Oh, I'll post evey now and then, and I'll take my lumps from the schadenfreude obsessed ND haters, but as far as this season goes, I'm checking out.
This display of football on the field has been quite simply pathetic, and despite there being some talent on its way up the ranks in the underclassmen and incoming recruits, there is little from this season that shows that the Weis regime is more than a 1-trick pony, great recruiters who can't develop talent.
I hope the offseason shows that that isn't the case, and that Weis and Co. are able to develop this young talent into something that resembles a competitive football team.
However, I hope that the powers that be at this University start examining that short list of potential coaching replacements, because as much as I like Coach Weis as a person and as a representative of Notre Dame, next year is quite simply make-or-break for him. And I have no idea whether he can turn this team around over such a short span.
The delusional Notre Dame fan in myself believes he can, but that nagging realist has some real concerns over being able to compete against the USCs and Michigans of the world anytime in the near future.
Let's review the damage so far:
9 losses for the first time in history
Started 0-5 for the first time in history, having never started worse than 0-3 before.
Lost 6th straight home game to an opponent (MSU) for first time in history.
Worst home opening loss in history (33-3 to Georgia Tech)
Worst home loss in history (38-0 to USC)
I could go on and on, but this list of historical lows is positively Willingham-esque. The only positive I can take from this season is that we have talent coming in. It could be worse - if Willingham were still coaching, this season would probably have gone completely winless, with no positives in recruiting in sight. But I digress.
Now, keep in mind, I'm not calling for Weis' head. And I love the Weis family, and hope it never comes to that. I'm just saying that at 1-9, with what is undisputedly the worst season in Notre Dame history starting to wrap up, maybe we should start thinking about that conversation.
As for this week, I'm going to limit my posting, but I think we squeak out a win against 1-9 Duke. And, yes, I sad squeak out. This Duke team is a team that based on talent alone we should be able to beat by 30 with our second string.
But this year's team is like Humpty Dumpty.
All the king's horses and all the kings men...
8 comments:
Quitter.
Ron Zook got ran out of town because he could recruit with the best of them but couldn't run a program. That was his first HC stint, if I recall. He's still recruiting elite players at Illinois, but now he has a solid program to develop and showcase these players.
If anyone can fix this mess, its Charlie. He's scary smart, motivated and competitive. Once he gets his team to reflect this, we'll do more than OK. Talent helps, but football is mostly mental. Fix the attitude, and the rest will come.
If we're losing to Duke by two touchdowns in the second quarter, it may be prudent to turn off your set. But this is no time to throw in the towel.
Life's too short.
I agree with anonymous. You have to beleive. Unlike most of the fans this past weekend who did not stick around past halftime. But thats a different discussion. Hang in there man right now this team needs all of the support and belief it can get. Look at what happend at UCLA. Our defense led by Mo Crum beleived that they could stop UCLA and get a win and they did. In the 2nd half they started to get that way but not getting a 1st down on a QB sneak broke the momentum and turned the ball over on downs and it shifted back to Air Force. I think and still beleive if we would have scored on that drive to cut the lead to 3 at that point the team would have stepped up and met the challenge. That play alone is why we lost not any of the crap that happend previous. Charlie can and will get ND through these tough times and to use a line from my favorite baseball team "Wait till next year." It will be different
I'm with Hoss!
eep your head up we willl get through it. Keep posting!!
hey anonymous, it's tough to turn off the game when you're sitting in the stands.
I'm not giving up on the program, just this season. Wins against Duke and Stanford won't do much for my confidence, and losses would just make the season that much worse.
I believe in the future of this program, I'm just becoming somewhat skeptical about Weis' ability compared to what I thought he was the past two years. I'm withholding judgment until next season, and (aside from my end of season report card) I don't want to rehash the same comments for the next two weeks.
Those comments, by the way, are still that Weis needs to: Fire Polian, fix the offensive line problems (if that means firing Latina, so be it, although that may not be the answer), and hand over the play calling to your offensive coordinator so you can focus on big picture every week.
Unless you think those problems are going to change in the next two weeks, I have nothing else to say.
Hey, quit yur belly achin you crochety old man. Your team needs you.
"Willingham-esque"?
You mean the guy who recruited Brady Quinn and Jeff Sawhatever, who recruited all the guys who were responsible for Notre Dame's wins in the last two seasons, and not the guy who forgot that he might want to develop the players HE recruited because, whoops, Ty's guys are going to graduate?
You mean the guy who was never, ever responsible for a season REMOTELY as bad as this one?
This is Notre Dame's worst season EVER. What have you been smoking to compare it negatively to the tenure of ANY previous coach?
I am amazed that everyone isn't calling for his head. Could anyone possibly have wrought greater disaster on the program?
Ty was a poor recruiter (other than the 2002 class) who put a mediocre product on the field. However, you are batshit crazy if you think he wouldn't have done better than Weis this year. Ty put us in the position that this would be a rebuilding year, but Charlie's sheer incompetence and neglect of basic fundamentals, full-speed contact in practice, etc. led to this being not just a bad season, but an embarassment of epic proportions.
-Scott
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