NCAA Football FanHouse http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com NCAA Football FanHouse http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/media/feedlogo.gif NCAA Football FanHouse http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com en-us Copyright 2009 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/Clausen Practiced in Tinted Visorhttp://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/24/clausen-practicing-in-tinted-visor/http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/24/clausen-practicing-in-tinted-visor/http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/24/clausen-practicing-in-tinted-visor/#commentsFiled under:

Jimmy ClausenSOUTH BEND, Ind. -- One day after a report surfaced that Jimmy Clausen was punched by an irate fan, the Irish quarterback practiced in a tinted visor. Notre Dame is practicing in an indoor facility.

According to an unnamed university official who spoke to the Associated Press, the helmet hid a black eye.

Multiple reports Monday said Clausen was sucker punched in the early hours of Sunday morning and suffered two black eyes. FanHouse confirmed the Clausens were at the bar, C.J.'s in South Bend Saturday.

Backup Evan Sharpley also practiced in a visor. However, it was clear.

Player availability for Clausen, who earned the nickname "Darth Vader" from Charlie Weis, after the Irish coach saw the visor, and the rest of the Irish team was canceled today.

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Clausen Practiced in Tinted Visor originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:29:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>jimmy clausenJohn WaltersTue, 24 Nov 2009 17:29:00 EST Clausen Reportedly Punched by Fanhttp://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/23/clausen-reportedly-in-bar-fight/http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/23/clausen-reportedly-in-bar-fight/http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/23/clausen-reportedly-in-bar-fight/#commentsFiled under:

Jimmy ClausenSOUTH BEND, Ind -- Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen emerged from a fight outside a restaurant/bar with two black eyes in the early hours of Sunday morning, according to a report from a Chicago radio station. A bartender confirmed to FanHouse that the Clausen family was in the restaurant but said that no altercation took place on the premises.

"The Clausens were here," said the bartender, who was on duty at the time. "We were very busy and did not notice anything. It did not happen in our establishment or on our property, if it happened at all."

The bar and restaurant, C.J.'s Pub, is located about a mile south of the Notre Dame campus and is a popular postgame hangout for Notre Dame players.

David Kaplan of Chicago's WGN-AM first reported the alleged incident.

ESPN characterized the alleged fight as a "sucker punch" by an irate fan.

Clausen, who was still listed as a starter in the depth chart Monday, has not yet been made available to the media.

Notre Dame's captains -- including Clausen --will meet with the media on Wednesday.

If Clausen does not play, Evan Sharpley is expected to take his place. Sharpley has yet to throw a pass this season.

The alleged fight would be insult to injury for the Irish. Notre Dame lost its third straight game earlier in the day Saturday, falling to Connecticut in double overtime. Clausen completed 30 of 45 passes for 329 yards and two touchdowns in the loss. He also ran for a touchdown.

For the season, Clausen, a junior, has thrown for 3,382 and 23 touchdowns.

Notre Dame, 6-5, finishes its regular season Saturday against Stanford.

Clausen Reportedly Punched by Fan originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:19:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>jimmy clausenJohn WaltersMon, 23 Nov 2009 22:19:00 EST Exclusive: Charlie Weis Opens Up About His Notre Dame Experiencehttp://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/23/exclusive-charlie-weis-opens-up-about-his-notre-dame-experience/http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/23/exclusive-charlie-weis-opens-up-about-his-notre-dame-experience/http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/23/exclusive-charlie-weis-opens-up-about-his-notre-dame-experience/#commentsFiled under: , , ,


Hours after losing to Connecticut on Notre Dame's Senior Day, Fighting Irish coach Charlie Weis sat down at length with John Walters and talked to the FanHouse writer one-on-one about his experience coaching at his alma mater. The following is what transpired between coach and reporter very early Sunday morning.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The November darkness is unseasonably warm. Charlie Weis steps out of his black Yukon SUV toting two bagels and two coffees. Clad in gray Notre Dame football sweats and shower sandals, America's most renowned embattled football coach, if not employee, has brought breakfast for his first visitor of the day.

The time is 4:28 AM.

"I bet you thought I wasn't going to show up," Weis says with a rueful smile Sunday morning.

"I wouldn't have blamed you if you'd hit the 'snooze' button," the reporter says.

How could you? Only 10 hours earlier the fifth-year coach had trudged off the field at Notre Dame Stadium, perhaps for the last time as the leader of this program, following a 33-30 double-overtime defeat to Connecticut. The intervening hours have been anything but restful.

"I spent about three hours last night answering text messages from players and coaches saying they're sorry," Weis says. "I'm texting them back telling them it wasn't their fault."

Earlier in the evening, Sergio Brown stood bawling in Weis's second-floor office in the Guglielmino Athletic Complex (a.k.a., the Gug). Brown, the senior safety whose late-hit penalty in the second quarter provided the game's first tidal shift in the Huskies' favor, feels particularly responsible. Weis was having none of it

"The bottom line is, we're 6-5 and somebody is responsible," says Weis. "That somebody is me. And I have to accept responsibility."

Sometimes you just cannot outwork a problem. Notre Dame is flirting with its second .500 regular season in the past two years. And while the past three weeks have seen a litany of inexplicable player errors, from a pass being thrown into Michael Floyd's back at the goal line to Brown's late hit (the pass was already out of bounds when he launched himself into the receiver), ultimately the buck stops at the man who makes the most of them. This Saturday at Stanford, Weis will likely be coaching his alma mater for the final time.

'Irreparable Damage'

The fourth commandment ("Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy") is largely ignored during football season, but the coach of God's football team arrives at this ungodly hour every morning. This is the beginning of the daily routine. Standing at the bottom of the long stairwell, Weis grabs the left bannister. He gazes upward in the same way a teenager gazes at calculus homework.

"The damage to Maura and Charlie Jr. is irreparable ... I'll never forgive the people who character-assassinated me without even knowing me. Those people did irreparable damage to my wife and son, and I'll never forgive them."
- Charlie Weis "Sunday is the most excruciating day," Weis says, referring to the pain that he feels in both legs, "because I've been standing up at least four hours the day before. It'll start feeling better by Monday night."

The ravaged knees are the result of an accidental blindside hit Weis took during last season's Michigan game (although he has nerve damage in his lower extremities dating back to 2002, the result of a botched gastric bypass surgery). For a guy who only played high school football and who readily admits that "I wasn't very good," Weis can be as tough as any Big Ten linebacker.

On the play, a punt in the first half, Irish defensive end John Ryan was blocked into the legs of Weis, who was walking down the sideline and never saw Ryan. The blow was catastrophic, causing a tear of the ACL, MCL and PCL in Weis's left knee.

"And that isn't the knee I had to have replaced," Weis says. "One-eighth of my right knee broke off. And I didn't even miss the second half."

Of course, too many people were cracking fat jokes to care.

Weis's catastrophically impaired limbs are just one unforeseen trauma of his encore return to South Bend. During his first go-round, as a student from 1974-78, he was anonymous and single. Now the most visible and highly compensated person on campus, he has a family: his wife, Maura, son Charlie Jr., and daughter Hannah.

"The damage to Maura and Charlie Jr. is irreparable," says Weis, referring to the personal nature of the attacks he has been subject to for years now. "It's watching me get hammered. I'll never forgive the people who character-assassinated me without even knowing me. Those people did irreparable damage to my wife and son, and I'll never forgive them."

On Saturday, Maura Weis, for the first time since her husband was hired, opted not to attend a Notre Dame home game.

"They have the right to criticize the coach for being 6-5," says Weis. "They have that right. It's all the other stuff. You think I don't know that I'm fat? Duh!"

Asked if he should be gone, where would Charlie Jr. would go to college, the coach reponded: "I know where he won't be going to college."

This weekend "The Blind Side," a film based on a true story peripherally concerned with college football, opened. In the movie coaches such as Nick Saban, Lou Holtz and Tommy Tuberville portray themselves on recruiting visits. They are all of them cocktail-hour all-stars, suave, well-coifed and silver-tongued.

Charlie Weis is not that guy. He pays for his haircut with a $20 and has enough left over for the tip. He lives in sweats and his language away from the media spotlight is redolent of another Jersey guy, comedian Artie Lange. To ask whether he has outside interests is funny because if it were not for his interest in football, he isn't the type of guy you'd expect to find outside.

"My wife has four horses, three dogs and a cat at our home," Weis says.

Are you into animals?

"No, I'm into paying the bills."

And about that salary of his, which has been reported to be as much as $4.2 million per annum. "I don't know where they get that number," Weis says. "I can promise you I don't earn $3.2 million a year."

It's still a lot of scratch, and his record the past three seasons is still underwhelming. It's just one more item he'd like to get straight before, or in case, he should be leaving.

The Working Life

Inside Weis' office, photos of his family outnumber football photos by at least a five-to-one margin. A mural of a legendary football coach adorns one wall, but it is neither Rockne, Leahy nor Parseghian; it is Vince Lombardi.

Behind his desk, the large flat-screen TV is already teed up to the opening kickoff of Saturday's UConn game. The only thing worse than getting three hours of sleep is waking up to a nightmare.

"I know where he won't be going to college."
- Charlie Weis, when asked where his son will go to college "I'll watch the replay of the game," Weis says, running through his morning calendar, "and then I'll meet with my assistants and grade the offense. Beginning at 9:30 AM, we've got two recruits (five-star studs J.R. Ferguson, a defensive tackle, and Kyle Prater, a wide receiver) in on official visits and I'll meet with them.

"Then, it's another staff meeting. At 11:45, I'll meet with Brian (Hardin, the sports information director) and Kevin (Green, his personal assistant; Green's wife, Sharon, is the director of Weis's "Hannah & Friends" foundation for the developmentally disabled) to get ready for the afternoon press conference ..."

On and on it goes. All top-tier coaches are workaholics, but Weis, having no football hero pedigree upon which to fall, has always punched in a little earlier and punched out a little later. That is how he learned his vocation, as an assistant coach at Morristown (N.J.) High School, and how he later came to impress the Bills, Parcells and Belichick.

At Morristown High, the twenty-something English teacher would arrive between 5 AM and 6 AM, toting the coffee and bagels, and pepper head coach John Chironna with questions. "John Chironna taught me the game of football," Weis says. "Parcells and Belichick taught me how to navigate at this level, but Chironna, he taught me the game."

And so Weis works and works ... and works. He arrives at least two hours before the sun does. The light in his second-floor office on the south end of the Gug rarely goes out before 10 PM. He flies nine hours to Hawaii for a recruiting visit and returns the same day.

Are there other ingredients to success besides man-hours? Of course. Otherwise he would not be in the situation he is in.

The Line of Fire

Weis' future first-round receiving trio of Floyd, Golden Tate and tight end Kyle Rudolph have only started and finished one game together this season. That was the opener versus Nevada, a 35-0 victory. Fate has a sense of humor, as Charlie Jr. broke his finger catching a pass outside the Gug on Friday.

"He's going to have surgery tomorrow," Weis says, providing his first injury update of the season of a football injury that occurred on campus not involving a scholarship athlete.

The injuries to Floyd and Rudolph are hardly the reason the Irish are 6-5, indeed, with all three players in the lineup for the first half against Navy, the Irish were held scoreless. Sure, Notre Dame has yet to lose a game by more than seven points, but it has also lost five games. Weis understands that such a record may be a mandate for change.

"Lou (Holtz) texted me last week, 'You guys are so close'," Weis recalls. Then came the loss to Pitt, a defeat that might have been averted (granted, it would have set up a fourth-and-16) had a replay official not overturned a called incompletion. Weis has heard that an official may get fired over that game and he shoots his visitor a sarcastic glance as if to say, "Yeah, him and me both."

Weis met with athletic director Jack Swarbrick last Tuesday. Nothing is finalized. You can make the argument that if Weis is fired, then surely quarterback Jimmy Clausen, whom Weis believes may be the greatest player in Notre Dame history ("and, remember, I was a student when Joe Montana was here"), will turn pro. And if Clausen goes, Golden Tate likely does, also.

On the other hand, Clausen, who posed for a photo with his family on the field just moments after Connecticut's Andre Dixon scored the game-winning touchdown -- untouched Saturday, by the way -- from four yards out, may be gone, anyway. And while there is short-term comfort in imagining an offense that includes Clausen, Tate, Floyd, Rudolph and Armando Allen in 2010, with Weis pulling the strings, that still does not address the team's principal shortcoming: defense.

Charlie WeisOne way or the other, Weis will probably know his fate within two or three days after next Saturday's Stanford game. If it ends in Palo Alto, Weis' agent, Bob Lamont, will probably field a half-dozen offers within the first week from the NFL for vacant offensive coordinator positions.

"I'm more respected there," Weis says. "I'm more well-liked there."

Weis can be crude and unrefined, but he is honest. Blunt. And a good sport. Immediately after the UConn loss he approached Huskies quarterback Zach Frazer, the same player he had placed fourth on the depth chart at the end of spring practice in 2007.

"Zach and I weren't exactly boys when he was here," Weis says, "but I wanted to congratulate him. Especially after all UConn has been through this season."

