(This is part two of a two part series.  Part one can be viewed here)

On the seventh day of Christmas, the Grinch gave to ND: Running backs by committee.

I used to defend this philosophy, but no more.  Weis decided to use Armando Allen as the feature back this season but that seemed to only last for a few drives.  Inconsistency in the backfield doesn’t allow a running back to get a feel for the game.  The featured back should get 60-70% of the carries; Allen ran it about 40% of the time. 

I don’t pretend to know if Allen is clearly the number one guy but I’d like to see one back get those 25-ish carries a game.  It can differ each game if the opposition calls for it, but I know that as a former running back I wanted to be in the game continuously to size up the defense.  It’s hard to do that on the sideline.

On the eighth day of Christmas, the Grinch gave to ND: A lack of a pass rush on D.

(This is part one of a two part series. Part 2 can be viewed here)

Heading into the bowl game on Wednesday, I planned to give out twelve gifts (just like the song, get it?) regarding the regular season but while making my list I decided gifts of coal seemed more appropriate.

So here it is, the Twelve Days of Christmas: Grinch-style.

On the first day of Christmas, the Grinch gave to ND: High expectations for the team.

you all know by now how I feel about fan expectations for Notre Dame, so I won't spend much time on it.  You know my arguments about how Irish fans brought disappointment on themselves this year.  I'm OK with national championship goals, but we (yes, that includes me) should have expected a mediocre season.  Notre Dame just isn't able to build a program overnight regardless of our storied past and great recruiting.

On the second day of Christmas, the Grinch gave to ND: A bad year for rivalry.

Michigan and Purdue stink – end of story.  Michigan State and Boston College were winnable games.  Turnovers were only the straws that broke the Irish back.  They’re both solid teams but both very beatable as well.

As for USC, well.. just another game against Pete Carroll’s NFL-ready Trojans.  Notre Dame should be 4-1 in these games every year, 3-2 at worst.  2-3 is unacceptable.

On the third day of Christmas, the Grinch gave to ND: More tackling inability.

For the second straight season, I see a complete lack of tackling fundamentals.  Granted the Irish defended against some pretty good running backs (Ringer will be a stud in the NFL, let alone college), but overall I noticed arm tackles and shoulder blocks play after play.  Our players were trying to make amazing hits when a good form-tackle can be just as impressive. 

It’s the number one thing I’d like to see Corwin Brown and John Tenuta emphasize this off-season.

On the fourth day of Christmas, the Grinch gave to ND: Lack of leadership qualities.

Where is it on the field?  Brian Smith talked an awful lot of talk throughout the season but I didn’t see it on the field.  Jimmy Clausen seems to have the trust of the offensive players but did you ever see him take command of the team?  I didn’t. 

Fan-favorite Mike Anello is about the only player to lead by example that I noticed.  You saw 100% heart in that kid and I’m not sure I saw it any of the guys that need to be leaders.

On the fifth day of Christmas, the Grinch gave to ND: An offensive offense visually.

This is an all-too common complaint amongst Irish fans and I don’t want to waste too much time on it, but I couldn’t ignore it for a list like this.  So what’s the problem? 

Was it quasi-former offensive coordinator Michael Haywood?  Is Charlie Weis not the robot-genius we loved in 2005 and 2006?  Is the system too complex for immature athletes? 

Maybe it’s as simple as not getting the talent we expected.  Quite frankly, I have no clue.

On the sixth day of Christmas, the Grinch gave to ND: Talented freshmen ev’rywhere I see.

I know what you’re thinking.  How can ridiculously talented freshmen like Trevor Robinson or Darius Fleming be a bad thing? 

Freshmen really shouldn’t have that big of an impact already.  I’ll grant that some freshmen just can’t be left on the bench (see: Floyd, Michael). 

Kyle Rudolph gets a pass because of the two guys ahead of him being unable to play this season.  For the most part guys like Robinson or Fleming or Blanton shouldn’t have such an easy pass in becoming major players on the team. 

After three top-ten recruiting classes, the older kids should be mainstays on the starting rosters with the occasional superstar (again, Floyd) frosh.  We need our older guys to step it up big time.

So there's the first six gifts.. tomorrow I'll post the top six Grinch gifts.

Motivation.

Let's be honest, that's all it should take to beat Hawaii. 

Quotes (either in or out of context, doesn't matter) after the Syracuse game had me a little discouraged about what goes on in that locker room.

Senior Day.  A chance to go to a legit bowl game.  A chance at a guaranteed winning season.  Head coach's job potentially on the line.

What was Weis' speech before the game?  What did he say that sucked the energy out of the room?

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We used to be a school with 10 year coaches.

We used to be a school that allowed its coaches to develop a program and not just a team.

We're no longer that school.

Because of the hastiness (necessary or not, I don't care) of the firings of Bob Davie and Ty Willingham, Charlie isn't being given the chance to find this school's new identity.

This isn't a one year problem.  This is a five year problem.  A ten year problem.

It's like the government.  President-elect Barak Obama isn't going to fix the economy in one congressional session.  It takes years of dedication to one plan before that plan.

It's like baking a cake.  Charlie has the ingredients.  He's mixing them together, trying to get the combinations just right.  But if you try to eat it before he's finished, the cake is going to taste awful.

Now I'm not guaranteeing that Charlie is a gourmet chef.  I'm not saying he's going to win seven national championships.

But don't we owe to him and to ourselves to taste the final product? 

I know we got our cakes burned by two coaches in a row.  I know we expected more from charlie than he's given us so far.  It's hard, but we need patience.

