Notre Dame should cut its losses with Weis and move on
Notre Dame should fire head coach Charlie Weis at the end of the season and I don’t write that only because the Irish lost to Pittsburgh on Saturday night.
Anyone that has watched a decent amount of Big East football this year knows that PITT has a good team – much better than Notre Dame anyway. The Panthers’ passing attack might not be as potent as ND’s, but they can certainly put points on the board and they play much better defense.
So it isn’t surprising that the Irish lost last weekend in Pittsburgh. What would be surprising is if Weis kept his job now that one of his teams is once again underachieving.
At Notre Dame, everything is set up for the Irish to at least make some kind of a run at a BCS Bowl bid – if not a national championship. They play a cupcake schedule (more than other collegiate teams, that is), they play most of their games at home and they play on national television every week so that voters can overrate their performances.
But despite all of these benefits, the Irish continue to flounder under Weis. It’s not enough for the Irish to lose at home to Navy, but they also lost to a dysfunctional, horrible Michigan team in Ann Arbor and were never really in the game against Pittsburgh even though the final score would indicate otherwise.
Oh, they did have a chance to tie and possibly beat USC this year. But big freaking deal. The past couple weeks have proven that this is the worst Pete Carroll-led Trojans team ever, so sniffing a win against USC is hardly grounds to keep Weis for another season.
Forget the schedule, all the home games and the national TV spotlight for a second: What has Weis done to improve his team? His offense is good, but the man clearly can’t recruit defensive talent. Anyone who watched that game Saturday night saw an Irish defense that can’t tackle, is slow on all three levels and one that can’t generate much pressure. I could only imagine what Texas, TCU or Boise State would do to that defense.
Weis’ time in South Bend is over. I don’t know what further proof the University needs to make a change at the end of the year, outside of it being chained down by his big contract. (Although money has never been an issue for Notre Dame, so I don’t know why it would be now.)
Notre Dame should cut its losses and move on – especially if Jimmy Clausen decides to turn pro after the season. I’d hate to see what a Clausen-less offense would look like under Weis.
Photo from fOTOGLIF
Posted in: College Football
Tags: 2009 College Football Week 12, Anthony Stalter, Charlie Weis, Charlie Weis job, Charlie Weis Notre Dame, Charlie Weis sucks, Fire Charlie Weis, Headlines, Jimmy Clausen, Jimmy Clausen pro, Notre Dame, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Notre Dame losses to Pittsburgh, Notre Dame should fire Charlie Weis, Notre Dame sucks
A couple of points and the first one is this…ND is not that good, they are playing Teams that they belong playing against. It is not a cupcake schedule, this is who they are and have been for the past 10 years.
The mighty years of ND and top players are long gone. They are equal to Navy, Army, Boston College etc. They can not compete with Florida, Alabama, Texas and some people need to realize that.
ND is a nice story, a fun place to tailgate and
long live Rudy…..
As fpr Charlie….What do you do with him? The last 4 guys could not recruit any nasty ass maniacs that fuel top football Teams and that’s a fact. Who do you get that is going to change that around? Who is going to find this type of a player with at least a GPA of 3.5
The answer is nobody. ND is stuck so lets get Yale, Harvard and Brown on next years schedule and stop living in a dream world of National titles.
You’re telling me that Notre Dame can’t find a kid with a 3.5 GPA that can also run and tackle? You’re kidding me right?
Weis can’t do it – so find somebody else who will. I agree that they can’t compete with Florida and Texas. But they should be able to beat Navy, I’m sorry. Navy hasn’t thrown the ball in 45 years, yet all of a sudden Notre Dame can’t figure out a way to stop them.
This can’t be the way that most Notre Dame fans think. I think you’re setting the bar a little low.
Anthony,
your right about ND.you could tell they were overrated when they started off strong and only had one loss. people were saying how good they were but they were winning games by a point in the last minute of the game every week! and those teams werent world beaters either – wash, MSU etc. it was only a matter of time before they lost some games. i couldnt believe people actually thought they were gonna beat Pitt. them winning that game never entered my mind. i dont know how lou holtz can sit there with a straight face and say that not only they would win but they were the better team.
the problem is not getting one kid with a 3.5 gpa its getting a whole team. i graduated with a 3.5 and maybe im not to bright but it sure as hell wasnt easy
Ben,
Thanks for your comments.
What’s even more surprising about Lou is that he predicted Notre Dame to win a national championship this season if I’m not mistaken. Not that anyone takes what he has to say to heart, but it’s time for this guy to stop touting Notre Dame as something its not.
yeah i remember him saying that. i like lou but he comes off as stupid when he says stuff like that.
im a penn st fan. would you see there season as a little dissapointing. i would. hopefully they can win at MSU and go to 10-2 but im not even sure bout that. they totally laid an egg against iowa and OSU. personally i think they had the most talent on both sides of the ball in the big ten. i know the line is shoddy but i think it comes down to coaching also in these big games. they treat Clark like he’s joe montana and he’s not that great. what do you think?
Yeah, I would have to say that PSU’s season is disappointing. I think they have better overall talent than Iowa, although Ohio State is a pretty even matchup on both sides of the ball.
I think Clark has been a solid college quarterback and he has had a nice season despite losing his receivers to the NFL. I don’t see him being a productive pro, as I’m sure you can’t either.
You hit the nail on the head: The Lions screwed the pooch by laying eggs against Iowa and OSU. Those two games were there season and they lost both times.
Ah well, there’s always next year!