No one will likely be congratulating Weis if his tenure comes to an end in the next ten days. A thank you would be warranted, though. He has graduated 96 percent of his players, tied for tops in the FBS, and returned Notre Dame to the front lines of the five-star recruiting battles. He has produced great quarterbacks, such as Brady Quinn and Clausen, as well as players of great character, such as current seniors Kyle McCarthy and Eric Olsen. Almost all of whom, it seems, have his back.

Charlie Weis is 35-26 at Notre Dame. He may not have gotten the job done, but no one could have put in more hours on that job.

And somewhere next season he will be coaching. "I need to work," he says. "For me."

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Exclusive: Charlie Weis Opens Up About His Notre Dame Experience originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Mon, 23 Nov 2009 11:52:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>charlie weisJohn WaltersMon, 23 Nov 2009 11:52:00 EST At Notre Dame, a Day of Resignationhttp://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/21/at-notre-dame-a-day-of-resignation/http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/21/at-notre-dame-a-day-of-resignation/http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/21/at-notre-dame-a-day-of-resignation/#commentsFiled under: ,

Charlie WeisSOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Scott Smith, a Notre Dame team captain, crouched at the 25-yard line in mortal sadness, his face a shade of crimson, his eyes welling with tears. Zach Frazer, a former classmate of Smith's who had just taken the snap that ended the game and, effectively, Charlie Weis' Notre Dame career, accepted hugs from teammates past and present. A dispassionate Jimmy Clausen jogged over to the edge of the stands to pose for a photo with his two brothers and his mom.

Connecticut 33, Notre Dame 30. Fire away, Jack Swarbrick. Fire away.

Even Charlie Weis, who begins every press conference with that two-word salutation to the media, would concede that it is time.

In the wake of yet another A.) defeat in B.) overtime to C.) an unranked opponent at D.) home, Irish fans are E.) exasperated. Notre Dame has reached the fifth stage of Dr. Elizabeth Kübler-Ross' five stages of terminal Illness: acceptance. The other four stages are denial (Michigan), anger (USC), bargaining (Navy) and depression (Pitt).

"I really feel absolutely miserable for those 33 [seniors]. I'll worry about me tomorrow. But I think today I should be worrying about them."
-- Charlie Weis, Notre Dame Head Coach In the aftermath of Saturday's 33-30 double overtime loss to Connecticut, the only pertinent emotion was acceptance. Resignation. As in a sense of resignation, as opposed to a resignation imminently forthcoming from Weis.

"I really feel absolutely miserable for those 33 [seniors]," Weis said. "I'll worry about me tomorrow. But I think today I should be worrying about them."

Nearly five years ago, Charlie Weis was introduced as the Notre Dame head coach. He told the assembled media that upon meeting the team he had told them, "You're 6-5. Guess what? That's not good enough."

Guess what? Notre Dame is 6-5. For the second season in a row. It's time to go, and Weis, whose career winning percentage now sits below that .583 Davie/Willingham mark, realizes as much.

The most damning, and most significant remark of Saturday was made not by anyone from Notre Dame, but rather from Huskies head coach Randy Edsall. "Just to come out here to Notre Dame, and to play in this stadium -- which I can remember, our kids don't really remember, but the history, the tradition that goes with this place..."

Notre Dame is no longer a college gridiron leviathan. It is a field trip ("Knute Rockne slept here"). Part of that is Charlie Weis's fault and part of it is on the shoulders of his players. It's like kissing Sophia Loren. In the 1960s, it was the highlight of a lifetime. In 2009, it's almost macabre.

The symptoms of Saturday's game were reminiscent of the '08 Irish failings (come-from-ahead losses) as opposed to this season's. Notre Dame jumped out to a 14-0 lead and Connecticut had just misfired on a third-and-long pass early in the second quarter. Alas, senior safety Sergio Brown delivered a late hit after the pass had already sailed past the wideout and out of bounds.

Five plays later, Connecticut's Jordan Todman rumbled 43 yards for a score.

Thus it was all afternoon. Michael Floyd fumbles in the red zone. The kickoff team allows a 96-yard runback for a touchdown.
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"When our coaches get in front of you guys, they take the brunt of it," said special teams dynamo Mike Anello. "But it's our fault."

Then Anello lapsed into imagery quite redolent to anyone familiar with the school's Catholic background. "[The coaches] are getting nailed to the cross," said Anello. "I feel just really disappointed in all of us players. We let those guys down."

Before the game Weis marched into Notre Dame Stadium literally arm-in-arm with his team, at the request of his players. "I looked at [center Eric] Olsen, had a couple of choice words for him," Weis said with a smile. "Because it was probably his idea. But it was nice that they wanted to do that."

You cannot place scholarship athletes on waivers. You can only fire the head coach, and that is imminent. Unconfirmed reports have a well-heeled alum whose son is a former Notre Dame football player on the hook to buy out Weis' contract. The two favorites in the search are reportedly Cincinnati's Brian Kelly and Northwestern's Pat Fitzgerald. The latter is on record as saying that he is quite content coaching at his alma mater. On the other hand, Notre Dame did quite well by itself the last time it hired a coach from the Evanston institution (Ara Parseghian).

The confusion of the Bush Push, the disbelief at the loss -- excuse me, losses -- to Navy, the enmity at the numerous underwhelming efforts, all is in the past. Weis, if you take the players at their word, has never lost his team. Only games. Exhaustion envelops this program as it seems to battle each Saturday, for what feels like forever now, to justify the massive attention that it receives, to return to the place of prominence it once deserved, but no longer does.

For all the hostility and ire that Weis has aroused ("He's doing it with Ty Willingham's players"), picture being him for a moment. You return to your alma mater as a savior and for awhile you more than meet expectations. You sell yourself as an offensive guru and indeed you develop a passing attack the likes of which this storied program has never before seen. You graduate players at a higher rate than anyone else in the FBS, your off-field problems are minimal, you get your knee blown out on national television -- and barely miss a play, much less a game -- you open a foundation [Hannah and Friends] for the developmentally disabled ...

You do everything but produce a winner. And, really, it can at least be argued that no Notre Dame coaching regime experienced as much abject failure. Which is bizarre, because Charlie Weis is not a guy who doesn't have a clue. He just has not led this team to victory.

A telling statistic of the Weis era? On Saturday both Michael Floyd and Golden Tate eclipsed 100 yards receiving for the fourth time this season. The Irish have lost all four games.

That 3-9 season two years ago might have just been an unsightly aberration on an otherwise successful career, but instead it was the harbinger of Weis' end. Too many close losses to too many pedestrian opponents (North Carolina, Pittsburgh and Syracuse last season; Michigan, Navy and now Connecticut this season) over the past two seasons provide too much forensic evidence.

Simply put, Weis is not fit to be the head coach at a school that aspires to be the type of program it was when its head coach was sitting in the student section.

And so, Notre Dame journeys to Stanford next week, and those with long enough memories cannot help but think that this is 58-7, Miami, 1985, all over again. And that Jim Harbaugh is Jimmy Johnson incarnate. That next week the Irish will go from upset to abject.



A period of darkness is upon this program. Weis is gone, and likely Clausen, too. It's going to get worse before it gets better. In one final ironic flourish, it was the Huskies' Frazer who was the winning quarterback in what was likely Weis's final home game. Four years ago Frazer arrived in South Bend, but when he found himself fourth on the depth chart in the spring of 2007, he transferred to Connecticut.

Weis, the quarterback guru, beaten by the first quarterback he recruited to come and join him at Notre Dame. Just another bitter pill to swallow.

At Notre Dame, a Day of Resignation originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:31:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>John WaltersSat, 21 Nov 2009 21:31:00 EST UConn Rallies in 2OT, Beats Notre Damehttp://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/21/uconn-rallies-in-2ot-beats-notre-dame/http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/21/uconn-rallies-in-2ot-beats-notre-dame/http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/21/uconn-rallies-in-2ot-beats-notre-dame/#commentsFiled under:

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) -- The Connecticut Huskies finally won one for their slain teammate, handing Notre Dame and coach Charlie Weis a second straight bitter defeat on senior day.

Andre Dixon (pictured, right) scored on a 4-yard touchdown run in the second overtime to give the Huskies a 33-30 victory, their first win since cornerback Jasper Howard was stabbed to death.

"Jazz this is for you," coach Randy Edsall said, referring to Howard by his nickname. "Best win we have ever had."

The loss was the third straight for Notre Dame (6-5) and will add to the mounting calls for Weis to be fired. The Irish led 14-0 early in the second quarter but didn't score another touchdown until the first overtime.

The Huskies (5-5) had lost three straight painfully close games since Howard was killed. This time they made the plays at the end to win in dramatic fashion.

Jordan Todman ran for 130 yards on 26 carries, including a 43-yard TD run for UConn. He also added a 96-yard kickoff return for a TD. Dixon rushed for 114 yards on 20 carries.

Notre Dame was upset last season by Syracuse in its final home game of the season.

Jimmy Clausen was 30 of 45 passing for 329 yards for Notre Dame. Golden Tate had nine catches for 123 yards and Michael Floyd had eight catches for 104 yards.

While it was Dixon who scored the game-winner, Todman did the most damage. He cut the lead to 14-7 when he made four Irish defenders miss on a long touchdown run in the second quarter. Then when the Irish moved ahead 17-10, he tied it seconds later when he returned the kickoff for a touchdown, racing up the middle, cutting left and going untouched into the end zone.
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The Huskies, which have let several games get away from then late, appeared that they might do it again. The Huskies scored touchdowns twice in the final 2 minutes, both runs by Dixon, but both were called back on holding penalties. The Huskies settled for a 29-yard field goal by Dave Taggert to tie the score at 20-20 with 70 seconds left.

Taggert had a chance to win the game in regulation, but missed a 37-yard field goal wide left as time expired.

The Huskies took their first lead when former Notre Dame quarterback Zach Frazer threw an 11-yard touchdown pass to Kashif Moore to make it 27-20. But the Irish tied the game when Clausen threw a fade to Floyd for a 4-yard TD.

The loss drops Weis' career record to 35-26, a .573 winning percentage. That's worse than the .583 winning percentage of his two predecessors, Tyrone Willingham and Bob Davie.hes for 104 yards.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

UConn Rallies in 2OT, Beats Notre Dame originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Sat, 21 Nov 2009 18:58:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>andre dixoncharlie weisgolden tatejasper howardjimmy clausenFanHouse NewswireSat, 21 Nov 2009 18:58:00 EST Live Blog: Connecticut Tops Notre Damehttp://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/21/live-blog-notre-dame-senior-moments/http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/21/live-blog-notre-dame-senior-moments/http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/21/live-blog-notre-dame-senior-moments/#commentsFiled under: ,

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- "Patrick tends to follow Brian," says Brian Coughlin of his two sons, who are both walk-on wide receivers on the Notre Dame football team.

When Brian went out for wide receiver at Brother Rice High School in suburban Chicago, Patrick followed. When Brian was elected class president his senior year of 2005-06, Patrick ran for and won that office in 2006-07.

Brian matriculated at Notre Dame in 2006. Patrick ventured to South Bend the following autumn. Brian moved in to Dillon Hall. Patrick followed. Brian chose accounting as his major. Patrick selected accounting as his major.

In the spring semester of his sophomore year, Brian tried out at wide receiver as a walk-on. And made it. One year later, Patrick followed suit.

As the brothers Coughlin sat with a reporter earlier this week, wideout Golden Tate ambled past. "Hey, give me a shout-out!" Tate teased.

Brian, a senior, and Patrick, a junior, realize that they will never be the next Golden Tate. That, even though both suit up for home games, they may never see as much game action in a Notre Dame uniform as Rudy did (especially if the Irish keep playing nailbiters). But they cherish the chance to run routes each day with the likes of Tate and Michael Floyd, or to catch passes thrown by a future pro such as Jimmy Clausen.

"When you see the plays these guys make every day in practice, you admire them even more," says Brian, who sports a 3.65 GPA (Patrick's is a 3.82, proving that he does not always follow big brother).

"It's cool to get to practice every day with a guy like Michael Floyd," says Patrick. "But last week, I was on scout team for special teams and saw that I'd be blocking Manti (Te'o). That was a little unnerving."

Three sets of siblings inhabit the football roster at Notre Dame. Senior captain Kyle McCarthy, a a safety, who leads the Irish in tackles, is two years ahead of younger brother Dan, also a safety. Mike and Jake Golic are underclassmen whose famous dad, Mike Sr., was the keynote speaker at Friday night's pep rally.

Brian and Patrick Coughlin are the least-known pair as well as the only ones not on scholarship. They don't seem to mind. Nor does their father.

"On Christmas day, the day after the Hawaii Bowl, we were all hanging out on the beach," says Brian, Sr., "Golden Tate walked up. He set his towel down next to mine and said, 'Hey, Mr. Coughlin'. I said, 'Good game yesterday, Golden'. Then we high-fived. I never thought I'd be spending a Christmas like that."

In a few hours from now, Brian Coughlin, No. 24, will be one of approximately 25 seniors, both scholarship and walk-ons, who will run through the tunnel at Notre Dame Stadium a final time. And next year Patrick, No. 29, will follow.

