Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs. Georgia Tech Yellowjackets Preview and Pick

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish, ranked in the Top 4 in almost every pre-season poll, begin their pursuit of another national championship when they visit the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the 2006 season opener for both teams Saturday night at Bobby Dowd Stadium in Atlanta.

The question all off-season concerning Notre Dame has been, of course, their defense; the Irish ranked 75th in Division 1 last season by allowing 397 yards per game. USC exposed that weakness in that epic Trojans win during the regular season, and Ohio State racked up 617 (!) yards of offense in their Fiesta Bowl victory over the Irish.

But nine starters return on that side of the ball for Notre Dame (four on the line), and in its second season under defensive coordinator Rick Minter, should be better. But that wouldn’t exactly take a whole lot.

The Irish offense, on the other hand, is a different story. With seven starters back from last season, including Heisman favorite QB Brady Quinn (65% passing, 32/7 TD/INT last year, 33 career starts), WR Jeff Samardzija (77 catches, 1,249 yards and 15 TDs last year), RB Darius Walker (1,274 yards and a 4.7 yards per carry average) and four on the line, Notre Dame will move the ball like few others.

Across the way, Georgia Tech has had success in recent seasons playing the role of the underdog. The Yellow Jackets beat both Auburn and Miami outright last year as dogs, upping their straight up record to 8-11 over the last three seasons when getting points. Which is pretty good.

GT, in its fifth season under head coach Chan Gailey, went 5-3 in the ACC last season, and made it to a bowl game for the ninth straight year. Unfortunately, they looked like a Wreck in a 38-10 loss to Utah (as nine-point favorites) in the Emerald Bowl.

This season, Georgia Tech returns nine starters on offense, including four on the line and WR Calvin Johnson. But returning QB Reggie Ball, who’s made 36 starts for the ‘Jackets, needs to improve on his accuracy; he owns a career 50% completion rate and a 37/41 TD/INT ratio.

The Tech defense returns just five starters from a unit that ranked 22nd in Division 1 last year by allowing just 317 yards per game.

Notre Dame began the Charlie Weis era last season by beating two ranked teams (at the time), Pittsburgh and Michigan, both on the road. For the season, the Irish were a perfect 5-0 straight up away from home (excluding the Fiesta Bowl), and 4-1 against the spread.

G Tech went 4-2 SU at home last year, and in the only game in which they were a home underdog, lost to Georgia 14-7 getting four points.

These two teams haven’t hooked up since the 1999 Gator Bowl, when the Wreck beat the Golden Domers 35-28.

Notre Dame opened up as eight-point chalk for Saturday’s game, but that number had been bet down to 6 ½ at most sportsbooks by Friday evening. However, as game time approaches on Saturday, expect public money on the Irish to bump that line back up near where it started out.