Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say... | by Pat

As expected, the Hawai'i Bowl is ecstatic that Notre Dame, even at 6-6, fell into their lap.

Calling it a "Christmas wish" come true, the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl has assembled the most anticipated pairing of its seven-year history, matching the University of Hawai'i football team with tradition-rich Notre Dame for the Dec. 24 game at Aloha Stadium.

Notre Dame fans on the other hand seem rather divided on the choice for a number of reasons. The first involves the very fact that the game is being played on Christmas Eve. Add in the cost of flying the team and assorted staff out to Hawai'i, the proximity to finals, and the displeasure of a 6-6 ND team even going to a bowl game and it should be no surprise that many fans are grumbling about the decision to accept the Hawai'i bowl bid.

The Honolulu Advertiser article linked above does a nice job running down ND's bowl options as the season finished up.

But the Pac-10, in an uncharacteristically down year, was struggling to meet its obligation to send a sixth selection and it was feared the Hawai'i Bowl might have to look to a less recognizable representative from the much-less prestigious Mid-American or Sun Belt conferences to find UH an opponent.

At that point, the Honolulu-based Matlin lobbied the game's owner, ESPN Regional Television of Charlotte, N.C., to lay the groundwork for the long-shot possibility of Notre Dame, enlisting Derzis, ERT vice president, in the cause.

But, Matlin said, "a lot had to happen" in a process that others involved have compared to a "root canal."

Slowly, it unfolded.

The Irish were stunned by 3-9 Syracuse, 24-23, removing them from consideration from the Konica Minolta Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla. Notre Dame's 38-3 loss to Southern California coupled with Louisville's 63-14 loss to Rutgers opened the way for Pittsburgh to represent the Big East in the Brut Sun Bowl instead of the Irish.

Then, the Pac-10 was able to field only five bowl-eligible teams because Stanford, UCLA and Arizona State all suffered crucial late losses and were unable to get to 6-6.

That made the Irish, at 6-6, an at-large team available to negotiate once the remaining teams with winning records, Western Michigan (9-3) and Louisiana Tech (7-5), were placed. Under NCAA rules, all teams with winning records must be accommodated before those with .500 marks.

The Independence Bowl in Shreveport, La., Papajohns.com Bowl in Birmingham, Ala., Motor City Bowl in Detroit and Texas Bowl in Houston joined the Hawai'i Bowl as the Irish's options over the weekend. All put a full-court press on Notre Dame and all offered major TV exposure except Texas, which has an NFL Network deal.

Irish spokesman John Heisler said officials researched the various bowls and asked the players for input. They reportedly strongly favored the Hawai'i Bowl (BGS ed. they picked Christmas in Waikiki over Detroit? Shocking!), but Heisler said a vote wasn't taken.

The article goes on to talk about ND making sure to finish up finals before flying out for the game and the fact they are already expecting to lose money on the trip. There may be more public comments on the decision, likely starting today, so we'll wait for those and any more facts that might surface before chiming in.

Bowling | by Jeff

For anyone who hasn't heard yet, looks like we will be spending Christmas Eve in front of our TVs watching the Irish take on Hawai'i in the Hawai'i Bowl.

vs

the Winter of our Discontent | by Jay

It strikes me, after a couple of drinks, that we might actually be witnessing a classical 5-act dramatic structure unfolding before us. After setting the stage in the first two acts, our protagonist has suffered a stunning reversal of luck in Act III, and has been trying to pull himself out of it during the falling action of Act IV. The narrative, like all narratives do, will reach a dénouement in Act V.

The only question to ponder...are we watching a comedy, or a tragedy?

Being Jack Swarbrick | by Pete

A mental exercise, if you will. Let's say you're Jack Swarbrick. (you're Jack Swarbrick ...)

After all the rumors, scuttlebutt, and alleyway whispers have come and gone, you find yourself sitting in a room with Charlie Weis on Tuesday for two hours in San Jose, talking about the future of the program and what needs to be done to fix it. You're about to tell him of your decision to either keep him for another year, or chuck him out the door. And here's what you might say.

Charlie, before we get to changes, let's look at the reality of the situation.

• You and I both you know you have a lengthy contract with this University, and it's more than a little likely there is a semi-sizable buyout provision included in that contract. Considering these rough economic times, and considering we just finished paying an individual not to work at this university, we're not particularly interested in doing that again. We'll do it if we have to, but we'd rather not.

• We also know this football program hasn't sniffed stability since the late 90s, and establishing the program's reputation as a coaching slaughterhouse is similarly not in our best interests.

• Furthermore, as of right now, no slam-dunk, premier coaches are currently available or capable of taking the job.

• And while there are promising, up-and-coming candidates for your job that I have been in contact with, Notre Dame has had the bad habit recently of bringing in coaches who end up being unqualified for the position. I'm not particularly interested in rolling the dice on an upstart just yet to find myself having this same conversation 4 years from now with them.


So, what do I like about what you've done?

• Recruiting, even with recent setbacks on the field, appears to be holding steady at a very successful rate. Your work ethic in this area is top-notch, as are your results. Talent is coming into the program, and that's an inherently healthy thing.

• And considering that you've assembled a very talented roster, we'd like to keep it. Dismissing you and risking a number of transfers just when the roster is beginning solidify is not a smart long-term move.

• While I have serious issues with your staff -- I'll get to these later -- you've not only shown a willingness over your time with us to address areas of deficiency (specifically on the defense), and you have shown the ability to land the hires that will fix those problems. That's good, because you'll be needing to do it again.

