Gettin' better

 So remember that scene in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" where the peasant says a witch turned him into a newt?*

(*Obligatory periodic "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" reference. Because this is my Blob, and in Blob World, "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" is a masterwork of the comedic craft)

Anyway, everyone looks at the peasant who said this, because he's clearly not a newt.

"I got better," he explains.

Thought about this last night while I was watching Notre Dame's Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price run wind sprints through the Purdue defense. 

Love ran for 157 yards and two touchdowns in 19 carries. Price ran for 74 yards and three scores in just nine totes, and took a kickoff to the house for a fourth score. The Irish washed the Purdues 56-30, and as far as I know, Love and Price might still be running. Depending on which direction, I figure they're close to either Kokomo or Kalamazoo by now.

To sum up, the Irish ... got better.

There was plenty of doubt about that wafting around South Bend last week, after Texas A&M surfed through the Notre Dame defense to take down the Irish 41-40 on a last-second touchdown pass. It dropped the Irish to 0-2 to start the season, both losses coming against ranked teams by a grand total of four points.

Nonetheless, sporadic instances of people's hair catching on fire were observed. The Irish defense was trash. The defensive coaching staff was trash. Head coach Marcus Freeman ... OK, so he wasn't trash (he did, after all, coach the Irish to the national championship game last season), but remember how he lost to freakin' Northern Illinois last year?

In other words, there was a lot of grumbling. And then Purdue came to town, and the Boilermakers didn't have Bob Griese or Leroy Keyes with them this time, and they had a bulldog of a new coach (Barry Odom) still trying to imprint his bulldoggish-ness on virtually an entirely new roster. And Notre Dame ... got better.

Now, the Boilermakers didn't lay down like last year, and Ryan Browne did some decent quarterbacking for awhile there, and it was still a tight 14-10 game five minutes into the second quarter.  

But then Price busted a 21-yard jaunt for six on his first carry, and then he ran nine yards for another score, and then he returned that kickoff for another score. Purdue kept pace for awhile -- it was 35-23 at halftime -- but the Irish piled on three more scores in the third quarter, and the D shut down Purdue's workhorse Devin Mockobee (14 carries, 16 yards), and without a run game Browne and the Boiler offense were toast.

By the end of the third quarter, it was a 56-23 blowout. Purdue got one more score in garbage time, giving Domerville an opportunity to gripe some more about the defense this week (Thirty points! Thirty points to PURDUE!).  But the thing was done.

Will this launch Notre Dame on a run to 10-2, like it went 13-1 after the loss to Northern Illinois last season?

Maybe, although you might want to circle Notre Dame vs. Syracuse in late November as a potential toe-stubber.

If they make that run to 10-2, will the Irish make the CFP again?

Pretty good chance they will, it says here.

Will the Irish faithful still be grumbling about the defense if they do, albeit less loudly?

Come on. Like that's even a question.