 yards. Him and McKnight were being thrown to a lot on little receiver bubble screens, which did work well, except for one that got called back on a completely horrible call in which Rhema McKnight was called for holding, which was clearly NOT A HOLD. New starter John Carlson at tight end showed his ability to catch, with four receptions, 36 yards, and a long of 14 yards. He showed great hands on a pass that was tipped by him, then tipped by his defender, and caught it on the ground. The only question is will he be a consistent blocker?
Overall Grade: B+

Offensive Line: The offensive line had some trouble in the first half picking up Georgia Tech's heavy blitzing and handling the crowd noise of Bobby Dodd Stadium, but regrouped and played well for the rest of the game. True freshman Sam Young had some early troubles also, making some small mistakes any other freshman would in his first game as a starter. Ryan Harris had a huge pancake block later in the game, and the rest of the line was great.
Overall Grade: B-

Defense:
Defensive Line: The defensive line had an average night, getting a tackle here and there, but did not bring much pressure. Still, Abiamiri and the line should have a great season bringing pressure on opposing quarterbacks and runningbacks.
Overall Grade: C

Linebackers: Travis Thomas had a decent night for his first game starting at linebacker, tallying four tackles, two of them for losses. We got whipped on Georgia Tech's rush offense, though, allowing 146 yards from them. Reggie Ball whooped us, gaining 75 yards, more than the runningback. Some of that yardage came from big third down plays. If we want to get the ball back in games against mobile quarterbacks like Reggie Ball, our defensive line and linebackers will need to step it up and stop them from getting big runs, especially on third down.
Overall Grade: C

Secondary: If you watched this game and the Fiesta Bowl, you wil see there is a huge difference in the secondaries. You might even not know that the secondary from the Georgia Tech game was Notre Dame's secondary. Remember the air raids that Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith gave us in the Fiesta Bowl? Not the case this time versus Georgia Tech. This secondary has greatly changed. We know this because this new and improved secondary held Georgia Tech to only 140 total passing yards. Those numbers are foreign compared to the 342 passing yards given up by the secondary in the Fiesta Bowl. Although there was a long 45-yard completion to Calvin Johnson and a 4-yard touchdown to Calvin Johnson on a jump-ball drill, the secondary played great. This is step #1 to our national champinoship run.
Overall Grade: A

Special Teams:
Kickoffs: Bobby Renkes was solid on kickoffs, averaging 64.7 yards on three kicks, and had one touchback.
Overall Grade: A

Field Goals: Carl Gioia: 0/2, missed from 42 yards and 36 yards. Either Gioia needs to fix his inconsistency NOW, or we will need to start a new field goal/PAT kicker. Coach Weis: "Carl, you've missed two field goals. You're going to make the next one."
Overall Grade: F

Punting: Geoff Price had a terrific night for his first career start at punter, finishing with 252 yards punting, averaging 50.4 per punt, and a long of 61 yards, on five punts. He also had one punt inside the 20 yard line. A great start for our new punter, who has a booming leg and great accuracy.
Overall Grade: A+

Returns: We had a pretty good returning game, especially on kickoff returns, considering we only returned two kickoffs. David Grimes returned one kickoff for 46 yards, while freshman George West returned one kickoff for 33 yards. Georgia Tech punted away from Tom Zbikowski for most of the game, but he did manage to get 30 yards with a long of 17 yards.
Overall Grade: A-

Final Analysis:
The offense had trouble advancing the ball in the first half, until the final few minutes. Partly this is because of all of the pressure of the blitzing Georgia Tech defense, pressuring Brady Quinn. The defense was very much improved, holding Georgia Tech to 259 total offensive yards. They contained Georgia Tech standout receiver Calvin Johnson well, holding him to 111 yards and one touchdown. Darius Walker had a great night, rushing for 104 yards and one touchdown, and receiving for 18 yards. Rhema McKnight was back in action, catching eight passes for 108 yards. Brady Quinn finished 23-38, 246 passing yards, and one rushing touchdown.

The special teams played superbly. Geoff Price had a huge night, starting for the first time at punter. He punted for 252 yards, averaging 50.4 yards per punt, and a booming 61-yard punt. The kickoff return team was great, also, with David Grimes returning one kick for 46 yards, and speedy freshman George West returning one kick for 33 yards. Tom Zbikowski finished with 30 punt return yards. Bobby Renkes was solid at kickoffs for the Irish, averaging 64.7 yards per kickoff on three kicks.

Now, the bad part. Carl Gioia. Gioia missed two field goals, one from 42 yards and another from 36 yards. This is pretty bad, considering our high school's kicker easily made a 31-yarder and Nick Folk of the University of Arizona nailed a 48-yard field goal with the wind against him, to win the game 16-13 against BYU. If Gioia does not improve right now, and fix his inconsistencies, Coach Weis may be forced to either go for it on 4th downs outside the 20, or put in freshman Ryan Burkhart or senior Bobby Renkes. Nice win, Irish!!!