In a week littered with rivalry games across the nation, one coach's misfortune in a mundane contest took center stage.
University of Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis — once the brilliant offensive coordinator who helped lead the juggernaut New England Patriots to three Super Bowls — was fired Monday after his Fighting Irish lost on the road to Stanford 45-38, effectively ending Notre Dame's magnificently disappointing season at a subpar 6-6.
As a four-game losing streak continued at the hands of the Cardinals, Weis and the Fighting Irish will look back on the 2009 season as one that could very well have been miraculous. All six of Notre Dame's losses came by seven points or fewer, including losses of two, three, four and five points.
As was the case all season, the Fighting Irish's offense was brilliant against Stanford, while it was the defense that faltered. Notre Dame has given up at least 30 points in six of its 12 games thus far, finishing 87th in the country in total defense. A look back at Weis' last season in South Bend yields the revelation that the Fighting Irish might have saved the 53-year-old's job, had they just been able to win the close ones.
Take, for instance, Notre Dame's first loss of the season, a 38-34 defeat at the hands of the University of Michigan. With 11 seconds left, Wolverine freshman quarterback Tate Forcier found receiver Greg Matthews from five yards out to overcome a late three-point deficit and win. Likewise, their double-overtime loss to Connecticut two weeks ago came when the Fighting Irish defense was unable to buckle down, ceding a four-yard, game-winning touchdown run by Andre Dixon, which pushed the final score to 33-30.
But the cap on their season occurred Saturday, when Notre Dame allowed Stanford's senior running back and Heisman Trophy contender Toby Gerhart to rumble for 205 yards and three scores, good for an absurd 7.1 yards-per-carry average. After a pass from junior quarterback Jimmy Clausen to receiver Golden Tate had put the Fighting Irish up by eight with under 13 minutes remaining in the game, Notre Dame's defense faltered, and Gerhart capped his team's comeback by plunging in for the winning score with 59 seconds left.
It was a theme that played out throughout the year: Clausen and Tate dominate on the offensive end only to see their defense crumble when it counts the most. On Oct. 17, then-No. 25 Notre Dame lost to the University of Southern California (USC), ranked sixth at the time, by seven. Though Clausen and Tate hooked up twice for scores, USC went up by 20 early in the fourth quarter, forcing the Fighting Irish's offense to play catch up and ultimately to fall just short.
But when both units were on, Notre Dame clearly demonstrated that its capability far exceeded its final record. In an Oct. 3 matchup with Washington, Clausen threw for 422 yards, 244 of which went to Tate. The defense held the Huskies to zero points in the one overtime, sending the Fighting Irish to a 37-30 win. In a season-opening 35-0 win versus Nevada, Notre Dame's defense caused three turnovers. Unfortunately for Weis and his squad, those efforts were rarely replicated throughout the year.
Despite the defensive ineptitude, Clausen was, for all intents and purposes, one of the best statistical quarterbacks in the country. As of Sunday, he finished third in the FBS in total passing yards with 3,722, second in pass efficiency (161.42 rating), and threw just four interceptions against 28 touchdowns.
Tate, additionally, ranks fourth in the country with 1,496 receiving yards and is second with 15 touchdowns. The Notre Dame offense was ninth best in the country while the school's defense failed to live up to the lofty standards imposed by playing football for one of the nation's most historic programs.
With his own recruiting class, Weis went 15-21 in the past three years, far behind the stellar first two years he had at South Bend, when the Fighting Irish made consecutive appearances in BCS Bowls. Additionally, he led Notre Dame to its second straight season of nine wins or more, something that hadn't been accomplished since the 1992-1993 seasons.
But recently, Weis has been overshadowed by the Fighting Irish's bumbling losses. Notre Dame has lost at least six games in each of the last three years, its longest such streak in school history.
For the roller coaster ride that the Fighting Irish have experienced, someone had to be blamed. And since trading players or signing new ones isn't an option in the collegiate ranks, the pressure fell squarely on Weis' shoulders. Because of it, he is on his way out.