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Live Blog: Connecticut Tops Notre Dame originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>John WaltersSat, 21 Nov 2009 13:30:00 EST Daily Domer: Questions to Bowl You Overhttp://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/19/daily-domer-questions-to-bowl-you-over/http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/19/daily-domer-questions-to-bowl-you-over/http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/19/daily-domer-questions-to-bowl-you-over/#commentsFiled under: ,

Jimmy ClausenFanHouse writer John Walters is living in South Bend, Ind., during one of the most pivotal seasons in Notre Dame history. Check back daily for his dispatches on the Irish.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- At 8-4 or 7-5, Notre Dame is bowl-eligible ("Hellllllo, Jacksonville!"). At 6-6, the Fighting Irish are bowl-execrable. The Irish could accept a bowl bid with that record, but would a Notre Dame reeling from four straight defeats and a likely coaching change actually do that?

The feeling here is no.

So, while much of the inquiries to players this week have concerned the seniors' final game at Notre Dame Stadium or the status of their coach, the game with Connecticut is for all intents Notre Dame's bowl-eligible bowl. Win and you'll be wearing pads in December. Lose and you limp in to Palo Alto to face the hottest team in America.
And if the Irish do go bowling, the questions become even more intriguing.

Will Charlie Weis still be the head coach?
Will Jimmy Clausen announce before the bowl whether he will remain in school? One of the supposed advantages of a bowl game is the 15 additional practices a team gets. But if the head coach is headed out the door and the quarterback, too, and with his successor, Dayne Crist, sidelined with a torn ACL, the extra practice will be primarily for the benefit of the defense. Then again, the odds are strong that this year's defensive coordinator, Jon Tenuta, will not be next year's.

In other words, a coaching and/or quarterback change will mean that in many ways the Irish will not be getting a head start on the 2010 season with the extra practices. Last year, it seemed to help. This year? We'll see.

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Slow Starts

This idea comes courtesy of my man Pete Sampson at Irish Illustrated. It is no secret that the Irish have failed to respond to the bell in the previous two games, totaling three points in the first half versus Navy and Pittsburgh.
What may have been forgotten -- although I imagine the coaching staff is aware, as is Pete -- is that the Irish offense has been no-shows in the first quarter of the previous four final home games of the Weis era.

In four games against teams with a combined record of 7-32 (1-8 Syracuse in 2005; 3-7 Army in '06; 1-9 Duke in '07; and 2-8 Syracuse in '08), the Irish in the first quarter have scored a total of three points. That's it.

So you have a troubling recent trend dovetailing with a worrisome tradition under the present head coach. The Irish might be better off low-keying the sentimental final home game for the seniors factor. They're facing an opponent that hasn't had a reason to smile since a few hours before its starting cornerback was murdered more than a month ago. That's a dangerous mix.

For the record the Irish won three of those four games. On the other hand, U Conn is the best home finale foe the Irish have faced since 2004, when Pitt came away with a 41-38 win in what would be the final game Ty Willingham coached in Notre Dame Stadium.

Decisions, Decisions

Right tackle Sam Young will start his 49th game on Saturday and if he remains injury-free, his 50th at Stanford a week later. No player in Notre Dame history has ever played in as many, much less started as many, games as Young. The Coral Springs, Fla., native is the only Notre Dame offensive lineman to ever start the season opener as a freshman and he has started every game since.

Earlier this week the personable 6-8, 320-pound redhead, who could have named his college coming out of high school, was asked if he ever wondered if he'd made the right choice. "Yeah," Young admitted. "Especially when one of my good friends plays for Florida. You come home and he's got 15 different rings."

That player, Young also noted, is the offensive lineman whose knee helped facilitate Tim Tebow's concussion, offensive tackle Marcus Gilbert.

Sighting Irish

On Wednesday, I spotted Notre Dame back-up quarterback/ninth-grade geography teacher Evan Sharpley walking to the Gug in street clothes but carrying his helmet. Was it show-and-tell day at Adams High School?...Thursday, my office (i.e., a coffee shop just off campus) was invaded by a marketing class that included safety Harrison Smith. The curious part is that Smith was the only student donning a shirt-and-tie combo.

Daily Domer: Questions to Bowl You Over originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:15:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>Jimmy ClausenJimmyClausenJohn WaltersThu, 19 Nov 2009 19:15:00 EST Domer: Weis Doesn't Know the Answershttp://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/17/domer-weis-doesnt-know-the-answers/http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/17/domer-weis-doesnt-know-the-answers/http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/17/domer-weis-doesnt-know-the-answers/#commentsFiled under: ,

Charlie WeisFanHouse writer John Walters is living in South Bend, Ind., during one of the most pivotal seasons in Notre Dame history. Check back daily for his dispatches on the Irish.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The questions were fewer, the themes less philosophical, the antagonism nearly absent. There was a scent of resignation at Charlie Weis' weekly Tuesday noon press conference -- emanating from the media.

Last Tuesday, when it still appeared as if this season and this coaching staff could be salvaged, the noon presser possessed the frenzy of feeding hour at the zoo's big cats house. The media peppered Weis with questions for approximately one hour, many of them too "big picture" in Weis' opinion, to merit a reply.

This week? The session lasted just 34 minutes, and only two questions were truly worth repeating here.

First, Charlie was asked how come this team plays so valiantly in the fourth quarter but rarely has a heartbeat until then (oddly enough, this being the polar opposite of last season's chronic fatal flaw). "The same question you posed to me is the same question I posed to [the players] after the [Pitt] game," Weis said. "If I had that answer, I'd have answered it a long time ago."

Second, Eric Hansen of the South Bend Tribune asked the question on everyone's mind, which was whether any decision had been made about who will coach the Irish in 2010. "I don't think any decision's been made because I don't know," Weis answered. "If a decision had been made, I would know."
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Weis will coach his 61st game for the Irish on Saturday, and it would be understandable if he'd never approached an opponent, in this case Connecticut, with less enthusiasm. Wisely, he is taking himself out of the spotlight and putting the players in charge this week.

"I told the seniors, 'Fellas, this is gonna be your week, it's not gonna be my week. I'll coach football. You guys talk to the players."
- Charlie Weis On Sunday, after meeting with the entire team, Weis met with the 33 fourth- and fifth-year players on the Irish roster. Then he met with the four team captains and the members of the leadership committee. The message being sent: this is your game, your final home game.

Each day this week, Weis said, he will have a captain and a few members of the leadership committee address the team as opposed to him doing so.

"I told the seniors, 'Fellas, this is gonna be your week, it's not gonna be my week,' " Weis said. "I'll coach football. You guys talk to the players."

Wise move. These five years of Notre Dame football have been entirely too much about the head coach. Weis courted some of the attention, but the media has been taking the temperature of his job status nearly from day one because of the manner in which Ty Willingham was dismissed.

There was enough in Tuesday's presser to allow that Weis senses the inevitable -- "I think [the players] can't worry about what happens in December and January, just gotta worry about this Saturday and UConn" -- and that the best he can do for his players is, at last, hand the reins to them. Perhaps they'll finally come out loose for an opening half.


Wide receiver Golden Tate has 74 receptions this season with two games left to play. The school record for receptions in a single season, set three years ago by Jeff Samardzija, is 78. The Shark also has the single-season receiving touchdowns record of 15. Tate has 11 TD grabs this year.

Golden TateThe Irish may not have been able to win under Weis, but no Irish passing offense has ever been anywhere near as prolific as the ones Weis has overseen. Only four times in school history have the Irish surpassed 3,000 passing yards in a season, and all four times were under the current coach. The Irish passing attack is at 3,213 yards entering this week, which means that Jimmy Clausen needs to pass for only 214 yards to make this the second-most prolific season in school history.

The record, set in Brady Quinn's senior season, is 3,919 yards. Should the Irish play in a bowl game, that mark will likely be eclipsed. Clausen's "worst" passing day in a game he played throughout this season is 246 yards. If he were to simply average that over three games (assuming a bowl), the Irish would finish the year with 3,951 yards passing.

The greatest casualty of a potential Weis termination will be the air attack. If only the Irish could retain Weis as an offensive coordinator.


Not a banner weekend in the Midwest for Charlie's friends with a high Q rating. Former boss Bill Belichick made himself a lightning rod for every sports pundit when his fourth-and-2 gamble at Indianapolis failed ("He took a lot of pressure off me," Weis cracked).

Former protege Brady Quinn (a.k.a. BQQB) threw two interceptions and generally looked lost as the Cleveland Browns' starting quarterback on Monday Night Football as the Browns were blanked by the Baltimore Ravens. The low point occurred in the third quarter when BQQB threw an interception and later on the same play was called for a personal foul (echoing a rare double that also happened to Clausen against Navy just 10 days ago).

And Jersey legend Bruce Springsteen, playing a concert in Auburn Hills, Mich., last Friday night, shouted out, "Hello, Ohio!"


The key to Golden Tate's 87-yard punt return for a touchdown versus Pitt? The inside juke he gives Antwuan Reed, the first Panther to arrive after he catches the ball. After that it was pretty much over. Also, watch the wheels on No. 15 of Notre Dame, the first man to join Tate in the end zone to celebrate. That's Kyle McCarthy's younger bro, Dan.




I generally do not believe in bugging phones, but agent Bob Lamont's phone would have been worth eavesdropping on these past few days. The Reno-based Lamont, you see, represents both Weis and Jon Gruden. So it was interesting that less than 72 hours after the Irish lost at Pittsburgh that ESPN announced that it had signed Gruden, a rookie analyst on MNF to a long-term extension.

"He will not be seeking any coaching positions for the foreseeable future," an ESPN spokesperson told Brian Hamilton of the Chicago Tribune.

Gruden almost appeared to be rubbing it on the MNF telecast. In the second half a graphic appeared showing three former Notre Dame quarterbacks of a bygone era and their career NFL touchdown passes (Daryle Lamonica, 164; Joe Montana, 273; and Steve Beuerlein, 147). That was followed by a graphic of three more contemporary ex-Irish QBs and their totals (Rick Mirer, 50 ; Jarious Jackson, 0 ; and BQQB, 3).

As that second graphic appeared, Gruden barked, "What's going on at Notre Dame?"

You tell us, Jon. You tell us.


Difficult season for three of the largest waist sizes in the college coaching profession. Maryland's Mark Friedgen is 2-8 this year, with only one victory against an FBS school (Clemson). Mark Mangino, whose Kansas Jayhawks have lost five in a row, is at the center of the storm in Lawrence. Athletic director Lew Perkins (no homunculus himself) announced today that he is bringing in an "unbiased" consultant to evaluate the program.

And then there's Charlie.

Do not be surprised if all three are coaching elsewhere, or nowhere, in 2010.


Pete Fiutak of College Football News drew an interesting parallel Monday between Jimmy Clausen and Jimmy Chitwood. Fiutak wondered if Clausen, along with Golden Tate, might just pull a Hoosiers-style, "I play, Coach stays. He goes, I go" with Notre Dame's administration and boosters.

Jimmy ClausenIt's a fascinating concept -- and if we extend the analogy, would that make Jon Tenuta or Corwin Brown "Shooter," and would the Irish run a "picket fence" defense? Think about it, though. If athletic director Jack Swarbrick were certain that Weis, Clausen and Tate were a package deal (either all stay, or all go following this season), would he not be just a little bit nuts to can his coach?

You can argue, sure, that these are independent decisions. That Weis's future at Notre Dame should in no way be influenced by whether Clausen and/or Tate stay in school. Also, Swarbrick will likely tender his decision on Weis before Clausen and/or Tate need to make up their minds.

On the other hand, what if Clausen and Tate went pro-active? What if both were to publicly announce that they'd like to remain at Notre Dame for a senior season, to finally put this train back on the rails, and that they'll do so provided that Weis is retained.

Imagine the intrigue. Would "Savvy Jack", as Swarbrick is being called, take the bait?

Last April Clausen famously told Matt Hayes of The Sporting News, "Coach Weis will not get fired because of me."

Clausen -- and Tate -- have more than held up their ends on that pledge. But now Clausen has an opportunity to actually turn that statement upside down: "Coach Weis will be retained because of me."

Naturally, any rational adult within earshot of Clausen (Weis included) will advise him to do what is best for his future. It's just a fascinating idea to kick around. To muse as to how much power Clausen and Tate could actually wield when it comes time for Swarbrick to make this decision.


I'm not about to defend a head coach who, with nearly every conceivable advantage outside of having T. Boone Pickens or Phil Knight in his corner, is 16-19 in his past three seasons, but I do have a question. To every columnist who has deduced that Weis' 19-6 record in his first two years of South Bend was a product of him doing it "with Tyrone Willingham's players," I'm just wondering whether any of you ever wrote that Willingham's 10-3 record in his inaugural season at Notre Dame was a result of him doing it with Bob Davie's players?

Domer: Weis Doesn't Know the Answers originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>Charlie WeisGolden TateMark FriedgenJohn WaltersTue, 17 Nov 2009 19:30:00 EST Stoops to Irish Flies in Face of Logichttp://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/16/stoops-to-irish-flies-in-face-of-logic/http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/16/stoops-to-irish-flies-in-face-of-logic/http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/16/stoops-to-irish-flies-in-face-of-logic/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Bob StoopsIf you believe rumors, then Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops would be interested in coaching Notre Dame should the Irish send Charlie Weis packing after five seasons.

The initial thought: Yeah right.

"That's ridiculous," Stoops said of the reports on Monday.

