Here comes the rub of playing ND

quote:

---

We gonna have to earn respect each and every week. Hope this team is up for the challenge.

---

Good. No reason we should even think about getting complacent after beating a team who went 4-8 last year (even if they're obviously better than that this year).

Take every game seriously, demand respect, play with a chip on your shoulder and the "nobody believes in us" card.

quote:

---

Gonna be interesting to see what quality of team we beat as the season unfolds. I think they're gonna be a pretty good team, personally.

---

Geez,if I read one more post from the Rant talking about how "overrated" they were.

It's not like they were ranked in the top 10.They were
ranked freakin 24th and I certainly think there's enough talent and coaching to win 9 games and finish in the top 25 and they're not gonna play a better defense
the rest of the season.

quote:

---

We gonna have to earn respect each and every week. Hope this team is up for the challenge.

---

So, this year is the same as the others. UGA never gets respect. We lose a game and we drop like a stone.

quote:

---

So, this year is the same as the others. UGA never gets respect. We lose a game and we drop like a stone.

---

We moved up in the rankings probably an appropriate amount for playing a team that was just inside of the top 25, but largely based on potential. They *were* 4-8 last season, so until ND shows that they actually have the ability to do more than play good teams tight, it's not terribly surprising that the perception is that the win may be less valuable.

Ultimately, it's probably for the best. At the time of the game, it was viewed as a big game, but we need all of the games left on the schedule to feel big to our guys... Our schedule kind of stacks up that way where we don't appear to face an "elite" team, but it's one of ESPN's top SOS because of the consistency from week to week of not playing many true cellar dwellers and instead playing a lot of teams that are at a minimum good enough to win if everything goes right (Miss St, UT, SC, FL, AU... Looks like Mizzou and UK maybe a little less so. Unsure on Vandy right now but clearly not a gimme after last season).

Winning will fix this and losing will reinforce it... not much we can do.

quote:

---

Notre Dame will go 9-3 and look really good by year end.

---

Maybe. Time will tell.

quote:

---

I think they beat USC to be honest.

---

Probably depends on a few things. It's certainly possible, but pretty sure they wouldn't be favorites if the game was played this week. Who knows by the end of the season, but wouldn't count them out.

quote:

---

That was a good team we beat, at night, at their stadium.

---

I agree with this. It was a "good" team. Their defense came up in big spots. They've got very talented WRs that we kept in check, we neutralized their running game, and gave their all-world OL fits... we came in with a good game plan and executed on it pretty well. If we'd played cleaner and maybe gotten a few less ticky tack penalties called along the way, the game may have been out of reach for ND at the end, rather than a 1 point victory. If I look at it through the lens of last year, I'd say it was one of those games where we were much closer to running away with the thing than we were to getting our doors blown off. I'd call that improvement. The great thing is the team is showing that we can win without playing at our best... Going to have to improve every week though given our schedule. The rest of the season is going to have tough away games that we won't have the same luxury we had with the traveling contingency in South Bend.

quote:

---

Richt loses that game every time.

---

I'll admit I have heaped a ton of (well-earned) criticism on Mark Richt over the years (though I still think that to this point, he's the best coach we've ever had... he simply had run his course here and it was time for something different) - but this is entirely unnecessary. Richt had plenty of big wins in his career at UGA. This is simply revisionist history based primarily on his last few years. *Every* coach loses games that they shouldn't. *Every* coach loses close games at times. Would you pass on Saban because he lost a one possession game against Clemson last year? Or because he once let his team lose to a directional Louisiana school?

FWIW, here is ND's schedule coming up along with current S&P+ rankings/margins of those schools:

@Boston College (#74 -2.1)
@Michigan St (#37 6.7)
Miami (OH) (#89 -5.3)
@UNC (#44 5.5)
USC (#7 21.1)

Compared to ND's #18 ranking and 14.6 margin.

If you're unfamiliar with S&P+, essentially take the higher rated school and compare to the lower rated school and the margin difference is the amount that they should theoretically win by. It of course has flaws (see: UGA @ 20 compared to ND at 18, but we did just win a 1 point game in which they had opportunities to score at the end... I can give that a "margin of error" pass) but it's a good way of just evaluating the likelihood of wins over the coming weeks. (It's currently 62% against the spread this season... even better when strictly evaluating win/loss).

ND should be roughly an 8 point favorite or better in all games prior to USC. Doesn't mean they can't lose those games, but certainly should be favored even with games on the road.


On somewhat of a tangent... looking at the updated S&P+ does a great job of pointing out the strength of UGA's remaining schedule. Excluding Samford, every team left on our schedule is currently in the top 50 except Kentucky (they're just outside at 53, 2 spots ahead of App State) with UT, Miss St, Florida and Auburn all still inside the top 25. We'll have plenty of chances to prove ourselves this season... And if you're worried about what people on the Rant say, you've already lost the battle. I've not really heard knowledgeable people discounting UGA's win over ND.

quote:

---

So, this year is the same as the others. UGA never gets respect. We lose a game and we drop like a stone.

---

Unfortunately, we have built up a reputation (fairly or not) as something of a choke artist - a string of faceplants in big, nationally televised games will do that. Until we shed that image, respect will only be given grudgingly, if at all.