• Furthermore, you've shown a willingness to make changes to your own coaching style. Obviously, undergoing a head coach's learning curve here is less than ideal, but that's on Notre Dame as much as it's on you. We appreciate you were willing to take the job in the first place, and you've shown some examples of being able to learn and adapt.

• You are, indeed, an alumnus of this fine university, and while oftentimes that can be dismissed as a squishy, feel-good intangible, it is a positive aspect of your tenure here, and one that we would likely lose if we took on another coach. You understand the traditions and the standards we uphold, and you don't try to work against them. In short, you "get" the place, and not every coach we could bring in could say that.

• It seems like a long, long time ago for both of us, but there was a time when you were guiding this team to outstanding records, BCS bowl appearances, and fielding All-Americans and Heisman Trophy contenders. You've had two good seasons and two bad ones. I'd like to see you figure out how to return to the former category, which you are obviously capable of. If we didn't think you were capable of success here, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

• Thanks to your outstanding recruiting, starting next Fall we will finally have a full and talented depth chart for the first time in many years. The pieces will be in place. We want to see what you can do with it, once inexperience truly is no longer an arguable issue.

• And at the very least, keeping you around for one more year -- presuming your recruiting continues to be successful -- ensures a stable base of talent for your successor to use. Harsh, but true.


The previous items in your favor are why I'm willing to have this conversation, and why you're meeting with me instead of a FedEx guy delivering a pink slip. However, the reason this conversation was even necessary is as follows:

• At this point, it's evident that you and your coaches are not adequately preparing our players for Saturday. Fundamentals are fundamentally lacking and execution is inconsistent. Changes have to be made, and while you've shored up the defensive side of the ball, it's now time for you to fix the offense and put together a complete team.

• While the team is admittedly talented, they've grossly underperformed for the past two years. If you're not coaching fundamentals properly, it does me no good to keep you, even with more talent incoming, if it's just being squandered. While youth and inexperience was a legitimate scapegoat in 2007, it was no longer a credible excuse in 2008, and the team does not appear to be as far enough along as it should be. There are many reasons to believe that your over-reliance on schematic wizardry meant that you've ignored the most basic of football fundamentals, with lack of consistent first downs on offense, especially on short yardage, being Exhibit A. I don't care how good your playbook is if the team can't make it work on the field. If you want to spend your time finding the chinks in the armor of every opponent under the sun and taking advantage of them with complex schemes, you can go back to being an offensive coordinator in the NFL. We need a head coach and an offensive staff that will get the most out of our players and consistently move the ball down the field.

• What's more, because of your frustrating inability to field competitive teams against top talent and a subpar win-loss record, your credibility with many alumni and fans of the program is rapidly approaching nil. If many of them were in my shoes, you would've been unemployed after the Boston College game. You've got a big hole to climb out of.

• Many of your underlying problems have lingered for a number of years, and I'm not sure one more year is enough to correct these deep-seated disadvantages. I am skeptical but willing to give you one more year. You need to prove me wrong.


So, Charlie, we've decided to retain you for now, both for reasons of your own merit and reasons entirely outside of your control. However, rest assured that serious and fundamental changes need to be made to the program, and we will be keeping a very, very close eye on the development of this team. We want you to succeed, and we will help you to achieve that end, but we won't sit around forever waiting for you to stop failing.

(End Swarbrick)

That's a whole lot of variables to take into account, but it seems like the crux of the decision was that, at this point in time, the devil we knew in Weis was better than the devil we didn't know in whatever other coach would or could take the job. Recent interviews given by Swarbrick seem to confirm this (see Blue & Gold's two-parter, here and here.) Now it's up to Charlie.

Due Diligence | by Jay

This is sort of moot now, but we were preparing a Coaching Broadsheet in the event that a coaching change was imminent. It lists all the Div 1 coaches, all the NFL coaches (page 2), and gives some preliminary scoring in terms of "desirability" as gauged by some of the BGS crew. Grayed-out lines are the guys we know weren't possibilities. It's sorted by career winning percentage.

If nothing else, it's kind of neat to see it all layed out like this. (Credit to Coaches Hotseat for a lot of the raw data.)

Also, our buddy Dave was hard at work on some Profiles for Potential Candidates. Enjoy. We'll keep it in the top drawer.

Verbal Commit | by Pat

As expected, Notre Dame addressed Charlie's future today. Here is a copy of the press release.

NOTRE DAME, Ind. -- Charlie Weis will continue as head football coach at the University of Notre Dame, University athletics director Jack Swarbrick announced today (Dec. 3).

Swarbrick, who made the decision in consultation with University president Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., met with Weis in California on Tuesday to review this past season, discuss plans for 2009 and communicate his decision.

“Though this past season fell short of the expectations that all of us have for our football program, I am confident that Charlie has a strong foundation in place for future success and that the best course of action is to move forward under his leadership,” said Swarbrick.

“He, I and the others involved in leading our football program are committed to doing everything necessary to ensure a successful 2009 season. We are examining every aspect of the program and will make changes wherever we think they are needed.”

Weis’ four-season record at Notre Dame is 28-21 after his first two Irish teams in ’05 and ’06 finished 9-3 and 10-3, respectively, and made Bowl Championship Series appearances. The Football Writers Association of America named Weis its 2005 Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award winner as the national college coach of the year...

