If Irish had lost, it would have been Weis' fault
Charlie Weis' decision to play second-stringers almost cost Notre Dame
Rob Carr / APNotre Dame head coach Charlie Weis' decision to let his second-stringers play in the second half almost cost the Irish the game.
The Irish have been criticized, with justification, for lacking a killer instinct most of this season. A 28-7 snoozer in the fourth quarter versus Stanford morphed into a 28-21 game — the Cardinal had the ball with a chance to tie — that kept fans glued to their televisions until the final seconds. Double-digit leads late in the second quarter versus North Carolina and Pittsburgh, respectively, collapsed into defeats.
Sandwiched between those two losses was a 33-7 win at Washington. But even in that game, the Irish, with an opportunity to record their first shutout since Lou Holtz’s last home game in 1996, took their foot off the pedal. Weis made wholesale substitutions and the Huskies, who had not advanced beyond midfield all game, drove 69 yards for a touchdown.
“A win’s a win,” said Irish quarterback Jimmy Clausen, who threw his fewest number of passes all season (15-18, 110 yards) in an efficient effort, two interceptions notwithstanding. “Doesn’t matter if it’s 3-0 or 60-0.”
Clausen is right, but what a shame that somehow Weis had to become the story again. After a week in which the fourth-year Irish head coach earned the dreaded “vote of confidence” from his boss, athletic director Jack Swarbrick, his team came out and avenged their most humiliating, attention-grabbing loss of the 2007 season.
We should be discussing the Irish offensive line who, against an admittedly undersized opponent, created vistas that allowed the Irish rushing attack to dictate the game after halftime. Notre Dame gained 230 yards rushing, second only to their effort at Washington.
We should be lauding the defense, which kept Navy’s armada in port for the game’s first 58 minutes. Until that final deluge of points — which followed a deluge of rain earlier in the fourth quarter — the Middies completed just one pass and were held to 152 yards rushing, which is less than half their season average.
Instead, Weis and his coaching staff are heaving a don’t-update-the-resumes-just-yet-sized sigh of relief. Weis was jovial after the game, smiling ruefully as he entered the interview room when he saw that he’d have to navigate a tall step in order to approach the podium. He led off by joking, “Before we get going I am looking to see if anyone wants to be on my hands team next week. Any volunteers?”
Weis is lucky. Navy’s potential game-winning drive, the one that would have begun every SportsCenter for the next two days (or until Weis resigned under pressure, whichever came first), ended just 34 yards from consummation. You think last year’s loss to Navy was difficult to swallow? Had the Irish squandered this game, somebody would have been made to pay.
Just ask former Minnesota coach Glen Mason, whose Golden Gophers led Texas Tech 38-7 in the third quarter of the 2006 Insight Bowl. Minnesota blew the lead, lost in overtime, and Mason was canned the following morning.
(Note to reader: This has been a fairly decent column to this point, one might even say a dominant piece. I feel as if I’ve convinced you and, though I still have at least four paragraphs or so to write, I’m sending in an intern who has never written on deadline to finish this. Enjoy.)
Sure, the Irish are not in the hunt for a national championship, or even a BCS bowl. Style points are not going to help a team ascend in the polls if that team is not even ranked. However, there’s something distinctly unsatisfying, for fans and players alike, with taking a decisive confidence-building victory and dressing it down into a nail-biter.
It’s odd. Two weeks ago, the Irish blew a 17-3 halftime lead at home to Pitt. Afterward, sophomore wide receiver Golden Tate confessed to reporters that at the break “we thought the game was over.”
Weis, when told what Tate said the following day, was not pleased. “I’ll have a talk with Golden,” Weis said with a smile, “and he won’t be saying anything like that again.”
With 9:07 remaining and the Irish enjoying a 27-7 lead, backup quarterback Evan Sharpley led a unit full of reserves onto the field. And when they failed to score on a first-and-goal from two yards out, Weis sent in a full complement of defensive backups. What was Weis telling his team?
Who will have a talk with Charlie Weis? Who will promise that he won’t be saying anything like that again?
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