According to a story appearing in the Chicago Sun-Times, Stoops is said to have expressed interest in the Fighting Irish to a confidant who then betrayed Stoops confidence. Makes sense?

"Some confidant, huh?" Stoops said to reporters following Monday's practice. "I have no idea what you're talking about. Notre Dame doesn't have a job [open]. And I haven't spoken to any confidants about anything. Outside of trying to beat Texas Tech."

Logically, it doesn't make sense for several reasons, beginning with Stoops' enormous salary and tough-to-swallow buyout clause in excess of $3 million. Stoops is also revered in the state of Oklahoma and the Notre Dame job is nowhere close to what it use to be. Restrictive academic standards and the unwillingness of the Irish faithful to recognize the changing landscape have diminished Notre Dame's status among elite programs.

Notre Dame, meanwhile, may or may not be looking for a replacement for Weis. We likely won't know for sure until a day or two following the Irish's Nov. 28 regular-season finale at Stanford. That's just how Notre Dame works.

The problem with firing Weis is the cost of buying him out. A few years ago, reacting to false rumors Weis was being pursued by NFL teams, Notre Dame signed its then hot-shot head coach to a 10-year extension that is paying him somewhere between $4 to $5 million annually. The buyout is also said to be around $4 million to get rid of Weis before the contract ends.

So we are talking more than $7 million in buyout money and a contract for Stoops in the neighborhood of $5 million annually to even make sense. Even for a school being paid exclusively by NBC, that's steep.

But just for fun of it, let's look at five reasons it would make sense for Stoops to leave OU for Notre Dame and five reasons why this is crazy.
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Five Reasons For:

1. Stoops' reputation of rebuilding once proud programs.

2. The lure of coaching the most national college football program in the land.

3. The money.

4. The chance to prove himself as a national recruiter.

5. Escaping the feeling of being taken for granted by some in Sooner-land.


5 Reasons Why Not:

1. While Stoops has a national championship to his credit, he still hasn't escaped the reputation of failing in big games and especially in bowl games.

2. His contract and buyout combined with buying out Weis would be extremely costly.

3. Florida coach Urban Meyer and Cincinnati's Brian Kelly seem more of a Notre Dame fit.

4. Stoops would find it impossible to get the same caliber of athlete -- in the same great numbers -- he has at OU admitted into Notre Dame.

5. Stoops, while criticized by some, is revered by the majority around the state of Oklahoma and in Norman, Okla.

Stoops to Irish Flies in Face of Logic originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Mon, 16 Nov 2009 23:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>Bob StoopsBobStoopscharlie weisCharlieWeisNotreDameFootballTerrance HarrisMon, 16 Nov 2009 23:00:00 EST Big East Rewind: Ready for the Big Finishhttp://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/16/big-east-rewind-after-further-review/http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/16/big-east-rewind-after-further-review/http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/16/big-east-rewind-after-further-review/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , ,

Pittsburgh fanAfter further review: Cincinnati and Pittsburgh remain on a collision course to determine the Big East championship and BCS bowl berth.

The Bearcats and Panthers experienced some anxious moments down the stretch, but both survived to move a step closer to delivering the Big East its first matchup of Top-10 ranked teams since 2006.

Cincinnati held off West Virginia, 24-21, and Pittsburgh outlasted Notre Dame 27-22 over the weekend. Did we mention both UC and Pitt were playing at home and benefited from two game-changing replay reversals?

And who says the SEC has the monopoly on all the controversial replay calls?

The No. 5 ranked Bearcats (10-0, 6-0 Big East) and No. 8 Panthers (9-1, 5-0) get a chance to catch their breath this weekend. West Virginia also is off this weekend, giving the Mountaineers time to reflect on their first two-game Big East losing streak since 2004 and watch Rich Rod against Ohio State.

Some things we may have figured out in the past week:

1. Chris Fowler isn't half as embarrassed as Jim Leavitt should be

During Rutgers' 31-0 seal-clubbing of South Florida on Thursday night, ESPN's Chris Fowler remarked he was embarrassed that he had voted for USF on his AP Top 25 ballot last week. (Hey Chris, I feel your pain: I had USF at No. 25 and I should really know better). When the Bulls joined the Big East in 2005, they were expected to compete for a league title: yet they've never finished higher than third (Syracuse is the only other league team without a top two finish). USF is 2-3 in league play and regressing. The Bulls' three Big East losses this year are by a combined 75 points and they're 4-8 in their last 12 Big East games. For a second consecutive year, the Bulls could be headed for a sixth-place finish. Perhaps, Fowler and I should have listened to SI.com's Stewart Mandel, when he wrote about USF's struggles last year: "I fell for the myth that Jim Leavitt's built-from-scratch program had established itself as a nationally relevant program."

2. Is the gig up for Cincinnati?

Another team has discovered Cincinnati's kryptonite that might eventually cost the Bearcats an undefeated season. West Virginia became the third team this season to crack the 200-yard rushing mark against the Bearcats and, not so coincidentally, the third team to hang within a touchdown of Cincinnati. The Bearcats allowed more than 200 yards rushing in close wins against Fresno State (28-20), UConn (47-45) and West Virginia (24-21). In their other seven victories, they allowed an average of 91 yards rushing and had an average winning margin of 28.9 points.

3. The 'R' on the helmet stands for red-hot

Whatever Greg Schiano is doing with his Rutgers teams in the second half of the past four seasons, he should bottle it and sell it -- or try doing the same thing in the first half of the season. Once again, the Scarlet Knights are heating up in the second half of the year. Since 2006, Rutgers' combined record - not including games against FCS opponents -- in the first six games of the year is 10-9. In the same span in the second half of the year, the Scarlet Knights are 19-5. Last year, Rutgers ended the year on a 7-0 run and after Thursday's dismantling of USF, the Scarlet Knights have won their last three games.

Re-Tweeting Week 11

Ranking the league from top to bottom and summarizing each team, in 140 characters or less.

1. Cincinnati: Bad news is the close wins don't impress pollsters. Good news is the 'Cats are now experts at recovering onside kicks
2. Pitt: Nation's only team with a RB (Dion Lewis) and QB (Bill Stull) ranked among the nation's top six in rushing and pass efficiency
3. Rutgers: QB Tom Savage gets all the credit, but the Big East's top-rated defense has been the key to Rutgers' recent resurgence
4. West Virginia: Unless the Mountaineers defeat both Pitt and Rutgers, WVU will finish with its most Big East losses since 2001 team went 1-6
5. UConn: Huskies hoping to extend the Big East's winning streak against Notre Dame to four games
6. South Florida: In five seasons in Big East play, the Bulls are 16-17 and have never finished better than 4-3
7. Louisville: The Cards like 'em close. UL's three wins against FBS teams this season are by a combined 11 points
8. Syracuse: Just like Greg Robinson, Doug Marrone appears headed toward a 0-7 Big East record in his debut season

Follow Brett McMurphy on Twitter at twitter.com/BrettmcmurphY

Big East Rewind: Ready for the Big Finish originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:19:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>Brett McMurphyMon, 16 Nov 2009 17:19:00 EST Cincinnati Rallies to Keep Brian Kellyhttp://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/16/cincinnati-rallies-to-keep-brian-kelly/http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/16/cincinnati-rallies-to-keep-brian-kelly/http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/16/cincinnati-rallies-to-keep-brian-kelly/#commentsFiled under: ,


MONTGOMERY, Ohio -- From the original Montgomery Inn, it is the home of the world's greatest ribs - I plan on enjoying some of those ribs after the show tonight, but we are not here to talk about the great cuisine at the original Montgomery Inn. We are here to talk about the undefeated, fifth-rated UC Bearcats with head coach Brian Kelly. Nine and oh after last week's unbelievable ...

Dan Hoard's opening statement from inside the Montgomery Inn lounge Thursday night is greeted with thunderous applause from the UC fans, many who made their reservations three weeks ago to guarantee a table to sit and watch a football coach do a radio show.

The fire marshal would probably prefer only 150 folks in the lounge, but what's the harm in squeezing in another 50 or so on this night? Every table, seat, bar stool and nook and cranny, for that matter, is occupied as the Bearcats' faithful, nearly all decked out in red or black UC gear, hangs on Kelly's every word -- almost as intently as they grip those Montgomery Inn world's greatest ribs.

Kelly recaps last week's win against UConn and previews the next night's game with West Virginia, a game Cincinnati wins 24-21 to become the first team in school history to start 10-0. During commercial breaks, Kelly graciously signs autographs and carries on small talk with fans.

The show nears the midway point and there's still the question -- the humongous elephant in the room that stretches as high as Touchdown Jesus -- that nobody wants to ask, but every single person wants, no make that has, to know the answer.

"Let's go to Ken who's on his cell," Hoard said. "Ken you're on 700 WLW."

"Hey coach," says Ken, "I came in a little late so I'm not sure if this question was asked or not. Can you talk a little bit about Notre Dame?"

The sudden silence is deafening.

"No, I really," Kelly starts off. "To be quite honest with you, uh, that is something that for some reason everybody likes to talk about. I like to talk about Cincinnati football. So, if you want to talk about Cincinnati football, I'd be happy to entertain that."

Ken isn't satisfied. "So no one from Notre Dame has approached you then?" he asks.

"Like I said, I want to talk about Cincinnati football," Kelly said. "So, if it has something to do with Cincinnati football, I'd be happy to talk about it."

The lounge is filled with nervous applause.

The next call is from Patrick in Columbus. "Also we want to say something from Columbus," Patrick says. "We hope you stay at Cincinnati."

"Thank you. I hope they renew my contract after this year," Kelly said jokingly. "Again we're building something here that's pretty special. My wife and I, Paqui, really love it here."

Much louder confident applause from the crowd this time. But the question still remains: what will Kelly do if Notre Dame or another college football corporation, that can buy and sell Cincinnati, comes calling with a blank check?

"Why doesn't everyone question if Bob Stoops will stay at his job? Why is Cincinnati not a destination job? "
-- Brian KellyAll indications are that the 47-year old Kelly genuinely loves Cincinnati. He isn't, however, quite as fond of the never-ending speculation that he's leaving for every bigger profile, higher paying program on the planet.

"Why doesn't everyone question if Bob Stoops will stay at his job?" Kelly told FanHouse shortly after Thursday's radio show ended. "Why is Cincinnati not a destination job? How can you say this is not a destination job? You don't know how good a job Cincinnati is. You can build something that no one has built here."

Cincinnati senior wide receiver Mardy Gilyard has seen the building. He remembers the pain he felt when he heard Kelly was being targeted by the big boys the past couple of years.

"He showed me his character when he was offered all those big jobs, Tennessee and Michigan at the time," Gilyard said. "I asked him personally, 'Coach, you know, are you leaving? What's going on?'

"He looked at me in my face and said 'are you kidding me?' He's like 'Mardy, I'm staying. You don't have to worry about anything. I'm here, I'm not going anywhere.' "

But, then again, Gilyard had heard the same nonsense from former UC coach Mark Dantonio, who bolted for Michigan State less than 48 hours after UC's 2006 regular season finale. Dantonio didn't even stick around to coach the bowl game that year.

"I didn't take [what Kelly said] seriously to be honest because the same thing was told to us by coach Dantonio," Gilyard said. "He told all of us, he wasn't going anywhere and then he turned around and left. Coach Kelly said that [and] we were like, 'we've been there, done that.' And he came in front of the team: 'I'm telling you guys, I'm not going anywhere.'

"At the time, I was like this man's for real. It shows he bleeds red and black. We thanked him for staying. We needed that structure in our life. We needed that stability as a team.

"Because we put so much into our former coach and when he left, the whole team was bummed and heartbroken. We also understand it's a business and at the end of the day, coach has to look out for his family. But I think his family got a whole lot bigger with his contract extension with the 100 of us [players]."


Kelly's new five-year contract took effect on Jan. 1, but it wasn't signed until June 18. He will earn $1.337 million this year, not including incentives. That's not exactly chump change, yet Kelly's salary ranks only fourth among the Big East's eight coaches and he's closing in on a second consecutive league title.

Kelly already has reached incentives this season worth $134,000 and will earn an additional $150,000 if the Bearcats win the Big East again and earn another BCS bowl bid. Yet, all of the creative incentives, including $25,000 for a Top 25 finish and $10,000 for each victory against a Top 25 ranked opponent, pale in comparison to the most important item in his contract.

8. PRACTICE FIELDS

The University agrees to use its best efforts to build or acquire two (2) practice fields on campus as soon as possible and an indoor facility, which shall be understood to include a bubble over Nippert Stadium or some other on campus facility, as soon as possible. The University further agrees that should the Program participate in a BCS bowl game before the indoor practice facility becomes available, the University shall obtain indoor practice space at an offsite location to be selected by Director of Athletics in consultation with Coach.

The Cincinnati Enquirer recently reported that UC has "had a difficult time raising the $13.5 million to $15 million needed for the practice fields." And then there's the additional challenge of raising $50 million to $100 million necessary for a planned renovation to 35,000 seat Nippert Stadium, the nation's third-smallest BCS stadium.

"There's an appetite for premium seating," Kelly said. "We've done a survey amongst our fans and it's come back to show club seating, luxury boxes, things of that nature are very, very important to moving our program forward because we lack a consistent revenue stream at 35,000 [seats].