For those fans still inclined to rage, rage against the dying of the light, notice that Swarbrick in his lawyer-esque glory leaves the future pretty much wide open, e.g., we're going to "move forward under his leadership," rather than commit to and fully support Charlie. What's striking is what Swarbrick did not say. No definite time frame is indicated; not even Charlie will be our coach in 2009. At this point, the odds of ND reversing course are extremely low, but the tepidness in this statement is revealing. Swarbrick said the very least he could have said, while still supporting Charlie for the time being.

Moreover, I think there's a pretty definite undercurrent of dissatisfaction with the whole thing in Swarbrick's words. "This past season fell short of the expectations that all of us have for our football program," and we'll "make changes wherever we think they are needed" should be a harbinger of further developments.

Rewind It | by Pat

Certainly an interesting past few hours, but let's back up the soap opera that is ND football a few days and see just how we got to this point.

Saturday night. A pre-game shoving match gave a faint flicker of hope that ND would come out and be able to at least look competent against the stout Trojan defense for a prime time ESPN showdown. But that flicker was quickly extinguished. ND didn't pick up a first down until the final play of the 3rd quarter. While it showed fight, the defense was just over-matched by the Trojan offense. Only a Brandon Walker field goal kept ND from a second straight shutout loss to Southern Cal. 38-3 was the final tally, but the game wasn't even that close.

Fans and the media had their knives out for Charlie and looked to Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick for immediate reaction. Swarbrick's response though was vague and pointed to nothing happening, either in terms of firing or athletic department vote of confidence, for at least a week.

"We sit down and evaluate every program the same way at the end of the season. We look at a host of factors, from graduation rate to GPA, and we ask how can we make things better. That's the way we do it.

"I'm saying nothing will happen until we complete the entire review process. It doesn't assume something will happen."

The AD said he and Weis will next meet a week from Monday.

Sunday. As he did in 2006, Charlie stayed out on the West Coast following the game to visit with recruits in the area. One of the first stops was with receiver Shaq Evans, who then relayed the following information to the various ND recruiting sites.

"I asked him about his job status," Evans told the web site after Weis visited him Sunday. "He told me he's good to go; he'll be there. He said he made sure he's good before he left and it's just the media spreading that he's going to get fired. He said if he didn't know if he was going to be there or not he would tell me. It makes me feel good that he'll be there."

Back in the Midwest, Coach Ianello echoed similar statements.

"Coach Ianello told me that Coach Weis is still the head coach at Notre Dame and that he plans to be the head coach at Notre Dame," Watt told the Web site. "You just never really know what can happen I guess at any school with any coach, but I definitely feel better about everything going on these days at Notre Dame."

Of course, both statements were the sort of vague coach-speak that manage to be declarative without actually saying anything definite. Meanwhile, Swarbrick was still out of the office on business, which fueled message board and email rumors that he was vetting replacement candidates. Otherwise, why not endorse Charlie after the SC game and give him that public stamp of approval to help out recruiting?

Monday. Yesterday was largely quiet as Charlie was busy flying out to Hawaii to meet with 5-star linebacker Manti Te'o. Rumors, emails, and informed scuttlebutt about Swarbrick tended to center on either a plan to go after Cincinnati's Brian Kelly, or longer shot candidates like Urban Meyer, who per contractual obligations could not speak with other programs until after the SEC Championship game this coming Sunday. My personal opinion was that Swarbrick was trying to swing for the fences with a coach like Urban or Jon Gruden while at the same time doing more due diligence on Brian Kelly to see if a coach with only two years of BCS level experience was ready to take over a pressure packed job like Notre Dame.

The recruiting services caught up with the Te'o family following Charlie's visit and the message delivered was more of the same. The family was very impressed with Charlie who delivered the message of returning to ND.

Despite reports about Weis' tenure at Notre Dame, Te'o said Weis assured him he would still be the Irish coach next season.

Tuesday. Things were fairly subdued earlier in the day until Brian Kelly came out with his most strongly worded, yet still coach-speak, quote about returning to Cincinnati for the 2009 season.

"All I can say is that with all the speculation and all the jobs that have been out there, sooner or later 'no' means 'no,"' Kelly said. "Again, no one can ever speak in terms of forever and ever, but what I can tell you is there's been a lot of interest in my services, and I want to be here at the University of Cincinnati because of the right reasons."

A few hours after that...internet bedlam. Charlie Weis coming back to ND.

The Irish Eyes report was quickly corroborated by WNDU. ESPN and many other national outlets picked up the story and started with run with it. The school was contacted, but ND neither confirmed nor denied the reports.

The Chicago Sun-Times contacted the school, but Brian Hardin, the sports information director for football, said that he was not aware of any announcement. Notre Dame athletics director Jack Swarbrick did not respond to requests for comment from ESPN.com, and Weis was on a recruiting trip to Hawaii and California.

"When we have something to say and it's the appropriate time to say it, we'll say it," Notre Dame spokesman John Heisler said.

Notre Dame is now more or less forced to give out some sort of information today. At this point it's unclear if there will be a press conference or just a press release issued to the media.

In the meantime, F5 keys are being worn to the nub by the Irish masses as the more excitable sections of the fan base does its best Lord Denethor impersonation over the death of Notre Dame football. (Or, is the ND administration Denethor, content to send a battered son back into the fray one last time on a presumably hopeless mission hoping that somehow history won't repeat itself? Or, should I just end this painfully nerdy reference?)

I keep rolling the facts, rumors, and innuendo around in my head, trying to figure out what exactly went down the past few days behind the scenes, but there doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason. ND seemed to be letting Charlie continue the one thing he's very good at, recruiting, while presumably looking for his successor. But suddenly we get news that Charlie is indeed coming back. What caused the sudden change? Did a top target finally give a definite no? Did ND decide a coach like Kelly is not worth the 3-5 year risk? What happened to the Monday evaluation? Will we ever find out just exactly happened these past few days? And where the hell did I put that ND basketball shirt?

"Weis Will Return" | by Jay

It's not exactly like MacArthur returning to the Philippines, but here's the news, broken by Mike Frank of Irish Eyes.

Irish Eyes has learned first, that the Notre Dame administration will retain head football coach Charlie Weis for the 2009 season.

Sources have told Irish Eyes that athletic director Jack Swarbrick will publicly announce, most likely within the next 24 hours, that Weis will be back for his fifth season in South Bend.

There has been some uncertainty about Weis’ future since the 38-3 loss to USC, but it appears Swarbrick will be sticking behind Weis.

More to come, of course.

Shakeout | by Jay

I thought Chris Dufresne had a pretty good rundown on the BCS possibilities in the LA Times this morning.

With one week left, the BCS top five is Alabama, Oklahoma, Texas, Florida and USC.

Florida figures to jump to No. 1 or No. 2 with a win over top-ranked Alabama in the SEC title game.

If Oklahoma defeats Missouri, the Sooners are positioned to grab a BCS title-game spot.

Texas will sit at home, at 11-1, hoping Missouri can pull off the upset that allows the Longhorns to claim the BCS berth.

These are the likely scenarios.

There is no predicting what happens if Alabama suffers its first loss on a last-second field goal. Might the Crimson Tide drop only to No. 2 and earn a rematch with Florida?

What if Oklahoma looks horrible in beating Missouri? Might voters, knowing their ballots are going to be public, reconsider Texas when the final BCS standings are released this Sunday?

Mystery, as much as percentage points, is part of the equation.

Texas also might have a shot at claiming the Associated Press crown. Texas is No. 3 behind Alabama and Florida in that poll, which the AP pulled out of the BCS after the great Texas-Cal fiasco of 2004.

Texas could move to No. 2 in place of the Alabama-Florida loser and stake its national-title claim from there.

USC won the AP title in 2003 after it was snubbed from the BCS title game despite finishing No. 1 in the coaches' and media polls.

Here, in my opinion, is how the BCS bowls are most likely to shake out:

National title: Florida vs. Oklahoma.
Rose: USC vs. Penn State.
Fiesta: Ohio State vs. Texas.
Sugar: Utah vs. Alabama.
Orange: Cincinnati vs. Boston College.

As for the 6-6 Irish, we're still bowl eligible and we'll probably be invited somewhere. CBS Sportsline has us in the Texas Bowl versus Rice on December 30th. NBC likes us in the Hawaii Bowl versus Hawaii on Christmas Eve. And Bruce Feldman of ESPN is predicting the Poinsettia Bowl (San Diego) against BYU on 12/23.

Game Time! | by Pat

Go Irish! Beat Trojans!

Signal to Noise | by Jay

I'm sure, like us, your inbox is swirling with all kinds of speculation about the fate of Charlie and the future of N.D. football. At this point we've got no evidence to add to the mix (other than hearsay and conjecture...which are kinds of evidence). But here's a lesson for you in how much salt to shovel when you're weighing the veracity of various reports:

CNBC: "...it’s believed that it would cost north of $15 million buy out Weis."

ESPN: "A person with knowledge of Weis' contract told ESPN's Joe Schad on Wednesday that the amount Notre Dame would have to pay Weis is greater than $4 million to $5 million...The source told Schad that the buyout, which is specified in the contract, is "stupefying."

Chicago Tribune: "The common perception of Weis' buyout is not accurate. Multiple sources have told the Tribune the buyout, far smaller than believed, will not affect whether Notre Dame decides to fire Weis after Saturday's game at USC. One prominent alumnus called the amount 'loose change.'"

$4 million? $15? "Loose change"? Who the hell knows. These guys certainly don't.

Have a good turkey day, and Go Irish.

Odds & Sods: J'accuse Edition | by Mike

Something's gone wrong again. In a certain way, the Syracuse game was similar to the Navy game - play a middling first half, build a lead in the third quarter and try not to let the game slip away in the fourth quarter. However, against Navy, the Irish didn't simply build a lead in the third quarter - they dominated. While the defense and punt units were dominant to start the third quarter, the offense repeatedly squandered the opportunities it was given to build an insurmountable lead. On the first drive of the third quarter, the defense held Syracuse to three-and-out and the Irish punt rush got a hand on the punt. After a tripping penalty against Syracuse, the Irish offense started its first drive of the second half on the Syracuse 23. A short series of tragicomic events later, and the Irish were looking at 2nd and 47 from their own 40 yardline. Forced to punt, the Irish pinned Syracuse at the Orange 14 yard line. Two incomplete passes and a sack later, Syracuse was forced to punt from their own 10 yard line. Another blocked punt gave the Irish offense the ball at the Syracuse 21. The offense moved the ball 13 yards and had to settle for a field goal attempt. A fumbled snap gave Brandon Walker no chance at converting the kick, and once again Notre Dame had no points to show for outstanding field position. On their next drive, with their worst field position so far that quarter, the offense was able to drive 68 yards for a touchdown and a ten-point lead. On the first play of the ensuing Syracuse possession Scott Smith forced a fumble, Toryan Smith picked it up, and after a nifty lateral to Gary Gray the offense started its next drive at the Syracuse 5. A touchdown here would have made it a three-score game with little more than a quarter to play. The drive resulted in a field goal. In the four games Notre Dame has lost since the Stanford game, devastating miscues early in the third quarter have shaped the second half.

