Eric Hansen

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - First-year Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick spent much of his Wednesday morning, afternoon and evening reiterating what he had said about Irish fourth-year head football coach Charlie Weis back in August.

That is, that he never evaluates a coach in midseason.

“I’ve been popular this week,” Swarbrick joked.

Weis is decidedly not, as Notre Dame (5-4) tries to break its one-game losing streak to Navy (6-3) Saturday in Baltimore after an NCAA-record 43 consecutive wins in the series. The ugliness of ND’s recent two-game skid against Pittsburgh and Boston College and the regression of prodigious quarterback Jimmy Clausen have created swirls of speculation about Weis’ future in South Bend beyond the Nov. 29 regular-season finale at USC.

What Swarbrick isn’t waiting to evaluate is whether a 6-6 or 7-5 Notre Dame team would accept a bowl bid.

“We would welcome the opportunity to accept the host of positives associated with going to a bowl game whatever our record might be,” he said. “I think it’s important in our relationship with college football that if we’re bowl-eligible, we go. The additional practice time you gain, the opportunity for our student-athletes to have the experience of playing in that kind of game, are all among the host of reasons we would be eager to go.”

Now the challenge is actually becoming bowl-eligible. A sixth win is needed to achieve that. Here are the five keys to that happening Saturday at M&T Bank Stadium against the Midshipmen:

1. Look at Boston College as a mulligan.
Other than the Irish defense playing well, there’s not much Notre Dame could learn or extract from the 17-0 flat-tire it suffered Saturday night in Chestnut Hill, Mass.

It was soooo 2007. The Irish hadn’t played that way on offense at any time this season and can’t moving forward if Weis wants to return in 2009.

Navy, though, will likely extract from the BC game a blueprint on how the Mids want to attack the Irish from a defensive standpoint. Look for Navy to lean toward stopping the run and making suddenly inconsistent Clausen beat the Mids with his arm. And in obvious passing situations, look for Navy to drop extra defenders into coverage, banking that Clausen won’t be patient enough to dink and dunk his way down the field.

2. Blitz on first down.
The key to slowing the nation’s No. 1 rushing offense for the fourth-year running is to get Navy in second-and-long and third-and-long situations. The Irish, with their many and exotic blitz packages, have just the defensive scheme to do so.

If the Irish play conservatively on defense, Navy is going to be able to control the clock, keep the ball away from Clausen and company and magnify any turnovers the Irish offense might produce -- given the limited number of possessions ND is likely to get.

3. No waiting game.
This Navy team is more adept at coming from behind than recent incarnations. Earlier this season, the Mids rallied from a 27-7 fourth-quarter deficit to beat Temple in overtime. Still, it’s not their style. Their comfort zone is playing with an early lead.

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How comfortable? In its last 31 games, Navy is 29-2 when scoring first. That’s all the more reason for the Irish to get some points early in this game, to set the right tone and to dictate tempo.

4. Kick the 41-yard field goal.
Last year, in an eventual 46-44 triple-overtime loss to Navy, Weis elected not to kick a potential game-winning, 41-yard field goal late in regulation and went for it on fourth-and-8 instead. The resulting sack and failed fourth-down conversion buoyed Navy’s confidence on defense in the overtime periods.

For better or for worse, kicker Brandon Walker did make seven straight field goals during one stretch this season, and there is no doubt his leg is strong enough to make it from 51 yards. Accuracy? That’s a whole ’nother issue, but Weis didn’t elect to add a kicker in this freshman class, so Walker is his best option. Period.

5. Leave the psychology to Dr. Phil.
At least this week,

There are so many distractions already heading into this game, Weis can’t afford to get too cute or too involved in team psyche. So it’s time to keep the message simple: You’re mad, you’re proud, you’re better than this.

Enough said.

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