"It will be addressed and you'll see some changes to Nippert Stadium, but it won't change much where you will add [20,000] to 30,000 seats. A small edition of seating, but a lot of those would be premium seating."

If they build it, will he stay? Perhaps. But if they don't, Kelly can opt out of his contract and avoid paying the buyout, which is $1 million if he leaves before Jan. 15, 2010. Kelly's buyout decreases by $250,000 each year.
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Will Schroder, a 23-year old Cincinnati native, sits at the bar listening to Kelly's radio show. He's confident Kelly won't leave.

"Kelly won't want that pressure of Notre Dame," Schroder said. "There's not as much pressure here and it's easier to get to a BCS bowl in the Big East. But he is a hot commodity."

Bob and Judy Wilson are splitting some dessert. They listened intently to Kelly's response about Notre Dame. Judy, 65, is a Cincinnati graduate, while her 72-year old husband Bob is a Michigan graduate that long ago was converted to a Bearcats fan. They hope Kelly stays, but still worry.

"You can be a big fish here, but I just don't know how much they can pay," Bob Wilson said. "They can build practice fields and everything. Whether that's enough, who knows?"

Financially, Cincinnati can't compete with Notre Dame. Heck, they can't even keep up with the rest of the BCS. The Bearcats have the second-lowest athletic department budget in the Big East and rank No. 63 out of 66 BCS schools. With the current economic climate, this isn't exactly the easiest time to raise several million dollars.

But Kelly, along with Nick Lachey (the former Mr. Jessica Simpson), do what they can. During UC's games, they show videos of Kelly and Lachey asking fans to support the program and donate toward the facility upgrades.

At the Montgomery Inn, they're also pitching in. The restaurant is raising money by selling red towels -- two for $5 -- that say "Cincy Committed to Kelly." Selling red towels? Some talking heads make it sound like Cincinnati should just start waving a white towel.

Last week, Mel Kiper Jr. reported Kelly was a done deal at Notre Dame once Charlie Weis was fired -- and that was before the Irish lost to Pittsburgh. Then Saturday, the way Lee Corso touted Kelly, an Irish Catholic by the way, for the Notre Dame job, you would think Corso's eligible for a referral bonus.

Cincinnati athletic director Mike Thomas hears all the noise. He's also realistic enough to know that Kelly's 32-6 record at UC will continue to draw plenty of attention from other schools with more money and resources.

"People have already showed interest in the past, I think that's a reflection of the success that we've had," Thomas said. "It's certainly better than the alternative. I'd rather have someone want my coach because we're winning than the alternative. It's the nature of the business. It falls under the job description."

Cincinnati sophomore quarterback Zach Collaros knows first-hand the job Kelly has done. Collaros went from being a backup to setting the Big East single-game total offense record in only his third career start in Kelly's offense.

"Why wouldn't people want him as a coach?" Collaros said. "Especially after the job he's done here."

Kelly's hour-long radio show ends and the restaurant quickly empties. Kelly, though, remains to accomodate the numerous autograph and photo requests.

" We're doing something here that's never been done before. It's not how Bo Schembechler, Woody Hayes or Bobby Bowden did it. "
-- Brian KellyA reporter asks Kelly again about Cincinnati.

"We're doing something here that's never been done before," Kelly said. "It's not how Bo Schembechler, Woody Hayes or Bobby Bowden did it before you. You don't hear that."

Kelly sits down at a table with friends and family, including his brother Paul, who, listeners to the Brian Kelly radio show learned, got engaged to his fiance Karen earlier in the day. Kelly glances at one of the televisions and notices the Thursday night TV game between Rutgers and South Florida has reached halftime.

Kelly then walks up to one of the televisions over the bar to watch an interview he did earlier that day with ESPN's Rece Davis. Once the interview concludes, the remaining fans applaud Kelly once last time and he heads out of the restaurant.

Like everyone inside the restaurant, manager Rick Knapp is a big Kelly fan. He's asked if the original Montgomery Inn will host the Brian Kelly radio show next season.

"We very much hope so," Knapp said. "But I don't think the show will be able to commute from South Bend."

Cincinnati Rallies to Keep Brian Kelly originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>brian kellyBrett McMurphyMon, 16 Nov 2009 15:00:00 EST Domer: All That Glittered Wasn't Gold http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/16/domer-all-that-glittered-wasnt-gold/http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/16/domer-all-that-glittered-wasnt-gold/http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/16/domer-all-that-glittered-wasnt-gold/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

Charlie WeisFanHouse writer John Walters is living in South Bend, Ind., during one of the most pivotal seasons in Notre Dame history. Check back daily for his dispatches on the Irish.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- It was just moments after Notre Dame obliterated Nevada, 35-0, in the season-opener and before the band had yet to strike up the Alma Mater. I stood next to WNDU-TV's Jeff Jeffers, who has been covering this program for more than three decades. Each of us incredulous, we gaped at one another.

"Did that just happen?" I asked.

"Did it?" he replied.

Have you seen Nevada lately? The Wolf Pack are 7-3. They are fifth in the nation in scoring offense -- that's right, the same team the Irish shut out, Notre Dame's lone shutout of the Charlie Weis era -- is averaging 39 points per game. They're No. 1 in rushing offense and it isn't even close. Nevada is averaging 353 yards per game on the ground. The next most prolfic rushing attack, Georgia Tech's, averages 314 yards per game.

Did that 35-0 win really happen? Whoever the Irish were on September 5, they are but a shadow of that team today. Hope and enthusiasm have been replaced on the depth chart by regret and diffidence. For me the nadir came after Saturday night's loss, when Weis actually said, "When we're on the road, you have to consider the crowd and the tempo of the game and I thought we were doing pretty well when the score was 3-3."

You've got Jimmy Clausen, Golden Tate and Michael Floyd in your huddle and you're content to be tied at 3-3 at halftime? To quote a brazenly self-assured coach I used to know, "That's not good enough."

Nevada has evolved. Notre Dame, for the second consecutive year, sleepwalks through the final month of the season, donning its gold helmets as if they are the world's heaviest hairshirts. Believe it or not, there used to be a time when the idea of playing football at Notre Dame seemed fun. And not just for the final two plays against Georgia Tech.

The players deserve better. Each week the Irish happen upon an opponent who appears more eager to play, and to win, than they do.

The coach, too, deserved better the previous two weeks. For all the grenades being lobbed at Weis of late, he has been the victim of his players' failing to execute even the simplest of duties. If only Mike Ragone were able to catch a shuttle pass that travels all of three yards in the air, for example. Or if right guard Dan Wenger knew better than to chopblock a defensive tackle whom center Eric Olsen, a player who has yet to allow a sack all season, was handling just fine, thank you.

Except that when enough of these errors accumulate (Eric Maust's punting, drops by Floyd and Theo Riddick in addition to Ragone's, etc.) and with frequency, then you have to point to the head coach. He did entitle the book "No Excuses," after all.

Where's the Killer Instinct?

The tragedy of this season, one that will likely cost Weis his job, is not that the Irish were not good enough to go to a BCS bowl. The tragedy is that they did not play well enough to go to a BCS bowl. There's a difference.

In Lou Holtz's inaugural season the Irish finished 5-6, but five of those six losses were by a total of 14 points. And three of those five opponents were ranked in the Top 10. The Irish, despite the 5-6 record, overachieved.

The 2009 Irish have lost four games by a total of 18 points (USC, in contrast, has lost individual games by 27 and 34 points the past three weeks, albeit to stiffer competition). That's not impressive, though, because Notre Dame has won four of its games by a total of 17 points. As talented as the Irish are, they lack a killer instinct. They have only themselves to blame for all the drama on the field, which has led to all the drama off the field.

You Gotta Have Heart

The designated mantra of the coaching staff and the players, when asked to make an assessment whose candor might portray the team in a less glorious light, has long been, "I'll have to take a look at the tape."

No, you don't. The answers are not in being outschemed or failing to pick up a block or making a poor read here and there. Those are the symptoms.

The answers have long been in the intangibles. In unquantifiable attributes such as spirit and heart and togetherness.

In passion.

Notre Dame has, in three of its past five games, never led. Not for a second. And yet in all three of those contests the Irish had the football with a chance to tie the score in the final three minutes. The Irish never give up at the end, but they never show up at the beginning. Why is that?

The Price You Pay

Here's hoping that, however these final two weeks of the season play out, one year from today Weis is a much healthier human being.

After Saturday's game at Heinz Field, Weis walked into the interview room and spied the podium where he was supposed to stand. It was situated on a platform that required a step up of about a foot, and Weis uttered a quick, "Uh-oh." With his knees such an feat becomes almost herculean. Weis briefly considered leaning on a Notre Dame media assistant for support, but then thought better of it (the metaphor potential was simply too rich). Instead, he had the microphone brought over to him.

At the age of 53, Weis has more knee problems than most of his peers who actually played college football. His budget-deficit in terms of sleep is worse than the federal government's fiscal version. This season would be giving Weis nightmares if only he could get enough winks to actually have them. His weight does not appear to have decreased since he took the job. And you can only imagine what his blood pressure must be like.

Seeing a man of Weis's not-so-advanced years actually look daunted by the prospect of having to step up to a foot-high platform was sobering. The physical toll. The constant nationwide hostility and schadenfreude from both fans and media. The sleep-deprivation. There's gotta be an easier way to make a seven-figure income.

Domer: All That Glittered Wasn't Gold originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:54:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>charlie weisCharlieWeisJohn WaltersMon, 16 Nov 2009 10:54:00 EST There's No Ty, Weis Is Biggest Flop Everhttp://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/15/theres-no-ty-weis-is-biggest-flop-ever/http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/15/theres-no-ty-weis-is-biggest-flop-ever/http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/15/theres-no-ty-weis-is-biggest-flop-ever/#commentsFiled under:


PITTSBURGH -- It's over. There is nothing left. Charlie Weis is done at Notre Dame.

He goes down as the biggest, most colossal failure ever. Worse than Tyrone Willingham by far. Never has anyone been blown up to such proportions, at Notre Dame of all places, and then done so little. The whole thing was just hot air.

Notre Dame lost to Pitt 27-22 Saturday, and no, Weis' firing is not official yet. Sources aren't saying he's done.

But he is. The players don't believe in him anymore. He doesn't motivate them. They don't buy his schemes. They don't care about his Super Bowl rings.

He has nothing left. It's over.

It's funny how the feel of things changed Saturday night. We've watched Weis these past few years, starting with him telling his players they would have a decided `"schematic advantage'' over everyone in the country. Inexplicably, Notre Dame's power brokers, replaced his contract with a big, a 10-year deal before he had done anything.

And Jimmy Clausen came in as the spiky-haired quarterback, a high school kid arriving at the College Football Hall of Fame in a Hummer with a police escort to announce that he would play for the Irish.

Oh, the national titles that were on the way.

What a scam.

These five years under Weis should go down as a study of something seriously wrong in our sports culture. This was more than people wanting to have hope. It was a cult following, and it was so flawed from the start.

Two years ago, I wrote that Weis was the world's highest-paid intern and started calling him that. The point was that Weis was making every single mistake a first-year head coach could make, learning by error in front of Touchdown Jesus.

Also, with a background in the pros, he didn't realize that college coaching isn't about schemes but about player development. Weis' players, with few exceptions, don't develop. And in college, you can't just kick them out and buy better ones.

In September, a former Notre Dame player placed a billboard in South Bend wishing Weis luck in the fifth year of his internship. So the tension was building from the start, racial tension at first, after Willingham, who seemed to be on the path to failure, was dumped without being given a fair chance.
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Notre Dame had one black head coach in any sport in its history. And guess which football coach was the first one in recent times to be fired without having a chance to complete his first contract.

Willingham seemed headed for failure. Still, that never looked good at an athletic department with such a shaky history in minority hiring. And then Weis came in and wowed everyone somehow.

Weis and Willingham, by the way, have the same winning percentages at Notre Dame.

And Weis is playing a watered-down schedule.

That's going to be the first part of this ugly chapter in Notre Dame football history. But from there, Weis' brashness led to more and more tension, more anger and arguments.

On Saturday, it seemed so quiet. There is nothing to yell about anymore. It's over. The team was flat Saturday. Weis' job security was in question, and the players could have fought for him.

"It was how we called the game,'' Weis said, trying to explain. "You don't call the game the same way at home as you do on the road.''

Weis said he wanted to call the game conservatively.

See how different that sounds? He doesn't come across as a technical genius anymore. He's not believable.
And let's talk about Clausen and receiver Golden Tate. They are juniors, and NFL owners are demanding a new agreement that would limit big rookie bonuses starting in 2011. So this is Clausen's and Tate's last chance. They need to turn pro.

If you're holding hope that Clausen will stay for his senior year, then you haven't been paying attention. His whole life has been directed toward being in the NFL. He was held back a grade as a kid just so he could get bigger and have an edge in youth football.

And there's nothing left for him with the Irish. It's over.

Weis' internship was painful for five years. One year, he spent the fall drills putting in a gimmick offense for the
opener against Georgia Tech. At halftime, he scrapped it.

In 2007, he stopped things midseason and said he was starting fall drills all over. This time, his players would be hitting, developing toughness. Why hadn't they been hitting in practice?

Whatever. It didn't work.