• Against UNC, the Irish led 17-6 at the half. On the first play of the second half, Clausen threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown that energized the North Carolina team and crowd.

• Against Pitt, Notre Dame led 17-3 at the half. The Irish had out-gained the Panthers 227-61 at that point. Pitt got the ball first to start the half, and the Irish defense appeared to have held them to a three-and-out. Pitt would have had no reason to believe things would be any different in the second half. But a personal foul kept the drive alive, and with the new lease on life, the Panthers found the endzone and regained their confidence.

• Against Boston College, the Irish trailed Boston College 10-0 at the half. BC got the ball to start the half and the Irish defense forced a three-and-out. However, the ensuing BC punt was fumbled, BC went on to score a touchdown, and Irish hopes were extinguished.

• Against Syracuse, the Irish offense took its great field position after the punt block and committed two holding penalties and took a 17-yard sack. The drive was as bad as a drive that doesn't result in a turnover could be.
  

I certainly don't mean to blame Clausen for the UNC loss, Harrison Smith for the Pitt loss, etc. In both of those games, for example, the Irish still led after each those incidents and the offense simply had to hold serve for the remainder of the game to win. Instead, I cite these examples to raise a question: why did these mistakes - many the result of a lack of focus - occur shortly after halftime, after the coaching staff had an extended period to "coach up" their charges? Coincidence? Data mining? Or something more significant?

Time trap. In his first two years, I gave Weis high marks in his game management. For example, the Irish were able to win the 2006 UCLA game because they still had all three time outs left when they turned the ball over on downs to UCLA late in the fourth quarter. However, in the past two years, there have been a number of game and clock management decisions that have left me scratching my head. Pat covered the decision to go for it on 4th down with 2:30 left against Navy last week. This week, the Irish used their last timeout of the second half with 13:46 left in the fourth quarter. Given that one of the timeouts was lost on a challenge that presented the same issue that was decided in the receiver's favor against Navy, I can't argue with the challenge of the fade to Tate in the end zone. However, Notre Dame certainly could have used the other two timeouts late in the game.

This is a low. Last week, someone asked me which I thought was worse - Notre Dame's 3-9 season of 2007 or Michigan's 3-8 season of 2008. After my attempts to deflect such an unpleasant thought exercise were unsuccessful, I was forced to give the issue some consideration. Ultimately, the way I evaluate teams at the end of a season is by looking at whom they beat and to whom they lost. When you look at those two seasons, there aren't wins that really stand out, though Michigan's win over Minnesota is probably the best. When you look at the losses, every one of Notre Dame's losses in 2007 was to a team with a winning record. There's really nothing in Notre Dame's 2007 season that compares to Michigan's loss to Toledo in 2008. Toledo is a 3-8 MAC team whose coach was forced out. As bad as 2007 was for Notre Dame, it never got that bad. Of course, Notre Dame just lost to a 3-8 Big East team whose coach was forced out.

to the Lions | by Jay

Southern Cal opened as a 29-point favorite over us. As of right now, I am still planning on going to the Coliseum. Call me crazy.

Snowballs | by Jay

Let me take a second to clarify something: I can't imagine students were trying to hit the players intentionally with snowballs yesterday. It seems like it was probably some kids with an ample supply of ammunition at their feet horsing around. As such, I hate the way this is being spun by the national press as a case of students viciously turning on their own classmates. I've been to games where snowballs were thrown, and I was at a MLB game that was forfeited because people were throwing souvenir baseballs onto the field. In neither case did I think fans were trying to hit their own team.

Now, trying to hit TV timeout guys is plausible. Or state troopers. But I can't buy that students were intentionally taking shots at their own classmates. My brother-in-law, a current senior, sends this report.

It was absolutely embarrassing. I've never been more embarrassed to represent Notre Dame as I was yesterday. Really, most of the throwers (a minority of the students overall) were aiming at the TV guy, but any way you draw it up, it was really lame. It was also pissing off 90 percent of the students who weren't throwing. Numerous times, students yelled at other students to knock it off, and a lot of people, including us, were really pissed off. Embarrassing.

Unfortunately, several national stories this morning (including the front page of Yahoo) are making it look like it was a mass student reaction to the loss, instead of just limited jackassery by a few lunkheads. Most of the eyewitness reports say the snowballs were hurled in the first quarter and soon ceased, which would seem to indicate it wasn't a backlash to the loss. Embarrassing as this is, I think it's wrong for reporters to push it as something more nefarious than simply some boneheaded students goofing around. Notre Dame is not Philadelphia.

Postgame Quotes | by Jay

I couldn't help be genuinely moved by what the Syracuse players said after the game: expressing their excitement coming into the game, how special it was to play at Notre Dame, how much pride they had in their fired head coach, Greg Robinson, and how incredible this win really was.

#97 Arthur Jones – Jr. -- DT
On playing at Notre Dame…“I had a great time … I was just laughing, I told them [Notre Dame] to block me, you know what I mean? I made it in my personal interest to go out there and give it my all. It [the end of the game] felt great, I remember being here in 2005 with coach Robinson and he promised us then we were going to get after them [Notre Dame] and it was really emotional, and I remember him saying that as a freshman, its amazing.”

