Tag: Charlie Weis

  • Congrats to Notre Dame

    On December 24th Notre Dame Football brought home their first bowl victory since January 1st, 1994. After checking the record books… I was a senior at Clay High School in South Bend the last time the won a bowl game.

    It was an impressive waxing of an offensive heavy Hawaii team. This team of freshmen and sophomore players gave a glimmer of hope for next season. Jimmy Clausen was unstoppable. He had 300 yards  and 3 TDs in the first half. At Notre Dame that is unheard of. Without touching the ball in the 4th quarter he finished the day with 5 TD passes and 401 yards. Of course, it’s worth mentioning that Hawaii’s pass defense ranked 118 out of 119 Division 1 teams.

    For fans, there were some reasons to be excited about this game.

    #1 Not a word about the Charlie Weis death watch. With this win, you won’t hear that again until their first loss of the 2009 season.

    #2 The team had fun. In Weis’s early years he relished in having his team wound tight and nervous. I think we finally are seeing a new philosophy breaking in. These are college kids in Hawaii so let them have fun!

    #3 Jimmy Clausen proved he wasn’t Ron Paulus. (Notre Dame’s Quarterback coach) Like Paulus, Clausen was highly recruited and everyone assumed he was the next Joe Montana. Paulus was extremely talented but never lived up to the hype. Clausen finally showcased his talents in a big way. Now we need to know if he can do that next year at Michigan or at home against USC?

    #4 They broke the losing streak. Sure, it was against lowly Hawaii. But the Warriors were favored to win in their home stadium. Notre Dame not only won but they completely dominated this game. This is a great lead in to 2009. And when they get to a big bowl next year they won’t have the record over their heads.

    #5 It was clear they needed to get better in the secondary. The defensive front four and linebackers are very solid for next year. They’ve long struggled to have a decent secondary… maybe it’s time to convert some tall offensive players?

    #6 I love how exciting the special teams have been. Blocked punts, long kickoff returns, ridiculous speed returning punts. Let’s hope Weis keeps putting first string players out there on special teams.

    #7 Keep Weis in the box. Just like Lou Holtz was a better coach without the headset on, Charlie Weis is a better play caller from the press box.

    #8 The tide is turning in South Bend on Charlie Weis. I’ve heard that Weis is doing some things in the area to endear himself to the locals. The Bend is still a small town… if you don’t manage the politics the politics will manage you.

    #9 Great for recruiting. I’ll presume that some high school kids, sitting in their living rooms, could envision themselves having fun at a bowl game and scoring lots of touchdowns for Notre Dame. Playing on Christmas eve had few advantages… but being the only game on during a terrible TV night was one big one.

    #10 I think the coaching staff should stick with the Rick Warren costumes. Hawaiian shirts at the opener against Nevada?

    Bonus: Looking at the 2009 schedule two things pop out. First, they have a favorable schedule. Second, until October 31st they don’t go more than 4 hours from home.

  • Don’t Fire Charlie Weis

    I just read Pat Forde’s latest attack on Notre Dame. All season long, he’s called the players names, the coach names, even the fans names. Now he thinks that his pens will fell Charlie Weis. I hope that doesn’t happen.

    Here are some reasons why:

    1. The team is young. I have watched most of the games this year and I think it’s a joke that when they win the commentators talk about how young the team is, when they lose they talk about how horrible a coach Charlie Weis is. Most of the offensive starters are freshmen and sophomores. That means that next year they will be a year stronger, smarter, and more hungry to beat teams who humiliated them.

    2. It won’t stop the cycle of change. The first two years under Weis he was dealt a perfect hand by his predessesor. Let’s say they fire Weis and hire somebody else… of course that guy will look great for the next two year as Weis’ young players will mature and begin to win. But that just means in 4 years we will be right back in this same spot, firing a coach.

    3. 12 non-conference games makes it impossible to win a national championship. It’s now been 20 years since Lou Holtz, Tim Brown, Tony Rice and Rhagib Ismael brought a championship to South Bend. 1993 proved why the Irish need to be in a conference. (Beating #1 Florida State, then losing to unranked Boston College.) Join the Big 10 and give them 2 divisions with a championship game like the SEC or join the Big East and beat up on South Florida every year. Heck, start your own conference!

    4. Ditch the NBC deal. Pundits like Forde think buying out Weis’ $30 million contract is doable. Why not go all the way and dump NBC? Since the deal in 1990 they haven’t won a national championship. In fact, only 1993 and 2005 have they been in remote contention.Think about it, for most of the teams on their schedule this is their biggest game of the year. If you are a player at BYU or North Carolina you are only likely to get on National TV in front of every NFL scout is when you play Notre Dame. Unlike every other major football powerhouse, every Notre Dame game is a big deal. For teams like San Diego State it is their Super Bowl. No wonder the Irish struggle.

    5. Academically, the Irish are strong. For 5 years we had to listen to Bob Davie whine about the academic requirements of Notre Dame. With more than 90% of football players earning college degrees, Weis has proven that he can maintain a program of academic excellence while still recruiting solid players.

    I hate to sound like a Cubs fan, but I think the next 2 years are going to prove the Weis is building a program that Irish fans will be proud of for years to come.

    Let’s just hope that the President of Notre Dame and the new athletic director don’t listen to ESPN.

  • College Football Check-in

    Here’s a mid-season check-in of my favorite teams.