I'm definitely against firing Charlie right now.  I really believe it will be counterproductive for what we hope to see in our stadium.

Firing Charlie nullifies all of the talent he has built up in the last four years and potentially sets us back all the way to Willingham's last year.

Remember last year when we were 3-9?  I do.  I remember most of us being happy with a 6-6 or 7-5 record.  I remember most of us asking mostly for improvement, not ridiculous success.

Before going out and putting a "For Sale" sign on Charlie's lawn... remember how we were improving at the beginning of the year.  The team showed it can improve and play quite well.  Give them a chance to improve on that.

Give them a chance to gain a Notre Dame identity.

Notre Dame fans really need to start rethinking their goals.  Our expectations are growing faster than our abilities as a team.

All of the talk lately is a bunch of bull.  This is 2008.  A time when parity rules almost all sports and it's extremely difficult to win a national title at a premier program, let alone a mid-tier conference school.

"Can Charlie Weis bring a national championship back to Notre Dame?"

"Is this what you expected from Charlie Weis in year four?"

Stop fooling yourselves. 

It'll be over 20 years (after this season) since Notre Dame's last championship.  We've had two, maybe three, chances at national titles since the 1988 run and those came during the Lou Holtz era.

Let me fill you in on a little secret:  This isn't your grandpappy's Notre Dame anymore.  We're no longer built to succeed year in and year out at top ten levels.  We're on the right path, but we're not there yet. 

We're undefeated against losing teams and we're winless against winning teams.  We are what we are folks, and right now we're a .500 football team.

But that's where we SHOULD be.  This team was ridiculously low on top talent and it takes time to get that back.

It is unfair to Charlie, or any head coach for that matter, for us to say "National championship or bust".  It's illogical and it's ignorant.  This team was not built for a championship and it will take several more years.  Now add parity into the mix.

Look at USC.  Arguably the most talent-stacked program in the nation and even they lose a game almost every year.  Last year, LSU won the title with two losses because the rest of the nation beat up the rest of the nation.

Expecting 12-0 year in and year out isn't fair to Notre Dame and it isn't fair to yourself.  You'll get ulcers if you wait for years like that.

Now this school has lived in the past for so long it doesn't (or at least didn't) realize that the game of football has passed it by.  Weis is trying to catch up.  The players are trying to catch up.  The fans are complaining that it isn't happening fast enough.  It's like taking a student who can barely read and giving him the SAT, then sending him to his room when he gets a 300.  

I understand that the team isn't playing up to our expectations, but maybe that isn't Charlie's fault or Jimmy Clausen's fault or Brian Smith's fault.  Maybe that's our fault.  Maybe our expectations are so unrealistic that we're blinded by our own ambitions.

It appears to me that this team has hit a brick wall.  All of the improvement that we saw at the beginning of the year has completely stalled and it's quite obvious.  But maybe right now, at this time, it's the best we can be.  Perhaps it's like a snake who has grown out of its skin but can't quite shake off its molt.

Right now we're shedding our own analogous skin, and it hurts.  It's frustrating because we're so close yet so far away.  It hurts watching us lose close games to good teams, but until we get this skin off our back we'll never make it.

Maybe Charlie Weis isn't the right coach to give us a championship, but he is the perfect coach to give this team the makeover it so desperately needed.  It's frustrating, but I look at the future and I see us growing into a full-blown title contender.  For now, I'm ok with that.

We are Notre Dame and we live in the past.  It's what we do.

Especially in the last 15 years or so, our football fans have always compared our teams of the past to other schools' teams of the present.

Last year we suffered arguably the worst season in school history and all we could say is "Yeah but we have more national champions so shut up."  You said it, don't lie.

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As a blogger on Bleacher Report (fantastic site, by the way), I peruse a wide variety of fan blogs.  Some are excellent writers like Lisa Horne - yes, I said Lisa Horne and some are just a bunch of idiots with a keyboard.  I like to think that I'm at least somewhere in the middle.

One of those excellent bloggers is Justin Goar, and I have the utmost respect for his opinions and style.  Yesterday he brought up something that bugs me as well in his weekly article, Justin's Weekly Brain Seepage.  It's a list of musings and thoughts regarding college football and this week he brought up "that guy" that always seems to be in your section or in the bar stool next to you.

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For Weis.  That is the answer.

I wrote after the Michigan game that Charlie Weis had finally figured out the college game.  He hasn't perfected it, but after the glaring problems last year I don't expect that quite yet.

I don't even know if I'm completely behind Charlie yet, but the anti-Weis camps that have built their fires on the outskirts of campus have pushed me over the line in his favor.  I guess you'd call me anti-anti-Weis.  Here's why:

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This is Notre Dame.  We set the bar.  We excel morally and socially where other schools fail.

Now, a large majority of the members of this site have decided that "kids will be kids" and that we should forgive Yeatman yet again.  But that's the problem.  This is the second time in a year.  That's a pattern of breaking both team rules, university policy and the law.

If this was a kid from Penn State we'd be talking about how Joe Paterno doesn't discipline his players.  If it was a player for an SEC team, we'd be talking about how they're just a bunch of irresponsible thugs.

Notre Dame takes pride in well-behaved scholarship citizens.  We emphasize the "student" in student-athlete.  We have higher standards.

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I'm undecided upon whether or not the Irish winning in spite of themselves is a good thing or a bad thing.

Two glaring problems with this offense were completely overcome this past weekend due to amazing play by Tate and Floyd.  I leave out Grimes because he isn't flashy and just goes out and plays the game.

So what are the problems?  Here's one:  Mike Haywood.

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