#75 Ryan Durand – Sr. – OG
On playing after Coach Robinson was fired… “It never really crossed our minds when we were preparing for Notre Dame. We looked at this game as our bowl game for our seniors, and for our younger guys this is just a really special place to play, and we accomplished our goal.”

On the impact of the win against Notre Dame… “It puts a good taste in your mouth for the entire season. We had a lot of disappointments over the season. We had a lot of ups and we had a lot of downs. It really makes us feel good about the entire season. It’s a moment I will remember for the rest of my life.”

On wanting to win for Coach Robinson…“We did it for the whole team, coaches included. That includes Coach Robinson, he is our head coach until next week. We always go out and play for ourselves, we play for the coaches, we play for the team, and it doesn’t change at all.”

On the game winning touchdown drive…“We were going to win the game. That’s what we kept saying to each other [in the huddle]. We put that ball in the end zone and we won.”

#29 Antwon Bailey – Fr. – RB
On his attitude coming into this game…“I felt different about this game, honestly. All the players will tell you, we were talking at the beginning and I told them, ‘I feel something.’ I don’t know, maybe it was the atmosphere.”

On the final drive…“For me it felt like a dream. I was looking up at that clock at the beginning of that drive, and there was five minutes left. It was crazy. Everyone in that huddle was just confident. Honestly, I didn’t even see him catch the touchdown because I was blocking, so I see all my teammates running to the touchdown and I started jumping up and down because I knew we scored.”

#60 Jim McKenzie- So. - C
On the emotions at the end of the game…“It was really one of the best wins that I’ve ever experienced. And this is a great thing because our record does not show the way we play and I’m glad we could show on a national stage the way we play. This is a great Notre Dame team, too, and at their house, it’s a real tough challenge so I just take pride in my teammates and the way we did.”

On Coach Robinson…“Greg Robinson has been through a lot with Syracuse, but we know that he’s been working hard and things haven’t gone the way we needed them to for him and we just wanted to play for him and show the nation that we can play. And I wish the best for him wherever he goes and we have one more game with him and we’re going to try to go out on top.”

On what Coach said to them during and after the game… “He said that we have to dare to be special, that we had to be special in order to win this game. And we played that way and it was something that really came through for us.”

#4 Cameron Dantley – Sr. - QB
On what it was is like to play at his dad’s alma mater… “It was definitely great. I’m sure I’m going to get calls from him. We’re playing in Notre Dame stadium first of all, just with all the legacy and history that’s going on here, and on top of that to play somewhere my dad had such a great career and everyone likes him a lot here, so to be out on this type of stage on national television was just a dream come true for me. And it just so happened that he played for Notre Dame, too, so that makes it all the better.”

On Coach Robinson…“We were rallying around him all the time. We always had confidence in coach and he always had confidence in us so we just felt like we should do this for not only our football team but for him as well. To send him off on a positive note would be great for him and great for our football team. So just to see him keep on working like he always works us here, and we were able to come out with a victory in the end, which is great for us.”

On what he was thinking when he threw the winning pass… “It was about me putting it on the money, and we just did everything to perfection here, and we had great time back there, and it was just about me putting it on him. It was a great play, and it was just a matter that we had enough time and time did stand still just to make sure that he did catch the ball but he caught it in the endzone and made that drive which was great for us.”

This was a team that was 2-8. They've played some pitiful football this year, and ranked towards the bottom of nearly every statistical category you could imagine. It was almost the end of the season. And their coach was already a dead man walking. There was absolutely no reason for these guys to care anymore. It was over.

And yet, somehow, they rallied. They strapped it on, they got excited, they took their lame duck coach and put him on their shoulders and they went out there and played with more passion and intensity than they had all year long. And they won the goddam ball game.

There's a lesson here for the Irish. For Charlie and his team to pull themselves out of the fire, they're going to have to take a cue from Syracuse. They're going to have to go into a daunting arena, and find a way to beat a much more talented team. Everyone had chalked up the Southern Cal game as an "acceptable loss" back in August; now, it's a must-win.

Reading those quotes again from the Syracuse players, it's pretty clear: it only comes by passion. With nothing on the line other than personal pride (and perhaps a coach's job), will we care enough to compete?

Karl Marx, Wrong Again | by Dylan

- History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.

Karl had it backwards. If he had been able to watch Notre Dame football for the past seven years, he would know that the latter precedes the former.

Before I start, I have some numbers for you to consider:

A.  2/107/33.9        D.  4/0/14

B.  41/108/209        E.  1

C.  24/110/18.3       F.  11

I'll get back to those numbers, but first I'd like to say that I like Charlie Weis. I think he's a good guy and I think he loves Notre Dame. I don't think he is incompetent, like Ty Willingham. I do not think he is an arsonist, like Bob Davie. I think it's awful that he has failed, and he has. I think it is tragic. Tragic that he could not save his alma mater from the farce that was the Willingham era. Tragic that a good man, with some real ability, was forced to discover the things that make him a poor choice for head coach in such a public forum. Tragic that he will be seen as just one more link in the chain of fools that has guided the program for the past dozen years.

