LOS ANGELES – Much of the build-up before Saturday’s game surrounded whether Charlie Weis could pull a monumental upset of USC and make a case that he should return for another year.
Could or would his teamrespond to the challenge, rally, and win one for the coach, similar to the way the Syracuse did for their lame-duck coach Greg Johnson two weekends ago against Notre Dame?
It seemed like the perfect setting for the Irish to do something special. It just never happened.
Weis said after the 38-3 USC rout that he appreciated the four quarters of effort his team showed, but that was of little consolation for the trip home after the Trojans secured their seventh straight win over Notre Dame.
Following are some excerpts from the post-game press conference of Charlie Weis. On his overall impressions of the effort:
“Were we going to play with passion and emotion? They made a heck of a lot more plays that we did. But from the beginning of the game to the end of the game, the team played with passion and emotion. That still is not good enough to win, but that is a fact.”
On the growing talent gap between USC and Notre Dame:
“USC is a team that you have to look at when you’re looking at playing for championships, because that’s what they do on a regular basis. So you can see the discrepancy today between their football team and our football team is very wide.”
On falling behind 24-0 at halftime:
“I was really concerned at halftime, when we got in there, about how the team was going to come out. And I think that the team came out and for two quarters they fought their butts off. I was concerned at halftime it was going to go in a worse direction and with that, I was happy that they didn’t let go.”
No News, Yet
Notre Dame athletics director Jack Swarbrick was as popular a post-game interview as Jimmy Clausen as the masses awaited news of what was next on the “Weis Watch.”
Swarbrick didn’t tip his hand on any impending decision to his coach’s future, saying the two will meet Monday, Dec. 7, and go through a thorough review of the football program.
Weis and Swarbrick typically meet each Monday, but Weis stayed in California after the game to recruit and Swarbrick is also out of town this week, so the meeting got pushed back to the following Monday.
“Nothing is going to happen until we complete the entire review, the process,” Swarbrick said. “We do that as a regular course. It doesn’t assume something will happen. There’s no guarantee for my women’s soccer coach, which is on its way to the women’s Final Four next weekend. We sit down and we evaluate every program the same way at the end of the season.”
And for Weis, Swarbrick said his review will come at the end of regular season, not after the bowl game.
Weis was asked during his postgame press conference about his status as the head coach, and he also deferred those questions, saying he is worried about the “health” and the “spirit” of his team, as well as getting out on the road for five days to recruit “and making sure we bring in another top class” with this haul.
“I’m the football coach at Notre Dame,” Weis said. “When the time comes somewhere in my career, either by my choice or their choice, they’re going to tell me I’m not the head coach at Notre Dame.”
When asked if the cost of buying out Weis – an amount reported to by up to $20 million – would be a factor in a decision on his future, Swarbrick again didn’t budge.
“We are engaged in a process of evaluating the program and asking ourselves, ‘What can we do to get better?’” Swarbrick said. “And there may be a host of answers to that. You’re assuming that the things we identify to make the program better relate directly to (Weis’) status, and I don’t have that assumption at all.”
Futility Rules
Notre Dame faced a tough challenge Saturday going up against the top ranked scoring defense and the No. 2 total defense in the country. USC was giving up 8.3 points a game and only 222.50 yards, and it padded both those stats against the Irish.
Notre Dame recorded season lows in almost every offensive category. A few of those futility marks included four first downs, 41 passing yards, 1.9 yards per play and 91 total offensive yards.
James Aldridge was as close to a bright spot as Notre Dame had. The junior tailback had 58 rushing yards on 12 carries, not exactly Heisman stuff, but 40 more yards than any other Irish player managed.
“You go out there and you try, that’s really all you can do,” Aldridge said. “If it doesn’t happen, you just try to have a short term memory. It’s a little frustrating but you got to keep at it.”
Jimmy Clausen had the worst game of his career, finishing just 11-of-22 passing for 41 yards with two interceptions. Things were especially tough in the first half when Notre Dame had nine total yards and no first downs. The Irish didn’t record a first down until the last play of the third quarter.
“It’s disappointing,” said Clausen of his homecoming to southern California. “Obviously you want to come back, and have a big game, and end up with a victory in the end. It was a tough one tonight but we’ll bounce back, and get to where they are soon.”
Anello, Allen Injured
The heartbeat of the Irish special teams, Mike Anello, had his night and season cut short Saturday when he broke a bone in his lower right leg early in the first quarter. Fittingly, Anello injured his leg making a tackle on punt coverage, his 23rd tackle of the season, all on special teams.
Anello stayed down after the play, was fitted with a full brace to immobilize his right leg and was carted off the field for x-rays and a cast. The injury was a disappointing end to a nice week for Anello after he was named to the ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-America second team last week.
Weis joked afterward that Anello has a fifth year of eligibility remaining, so we may not have seen the last of him.
Tailback Armando Allen was also injured late in the first half and taken to the locker room early. He was walking on crutches and had a boot on his right foot after the game.
Hughes Booted
The jawing and skirmishes between USC and Notre Dame flared up in the tunnel before the game and picked up again late in the game when Irish running back Robert Hughes and USC defensive end Malik Jackson got together as part of large skirmish, and got kicked out of the game late in the fourth quarter.
Weis defended his guy, saying Hughes was the victim, not the aggressor.
“Robert gets thrown out of the game for getting punched in the face. That’s a first,” Weis said. “You get punched in the face and you get thrown out.”
Per NCAA rules, Hughes will have to sit out the first half of the bowl game since he got kicked out in the second half of this one. Second half ejections carry over to the first half of the following game. Expect an announcement on a bowl game by or on Dec. 7.
Irish safety Kyle McCarthy reached a milestone and broke an all-time record for an Irish defensive back when he recorded seven tackles against USC to get him to 103 stops on the season. It was the first time a Notre Dame defensive back recorded 100 tackles, breaking the single-season record of 98 tackles set by safety Chinedum Ndukwe in 2006.
On his overall impressions of the effort:
