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.

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]]> http://www.scoresreport.com/2009/11/16/notre-dame-should-cut-losses-with-weis-and-move-on/feed/ 7 http://www.scoresreport.com/2009/10/31/clausen-waiting-until-after-season-to-discuss-nfl/ http://www.scoresreport.com/2009/10/31/clausen-waiting-until-after-season-to-discuss-nfl/#comments Sat, 31 Oct 2009 14:00:39 +0000 Anthony Stalter http://www.scoresreport.com/?p=27889

According to a report by the Chicago Tribune, Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen won’t discuss his possible future in the NFL until after the Irish’s regular season is over.

So the Notre Dame coach laid out the plan for discussing an NFL future with junior quarterback Jimmy Clausen: It won’t be discussed until the regular season is over.

“We’re not even going to address the subject until the first week in December,” Weis said Thursday night. “We’ve already addressed the fact that we’re not going to address it. So we’re just worrying about the next five games, starting with Washington State. First of all, let’s see how we play. But we’ll revisit it then.”

Clausen is currently the nation’s No. 2-rated passer. After the jump, there are more Weis words on Thursday’s pertinent topics, including who will punt for the Irish this weekend…

I agree with Weis in that Clausen should wait until the season is over to figure out whether or not he wants to enter the draft. With a month left in this year’s college season, Clausen has enough on his plate these days and doesn’t need to worry about the NFL quite yet. (Even though he’ll obviously need plenty of time to make a decision like that.)

Whenever Clausen does decide to turn pro, I hope he’s ready for all the comparisons to Brady Quinn. I’m not saying they’re the same player, but the media will immediately compare the two and how Quinn has struggled so far in the NFL.

Welcome to the party, Matt Barkley.

The freshman quarterback completed 19 of 29 passes for 380 yards and two touchdowns on Saturday in USC’s thrilling 34-27 victory over Notre Dame. Irish quarterback Jimmy Clausen was also solid while completing 24 of 43 passes for 260 yards and two touchdowns.

The Trojans made several stupid mistakes in this game, including a couple of costly and near-costly penalties in the second half. But Pete Carroll’s squad racked up 501 yards on the road in a hostile environment, which is incredibly impressive.

Pundits had been waiting for USC’s offense to break out of its shell with Barkley under center and that’s exactly what they did today. At one point in the third quarter, Barkley completed seven straight passes for 195 yards and connected with Damian Williams on a 41-yard touchdown pass midway through the third quarter to give the Trojans a 20-7 lead. That scoring drive was huge because its defense had just stuffed James Aldridge on a fourth-and-one-attempt inside the Trojans’ 30 and it was key to USC stealing the momentum.

While it’ll be hard for Charlie Weis and the Irish to stomach yet another loss to USC, Notre Dame has nothing to hang its head about. In the past, the Irish would have simply given up in the second half and allowed the Trojans to crush them. But Weis’ group kept fighting back on Saturday and even had several cracks inside the red zone to tie the game with seconds remaining in the fourth. This is a tougher Notre Dame team than we’re used to seeing.

With this win, USC keeps its national title hopes alive. Of course, the Oregon State team that has given the Trojans fits the past couple years is the next team on their schedule and then USC has to travel to Eugene to take on Oregon. So while this was a huge win for the Trojans, they’ve got a long way to go.

Nobody has to remind Notre Dame’s players and head coach Charlie Weis what this Saturday means for the program. A win would serve as a stepping-stone for the school to get back among the nation’s elite. A blowout loss would send them spiraling backwards and might inevitably cost Weis his job.

“I said, Saturday night fellas, you’re going to be the lead story in the country, one way or another,” Weis said. “So which lead story do you want to be?”

Besides the fact that Charlie must not realize Oklahoma is also taking on Texas this weekend, his comments pinpoint the magnitude of Saturday’s game. This isn’t just another game for the Irish – it’s the game of the year.

The Trojans have beaten the Irish seven straight times. During that span, USC quarterbacks have averaged 323 passing yards and since October of 2002, the Trojans are 31-2 against ranked opponents.

Oh, and they also rank sixth in the nation in total defense.

But this is a different Notre Dame team, at least offensively. Jimmy Clausen ranks No. 1 in the country in passing efficiency and the Irish have the 10th best offense in college football. They’re averaging 470 yards per game and over 30 points per contest. Their ground game doesn’t get as much attention as their passing attack, but the Irish are averaging 148 rushing yards per game so they can beat you in a variety of ways.

The key for Notre Dame is how well it can protect Clausen. USC boasts several explosive pass rushers, including defensive end Everson Griffen and Nick Perry, although Perry is questionable with a knee injury. Can tackles Sam Young and Paul Duncan keep Clausen upright in order to keep the chains moving?

Also, USC hasn’t shown the same offensive explosion that it has over the years, but Notre Dame hasn’t played great defensively. Can the Irish force freshman quarterback Matt Barkley to make plays through the air or will the Trojans control the game on the ground?

While this contest might take a backseat to Oklahoma-Texas, this might be the most emotionally charged game on the college football schedule this weekend. USC has already dedicated the game to running back Stafon Johnson, who was injured a couple of weeks ago in a weight room accident. Throw in the fact that Notre Dame will be at home in front of a raucous crowd and you have the makings of what should be a thrilling game.

