Jim Litke AP columnist

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -

He wasn’t interested in moral victories.

Losing the biggest and maybe best game of the season in the final seconds to the top team in the country might build character. It might come in handy someday in one of those “Gipper” speeches that are so much a part of the lore at Notre Dame, where Charlie Weis went from student to admirer to head coach. And it definitely stoked the embers of what used to be one of college football’s red-hot rivalries.

But Weis wasn’t interested in any of those things, either.

“If you’re looking for me to say this is a great loss,” the rookie head coach said, “you’ll be waiting a long time.”

Age and a long stint as an assistant in the NFL taught Weis to look for consolation where he finds it. In this case, he found it after pushing open the locker room door in those first few moments after a chaotic Southern California comeback ended any chance the Fighting Irish had of staging another historic upset. He saw a team that hurt every bit as much as he did.

“I like the fact that they’re as disappointed as they are right now,” Weis said.

No. 1 USC 34, No. 9 Notre Dame 31 Leinart, Bush lead USC in thriller Commentary: A magic year for Trojans Dynamic duo too much for Fighting Irish Weis not interested in moral victories Ventre: USC offense may be best of all-time Interactive: Three-peat failures in history Notre Dame Central: Full coverage of the Irish

But he wouldn’t say how much USC 34, Notre Dame 31 disappointed him. Weis is funny that way. He called his arrival at Notre Dame the culmination of a dream, but ever since, he’s insisted on going about his business in the most business-like way possible.

Pressed, Weis will admit the college game is a little different, that it’s a little tougher leading a team than working in the shadows as an assistant. That he feels more responsible for these kids than he ever did for the pros who brought his offensive schemes to life. But that’s about it.

Weis claimed he didn’t do anything different preparing for USC, but that wasn’t quite true, either. You could catch him bleeding green and Weis would say it was just a coincidence. Bravado aside, though, there was no question how much this game mattered to him.

FREE VIDEO 'We're grateful' Oct. 15: USC coach Pete Carroll and Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis talk about the thrilling game.

For one thing, Weis pulled out a few motivational tricks that, had they been attempted anywhere else but Notre Dame, would have gotten him laughed out of the fraternity. He brought back alums Joe Montana and Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger of movie fame to speak at a pep rally Friday night. Then, right after the Notre Dame players returned from Saturday’s pregame practice, they found green game jerseys hanging in every locker. It was the same ploy that one of his predecessors, Dan Devine, sprung on USC in 1977 with great success, when Weis was sitting in the stands, and he knew he was taking a risk.

“I toiled over whether to use them,” Weis said, “I really did.

“Because the easy way out would be to not do it, because if we got blown out, everybody would say, ’Oh, he went out and tried this psychological ploy.’ But if you would have seen how fired up they were when they walked in the locker room, well, I felt that our players, as much as they were putting into this game, I should give them something in return.”