Before the year started, I gave Charlie the benefit of the doubt, despite last year's inexcusable loss to Navy. Willingham left a huge hole in the roster, and the best Weis could have hoped for would have been a 6-6 record. I don't think it's arguable that he was blown up by the land mines planted by Willingham (much as the next coach at Washington will be over the next few years), and the year was basically a mulligan. But he made some truly awful decisions, and I viewed the 2007 season as an equal counterweight to the 2005 and 2006 seasons. I said at the time that Weis was starting from zero, that there was no evidence that he was a good coach, and that the 2008 season would tell us everything we would need to know. Now, it has.

I'll let the smart guys on this blog get into the nuts and the bolts of it, but this train has sailed. I think we all know it. All that remains is a fake punt, with SC up by 30 in the 4th quarter, next Saturday. That it is possible that, after four years, we are unable to line up against Syracuse or BC or Pittsburgh or San Diego State and get 2 yards is really all the confirmation you need. There is some basic football ability lacking in this (and every other) Weis team, and it is all because of poor coaching. The enduring image of the Weis era, in my opinion, will be that of an offensive lineman, standing, looking back at a running back or quarterback tackled three yards behind him. Looking like he's waiting for a bus.

It is 2004 again, and I want to stab myself in the eye. To Weis' credit, he is one hell of a recruiter, and the next coach will not have to worry about bare cupboards or waiting until "his guys" are in place. There should not be such a painful, prolonged struggle to reach basic and lasting competence. So what do we do? The uncomfortable answer to the question is that there really is no answer. Who's available? Who knows. There simply are no sure things, and Notre Dame, a pimply teenager right now, is going to have to lean in and try to make out with Miss America. The embarrassment potential is off the charts. But the checkbook has to be opened. If we've learned anything, it is that bad hires are every bit as expensive as good ones. Has any school paid more money to coaches over the past four years?

So all eyes will now drift to Jack Swarbrick who, having barely opened his office door, has found the whole place to be on fire. We will learn pretty quickly how much authority he's been given, I think. If I were him (assuming that Weis will not be fired until after the USC game, if at all), I would start taking some positions to rally the base and begin to set a new anchor for the program. The natives are extremely restless. Here are a couple of things he could do to forestall the uprising:

• Immediately renegotiate all game contracts to designate that only neutral conference officials be used in any game in which Notre Dame plays. It's bleeding obvious, and today's game was just one more log on that fire. Taking it one step further, he should lead the charge in taking officiating away from the conferences altogether.

• Send a letter to the NCAA demanding clarification of the "heel is not a part of the foot" rule, a rule which seems to favor the team that is not Notre Dame, as evidenced by the freakish occurrence of the scenario in consecutive weeks.

• Demand that Notre Dame have some say (assuming it does not currently) in the selection of the announcers for NBC broadcasts. We don't need homers, but we could live without the glee provoked by Notre Dame's miscues evinced by the former Southern Cal quarterback and his figure-skating-devotee partner. We'd be better off with the actual Mitch Daniels and Bea Arthur. We should can their look-alikes.

This is low-hanging fruit, obviously, but I think Swarbrick needs to demonstrate that there is a hand on the rudder. One would assume he could get these things done in between calls to Denver, Tuscaloosa, Norman, Gainesville, Baton Rouge, wherever.

Back to those numbers. They referred to:

A. 2/107/33.9 - Touchdowns scored by Notre Dame today / Syracuse's national rank in scoring defense / Syracuse defense's points per game allowed.

B. 41/108/209 - Notre Dame's total rushing yards today / Syracuse's national rank in rushing defense / Syracuse's per game average for rushing yards allowed.

C. 24/110/18.3 - Points scored by Syracuse today / Syracuse's national rank in scoring offense / Syracuse's scoring average this year.

D. 4/0/14 - The number of ranked (at game time) opponents played by Notre Dame over the past two seasons / Wins over those opponents / The number of losses over the past two seasons.

E. 1 - Wins by Notre Dame over higher ranked opponents in the past four seasons.

F. 11 - Losses to unranked opponents in the past four seasons

There's really nothing more to talk about, is there?

Go Irish! | by Pat

Go Fighting Irish! Beat Syracuse!

Senior Moment | by Pat

Tomorrow is Senior Day and the final game in Notre Dame Stadium for a number of players on the Fighting Irish team. Senior Day is always a bit of a bittersweet time as we get to both celebrate and say goodbye to the players who have spent the last four to five years representing Notre Dame football on the field.

I don't think I'll ever forget Senior Day against Army in 2006, watching Brady Quinn run off the field for the final time, pointing to the crowd and jumping up on the wall to salute the fans. His class will always remain one of my favorites; not only for their play, but also their great personalities and way they handled the tumultuous coaching transition. I suspect I'm not alone in this regard.

The current seniors don't have the star power of that class, and they've been overshadowed by some of their underclass teammates. But this Saturday I hope all ND fans take a minute to realize the contributions this class made to Notre Dame football. No, there aren't any All-Americans, or even many starters. But this is the class that was still deciding their college futures when Notre Dame decided to part company with the coach who had recruited them. In his place arrived a largely unknown career assistant with essentially no head coaching or recruiting experience. And despite not knowing what the future would hold for them, they still signed up to come to Notre Dame, and cast their lots with a new regime. Charlie Weis summed it up nicely in his presser a few days ago.

I give the staff some credit [for landing the class], but I give those guys credit for coming on board when it was a very...volatile and jumping on board and being part of the long term solution here.

Consider that the classes sandwiching this senior class have seen 14 different players leave the team. Yet in this class of Ty-recruited/Charlie-signed players, only 2 of the original 15 aren't still with us. Most of these guys have been career backups, but that didn't dissuade them from sticking with the program, and as Charlie said, they've been instrumental in being part of the long term solution at Notre Dame. Take a guy like Kevin Washington, for example.

