Rebuttal

 I suppose Notre Dame football coach  Marcus Freeman could have planned it this way, in retrospect. Drawn up a blueprint. Submitted it to the troops. Told them, in so many words: "Boys, it's time we boarded up a few mouths out there."

And then Notre Dame 70, Syracuse 7 happened. 

And the mouths, if not silenced (because you can't really board 'em up), were at least reduced to a little "Bu-bu-bu-but ..." blubbering.

Just the way Freeman sketched it out.

But ... nah.

I think Notre Dame 70, Syracuse 7 happened not according to some grand plan to answer its usual Greek chorus of critics, but because the circumstances presented themselves. Syracuse came to South Bend a crippled football team, and the Orange weren't very good to begin with. And stuff happened.

Like a pick-six, a blocked punt return six, and another pick-six 11 plays into the game.

Like Jeremiyah Love busting 45 yards to Six City on Notre Dame's second offensive play.

Like a 35-0 Irish lead after a quarter, and a 49-0 lead at the half.

Like, yes, a 70-7 final that came within seven seconds of being a 70-0 shutout, the Irish D having squashed the Orange run game (2.2 yards per rush), and also its passing game (3.2 yards per pass), and turned three turnovers and that blocked punt into 21 points before the Notre Dame O ever stepped on the field.

Stuff happens. And, again, I suppose Freeman could have planned all this as a big ol' Up Yours rebuttal to the critics, but I suspect he wastes a miniscule amount of energy -- like, say, zero -- fretting over what a bunch of yammerheads on the interwhatsis have to say.

They've been pounding away with increasing indignation the past few weeks, as Notre Dame's win streak went from three games to four to seven to nine. The Irish were unbeaten and untried in those games, the narrative has gone. Being an independent (kinda-sorta) gives them a huge advantage because they don't have to play a conference championship game. They're only ranked ahead of Miami -- who beat the Irish by three way back in August, and has the same record playing a pretty identical schedule -- because they're Notre Dame.

Which means they're  a guaranteed mega-draw. Which means more money for a professional enterprise whose primary goal (as with any professional enterprise) is to stack it as high as it can. Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff?

The Irish are a friggin' ATM. And that's why the Irish are so tragically overrated.

"Yeah, they've won nine straight," the narrative goes. "But four of those Ws have come against teams with a combined record of 8-36. Eight-and-36!"

To which the Blob says: True. Pretty much all of it.

Except the flip side is, because they are indeed Notre Dame, its critics reflexively undersell the Irish on occasion. In other words, when they're actually pretty good, the inclination is to conclude  they're not.  That, you know, they're just NOTRE DAME.

It's the Blob's considered and possibly deluded opinion that that's what's going on here.

Yes, the Irish have feasted on their share of pastry, with one more eclair -- 4-7 Stanford -- still to come. But they haven't exactly scraped past those four teams with a combined record of 8-36, which you figure would happen if they were the paper tiger their critics assume.

They beat 2-9 Purdue by 26 points, for instance.

Beat 2-9 Arkansas by 43.

Beat 1-10 Boston College by 15.

And, of course, beat Syracuse by 63.

Syracuse: Whose previous worst loss of the season was by 35 to Duke, 38-3.

Now, I don't know if that means Notre Dame should be in the CFP conversation. But it's not the resume of an outright fraud, either.

Yes, they lost to Miami and Texas A&M, by a total of four points, back at the dawn of the season. Which means they're probably not as bonafide as, say, A&M or Georgia, whose bonafides have never been questioned.

A&M and Georgia.

Who, respectively, pounded 1-10 Samford and 1-10 Charlotte yesterday. Speaking of pastry.