One year, he talked about the importance of being a leader and letting his assistants do their jobs without being "stymied or stifled'' by a "domineering'' head coach. So he let his assistants take the offensive play-calling.

It didn't work.

Less than a season into doing it that way, he took play-calling duties back.

It didn't work.

The fight to defend the cult leader kept meaning blame on Willingham for years. His recruits, the theory went, were the problem. So in 2007, Weis was left without a defense. Yet he lost to Air Force, which had never had a recruiting class as good as Willingham's worst one.

In 2008, Weis tried to give a Gipper-like speech. Notre Dame was shut out by Boston College.

Weis' recruiting classes have been ranked among the best every year. The program is filled with top players.
It's not working. Notre Dame is 6-4.

After the loss to Navy last week, Notre Dame nose tackle Ian Williams said the team had been out-schemed.

Weis has no answers. The problems don't go away.

This is the calm after the storm. The hot air has blown away. There's nothing left.

Email me at gregcouch09@aol.com

There's No Ty, Weis Is Biggest Flop Ever originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Sun, 15 Nov 2009 02:16:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>charlie weisGreg CouchSun, 15 Nov 2009 02:16:00 EST Latest Checklist Has Many Marks Against Charlie Weishttp://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/15/latest-checklist-has-many-marks-against-charlie-weis/http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/15/latest-checklist-has-many-marks-against-charlie-weis/http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/15/latest-checklist-has-many-marks-against-charlie-weis/#commentsFiled under: ,

PITTSBURGH -- There exists a surfeit of essays, all written within the past few hours, on why Charlie Weis should be fired. Instead of adding to the drudgery, I've compiled a list of 35 thoughts (one for each victory Weis has had in South Bend) that came to mind in the wake of Notre Dame's 27-22 defeat at Pitt.

35) If motivation were all it was about, then Tony Robbins would be an SEC coach. And if intelligence were all it was about, Charlie Weis would be a winner.

34) One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting to yield different results. Mr. John Swarbrick, please stop the insanity.

33) Notre Dame's "Stepford Wives" act during post-game interviews is emblematic of why they are a failure. All four players who spoke to the media -- linebacker Brian Smith, wide receiver Golden Tate, quarterback Jimmy Clausen and safety Kyle McCarthy -- used a variation of the term "I'll have to go back and look at the tape" when asked to assess a shortcoming. If you control players' speech off the field, how much do you also stymie their self-expression on the field.

32) USC allowed more points (55) than it ever has in 121 seasons of football and Pete Carroll still had a better day than Charlie Weis.

31) The shame of it all is that the Irish may have had more players on turf at Heinz Field who will actually be playing in NFL stadiums five years from now than Pitt did.

30) Accountability? Accountability?!? Where?

29) Has anyone ever gazed upon the Notre Dame sideline in the past five years and ever thought of the word "levity"?

28) "We came out conservative," Weis said. "I call a game differently on the road than I do at home. When we're on the road, you have to consider the crowd and the tempo of the game and I thought we were doing pretty well when the score was 3-3 [late in the second quarter]."

Yes, but you have more talent in 2009 than you did in 2005, Charlie, and in your first road game, at this very stadium, you led 35-7 at the half. Please explain.

27) .583. That is the magic number. It's the career win percentage at Notre Dame of Bob Davie, Tyrone Willingham and now Charlie Weis.

26) Swarbrick was walking near the back of the group of Irish players as they trudged through the bowels of Heinz Field after the game. The Notre Dame athletic director was not spreading incense as he walked, which is customary at a funeral.

25) Do you realize that if Weis is fired, and if he refuses to accept the remainder of his salary, that A.) It would be the ultimate statement in terms of "accountability"? B) He would in effect be donating enough money to, and this is a conservative estimate, fund 50 four-year scholarships?, and C.) you and I would be living in a fantasy world of unicorns and wood nymphs?

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24) This is the proper time to call a second-half timeout before the five-minute mark of the fourth quarter: Never, never, never, never, never, never, not even once, not even if its fourth-and-goal on the other team's one-yard line, not even if your hair is on fire. Never. Ever. Are we clear?

23) It isn't his fault, of course, but if Jimmy Clausen decides to go pro after this season, the very best the Irish could finish during his era would be 19-19. That is assuming that Notre Dame beats Connecticut, Stanford and a bowl opponent, and is anyone prepared to assume that?

22) Notre Dame has outscored opponents in the fourth-quarter 60-30 in its four losses. The Irish never quit, but they never show up to play, either. It's as if every game is an exam that Notre Dame pulls an all-nighter for on the eve of and then cannot believe that it received a C-minus.

21) I don't know much about television production, but could ABC not have occasionally shown a remote shot of ESPN's Mark May and Lou Holtz watching the game in Bristol?

20) Golden Tate, warrior. I've been writing it for three years and once again he is worthy of that appellation. I asked him, "How come there don't seem to be more players on this team who try as hard as you do?"

"I go out and play every game like it's my last," Tate replied. "I can only speak for myself. I don't know."

19) Reportedly, radio play-by-play announcer Don Criqui (a Notre Dame alum) said, "Over and out for the Fighting Irish" after Pitt made it 20-3 late in the third quarter. That's on Notre Dame's flagship station. Will there be repercussions?

18) Notre Dame ran six plays, all passes, on its final drive and only one ball went to Tate. This is why you lose. Unless Tate is being double-teamed by Ed Reed and Darren Sharper, you go to him.

17) Eric Maust had a higher yardage average passing versus USC than he did punting versus Pitt. Maust completed one pass for 25 yards versus the Trojans and punted five times against the Panthers for a 24.8 yard average.

16) It's funny how Charlie Weis refuses to talk "big picture" about anything pertaining to the Irish, but he was able to say, and quite accurately, this about replay officials in general: "It seems like the replay officials recently, in a lot of games you watch, are the stars." He's right and they were wrong.

15) Cincinnati played Friday night, which means that Brian Kelly had today off. Did the Bearcats' head coach tune in to ABC this evening? Did he take notes? P.S. Demetrius Jones is on an undefeated team that will play in a BCS bowl.

14) Michael Floyd's performance for much of this evening was only a hair better than what he did for the Irish against Purdue, Washington, USC, Boston College and Washington State.

13) Are we really looking at a potential third time this decade that the Irish journey to California for Thanksgiving weekend and provide a major assist to a successful Heisman candidacy? (Carson Palmer, USC, 2002; Matt Leinart, USC, 2004) Toby Gerhart of Stanford rushed for 224 versus Oregon last week and 178 versus USC on Saturday. If he gets anything less than two bills against the Irish I will be surprised.

12) You can have just one of these two players return to Notre Dame for a senior year, Jimmy Clausen or Golden Tate. Whom are you taking?

11) The image in your mind of Brian Smith chasing Dion Lewis and then stumbling near the end says in pictures and just a few seconds everything that has been written about the Irish for pretty much the past 15 years.



10) Before Tate's 87-yard punt return for a touchdown, Notre Dame had scored all 35 TDs this season via an offensive play from scrimmage. This is a defense that simply does not make enough plays.

9) Notre Dame has had three PATs blocked this season, has a net punting average of 35.4 yards, was pantsed on a first-half onside kick by Michigan State, blew an easy fake field goal with a stupid hold against Boston College and allowed a kickoff to be returned for a touchdown by Michigan. How is special teams coach Brian Polian faring on the accountability scale?

8) The Irish are 0-3 in the past 54 weeks when Brian Smith does something inflammatory toward the opposing team coming out of the tunnel. Tonight he got into it with a Pitt player and a male cheerleader hoisting a flag.

7) Those holding their breath for Corwin Brown's next appearance in front of their media, you can go ahead and exhale now. I'm all about saving lives.

6) Pittsburgh "committed" just one penalty, for five yards, all evening. Yes, they were Big East officials.

5) Do you know which team -- outside of North Carolina State, who beat them -- gave the Panthers the toughest time this season? That's correct, Connecticut, who only lost by a 24-21 score.

4) Weis said that the Huskies would be "highly motivated" when they visit South Bend next Saturday. Why does it always seem, when it comes to Notre Dame, that the other guy is more motivated?

3) Will Weis speak at next Friday's pep rally?

2) Not including the scrimmage versus Washington State, Notre Dame has scored two first-half touchdowns in its previous five games.

1) There's a Starkist Tuna catchphrase that has been running through my mind all evening.

Latest Checklist Has Many Marks Against Charlie Weis originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Sun, 15 Nov 2009 02:01:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>John WaltersSun, 15 Nov 2009 02:01:00 EST Golden Comeback Not Enough for Irishhttp://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/14/golden-comeback-not-enough-for-irish/http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/14/golden-comeback-not-enough-for-irish/http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/14/golden-comeback-not-enough-for-irish/#commentsFiled under: ,

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Jonathan Baldwin made two exceptional catches that allowed No. 8 Pittsburgh to open up an 18-point lead in the fourth quarter before Notre Dame rallied behind two touchdowns by star Golden Tate, and the Panthers held on for a 27-22 victory Saturday night that may raise more cries for Fighting Irish coach Charlie Weis' ouster.

Notre Dame (6-4) trailed 27-9 with 12:44 remaining after Dion Lewis' 50-yard touchdown run, then came back before Jimmy Clausen fumbled with just over two minutes remaining.

The Irish followed up a did-it-really-happen 23-21 loss to Navy with their eighth consecutive loss to a Top 10 team - the longest streak in school history. Weis is 1-10 against ranked teams since 2006, and has the same record (35-25) as former coach Bob Davie and the same winning percentage (.583) as former coach Tyrone Willingham, both of whom were fired.

Pitt relied on big plays by Baldwin and running backs Lewis and Ray Graham to improve to 9-1 for the first time since 1982, Dan Marino's senior season, and is headed for a Dec. 5 home date against No. 5 Cincinnati that will decide the Big East Conference champion and BCS bowl representative. A Nov. 27 game at rival West Virginia that won't factor into the conference race.

A game that the Panthers needed to win for prestige and to remain in the Top 10 couldn't have gone much better for them for three quarters-plus, with the offense repeatedly making big plays and the defense frustrating Clausen.

Tate, one of college football's most dynamic talents, nearly brought the Irish back.

Tate ended with nine catches for 113 yards in his second 100-yard game against Pitt in as many seasons, though Pitt followed up on its 36-33, four-OT win in South Bend last season by outgaining the Irish 429-349.

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Called the best player Pitt has faced all season by coach Dave Wannstedt, Tate caught an 18-yard touchdown pass from Clausen to cut it to 27-16 with 9:10 remaining. Tate then ran right up the middle of Pitt's punt coverage unit on an 87-yard touchdown return less than two minutes later.

That score quieted a raucous crowd of 65,374, including thousands of suddenly nervous students who only minutes before loudly sung their adopted good-luck song, Neil Diamond's ``Sweet Caroline'' - only to have a couple of sweet plays by Tate create an uneasy calm.

Until Tate broke loose, Baldwin - overshadowed most of the season by teammate Dorin Dickerson and his 10 touchdown catches - upstaged Tate and Michael Floyd with a string of difference-making catches. Despite being matched step for step by defender Darrin Walls, Baldwin stretched out all of his 6 feet, 5 inches to catch Bill Stull's perfectly thrown 36-yard touchdown catch late in the second half to make it 10-3. Stull went 15 of 27 for 236 yards and no interceptions.

Baldwin then made an even better grab, a soaring 51-yard grab over Walls to the Irish 29 that led to Dan Hutchins' second field goal, a 38-yarder, and a 13-3 lead. After the Irish punted, backup Pitt running back Ray Graham ran through half of the Notre Dame defense on a 53-yard run that led to his 2-yard score one play later.

Lewis, Pitt's 1,000-yard freshman who ran for 152 yards during his sixth 100-yard game, took over on the next drive to score from the 50 and make it 27-9 after Clausen dove in from the 1 on the first play of the fourth quarter. Clausen has pulled off four comeback wins in the fourth quarter this season and, another frantic fourth, nearly did it again.

Nearly.

The Irish got the ball at their own 20 with 3:39 remaining and had a chance to pull off an improbable comeback, but a 15-yard chop block penalty prevented the drive from taking off and Clausen (27 of 42 for 283 yards, one interception) fumbled while under pressure on a third-and-16 play - one initially ruled an incompletion but reversed on replay.

Notre Dame finally got going on offense after being held to three points in the first half, a week after being shut out by Navy before halftime - a loss that rallied the Weis-must-go forces in South Bend once again.

Weis isn't accustomed to his teams not scoring points in Heinz Field. He began his Notre Dame career by beating Pitt 42-21 in 2005, only nine months after his Tom Brady-led Patriots offense rolled past the Steelers 41-27 in the AFC championship game.

Now, there will be speculation Weis' college career may have effectively ended in the same stadium where it began. The Irish still must play Connecticut and Stanford, which has beaten Top 10 teams the last two weeks, and they have again failed to beat any nationally prominent teams.