If I’m making a prediction, I think Notre Dame keeps things close but in the end, USC’s front seven will be too much for the Irish’s front five. Clausen hasn’t seen a pass rush the likes of what the Trojans brings to the table and I think USC will prevail in the end.

Prediction: USC 24, Notre Dame 17.

If Charlie Weis hasn’t developed an ulcer yet this season, I’d be shocked.

A win is a win and Notre Dame will certainly take it, but the Irish weren’t very crisp in their 37-30 victory over Washington in overtime on Saturday.

The offense was once again outstanding for the golden domers, as Jimmy Clausen (23 of 31, 422 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT) and company racked up 530 yards. But the Irish settled for five field goals and was just 2-of-10 on third downs.

The defense had major issues once again, as the Huskies compiled 457 yards, including 176 on the ground. Washington was also able to come up with a couple of huge plays in the final minute of the game and come away with a game-tying field goal to force overtime.

That said, the Irish defense came up with three goal line stands in this game to keep the score close. Notre Dame’s front four really stepped up and this win should give the Irish confidence for when they play USC in two weeks.

It’ll be interesting to see how Weis’ offense does against the Trojan defense. Notre Dame has proven it can score at will, but the defense has allowed opponents to keep things close. Considering that USC’s offense has been rather conservative this year, Notre Dame might be able to keep things close in South Bend on October 3.

Michigan State sophomore quarterback Kirk Cousins played as fine a game as a coach could ask for on Saturday. He completed 23 of 35 passes for 302 yards and thanks to his 17-yard touchdown pass to Blair White with nine and a half minutes remaining in the game, he gave the Spartans an opportunity to once again beat Notre Dame in South Bend for the seventh consecutive time.

But in the span of two plays, Cousins went from potential hero to unfortunate goat. With his team trailing 33-30 with less than two minutes remaining, Cousins and the MSU offense faced a 1st and 10 at Notre Dame’s 18-yard line. On first down, freshman running back Larry Caper got free in the Irish secondary and was alone (seriously, there wasn’t an Irish defender within seven area codes of him) in the end zone, but Cousins lofted the ball too far and it fell incomplete.

On second down, Cousins was flushed from the pocket and he threw a desperation pass over the middle that was intercepted by Kyle McCarthy at the ND 4-yard line. All Sparty needed was a field goal to tie the game but the Irish snatched victory out of the jaws of defeat, hanging on to a 33-30 win.

Not to take anything away from Notre Dame, because Charlie Weis’s offense was great again on Saturday. But if Cousins doesn’t airmail the pass to Caper and the Irish wound up losing, I don’t see how Weis retains his job at the end of the year. I know that MSU has given ND fits at South Bend for over a decade, but this was the same Spartans team that was defeated last week on their home turf by Central Michigan. It would have been hard for Weis to justify losing to Michigan and Michigan State in back to back weeks.

But nevertheless, Weis and the Irish live to see another day. Notre Dame has to do something about its defense though, because Jimmy Clausen (22 of 31, 300 yards, 2 TDs), Golden Tate (7 rec., 127 yards, 1 TD, 1 airborne dive into the MSU band) and the rest of the Irish offense is too good to waste on poor defensive efforts.

Like every other college football game on this weekend’s schedule, the Notre Dame-Michigan contest will take a back seat to the USC-Ohio State battle on Saturday night. But after convincing wins over Nevada and Western Michigan, respectively, some fans want to know whether or not the Irish and Wolverines are getting back to their winning ways.

Scout.com’s Richard Cirminiello answers the very question:

Hey, I was as impressed as anyone with the Wolverines’ opening day performance, but back? Not quite. As long as the two quarterbacks, Tate Forcier and Denard Robinson, are true freshmen, the program is going to be vulnerable to some un-Michigan-like performances, especially when the schedule toughens and the team ventures outside the campus. That said, it’s clear that Rich Rodriguez has his kids in a far better position to compete for a postseason game than he did in his debut season. And that’s still a reason to celebrate around Ann Arbor after last year’s implosion.

Notre Dame is closer to being back than Michigan, largely because the coaching staff has been in place for longer and the quarterback is on the brink of a Brady Quinn-like ascent. I’m not interested that Jimmy Clausen’s last two monster games were against WAC defenses. The strikes he’s thrown would beat Big Ten defenses as well. Just go back and check the film. He’s always had the talent, but his confidence took a beating in 2007 and 2008. That’s no longer a problem. A third year with Charlie Weis and a dynamite ensemble of receivers could be just what the junior needs to get on the tarmac. Plus, if the effort from the young Irish defense in Saturday’s shutout of Nevada is a harbinger of things to come, the program has the potential to win double-digit games and bowl in January.

I couldn’t agree more. While it was encouraging that they didn’t allow another MAC opponent to beat them on their home turf last Saturday, Michigan is still going to experience plenty of rocky moments this year. It’s just something a team deals with when its starting two freshmen under center. The Wolverines will be better, but as Cirminiello points out, they’re still going to have their bad moments this season.

The key for Notre Dame this year is whether or not they can employ a consistent running game. With Clausen and Golden Tate, the passing game is going to be pretty good. But the offensive line has to make room for ND’s backs to have success or else Charlie Weis’ offense is going to be one-dimensional and even though the Irish defense is solid, it can win games on its own.