So end of the day, you have a guy like Kevin Washington, Kevin Washington has been here for four years. Hardly has played at all. A little bit on special teams. I can tell you this year if we wanted to, we could make him the defensive show team player of the week every single week.

And what we do is we use guys like him as examples with our young linebackers and the other guys on defense. Fellows, this is the way it's supposed to be done. This is the way you practice. This is the tempo you practice at. This is how it's supposed to be important. And when a guy realizes that, hey, his time has come and gone as far as productive playing time. But rather than complain about their role, accept their role and do what they can do to help the team win, why of a lot of respect for players like that.

This senior class started their journey at Notre Dame just about the same time we started this little blog. Which of course now gives us the opportunity to go back to what we wrote then and chuckle. Yes, I did pick Kevin Washington as the class sleeper. Scott Smith was another popular pick. No one picked David Bruton, not even the BGS writer who shares the same hometown with him. But all of us noted the importance of bring in guys like Duncan and Turkovich given the lack of OL recruits in the pipeline at the time. So at least we weren't completely useless in our predictions.

Back to the present. The Observer has a terrific spread of profiles on all of the seniors, be they 5th-year guys, outgoing seniors, or walk-ons. This makes for a great read as we await the final home for one group of players...and see prospects for the next class just arriving, with the recruiting visits of Manti Te'o, Tyler Gaffney, and Byron Moore.

Good luck in the future, Seniors, and thanks for everything. Our hats are off to you.

SkyWriting: Go Ramblers Edition | by Pat

A few quick hitters for your perusal.

• ESPN has a nice read on ND's interhall football league, explaining the history and appeal of one of ND's best tradition while following the playoff exploits of the best hall left on campus after the closing of Flanner Hall.

• Also worth a read is Eric Hansen's mini "where is he now" catch-up with Zibby. As random women pay for his dinner and ask for his autograph, Zibby talked to Hansen about Charlie being the right man for the job, his up and down times at ND, and punching players from Duke. He also showed why he was one of Charlie's favorites with this impromptu prank during the interview.

He suddenly spots Charlie Weis across the crowded hotel lobby, hobbling toward the elevator with autograph-seekers blocking his way.

"Watch this," Tom Zbikowski says as he pulls his baseball cap over his eyes and sprints over to behind where the Notre Dame head football coach is standing.

In a high-pitched mumble, Zbikowski reaches around from behind Weis, tells him that he was his all-time faaaavvvorite coach and wonders aloud if he'd sign something for him.

The former ND All-America safety hands Weis a parking ticket.

A befuddled Weis turns to face his secret admirer, breaks out laughing and wraps his arms around the player who, if he wasn't the face of Notre Dame football during Weis' first three seasons in South Bend, then surely he was the heart.

• Google has hosted some fantastic old photographs from LIFE Magazine. Here's a link using "Notre Dame football" as a keyword search, but try out your own search ideas and see what you find. Already you can find great shots of Ara at a fieldhouse pep rally, a farewell student rally for Coach Leahy, a view from the pressbox, priests smoking stogies and rooting for ND, and a visual represtation of some recent BGS gameday threads. Only about 20% of all the LIFE photos are up now, so keep checking back over the next few months as more and more photos are added.

• One last addition. I know nearly all ND fans are ready to move on from the Navy game, but Mike over at the consistently excellent Navy blog The Birddog just posted his take on the ND defense versus Navy offense battle. His knowledge of the option offense is a great read for anyone interested in the Xs and Os part of the game. There are also some diagrammed video breakdowns from the game that highlight intended blocking responsibilities versus what actually happened in the game. His conclusions that Navy shot itself in the foot more often than ND actually made a fantastic play is also food for thought as we move on to Syracuse.

Statistically Speaking: Navy | by Pat

It Came From the Game Notes

• Senior All-America candidate David Bruton is one of just three players in the nation to rank in
the top 100 in interceptions (49th), forced fumbles (52nd), total tackles (73rd) and solo tackles (54th). Michael Hamlin of Clemson and Mark Herzlich of Boston College are the others.

• Maurice Crum, Jr. is now tied for 9th all-time in career tackles with Brandon Hoyte at 297. He is three tackles away from 8th place and Tom Zbikowski's career total of 300.

Battle for First Down

As somewhat expected, Navy's option attack led to the lowest 1st Down Win Rate of the season of 35%. Navy only had 3 1st Down passes, so the 67% 1st Down Win Rate isn't terribly relevant.

Running tally here.

Gimme M.O.E.

Despite the stereotype of the Navy offense that plugs away with effort and mistake-free football, the Midshipmen had enough penalties and dropped passes to hit a 13% M.O.E.

ND on the other hand ran enough plays that even with Clausen's interceptions and Gray's fumble, the M.O.E. stayed in single digits at 7%.

Here's the season long table.

Season Long Running Stats

Defensive numbers are creeping up. Offensive numbers are mostly staying the same.

One other thing to check out is the steady improvement in Ryan Burkhart's kickoffs. After ND averaged 58 yards a kickoff last season, Burkhart has that over 61 yards a kick this season. And in the past two games he's averaging 67 yards a kick. Anello, Bruton, and company are getting most of the credit for the stellar kickoff return allowed yardage, but Burkhart's improved kicks certainly play a big role as well. Kudos to Ryan.

All season long numbers here.