The 23-21 Notre Dame home loss to Navy had pretty much sunk in with the Chicagoland Fighting Irish fanbase and on the page were a shot of quarterback Jimmy Clausen getting set to drill a pass downfield. Above the photo were two bold headline words: "GO PRO."

To the right of Clausen was a typically-unflattering picture of Notre Dame's Willy Loman figure, coach Charlie Weis, over which were two more bold words: "JUST GO."

And so it goes at Notre Dame.

Contact with a few Notre Dame Monogram Clubbers found solid support for Weis, based on what they unanimously termed "annoying" overexpectations.

Yes, it is understandable, given the Irish's nearly .750 all-time won-lost percentage and championship legacy, to expect a very competitive team regularly.

But given the parameters of today's college game, is it realistic to expect undefeated, one-loss and two-loss seasons virtually every year?

A question receiving an unquestioned "Yes" through most of the last half century in South Bend. But the mach-speed changes in the college game -- or as some who follow (but don't root for) Southeastern Conference football might call it "The Institutional Game," may just have blown by the unsuspecting Irish.

Institutions? Well, if we'd like, a cursory check with the graduation rates in said league -- legitimate graduations, not "Animal Husbandry," "The Perfect Bench Press," "Golf from Tee to Green," etc. -- would turn any serious N.C.A.A. investigator blue at the gills.

So, of course, that ain't happening anytime soon.

Where the Chicago newspapers had historically often beaten their northern Indiana counterparts to the meaty stories involving Notre Dame, the South Bend Tribune's exceptional Notre Dame football beat writer Eric Hansen produced one of the truly definitive pieces on the state of the sport under the Golden Dome.

"(Second-year Notre Dame Athletic Director) Jack Swarbrick stood in the back of the media room Saturday night, soaking in (Weis') dissection of the new hiccup on his resume and looking every bit like a man who was winning a lemon-eating contest."

Aside here: If No. 9 Pitt (8-1) beats the Irish at Heinz Field Saturday night (ABC-TV, 8 p.m. E.T. 7 Central), Weis' fifth-season career record will have reached 35-25, exactly the same as much-maligned Bob Davie, who was booed and booted off campus in 2001, and in the same general genre with Ty Willingham, who preceded Weis.

"Around Swarbrick," Hansen continued, "...swirls more indifference than outrage as a response to the Irish (6-3) plummeting from No. 19 in the country to three measly points in the latest Associated Press poll...

"And for a coach whose job status suddenly becomes the national media's flavor of the week, you'd much prefer the smell of tar and feathers to the stanch of apathy.

"It's almost as if the fan base, at least the loudest fringe of it, has stopped debating whether Weis should return to coach the Irish in 2010 and instead moved on to the argument about precisely which coach should replace him.

"If the pressure is squeezing Weis, he certainly isn't taking it out on the rest of the world."

Well, no. But when non-area writers conference-called in, the mantra was the same, as it should have been: "I'm concentrating on Pitt. We're trying to find ways to beat Pitt. That's our focus." Or reasonable varieties of said response.

The complaints from the Irish restless natives are these:

* Cut from the same grouchy Bill Parcells/Bill Belichick mode that gave the world Cleveland Browns coach Eric Mangini, University of Virginia coach Al Groh, Carolina Panthers bossman John Fox and others.

* Jersey guy, snappy approach.

* Know-it-all (see: Parcells)

There may be elements of truth in each, but those closest to him see a very different Charlie Weis, who although we wouldn't dare compare him successwise to N.D. legends Ara Parseghian or Frank Leahy, has the same protective paternal instincts for his team with the media. The information flow is pretty tightly controlled.

But then defensive tackle Ian Williams told the media, Navy "Outschemed us, and I think they just played harder," according to Sun-Times sports columnist Neil Hayes.

Now that hurt. Weis has been only too willing to field the blame after losses, but when asked about Williams' observations last Sunday, he responded, "Well, I didn't read anything as you would imagine," according to Hayes. "But I did hear some quite contrasting answers to the same question. I think that question was presented to Ian, it was also presented to (safety) Kyle McCarthy, and from what I understand, Kyle McCarthy's answer (blaming the players) was quite different, where he said it had nothing to do with the scheme.

"So, there's a reason why one guy (McCarthy) is a captain and one guy is not."

No media member worth his or her credentials would take great joy out of watching that mini-implosion, but it hints at some problems that will demand both remaining-season and, hopefully for Weis, off-season attention.

Lost in all this was the fact that while Navy ran up 348 rushing yards against the Irish in beating Notre Dame for the second time in three years, the Mids also damn near made off with an upset of Ohio State in Columbus to open the 2009 season.

The evaluation process will be intricate and it would behoove Weis to pilot the Irish to at least one victory in the final three games, but more likely two. Beating Pitt and its outstanding offense may be too much of a task, but Notre Dame needs to come up with a strong home effort against Connecticut and then at Stanford, which is suddenly contending for Pacific 10 prominence.

For Weis, it may come down to a three-game season. Fair? Nope. But at Notre Dame, when the balance sheet falls short of 9-10 victories, things seldom are.