Things Looking Up

Much has been made of Notre Dame's poor performance against Georgia Tech on Saturday, but was it really that poor?

The Irish fell behind early, which helped to stir up criticism. Hypothetically speaking, let's reverse the order in which the teams scored. If ND had scored the first two touchdowns, they would have led 14-0. Even with Georgia Tech's ten points, the media would be saying that Notre Dame led throughout, although Georgia Tech tried to come back. Instead, Notre Dame won by the exact same score, but the media pundits are saying that Notre Dame is overrated because they trailed for the entire first half.

Personally, I feel better about Notre Dame because they trailed during the first half. Notre Dame played a solid opponent in their home stadium. Predictably, Georgia Tech played very well early with their home crowd, no doubt excited about playing the number 2 ranked team, behind them. Notre Dame weathered the storm and came from behind to win in a tough environment. That is much more impressive that jumping out to an early lead would have been if it resulted in letting the opponent close to within 4 points. Yet, as I stated, the media would not have criticized Notre Dame as much under that scenario because they would not have trailed in the ball game.

The problem that I have is that the sportswriters and television talking heads who critized Notre Dame after this game will not hold other teams to the same standard. When ND wins by 4 against an above average BCS opponent on the road, we are told that the Irish are overrated. When Ohio State or Michigan play a close game at Madison, Wisconsin or West Lafayette, Indiana, they do not say the same thing. Are not Wisconsin and Purdue typically 7 to 8 win football teams? This is clear double standard.

Some might argue that it is best to just ignore these so called "experts." However, there is one huge problem with this. These are the same people that vote in the polls that decide the participants in the BCS national championship game. Someone in the mainstream media needs to call them out and expose them for the frauds they are. If ND is overrated for narrowly winning on the road against a team that has been to nine consecutive bowl games, then every team in the country will prove themselves to be overrated by teh time this season is over.