FanHouse Charlie Weis

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Outside Notre Dame Stadium, where Touchdown Jesus is considering whether to hold his nose and wear a brown bag over his head, a student waved two tickets at anyone who walked past. "Freebies. Who wants free tickets?'' he hawked Saturday.

There were no takers.

"After we lost to Navy,'' he said, "everyone gave up.''

Juxtapose that scene against one inside the famed bowl, where Charlie Weis did something we'd never seen him do. Locked arm-in-arm with his 33 seniors, who were playing their final home game, he wept openly as they emerged from the tunnel and walked onto the field. Weis initially was standing in the back, wanting the seniors to have their day, when he was told to join them at the front. This was their show of support for a man about to lose yet another maddening game -- and, ultimately, his job as Notre Dame coach.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) -- The Connecticut Huskies finally won one for their slain teammate, handing Notre Dame and coach Charlie Weis a second straight bitter defeat on senior day.

Andre Dixon (pictured, right) scored on a 4-yard touchdown run in the second overtime to give the Huskies a 33-30 victory, their first win since cornerback Jasper Howard was stabbed to death.

"Jazz this is for you," coach Randy Edsall said, referring to Howard by his nickname. "Best win we have ever had."

The loss was the third straight for Notre Dame (6-5) and will add to the mounting calls for Weis to be fired. The Irish led 14-0 early in the second quarter but didn't score another touchdown until the first overtime.

Technically Notre Dame is a bowl partner with the Big East Conference and the Fighting Irish is a full-member of the Big East, except for football.

Yet, even with the Irish's ties to the Big East, when they play host to UConn Saturday there won't be one person affiliated with the league that will be rooting for the Irish -- well, except for, the entire city of Cincinnati.

Bearcats Nation will be pulling for Notre Dame to win so that ND coach Charlie Weis will not become former ND coach Charlie Weis. And, in turn, current Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly won't become future Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly.

Other than Cincinnati, the rest of the league will be pulling for the Huskies. The reason is if Notre Dame (6-4) wins at least seven games, by either defeating UConn Saturday or Stanford next week, the Irish is a virtual lock to take the Big East's spot in the Gator Bowl. That would shuffle the Cincinnati-Pittsburgh loser down to the Meineke Car Care Bowl.

FanHouse writer John Walters is living in South Bend, Ind., during one of the most pivotal seasons in Notre Dame history. Check back daily for his dispatches on the Irish.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The numbers are fluid, but if you search stories on the web for the past two weeks you will find that no head coach, with the exception of Florida's Urban Meyer, is written about more than Charlie Weis. And if you were to eliminate the stories that pertain to Meyer possibly leaving the Brigadoon that is Gainesville for the "Deadliest Catch" climes of South Bend, then Weis may be number one.

Nick Saban. Mack Brown. Brian Kelly. The Patterson/Petersen duo, Gary and Chris. None of them have had even half the stories being written about them that Weis does even though all five of them have guided their teams to undefeated seasons thus far. Weis' team, as you know, is but 6-4.

FanHouse writer John Walters is living in South Bend, Ind., during one of the most pivotal seasons in Notre Dame history. Check back daily for his dispatches on the Irish.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The questions were fewer, the themes less philosophical, the antagonism nearly absent. There was a scent of resignation at Charlie Weis' weekly Tuesday noon press conference -- emanating from the media.

Last Tuesday, when it still appeared as if this season and this coaching staff could be salvaged, the noon presser possessed the frenzy of feeding hour at the zoo's big cats house. The media peppered Weis with questions for approximately one hour, many of them too "big picture" in Weis' opinion, to merit a reply.

This week? The session lasted just 34 minutes, and only two questions were truly worth repeating here.

If you believe rumors, then Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops would be interested in coaching Notre Dame should the Irish send Charlie Weis packing after five seasons.

The initial thought: Yeah right.

"That's ridiculous," Stoops said of the reports on Monday.

FanHouse writer John Walters is living in South Bend, Ind., during one of the most pivotal seasons in Notre Dame history. Check back daily for his dispatches on the Irish.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- It was just moments after Notre Dame obliterated Nevada, 35-0, in the season-opener and before the band had yet to strike up the Alma Mater. I stood next to WNDU-TV's Jeff Jeffers, who has been covering this program for more than three decades. Each of us incredulous, we gaped at one another.

"Did that just happen?" I asked.

"Did it?" he replied.

Have you seen Nevada lately? The Wolf Pack are 7-3. They are fifth in the nation in scoring offense -- that's right, the same team the Irish shut out, Notre Dame's lone shutout of the Charlie Weis era -- is averaging 39 points per game. They're No. 1 in rushing offense and it isn't even close. Nevada is averaging 353 yards per game on the ground. The next most prolfic rushing attack, Georgia Tech's, averages 314 yards per game.

PITTSBURGH -- It's over. There is nothing left. Charlie Weis is done at Notre Dame.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Pennsylvania is a second home of sorts for the Irish, and not because it happens to be the birthplace of Irish legend Joe Montana.

Nor is it because Pittsburgh's the home of Beano Cook, who once predicted those two Heismans for Berwick, Pa., native Ron Powlus (currently the team's quarterbacks coach).

"We have more subscribers in the state of Pennsylvania than any other state," says inveterate Blue and Gold Illustrated editor Lou Somogyi.

The Panthers, despite their 8-1 record and No. 8 AP ranking, have been averaging crowds in the mid-40,000 level this season at Heinz Field. Saturday night's game, however, despite being available free on television (ABC), is a sellout (65,000-plus) and the Panthers are selling an additional 1,000 standing-room-only ducats. The attendance could possibly break the modern-record for a sporting event in Pittsburgh (66,731 for a 2002 "Backyard Brawl" contest between West Virginia and Pitt).

I'm not sure who's more hopelessly out of place: Charlie Weis on the Notre Dame sideline or Jon Gruden in the "Monday Night Football'' broadcast booth. But two wrongs easily can be righted in one spectacular swoop. The Domers need to swallow hard again, reach down for that big wallet, send away Weis with his $18 million buyout and hire Gruden as their next coach.

Because Navy just sank the USS Charlie.