Carlos Osorio / AP

Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn talks with coach Charlie Weis during the Fighting Irish's 17-10 upset of No. 3 Michigan on Saturday.

Much will be made of Michigan’s red-zone inefficiency — Chad Henne threw a goal-line interception and fumbled away a quarterback sneak inside the 1, while the Wolverines turned it over on downs inside the 10 on yet another trip — but Michigan was taken completely out of its game by a defense that overwhelmed the run and put consistent heat on Henne.

“We know we have the talent to win football games,” superbly talented pass rusher Victor Abiamiri said. “We have a good defense. Everybody else can say what they want to say. We’re the ones that go through practice every day. It just builds our confidence.”

That’s another thing Weis has seemingly mastered — harmonizing with his team’s psyche — even though his last head coaching gig came 16 years ago at Franklin Township High in New Jersey.

Weis noticed, as Michigan surely did, that Ohio University, a Mid-American Conference punching bag, upset Pitt on Friday night, which for the rest of America immediately put last week’s Irish win in a different light.

“I didn’t use the words ‘Pittsburgh’ or ‘Ohio’ ” Weis said, “but I said, ‘I guess they watched that football game last night and I guess that (win over Pitt) wasn’t very important.’ I would hope they drew the right inference.”

So far, so good. Through two weeks, they’ve drawn every right inference and conveyed every right implication at Notre Dame.

You might expect it all to be a whirlwind for Weis, unaccustomed as he is to the full range of a head coach’s responsibility, but he’s even had the presence of mind to enjoy the rewards, if fleetingly. After both wins, he’s shared a moment with his 12-year-old son, Charlie, who for the second straight week groused to Dad about a flat second-half performance.

“I thank Dick Ebersol for that,” Weis said, recalling the crash of a private airplane in which the NBC executive survived but lost a son last winter. “You have a rare opportunity to share these moments with him.”

The moments Notre Dame relishes sharing were all too rare the last two seasons, which explains why Charlie Weis is here in the first place. If they keep sharing them at his current pace, it won’t be long before they start fretting the advances of covetous NFL suitors.

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