The Luck of the Irish, and Charlie Weis, is Running Out

Paul Smith - View From the Midwest

Thursday, 26 November 2009 13:12

Michigan City, Ind. — You have two choices: Late August, before Notre Dame's opener with Nevada or late last Saturday afternoon.

"We go 6-and-5, that's not acceptable..."
— Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis.

Answer: Both.

For the first time, after Notre Dame's disheartening 33-30 double-overtime loss to Connecticut — Connecticut?!? — Saturday, the (pick one) embattled, doomed, shattered Notre Dame leader looked very much the executioner's row resident. Sad, reflective, resigned to his fate.

Gone were the much-chronicled miracle finishes (Michigan State, Purdue, Boston College, et al.) fading into a glum, increasingly-distant past.

The pre-game show of solidarity with Weis in his traditional gray Fighting Irish football sweats interlocking arms with his players was good theatre. And the 14-0 lead the Irish earned early was downright schmaltzy.

But then, in true N.D.recent Weis-era style, came the unnecessary penalties, revival of the enemy offense, out-of-position linebackers which allowed Connecticut's respected running game to ramble downhill and bit-by-bit, the game added up to a third straight Irish loss, fourth in the last five.

There was little doubting Weis's fate now. But there was equally little desire to convert him into a stick-pin doll.

"Today's not the day for me to reflect on things like that," he said to the South Bend Tribune's Eric Hansen after the Huskies' Andre Dixon rammed in from the Irish 4 to counter a David Ruffer field goal in Notre Dame's second-O.T. possession to give UConn a well-deserved victory.

It was Connecticut's seventh year as a member of the old I-A/new Football Bowl Subdivision and although the Huskies at times had been competitive in the Big East and flirted with Top 25 rankings thanks to the zealotry of a few New England/New York based media, UConn looked like a fairly sure 'W' when it appeared on the Irish's schedule.

Weis had been demeaned by the regional media over his Notre Dame years as a gruff East Coast guy with little time and sensitivity for alumni and other amenities deemed necessary by both the Notre Dame fanbase and the Chicagoland/Indiana media, who conveniently ignored the endless efforts he put in for a cure for the debilitating illness that affects his daughter Hannah, and was a shoulder to cry on for hundreds of folks whose young 'uns were afflicted.

His most sentimental of sides surfaced. "I mean today's the day for me to be worrying about those guys, those 33 (seniors)," he said to Hansen. "I really feel absolutely miserable for those 33 guys. And as I said the other day — and I've never been a hypocrite before — if I come in here and start talking about me, I'm barking up the wrong tree because those guys are the guys I should feel for today. I'll worry about me tomorrow."

Clearly he wouldn't resign — "That's not happening," was his mantra to all. But he was resigned. No question there.
He pretty much knows the game at Stanford Saturday will be his last, that sometime within the next two weeks, he will close Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick's door behind him and hear the fateful words.

"But if they decided to do something," Weis said to Hansen Sunday, "could you understand that? I'm the head football coach. Who else is responsible? Now I could sit there and try to blame everybody else, but who is — ultimately, it's on my shoulders. That's the way it is."

His 35-26 record at Notre Dame puts him one game behind his less-revered predecessors, Ty Willingham and Bob Davie, for example.

This next quote was the one that hit thousands of radio and T.V. stations, the major networks, all the wire services.

"You know something, if they decide to make a change, OK. I'd have a tough time arguing with that, because 6-5 isn't good enough (remember?) — especially when you've lost five games by a touchdown or less."

On the other side, the few thousand UConn fans who made the 850 mile trip to South Bend reveled into the twilight and tears flowed freely.

The Huskies (5-5) at least one game short of bowl eligibility, had suffered together after the tragic stabbing death of standout defensive back Jasper Howard, had also endured three of the toughest last-minute losses imaginable in falling from 4-2 to 4-5. So when the tears flowed freely, any impartial observer — and many Notre Dame loyalists — could understand.

"I'm just so proud of those kids over in the locker room and those assistant coaches," said Randy Edsall, the Huskies' gifted coach, told Desmond Conner of The Hartford Courant. "We persevered today and ended up just making a couple of plays at the end that we hadn't been able to make in some of our earlier games.

"We're just thankful that we were finally able to put together a win. So now we can take a game ball ... and send it down to the Howard family because I know one thing — that little No. 6 was looking down on us today."

Winning T.D. scorer Dixon probably felt the warmest of the inner glows. "It was a great feeling after all these games where we came up close and didn't finish the game," he said to Conner. "I think this is the loudest I've heard a stadium get in all my time playing college football. It's a great win."

Edsall went so far as to say "the greatest" since UConn moved up from the old I-AA level.

Two teams. Less than 40 yards between them. But on Saturday, worlds apart.

While Connecticut celebrates its well-earned, well-done moments of triumph, the massive Notre Dame Nation awaits...

About Paul Smith

Paul Smith covers the Big Ten, Notre Dame and the rest of the national college football scene with his View From the Midwest.

About Paul Smith

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