Golden Comeback Not Enough for Irish originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Sat, 14 Nov 2009 23:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>FanHouse NewswireSat, 14 Nov 2009 23:30:00 EST Live Blog: Notre Dame's November Wanehttp://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/14/live-blog-notre-dames-november-wane/http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/14/live-blog-notre-dames-november-wane/http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/14/live-blog-notre-dames-november-wane/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Charlie WeisPITTSBURGH -- Given our location this evening, I feel a responsibility to work the term "confluence" into the text. For instance, it is an interesting confluence of events that brings Charlie Weis back to Pittsburgh for the first time since his 2005 debut as he is about to coach the most important game of his career. The Fighting Irish have tackled November with all the prowess that they have tackled anything of late, which is to say not well.

The Irish are 3-7 in their last ten November contests after having won their first seven under Weis. We'll see this evening which way the proverbial arrow is pointing in terms of Notre Dame's November nitty gritty.

Key stat heading into the game? Pittsburgh leads the nation in sacks. That's bad news for a team with an immobile quarterback and a back-up who, though experienced, has yet to attempt a pass in a game this season (Evan Sharpley). I cannot, in the words of Matt Millen, "underemphasize enough" how important it is that Clausen, who is likely more dinged up than either he or Weis is letting on, remain in the game.

As for the weather? Absolutely perfect. Is this really Pittsburgh in November? It feels like San Diego. I went running this afternoon and needed sunglasses. You could have run with your shirt off. I wouldn't subject the public to that, but you could.

Enjoy the game. See you on Tweet Street.

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Live Blog: Notre Dame's November Wane originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Sat, 14 Nov 2009 21:14:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>John WaltersSat, 14 Nov 2009 21:14:00 EST Notre Dame Will Be at Home on Roadhttp://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/13/notre-dame-will-be-at-home-on-road/http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/13/notre-dame-will-be-at-home-on-road/http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/13/notre-dame-will-be-at-home-on-road/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Ron PowlusSOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Pennsylvania is a second home of sorts for the Irish, and not because it happens to be the birthplace of Irish legend Joe Montana.

Nor is it because Pittsburgh's the home of Beano Cook, who once predicted those two Heismans for Berwick, Pa., native Ron Powlus (currently the team's quarterbacks coach).

"We have more subscribers in the state of Pennsylvania than any other state," says inveterate Blue and Gold Illustrated editor Lou Somogyi.

The Panthers, despite their 8-1 record and No. 8 AP ranking, have been averaging crowds in the mid-40,000 level this season at Heinz Field. Saturday night's game, however, despite being available free on television (ABC), is a sellout (65,000-plus) and the Panthers are selling an additional 1,000 standing-room-only ducats. The attendance could possibly break the modern-record for a sporting event in Pittsburgh (66,731 for a 2002 "Backyard Brawl" contest between West Virginia and Pitt).

Even if that record is set, better not to etch it in marble. On Sunday the NFL's Steelers host the suddenly imposing Bengals for the AFC Central lead. And, should Pitt and the University of Cincinnati continue their winning ways, a 10-1 Panther teams hosting an 11-0 Cincy team on Dec. 5 will be every bit as entertaining (actually, more) than the SEC championship game.

As for current Irish Quaker Staters, cornerback Darrin Walls is the most prominent. In his only other visit to his home state in September of '07, Walls picked off a pass at Penn State and returned it 73 yards for a touchdown. It was the only touchdown the Irish scored in their first three games that season.

Only Way to Score for ND

Speaking of which, Notre Dame has now played nine games without scoring a defensive or special teams TD. The Fighting Irish have scored 33 touchdowns, each and every one on a play from scrimmage. Adding variety to the means of six-point production would do much to mitigate those red-zone production issues, no?

Weis Cracks

On Wednesday night, a Chicago Comcast sports host said that Weis had "thrown several players under the bus" this week. I can only imagine that he was referring to Weis' response to a question about what the Irish would do differently in the red zone this week.

"We're going to try not to fumble on the 1," Weis answered. "And we're going to try not to throw an interception inside the 5. Then we're going to try to make field goals when we're on the 14-yard line. That takes care of a few of them."

Is that throwing players under the proverbial bus? Or is that just being honest and accurate? Reminds me of the classic quote from then Tampa Bay Buccaneer coach John McKay. When asked what he thought of his team's execution, McKay quipped, "I'm in favor of it."

This is not football-related, but I had to share. On Tuesday The Observer had an above-the-fold story with the headline "Journalists discuss state of media" (yours truly, unsurprisingly, was not invited to participate). Anyway, a photo accompanied the piece and the caption beneath read as follows: "Jill Abramson and David Shribman discuss the future of jour-"

Might be a good clip to exclude from the portfolio.

Polling Observations

The latest results of The Observer poll, "When should Charlie Weis be fired?" suggest a bermuda-grass roots level of support for the embattled coach is incrementally growing.

A) Never -- 12 percent (11, Wednesday)
B) Should have been fired yesterday -- 31 percent (32)
C) After our next loss -- 8 percent (7)
D) After the season -- 49 percent (50)

One dorm, and only one, is overtly expressing its support for the team this week. Hanging from the third-floor balcony window of Dillon Hall (remember, the self-proclaimed "Smartest, Toughest and Humblest") is a giant bed sheet banner that reads simply, "DON'T FLINCH, BEAT PITT!"

Notre Dame Will Be at Home on Road originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:24:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>Charlie Weisron powlusJohn WaltersFri, 13 Nov 2009 12:24:00 EST Domer: Corwin Goes Off ... Messagehttp://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/12/domer-corwin-goes-off-message/http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/12/domer-corwin-goes-off-message/http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/12/domer-corwin-goes-off-message/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

FanHouse writer John Walters is living in South Bend, Ind., during one of the most pivotal seasons in Notre Dame history. Check back daily for his dispatches on the Irish.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Notre Dame co-defensive coordinator Corwin Brown went Dennis Miller ("I don't mean to get off on a rant, but...") on Wednesday evening, and my question is simply this: Why don't we see this out of the Fighting Irish more often?

If you have yet to see the video, Brown interrupted the first question he was asked during the typically informal gathering and instead called out Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo for nearly two minutes. Brown was most upset by two things:

1) That Niumatalolo would state that "he didn't want something to be misconstrued, then he said it regarding how we prepared and what we prepared to do."

Niumatalolo's actual comment, in response to a question as to what was the key to Navy's hot offensive start, was, "I think the one thing that helped us, and I really hope this doesn't come across wrong, but I think the thing that helped us this year was last year, because we knew that they'd line up the same way."

I remember standing about 10 yards from Niumatalolo when he said that and thinking, "Rancors aweigh!" Niumatalolo was likely being sincere, but he probably could have done without the "I really hope this doesn't come across wrong" clause. A simple, "They lined up exactly the way they did last year and this time we were ready for it" might have stung, but it would have been simple and honest.

For Brown, Niumatalolo's statemement came across the same way as if you were to say, "No disrespect, but --," the three words that are always followed by a disrespectful remark. As if saying that magic phrase absolves you.

2) Malicious downfield blocking. Navy wideout Nick Henderson was called for a personal foul on Irish cornerback Robert Blanton. In this video, you'll see Henderson take a shot at Blanton's knee after the play and far from the play. Brown called it "one of the most malicious plays I've ever seen since I've been playing."
It's one thing to blindside a player. It's another thing to go for the side of his knee when neither one of you are involved in the play. That could have been a career-ending injury.

Brown did more than simply call out Niumatalolo. He called him. The Irish assistant revealed that he placed a phone call earlier this week to Annapolis this week to tell Niumatalolo that he thought it was all "very poor."

Whether you agree with Brown or think he was being a sore loser, such overt emotion from the coaching staff is exactly what this Notre Dame team craves. It's no coincidence that with Charlie Weis upstairs and Brown on the sidelines at the Hawaii Bowl in December that the Irish put a whupping on Hawaii.

Here's the thing about facing Navy. Notre Dame can't win if it loses and it can't win if it wins. When the Irish lose, as they've done two of the past four years, the response -- and rightfully so -- is "How can you lose to Navy?" Yet three years ago, Notre Dame won in Baltimore and a local scribe actually chided Weis for keeping Brady Quinn in too long, indirectly accusing him of running up the score. The final that afternoon? 38-14.

Last season Weis pulled his starters midway through the fourth with a 27-7 lead. Then Navy almost came all the way back and, of course, we excoriated Weis for being so cavalier.

What Navy represents each year, as one Irish official put it last week, "is a pain in the ass."

So if you can't win for losing and you can't win for winning, well, you might as well win. And win big, if you can.
No matter how you feel about whether Weis should be fired, next year's Navy game would be so much more worth watching if he and Brown are still involved.

Making a Point

If you happened to be watching "SportsCenter" just before 7 p.m. on Wednesday evening, you saw them cut away to a routine at West Point performed by cadets that is known as the "accountability formation." I don't think this is exactly what Weis is referring to this week ... then again, it couldn't hurt.




On Tuesday Weis revealed that Jimmy Clausen, alias No. 7, was texting him Sunday at 1 .m.

"Most people after the game were feeling sorry for themselves," Weis said. "He was mad at himself because he felt that he had lost the game. And that's what really good players do. They don't look at any other reason than themselves. I mean the kid's texting me at 1:00 in the morning about fumbling on the 1-yard line. He had just thrown 450 yards, going up and down the field. That meant nothing to him."

A few thoughts on this statement:

1) The Irish might be better off if Weis did a better job of spreading the love, at least publicly, for his players. We knew that Clausen was extraordinarily talented, and on Saturday we were reminded just how tough he is. The young man has the mobility of your great uncle Elmer and his goal-line moxie won't remind anyone of Tebow, but other than that he is pretty flawless. Still, would it hurt to Weis to shower Golden Tate with praise more often for bailing the Irish out on a weekly basis? Or to note that Eric Olsen, in his first season playing center, has yet to allow a sack?

2) Weis' cellphone should have been blowing up with text messages from a lot of players on Saturday night. There's no excuse for how flat the Irish were in the first half, and that's on the coaching staff. On the other hand, it's true, the players have to be accountable for not making plays. A short list of players besides Clausen who might have texted Weis on Saturday evening:

--Nick Tausch, for missing two field goals.

--Michael Floyd, for failing to pick up Clausen's "double cadence", which led to the interception.

-- Robby Parris, for failing to secure the ball and fumbling on the game's third play from scrimmage.

-- Robert Blanton, for failing to cover a slot receiver he thought had lined up on the line of scrimmage.

Regardless of whether Blanton was correct, what team would send only two players wide on the same side of the field and place them both on the line, therefore rendering the inside man ineligible? Why would a DB ever assume that? And Blanton needs to understand how poor it looks for a player to be pleading with a referee as the play is still ongoing.

--Brian Smith, for being mostly responsible for making Vince Murray a household name.. Smith may have led the Irish in tackles on Saturday with ten, but the middle linebacker should have had more. Watch the first play of the fourth quarter. That's the play in which fullback Vince Murray takes a handoff at his own 1 and goes up the gut untouched for 39 yards. Were the Irish "out-schemed" on that play or did Smith simply blow it?

--Harrison Smith, for being in a season-long funk. Watch Murray's 25-yard touchdown run that opens the second quarter(the Mids were accommodating enough to place two of their more remarkable "explosives" in the first play of both the second and fourth quarter; it will save you a lot of time). Brian Smith can be forgiven for that, as Navy's right guard burst out untouched and takes on B. Smith. Why, though, is Harrison Smith drifting toward the right flat?

Yes, there are schematic questions. Why didn't the Irish line someone up on Navy's center? Why, by playing both Sergio Brown and H. Smith simultaneously, did they play a nickel package, in terms of personnel? Is it because they have that little faith in their down linemen?

It's funny. You watch the game again and you see that outside the red zone Clausen completed a ridiculous 82.5 percent of his throws (33 of 40). Inside the red zone, though, he was just 4 of 11 (36.4 percent). Inside the red zone, the Irish rushing attack was not up to the challenge of getting the tough yards, and often could not get out of its own way. Literally.

On consecutive plays in the second quarter, inside the 5-yard line, the Notre Dame rusher ran into tight end Mike Ragone. On second-and-2 from the Navy 4, Theo Riddick, who otherwise had a fantastic game, ran right up into the back of Ragone where he might have scored if he'd cut outside. On the following play Robert Hughes took a toss sweep and, in striving to turn the corner, ran into Ragone. He should have cut up, inside the block.

Domer: Corwin Goes Off ... Message originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:55:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>John WaltersThu, 12 Nov 2009 16:55:00 EST Daily Domer: A Question of Legacyhttp://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/11/daily-domer-a-question-of-legacy/http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/11/daily-domer-a-question-of-legacy/http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/11/daily-domer-a-question-of-legacy/#commentsFiled under: ,

FanHouse writer John Walters is living in South Bend, Ind., during one of the most pivotal seasons in Notre Dame history. Check back daily for his dispatches on the Irish.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- On Monday, The Observer, Notre Dame's student newspaper, ran a quote on its front page that, because it was not intended as an insult, was exponentially more insulting. In a piece about the student body's devastation at having lost to Navy, freshman Jaimie Morrison is quoted as saying, "It's harder losing to a team that you are closer to in skill (i.e., Navy) as opposed to the USC game."

From the mouths of babes...

Morrison's comment should make any Irish fan of a certain age cringe. Either that or shed a tear like that Indian who happened upon the litter on the side of the highway. If that reference means nothing to you, then you are probably young enough not to recognize the irony of Morrison's comment. I'm not sure the editors of The Observer even caught it.

