Notre Dame starting to feel hate from non-Domers

ATLANTA -- For the record, it was a bottle of Dasani. No, Aquafina. Maybe.

Definitely something wet and plastic fell at the feet of Big Ten referee Don Capron Saturday night at Bobby Dodd Stadium.

Are the expectations for Brady Quinn too high? (AP)

It might as well have been aimed at you, Notre Dame Nation. They hate you. They really, really hate you.

Georgia Tech linebacker Philip Wheeler had just stuck Brady Quinn in the earhole at the Yellow Jackets' 15 yard line in the third quarter. A classic helmet-to-helmet blow that is a no-no from here to Mishawaka.

That's not the way Wheeler and the crowd saw it, though. That's not even the way Charlie Weis saw it.

"To me, on the replay, it looked like a clean play," he said.

The penalty kept alive a drive that ended in the game-winning touchdown. A near TKO of Quinn followed by a Notre Dame knockout.

The protesters might have interpreted the flag as being for a hit out of bounds. Quinn was in bounds but when there is that much pent up emotion, someone is going to pay.

Capron almost did. The bottle thrown from the crowd of 57,000 bounced at his feet. It was one of three hurled from the stands in the second half. Call it the duck! of the Irish.

It's clear that Notre Dame is just beginning to feel the hate. With all the possibilities ahead, the sides are lining up against each other in classic battle stance again. There are the diehard Domers and there is Everyone Else.

We're talking everyone from bottle-throwing yahoos to college coordinators who have had a year now to dissect Charlie Weis' play calling.

They are closing in around Notre Dame and it's not even Labor Day. That leads us to a simple conclusion. This year ain't gonna be easy. Our point was made for us at 7:12 p.m. ET when Notre Dame took the field to warm up.

The first chants of "over-rated."