Sports - Colleges

Sunday, Nov. 15, 2009

Future of Weis, Notre Dame reaches a pivotal point Saturday’s loss to Pittsburgh turns up the heat

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Not shockingly, like in one of those time-lapse videos of sprouting weeds, the fictitious rumors and unsubstantiated character assaults burst forth this week.

For starters, word was Notre Dame fired Charlie Weis, which was news to Notre Dame and Charlie Weis.

The nameless friends of friends of friends also emerged to recount tales of the Irish coach’s horribleness, stories just reliable enough for message boards and junior high cafeterias.

Then defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta tried not to discuss the struggles against Navy, while co-defensive coordinator Corwin Brown blew a fuse or 10 and imprudently torpedoed the Midshipmen coach — on Veteran’s Day, to underscore his timing as not good.

Meanwhile, Notre Dame players stopped answering questions about the Navy loss only to answer questions about their coach, borrowing from the beleaguered program phrasebook for a third straight year.

“If you let that stuff seep in,” offensive tackle Sam Young said, “it can only do more damage than good.”

Then came another seminal moment, on Saturday night at No. 8 Pittsburgh, and Weis and the Fighting Irish again lost, falling to the Panthers 27-22 at Heinz Field.

Without a victory in this one, his future prospects would grow dimmer.

“That’s too big a picture right now,” Weis said in response to a question about the state of the program. “I’m short-sighted. The most important thing is getting the team to worry about the last two games.”

The Irish fell to 1-10 since 2006 against ranked teams, doing it where Weis made his triumphant debut in 2005 and where he and Notre Dame needed to begin a rejuvenation.

Instead, they fell behind by 17 points entering the fourth quarter, with uninspired offense in the first half and a defense that surrendered three 50-yard plays in the second half.

“It’s a dismal mood right now,” Irish linebacker Brian Smith said.

Expectations have always been high, which is why Bob Davie was shown the door after going 35-25 with the Irish.

“It’s Notre Dame — (they) don’t want to aspire to make the Gator Bowl,” ABC/ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit said. “Notre Dame is one of those programs that every year, no matter who graduates, what signing class you put together ... the expectation and the goal is to be a BCS team.”

Herbstreit noted “amazing strides,” especially offensively, the Irish have made. But he added that all parties must conclude whether the program is trending upward, with losses such as Syracuse in ‘08 and Navy in ‘09 having “a lot of people concerned and frustrated.”

Probably no one more than Weis.