And maybe that's the point.

Between 1964 and 2006 Notre Dame never lost to Navy. The Irish were 43-0 against the Mids. During that same era Notre Dame went 19-21-3 versus USC, even though the Trojans won six national championships as determined by the AP or UPI during that span.

"I don't see who wouldn't want to go to Notre Dame," says Steve Belles, a member of the 1988 national championship team who is now the most successful high school coach in Arizona. "But, realistically, these kids growing up haven't seen a real good Notre Dame."

Belles, the head coach at Chandler Hamilton High School, which has won two state championships in the past three seasons at the highest (5-A) level, has had two players with the pedigree to be offered by the Irish: one, defensive back Gerell Robinson, visited Notre Dame but chose Arizona State two years ago. The other, safety Devon Carrington, chose Stanford without ever visiting South Bend.

"The perception among these kids is, 'Are you winning now?'" says Belles, who has been a coach at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl the past two years. "It's amazing how much players talk amongst themselves about lining themselves up with the best class. Everybody wants that quick fix. It's a fast-food restaurant mentality."

Robinson and Carrington, like the aforementioned Morrison, were not even born the last time the Irish won a national championship (1988). They were infants the last time the Irish put together a season worthy of a national title (1994).

To them, to the current college -- and high school -- student, Notre Dame is a once-proud empire desperately attempting to regain its lost glory. To them Notre Dame is, as one reader put it to me earlier last week, Great Britain.

History, after all, is everything that happened before you were born.
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During the captains press conference on Wednesday, Jimmy Clausen mentioned that in the huddle before every play, center Eric Olsen gives the down and distance. Maybe it's just me, but I find that fascinating. Particularly when the play-by-play announcer so often gets it wrong by a yard or two. Or maybe Olsen just takes a peek at the scoreboard.



It was a difficult Saturday for quarterbacks who dared to demonstrate their manhood. Florida State QB Christian Ponder, the lone bright spot in the 4-5 Seminoles' season, was lost for the year when he tackled Deandre McDaniel following an interception. McDaniel lowered his shoulder into Ponder and administered a Grade 3 shoulder separation.

"When he hit the guy out of bounds?" Jimmy Clausen said Wednesday when asked about it. "Yeah, I saw that."

I asked Clausen if plays such as that, as well as the hit he endured Saturday, have ended his days of contact. "To be honest the reason I didn't slide in the game was I thought it was third down," said Clausen. "I was just trying to put my body out there and score a touchdown and get some points on the board.

"If I can go back, and I knew it was first down and I probably would slide."

Wait, where was Olsen in the huddle before that play?



Charlie WeisIn a more jovial time -- specifically, 10 days ago, Charlie Weis joked with us reporters that "I'd never lie to you guys. I try to be evasive as I possibly can. But I don't lie to you."

That was a partial response to a question concerning freshman wideout Shaquelle Evans, and whether the freshman from Los Angeles who had not been seen on the field in about five games was in the figurative "dog house". The candid reply drew laughs.

Weis may not lie, but his evasiveness was on full display Tuesday when asked about the injury to tight end Kyle Rudolph. Only a week or so ago Weis referred to his sophomore tight end, who is second on the team in catches with 33, as a future NFL first-rounder. On Tuesday he announced that Rudolph "probably won't be back for the rest of the season."

When asked to elaborate on the injury, Weis replied, "It's some muscle -- muscles on the shoulder. I just know that they were fearing a collarbone being broken, and that's not it."

Brian Hamilton of the Chicago Tribune reported that it is a "separated shoulder." Notre Dame thus far will not confirm or deny that. If it is not a broken collarbone and yet it is serious enough to sideline Rudolph for three weeks, that's a reasonable assumption.


Lou Holtz once said that if everyone who devoted so much energy to evaluating Notre Dame football spent as much time assessing themselves, the world would be a much better place. If that's true, the state of the world has definitely diminished in the past four days.

The message boards posters have been absolutely prolific this week, producing more material than any one person (with a job) could ever hope to keep pace with. Here, though, are a few of the more intriguing posts from what I was able to glean:

1) A post that recites the seven criteria of being a successful coach, as originally penned by Notre Dame alumnus Francis Wallace ('23) in his book "Notre Dame: From Rockne to Parseghian". I am unaware whether these requirements are to be attributed to Rockne, but I would imagine so. You'll find the list eerie, I suppose.

2) A Gruden vs. Kelly smattering of YouTube videos.

3) Most depressing, a "Charlie Weis Fact Sheet" concerning the team's on-field performance since the the Pat ex-pat arrived in town.




The Observer, by the way, is currently running a poll that asks the question, "When should Charlie Weis be fired?" Not, "Should Charlie Weis be fired?", but "When...?" The answers provided and the result of the survey thus far are

A) Never (11 percent)

B) Should have been fired yesterday (32)

C) After our next loss (7 pct)

D) After the season (50 pct)


The alluring aspect of the final 25 percent of Notre Dame's season, from a fighter's standpoint, is that it isn't going to be easy. The Irish are not heading into a no-survivors situation as they were late last November at USC, but they aren't headed to another Alamodome exhibition, either.

All three foes -- Pitt, Connecticut and Stanford -- are formidable, but none is indomitable. And it would seem that for a Notre Dame team that is seemingly on the ropes, its true battlers would welcome this "What tho' the odds" moment.

"You could say that," said fifth-year senior safety Kyle McCarthy, who made his debut in a Notre Dame uniform at Pitt in '05, the same night Weis made his Notre Dame debut. "I don't think the country really feels that Notre Dame is one of the top teams in the country and has much of a chance this week. So we're not going to say much about it because we're not in a position to say much about it."

Olsen concurred.

"At the same time while everyone was giving us grief about the Navy loss, especially on TV and stuff, just looking at the rest of our schedule we had the great opportunity to kind of redeem ourselves here," the senior center said. "You know, if anybody on the team throws in the towel in any way shape or form, then we're in for a long ride.

"These are three good football games," Olsen said. "We're not looking past Pitt. But it's no secret who is at the end of our schedule. So it's a great opportunity for our team to step back up and show everyone what we're about and redeem ourselves for this past weekend."


Finally, in remembrance of Veteran's Day, Notre Dame's ROTC has four members in full military dress keep vigil in rotating half-hour shifts in front of the Clarke Memorial Fountain (better known around here as Stonehenge) for 24 consecutive hours. The fountain is itself a war memorial. Here's a shot taken earlier today. Fortunately for those who stood guard, it was an unseasonably beautiful day (temps in the mid-60s) here in South Bend.

Daily Domer: A Question of Legacy originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:29:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>John WaltersWed, 11 Nov 2009 20:29:00 EST Meyer Won't Be Able to Avoid Irish Itchhttp://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/11/meyer-wont-be-able-to-avoid-irish-itch/http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/11/meyer-wont-be-able-to-avoid-irish-itch/http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2009/11/11/meyer-wont-be-able-to-avoid-irish-itch/#commentsFiled under:

Urban MeyerThe dog ate my homework.

The check is in the mail.

"I'm not going to Notre Dame. Ever."

Unless you believe something along the lines that the folks at Touchdown Jesus will spray paint the Golden Dome, Urban Meyer will become the next head football coach for the Fighting Irish. Sometime.

It's going to happen, all right. Meyer will end his brilliant stint with the Florida Gators for a return to South Bend, Ind., where he left his heart as a Notre Dame assistant coach from 1996 to 2000. It's going to happen, because unless you haven't been paying attention, Meyer keeps saying how much he covets the Notre Dame job. He said so emphatically during a radio show on a South Florida station in December 2008. He also wrote as much two summers ago in his authorized biography.

Meyer has yet to claim that he misquoted himself.

It's going to happen, because after NFL-bound Tim Tebow spends January giving Meyer either a third national championship in four years or something close, Meyer will be bigger than Steve Spurrier, the ol' ball coach who invented the Mighty Gators. So, at that point, with his Florida and national legacy intact for the ages, and as a devout Catholic named after a bunch of Popes, Meyer will be free to follow his heart to the most Catholic place this side of the Vatican.

It's going to happen, because now Meyer keeps saying in public that it won't happen. I mean, we've seen this before. As Nick Saban became Nick Satan around Miami, he said, "I'm not going to be the Alabama coach" before he bolted the Dolphins for the Crimson Tide. And remember Roy "I could give a [bleep] about North Carolina right now" Williams? After he claimed on national television that "I haven't thought about [North Carolina] one second" during an interview after a loss for his Kansas team in the NCAA Tournament, he bolted for North Carolina, his alma mater.

Meyer isn't a Notre Dame graduate, but while he grew up in northern Ohio saying Hail Marys, well, you know the rest.

Which brings us to Spurrier taking a break from his current role as South Carolina football coach during the spring to tell an Alabama radio station, "They still got that rumor going down there ... that if [Meyer] has one more big year, he might be the Notre Dame coach." Spurrier later compared Meyer's current plight to the one he faced when he decided to exchange a splendid career at Florida for an ill-fated stay with the Washington Redskins. "I'd be surprised if [Meyer] left, but who knows?" Spurrier said. "He's accomplished so much. I left after 12 years because I just said, 'Hey. I've done enough. Try something else.'

"He may get to the point where he needs to try something else. Who knows?"

Soon after Spurrier's remarks caused more than a little panic around Gainesville, Meyer responded with his "ever" statement about never going to Notre Dame. He still says he isn't Irish bound when asked, or he just ignores the question.

I mean, what else can Meyer say about his Irish intentions, especially with another loaded Florida team that needs no distractions? He also has a bunch of Gator folks who are so obsessed with trying to keep him in Gainesville that they recently made him the richest SEC coach at $4 million per year through 2014.

It's just that Meyer will be at Notre Dame by then.

The buyout clause in Meyer's Florida contract is a reported $500,000, a ridiculously low figure, which tells you that his bosses know the inevitable: No matter what the price to try to stop it, this courtship of at least five years between the Irish and Meyer will lead to a marriage within the next few seasons.

Actually, it could happen within months, because maybe you've heard: Charlie Weis just did something that historically gets Notre Dame coaches fired in a hurry. He couldn't beat Navy. Not only that, he couldn't do so for a second time in three years, and both losses were at Notre Dame.

Charlie WeisFour of the previous six Notre Dame coaches who lost to Navy were gone within a year of that loss. And Notre Dame only has dropped 11 games overall to the traditionally sorry Midshipmen who have been part of this continuous series since 1927.

Weis has other issues, too. If Notre Dame does the expected by getting mauled on Saturday night at Pitt by the 8-1 Panthers, Notre Dame will drop to 6-4 this season and 35-25 in Weis' fifth year. That would be the same record that Bob Davie had when he was fired, and that also would be the same winning percentage (.583) that Tyrone Willingham had when he was fired.

And neither Davie nor Willingham ever lost to Navy.

Among other current horrors for the Irish under Weis, they've dropped seven straight times to teams in the top 10. Worse, they've been fighting for their lives against other foes much less than that. They've had seven games decided in the last minute, and they've had all of these struggles despite overwhelming talent.

For instance: with the possibility of quarterback Jimmy Clausen going from a Heisman Trophy to a first-round NFL pick, the Irish have ended four games with 500 or more yards in total offense. They have two future pros at wide receiver, another one at tight end, several gifted running backs and a decent offensive line.

Collectively, the defense is brutal (79th overall out of 120 teams), but individually, the defense has enough talent everywhere not to be the clueless bunch that it has been during most of the Weis era.

No wonder the speculation around the Irish Nation and beyond is rampant when it comes to possible Weis replacements.

Jon Gruden, Brian Kelly, Paul Johnson.

Definitely Meyer, and here's a thought: if Meyer wants to wait a while longer before joining the Irish, maybe 72-years-young Lou Holtz could return to bridge the gap between now and whenever Meyer is ready to make that move.

Remember that Meyer said the reason he didn't take the Notre Dame job before it was offered to Weis was due to timing.

To quote Meyer in his biography, "I wanted to go to Notre Dame, but my family wanted to talk about going to Florida." Meyer also said he didn't wish to spend time recruiting nationally away from his young family. But guess what? Meyer's family isn't so young anymore. The oldest daughter is an 18-year-old volleyball player at Georgia Tech, another daughter is 16 and his son is 10.

Consider what Meyer said during that radio interview with South Florida 's WQAM-AM 560 in December 2008: "Once my kids are done, maybe someday I'll go there [Notre Dame]. I don't know that. That's way down the road. Being a father and being able to recruit the best athletes in within a five-hour radius of my home, that's why I came to Florida. I thought we could have a great chance at success."

It's been there, done that for Meyer. As a result, he can "go there, do that" in South Bend, where he still gets blue-and-gold chills.

He just can't admit it -- although he already has.

Terence Moore is a national columnist and commentator for FanHouse. He is a frequent panelist on "Rome Is Burning," an ESPN show hosted by Jim Rome, that is seen Monday through Friday at 4:30 PM ET. Moore spent more than three decades working for major newspapers, including 26 years as an award-winning sports columnist for the San Francisco Examiner and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He resides in Atlanta.
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Meyer Won't Be Able to Avoid Irish Itch originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:28:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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]]>Terence MooreWed, 11 Nov 2009 20:28:00 EST