Talking Troy | by Pat

Let's dig into Charlie's recent presser and see what he has to say about the biggest game of his career.

On injuries:

COACH WEIS: Everyone's a go. As a matter of fact, in warm-ups today you'll even see Floyd out there in a uniform today. He won't be playing; I'm not going to do that for window dressing, but he's getting -- he looks like he might be ahead of schedule and looks like come November we might -- there is a chance we might get him back and playing again. But he can go out there, can't catch balls but he can run around today.

But, you know, Jimmy's Jimmy, you know. Turf toe is better but he'll have it till after the season's over. Flemming's back. Aldridge is back. They're all back.

On the possibility of green jerseys:

COACH WEIS: No, we'll be wearing blue jerseys on Saturday.

On the "USC Owns Notre Dame" hat he keeps in his office:

COACH WEIS: I do have that cap but I keep it for a different season, Tom, which is kind of private. But with that cap came a letter from somebody with a very derogatory comment towards my daughter. So until we win a game, I'll hold on to that cap. And when we've won a game, that cap won't be around any more. It's kind of a refresher for me and I'd just rather than share the derogatory comment I'd like to just keep that private.

On Clausen taking the next step as a quarterback:

COACH WEIS: I think the bottom line is when he had to play in the fourth quarter [against Purdue], when he had to come in the game, when the game had changed and we had gone from a ten point lead to going down and he led us on the drive at the end of the game and threw a touchdown pass, you know, with 30 seconds to go in the game, I think that that was a moment where his career might have changed on that drive. Because it showed the team a toughness that, you know, the team has to witness that, and it was visible to his teammates and our fans and everyone else. I think that was a turning point for Jimmy Clausen.

On Te'o:

COACH WEIS: Manti is getting to look more like a guy who is been out there. You know, I'd say he is far from a finished product, but, you know, the fact he is getting so many reps now and he's got that one game of starting under his belt, I think that, you know, he looks a lot more comfortable now. That being said, you know, he's going against a dynamic offense this week, so he's going to have to be ready to bring his lunch pail with him.

On the differences from last year's game to this one:

COACH WEIS: Well, Jimmy's part of this answer, but part of the answer starts with the offensive line. I think that if we played like we did last year and get dominated like we did last year, it won't make a darn bit of difference what Jimmy does, and I think that is where it all starts.

I think last year it was just a man-handling. And I think that's what they'll try to do to us again. You know, they had great success doing it, there's no reason to believe they won't try that same approach.

That being said, I think that, you know, Jimmy's become the leader. So when he's out there, the guys expect good things to happen, and he expects good things from his teammates. And I think if you are there in the huddle in practice every day, it's just different. You know, his expectations for his own play are through the roof, but his expectations for the performance of his teammates, you know, has risen everyone's level.