John Walters

BOSTON - "All right, fire away."

Charlie Weis opens every Notre Dame postgame news conference with the same line — win or lose. The Fighting Irish head coach stands at a podium and invites the media to "fire away."

The phrase is succinct and direct, but it also invites the connotation that the fourth estate is a firing squad. When actually, Notre Dame’s well-heeled boosters are the firing squad, at least the only type that Weis need be concerned about. And, after an evening as dismal as Saturday night’s at Boston College, that fuming consortium may finally be searching for their rifles.

On a night that for Weis was even more dismal than the weather, Boston College humiliated Notre Dame 17-0. The Irish were listless, mistake-prone, one-dimensional. Last season they were incompetent, inexperienced. On Saturday night at Alumni Stadium, they were simply inexplicable.

The Irish actually gave BC a better game last season, when the Eagles had a future NFL first-rounder at quarterback (Matt Ryan) and Notre Dame was in the midst of its worst season. Saturday night’s beating was far more depressing.

Notre Dame has now lost six consecutive times to their Catholic brethren in this college football prayoff. Embarrassing? The Irish passed that signpost years ago. The question is, Why?

You can point to the individual miscues: quarterback Jimmy Clausen’s four interceptions; Golden Tate’s fumbled punt, the third time in four games (all losses) that the Irish have committed a horrible blunder on the opening drive of the second half; or Leonard Gordon inadvertently knocking Tate out of bounds on a punt return that seemed to have the potential to go for six and provide hope, ever so briefly, for an Irish comeback.

Those are only symptoms. Of greater concern is an offense that, beyond the game’s first series (or first play, e.g. Saturday night’s trips-left stack formation), is as predictable as the story progression in a Law & Order episode. A team that consistently is beaten, offensively and defensively, at the point of attack. An entire squad of players who come across as, if not uninspired, then certainly emotionally shackled.

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And that all falls at the feet of Weis, which are located below his left knee, which at the moment is the only thing in a worse state of disrepair than this football team. What an absolutely miserable night it must have been for Weis in New England. This was a homecoming of sorts, a return to the area in which he went from anonymous assistant coach to Super Bowl ring-flashing hot property.

Saturday evening was humiliation, though, quite literally adding insult to injury. During the contest ESPN sideline reporter Holly Rowe itemized Weis' injury, suffered during the Sept. 13 contest against Michigan, thusly: torn ACL, torn MCL, torn PCL, ruptured capsule behind the kneecap, and a dime-sized fracture of the femur.

Ever since the injury, Weis has stoically refused to acknowledge the discomfort and pain. He has put the team before his health, and that is admirable. But as the welfare of this team continues to decline, you wonder whether Weis would not be doing everyone — himself included — a favor by having the necessary surgery and taking a leave of absence from this squad. The break, it seems, might do both sides some good. And it may be just the medicine needed to avoid a more permanent dissolution in the future.

Last week the Irish led Pittsburgh 17-3 at halftime before losing in four overtimes. Afterward, Tate, the sophomore wideout whose artistry and passion stand out on this team, admitted that at halftime the Irish "thought the game was over." When Weis was told of that quote a day later, his reaction was to say, "I’ll have a talk with Golden and he won’t be saying that any more."

Tate’s quote was candid. It was honest. And it did nothing to denigrate a fellow teammate, or coach, or Notre Dame itself. But it was off-message. And Weis has a huge problem with anyone under his command deviating from his script, or failing to wear the prescribed green polo shirt during in-week interviews, or not lining up to sing the alma mater in front of the student section after every game, or failing to stand with the Navy players as they sing the academy’s alma mater, or … you get the picture.