Time to Cut Weis Some Slack

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- He isn't going anywhere, and he shouldn't. The relentless ways of his Fighting Irish players down the stretch Saturday night at Notre Dame Stadium against Southern Cal bought Charlie Weis more time.

So here's the deal: Weis will last the rest of this season as Notre Dame coach. He also will return next season, and who knows? He might stick around with the Fighting Irish to finish his 10-year contract that expires after the 2015 season.

Whatever the case, there should be a moratorium on Weis bashing despite Notre Dame's 34-27 loss to Southern Cal in another huge game. That's because his players keep demanding as much. They could have collapsed in the final seconds against Michigan State, but they didn't. The same goes for their squeakers over Purdue and Washington that involved an extra dose of passion from everybody on the field.

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This time, Notre Dame players did their part to pull Weis away from the swinging guillotine that constantly is dangling over his neck after they watched their bigger, faster and better opponent surge to the edge of a blowout. With Southern Cal gouging Notre Dame's defense to take a 34-14 lead near the start of the fourth quarter, and with the game-long roar among the Irish Nation becoming only a whisper, those Notre Dame players had every right to call it a night.

No, to call it a season.

They didn't.

"What we did today showed a lot to the country," said Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen, who nearly led the Notre Dame Our Mother (you know, the Notre Dame alma mater) of rallies for his team after Southern Cal's last score with a couple of touchdown drives. At the end, he even fired three passes into the end zone from the Southern Cal 4, but he couldn't connect. Added Clausen, "I'm so proud of this team. We keep fighting when we're down. I think that's what the team is all about."

You only do what the Irish just did against Southern Cal if you have at least some talent, and if you have more than a little pride, and if you like your coach.

Just like that, the previously lousy Clausen remembered he was a Heisman Trophy candidate, and he played like it. Then Golden Tate grabbed the most clutch of his eight catches for 117 yards in that fourth quarter. In fact, soon after Notre Dame began its comeback attempt by racing 88 yards to the end zone, Tate caught a 15-yard touchdown pass from Clausen to pull the Irish to within 34-27.

There was even a frantic dash for the Irish inside the final five minutes, when they raced from their 22-yard line to the Southern Cal 4. Along the way, Notre Dame faced fourth-and-10 from its 29, with Clausen firing a pass that Robby Parris stretched high to grab for a 13-yard completion. He was knocked silly enough afterward by Southern Cal defenders to need help off the field.


You don't sacrifice yourself that way if you don't like your coach.

"Well, anyone who doesn't realize the fight that's in the Fighting Irish is missing the boat," said Weis, whose team nevertheless dropped to 4-2 and likely out any rankings worth mentioning. Not only that, Notre Dame just lost to Southern Cal for an eighth consecutive time, but remember: the Irish were outscored 76-3 in the previous two games in the series. So, to be fair, they have a ridiculously long ways to go just to become competitive with Southern Cal.

Added Weis, "If you haven't watched the last five games, it's every week the same thing. Would I like to not be in that situation? You betcha. But go all the way back to Michigan [which was a last-second loss to begin the season]. Every week, this team is a bunch of fighters. I'm proud of the fight."

He should be. History is filled with examples of players who vanished mentally, physically and spiritually during games when their coach was under siege -- by alums, media, by fans, by campus officials and even by those players. Not so with these Notre Dame players, not when they had an unofficial chance to cut their ties with Weis during this nationally hyped game that was becoming another significantly embarrassing game for Notre Dame against Southern Cal.

Anyway, there was Friday night, when Raghib "Rocket" Ismail became a Notre Dame icon turned football preacher during a loud and large pep rally on campus. He kept screaming the first of his three mantras, "It ends tonight," which was his reference to Southern Cal's winning streak over Notre Dame.

Then Ismail switched mantras: "This is not a game."

Finally, with all of the boosters inside Rocket's head threatening to explode after he reached even higher decibels, Ismail implored the players on Notre Dame's current football team, the coaches and the tens of thousands gathered: "Let's go get it."

They didn't get it. Instead, the Irish almost got it against sixth-ranked Southern Cal, but "almost" is for losers.
Well, usually. At this point in the wobbly Charlie Weis regime, "almost" is the same as "improving," which means a couple of things: Notre Dame still isn't among the elite, and we still don't know if Weis can get the Irish there.

It's just that as long as Weis' players want to try to get there with him, you have to give the guy a break.

Terence Moore is a national columnist and commentator for FanHouse. He is a frequent panelist on "Rome Is Burning," an ESPN show hosted by Jim Rome, that is seen Monday through Friday at 4:30 PM ET. Moore spent more than three decades working for major newspapers, including 26 years as an award-winning sports columnist for the San Francisco Examiner and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He resides in Atlanta.