UNDER THE DOME
a nightmare on offense with respect to mismatches and personnel. … It would be in- teresting if you gave them an extra month to prepare how that game would pan out." — ESPN college football ana- lyst Jesse Palmer on Notre Dame's chances against the SEC (ESPN Radio)
again supposed to be a real player on the national land- scape, that couldn't attract the proper athletes, that couldn't survive without the protective cuddle of a conference, isn't just in it this year. The Irish look like they're back in the discus- sion for the long haul. This isn't some miracle team or a group powered by a singular season-changing talent." — Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports
"The team that was never
ventilated. College foot- ball traditionalists, rejoice. Maybe legitimate BCS con- tenders don't need to run video-game offenses to im- press voters or fill schedules with sacrificial FCS schools looking for paydays. A team that has beaten 11 straight legitimate opponents looks capable of restoring faith in the old-fashioned football truism that defense indeed wins championships." — Da- vid Haugh, Chicago Tribune
"ESPN executives hyper-
