Well, in a pretty bizarre game, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish defeated the Boise State Broncos in the first ever game between these two schools. What was an uneventful score of 28-7 was not indicative
of how weird a lot of the proceedings ended up being. It was a ref show of epic proportions, an incredibly sloppy start to the game, and it was like a record high temperature for an October home game. Let’s dig into some overreactions that might just be reactions this week considering all that occurred.
Overreactions to ND vs. BSU
By now, you know I’m not afraid to call myself out. Here, in the pregame interview, Coach Freeman said this exact quote. Kinda like the “Violence” quote before the Army game last year. It was awesome. Then, during the first half and the Irish lost the lead, I tweeted this because I had visions of NIU still dancing in my head. Luckily, things calmed down but my goodness you have to back up these quotes.
Don’t know if this was in reference to the team playing at the end of the game or to the fans in general, but I want to unpack the sentiment. From a fan perspective, I think with how wonky the game was, 28-7 was pretty good considering all overreactions from the past came from the defensive struggles. Boise State might not be world beaters, but the Irish held a team to only 7 points – a great step in the right direction. Plus, I thought Boise St. went conservative in the second half, playing like they almost knew they weren’t going to win, so just getting out of there without a blowout.
Alert: NOT an overreaction.
The officiating was unfathomable. And I’m saying that with the notion that they hosed Boise State the exact same way they did with ND. The amount of flags, missed spots, calls, and just general tomfoolery was INSANE. That crew should never officiate an ACC game again, and the conference needs to step in on this. Maybe this commentary is the overreaction, but I really think not. I understand calling penalties when they are warranted, but not the way the game was officiated on Saturday. It was brutal and hurt the game/sport.
