Here come the Irish, sort of

 Touchdown Jesus, he loves him some Jack Coan. Lou and Ara and Rockne and  Father Corby, all the statuary standing watch over Notre Dame Stadium, they love them some Jack Coan, too.

Jack Coan saved them from Toledo, after all.

He threw and Michael Mayer caught and Notre Dame scraped past the Rockets, 32-29, in a not particularly lore-ful home opener for the No. 8 Irish. Oh, one supposes the Domers will make some lore of the ending; Coan dislocated a finger on his throwing hand, had a trainer pop it back into place and then threw the winning 18-yard score to Mayer with 1:09 to play. But that the Notre Dames needed some lore to beat Toledo is surely not what everyone in attendance was expecting.

Of course, the Blob could point out, as a proud graduate of a fellow MAC school, that sleeping on MAC schools is never a stellar idea in the fall. An abundance of historical examples exist to support this.

Nonetheless, Notre Dame slept (OK: dozed), and Toledo did what MAC schools frequently do, which is hang around in annoying fashion. And meanwhile, down in Florida, a non-MAC school also hung around, until a gentleman named Zerrick Cooper out-Coaned Coan and threw a 59-yard touchdown pass to a gentleman named Damond Philyaw-Johnson as time expired.

Because that happened, Jacksonville State, an FCS school, shocked Florida State 20-17. It was the first time Florida State had lost to a non-major opponent in 60 years.

It also makes one wonder, or should, just what sort of team Notre Dame is trotting out there this year. 

See, the Irish needed overtime to beat this same Florida State team last week, 41-38. Now they come home and barely survive Toledo. So they're unbeaten but sorely tried by a team that lost to an FCS school, and a team from the MAC.

The Irish gave up 29 points to the latter. They gave up 21 points more than Jacksonville State did to the former. Which suggests they have some issues on defense.

Does this actually mean they have issues on defense?

Beats me.

Does it mean old rival Purdue is going to come into Notre Dame Stadium next week and give the Irish fits, the way the Purdues occasionally do?

Maybe.

Possibly.

OK, probably not.

No, what will probably happen is Notre Dame will beat Purdue eleventy-hundred to 12 and everyone will say the Irish are back, baby, and the previous two weeks were just a big foolie from the football gods.

Then they'll go out there and lose to Wisconsin or Cincinnati or, hell, maybe even Navy, and people will be back to saying "Yah, I knew they weren't very good this year."

But, hey, it was an upset/close call Saturday all around yesterday, which is exactly the kind of Saturday that makes college football great. Jacksonville State beat Florida State. Oregon whipped No. 3 Ohio State in the 'Shoe. No. 5 Texas A&M needed a score in the last three minutes to escape unranked Colorado; Stanford swatted No. 14 USC by 14 in the Coliseum; unranked Arkansas crushed No. 15 Texas 40-21 in Fayetteville.

So, I don't know. Maybe the Irish were just honoring the theme of the day.

The statuary devoutly hopes.