Fighting Irish aren't awakening any echoes these days
Some of the reaction to Saturday's 34-27 loss to USC is a testament to how far Notre Dame football has fallen, not to it being on its way back.
Going in, it was not only accepted but expected that the Fighting Irish were significant underdogs to the Trojans. When the Irish battled back late but ultimately came up a bit short, some acted as if it was a moral victory, if you will, for a team that had lost to its longtime rival by a 120-27 margin over the previous three years.
Excuse me? A program that, in my lifetime, would never have settled for being a home dog to anyone now just accepts being a longshot against an opponent it faces every year? The fact that the Irish played down to the wire with the only competent foe on their joke of a schedule is now looked at as a signal of revival?
Not only would the current state of Notre Dame never have been accepted when Lou Holtz was still in South Bend, I don't believe it would have passed under Bob Davie or even Tyrone Willingham. But Charlie Weis is still employed, and he'll probably continue to be heading into next year after he inevitably gets the Irish to go 6-0 the rest of the way. I believe the schedule Weis has assembled from here on out includes not only Washington State and Stanford, but the lightweight teams of both the Morris Warriors and the Morris Chiefs.
That doesn't bode well for Notre Dame fans hoping for a return to prominence. While Saturday's loss wasn't the worst or most embarrassing of the 23 losses the Irish have had in four-plus seasons under Weis, it demonstrated his shortcomings as well as any. I know I've never been more certain that Weis is not the guy to meet the almost-impossible demands of his fan base.
It was a heck of a comeback the Irish made, scoring 13 unanswered points during the fourth quarter and then getting themselves inside the USC 5 in the final seconds. I'll certainly give them that. But it was what happened there that so perfectly embodies the failures of the Weis era.
Jimmy Clausen, the supposed Heisman candidate, threw three passes from a few short yards away from the end zone. Completing any one of the throws would have meant a defining victory, for Clausen and his candidacy and, more importantly, for Weis and his entire program. Instead, each of the three fell incomplete, with the last two failing to come close to a receiver's hands.
With that, the Irish failed again in a spot where failure wasn't acceptable. Failure there isn't acceptable if you're Weis, and your calling card is that you're an offensive genius. How could a play-calling mastermind not have something better drawn up for the most important moment of his career than that?
Don't let Weis shift the blame to junior receiver Duval Kamara for slipping and falling early in one of his routes. Weis is the one who put Kumara on the field, then had him run a route that he was unable to execute in that moment.
"I think [Kamara] would catch it for a touchdown, but he slipped coming out of the break," Weis said, according to Chicago Tribune columnist David Haugh.
Sorry, Charlie, but if your guy wasn't where he was supposed to be, it's your fault for not coaching him well enough. You've got one of the premier receivers in college football in Golden Tate, and you chose not to target him. When one of your lesser guys was unable to make the play, that falls squarely on you for putting him in that situation.
Clausen, too, failed in a spot where he just plain couldn't. Not after holding his oral commitment press conference at the College Football Hall of Fame, and showing up for it in a Hummer limousine. Not if he wants to be remembered as one of the greats at Notre Dame, and not if he wants to follow Sam Bradford, Tim Tebow and Troy Smith as recent quarterbacks to win the Heisman.
For the guys entrusted to get Notre Dame back to glory, Saturday night was yet another failure. Don't let the disguise of it being a great game against a great opponent fool you into believing otherwise.
