NCAA Football notre dame Fighting Irish

"Win one for the Gipper?" How about "Win one to keep the Gipper out of the Gator Bowl?"

When Stanford plays host to Notre Dame (6-5) Saturday, the entire Big East Conference will be pulling for the Cardinal to defeat the Fighting Irish.

The reason is simple: an Irish victory would likely earn Notre Dame an invitation to the Gator Bowl, taking one of the Big East's bowl berths.

The Gator Bowl has the option of selecting a Big East team or Notre Dame, as long as the Irish have at least seven wins. There has been an understanding between the Big East and the Gator Bowl that it would only take Notre Dame if the Irish is within two wins of an available Big East team. However, there is nothing in writing and since the Gator Bowl and Big East are parting ways after this season, the Gator Bowl has no reason to honor that agreement.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- School's out. In so many ways.

It is a wet and raw and gray Thanksgiving eve day. Classes ended Tuesday for the holiday weekend. The Notre Dame campus is quiet except for the shuffling back and forth by various football players between the Gug and the athletic trainers' offices inside the Joyce Athletic and Convocation Center (the J.A.C.C.).

Tailback Armando Allen, his right arm in a soft cast and a sling, is one of many players who can be seen (but not spoken to) walking at what can only be described as a leisurely pace. Allen's sling-and-cast get-up, by the way, appears less cumbersome than the one Charlie Jr. was sporting at Tuesday's practice following the surgery he underwent Monday for a broken finger.

Darth Visor, to answer your question, was nowhere to be seen.

Urban Meyer almost cried at the mention of Notre Dame the other day. His heart and future is at Florida, and nothing short of a papal encyclical is going to change that.

Sorry, Irish fans. Such a thing is not on Pope Benedict's calendar.

If only Notre Dame had a bit more divine wisdom 10 years ago, it wouldn't be in this mess. The Fighting Irish had Meyer and let him go. Now, there's just a trail of tears that altered the college football universe.

How different would this decade have been if Notre Dame had locked up its former receivers coach in 2000?

SOUTH 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.

Follow my live tweets from South Bend after the jump:

SOUTH 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.

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.

SOUTH 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.

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.

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.

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. -- 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?