    #1 Notre Dame For a team that barely won 3 games last year, I’m please with their progress. I actually think some fans expected the Irish to win 8-9 games based on their week schedule. Essentially, they have beaten the team’s on their schedule that they were supposed to while gotten beat by ranked opponenents. With Syracuse and USC left on their schedule I think they will end up 7-5 before getting waxed in a bowl game. Some have said Charlie Weis is on the hot seat, I don’t see it that way at all. This is a rebuilding process, his team is very young. Now if they are 8-4 next year or less… I can see dumping him.

    #2 Michigan State I’ve watched a couple of their games and been quite impressed. They have climbed to #15 in the polls and if they can manage squeak past Penn State and Michigan pulls off the upset of the millenium, they would be rose bowl bound. Most importantly, they didn’t collapse after the Michigan game. Kudos to State for finally figuring out how to play a whole season.

    #3 Michigan Back in September I said it would be a down year and boy has it lived up to that hype. At 3-8 they have often been stunningly bad. I also said that they would have a chance to beat Ohio State. As long as the bus brings the Buckeyes to the correct stadium on Saturday morning I don’t see Michigan having a chance. That said, it’s a rivalry game and anything is possible. No, I take that back. Michigan has as good a chance of beating Ohio State as Jennifer Graham does in getting re-elected in 2010.

    #4 San Diego State At 1-10 it is tough to find anything good to say about the Aztecs. Sadly, I never made it to one of their games either. When they played Notre Dame I thought they may have a chance to be .500. I must have been on crack that day. The good news is that I may be able to enroll in the grad school and walk on for the Aztecs. Sure, I’ve never played high school football. But I’m pretty good at NCAA 2008 for the Wii.

  • Is Notre Dame any good?

    As a lifelong fan of the Irish, two weeks into the season I am left with this question. “How good are they?” In week one they looked “2007 bad” while in week two they looked like “2005 lucky.”

    Of course, there is irony galore. Just when the nation and especially Irish fans began to look on Charlie Weis as an idiot instead of genius… he gets whacked and will now attain hero status. For those who missed it, here’s what happened to him.

    If they keep up the enthusiasm, and the quarterback continues leading the team to relax and have fun… it could be a great year. Have you seen their schedule? Winning 8-9 games shouldn’t be too tough.

    Not a Notre Dame fan? Or can’t understand why I would be? Here’s a cool video.

  • Notre Dame Football is #1

    Notre Dame Football is #1

    Unfortunately, they are #1 at “least efficient dollar per win.”

    Allegedly, Charlie Weis made $1.16 million per win in 2007.

    Here’s the list

    Oops.

  • Ode to Charlie Weis

    Charlie WeisI’ve been very silent about Notre Dame football this season. And for good reason. I knew it wasn’t going to be a good year over the summer when Coach Wei, at a celebrity golf outing, told the press that he thought it was going to be a tough year for the Irish. He said, “we’re real young.”

    This isn’t the worst Notre Dame team I’ve ever seen. This wasn’t Bob Davie bad, nor was it Gerry Faust bad.  They were a very young team with almost no experience. They lost a lot of games and some of them were quite embarrassing. The loss to a 0-2 Michigan team 38-0 and the loss to Navy a couple weeks back were particularly tough to swallow.

    I’d be extremely surprised if Notre Dame fired Charlie Weis. I don’t think I’ve heard it discussed at all.  When they fired Tyrone Willingham back in 2004 a lot of people saw that coming. While there was a lot of talk about that being racially motivated, I think it had more to do with his inability to recruit. (my post about his firing)

    Contrast that to Charlie Weis. He is getting the job done. The first two years he took the talent he had an went for the wins. Willingham left him with a decent couple of classes and really messed up in getting younger players… so Charlie didn’t have much left. But the players who played  this year were very young and talented. See, unlike basketball, you can’t grab 11 kids from high school and have the dress for a college football game and expect them to win. There will never be a Fab Five in college football as size, experience, and speed of the game. So they took their lumps and learned this year.

    I expect Notre Dame to be much better as a result of this year. You won’t have to motivate guys to work out. You won’t have a hard time convincing them that two-a-days are worth it in August. All you have to do is point to the sign that says, “2007 We Were 3-9. the worst record in Notre Dame History.”  I think Charlie has the Irish on the right track and he had to take them down this road to prove to them that good things happen as the result of hard work. Each time I saw them truly down and out I could just squint and wait for January 2010 when they win a major bowl and see that this is where they had to go to hoist the trophy.

    Two guys who need to be recognized as they graduate from Notre Dame (You’ll be seeing them on Sunday’s very soon)

    1. Tom Zbikowski– This guy is a football stud. He’s listed as a defensive back but is built a lot like Brian Urlacher from the Chicago Bears. He is fast, he is tough, he hits hard, and whenhe gets his hands on a punt return… he is exciting to watch. His toughness reminds me of Notre Dame great, Marc Edwards and Mike Alstott of Purdue fame.
    2. Trevor Laws– All world. He may be the first defensive lineman taken in this years draft. I think he had about 225 tackles on the year. He isn’t the biggest guy on the planet but he plays hard and is slippery. I’m not sure who to compare him to from Irish teams of old. But I do know he is a great one and that he’ll do well at the next level.

    Both of those guys have had a great season in the midst of a terrible season. It’s really a shame that these guys aren’t going out on a bigger stage. Yet, I am positive both will be featured at the Senior Bowl in Hawaii.