Here's my "dig" on Notre Dame and you can take it for what it's worth:
What ND did last year with their season was "good" but not "great." Why would I say that about a team that went 9-3? Look at who they beat:
Pitt went 5-6 for year.
Michigan went 7-5 for year and was ND's only "quality" win.
They got beat by MSU.
They beat Washington who went 2-9 for year.
They beat Purdue who went 5-6 for year.
They got beat by USC, but kept it close at home.
They beat BYU who went 6-6.
They beat Tennessee who went 5-6.
They beat Navy who went 8-4 but was never in ND's league.
They beat Syracuse who went 1-10.
They beat Stanford who went 5-6.
They got beat by a much better Ohio State team in Fiesta Bowl.
What does this show? That ND didn't really beat too many real good teams. It turned out to be an easy schedule. Now, they come in to this season highly touted as National Contenders with a defense that gave up over 24 ppg last year!
They played well against GT and GT has probably the best defensive coordinator in college football. He had a great game plan drawn up against ND offense. He also had the time to get a good game plan drawn up where many schools this season will not. BUT, can anyone on here say they have ever been impressed with GT's offense? Not I.
They will play a Penn State team that showed last week that they will be solid on defense again. Morelli is a Jr and he got his cherry popped last weekend. He looked smooth and unrattled. Will ND's defense put any pressure on him? Not likely. PSU is better than 80% of the competition ND saw last year. I know this is being played at ND, but I have PSU +9.5 and feel very good about having that point spread with a team that stands a good chance of winning SU!
Good luck on your other games, Big Al. I guess this means we will not be having a joint write-up on PSU/ND game, huh?