FanHouse Charlie Weis

In 1990, Notre Dame signed a glitzy football television contract with NBC. The deal revolutionized college athletics and brought millions into Notre Dame's bank account. It was a huge financial windfall that guaranteed the Fighting Irish would remain independent from other conferences.

Chances are, you still think that Notre Dame is banking major revenue from this agreement in comparison to other teams. Chances are, you're wrong. What do Vanderbilt and Northwestern have in common when it comes to football? Answer: They likely both get more money for their televised football games than Notre Dame does. As does every other team in the Big Ten and the SEC.

Like thousands of other people in the sports world, Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis uses Twitter to keep fans updated on what he's doing. But in a series of tweets on Wednesday, Weis explained that there are certain things he's not allowed to do on Twitter -- like respond to tweets from high school football players -- because of NCAA recruiting rules.

The entire college football world remembers Notre Dame's 3-9 effort in the 2007 season, but in South Bend, Ind., it never happened. Fort Wayne's Journal Gazette discovered the omission when perusing the Irish's spring prospectus and 2008 media guide.

The Notre Dame athletic department scrubbed all losing seasons both at Notre Dame and elsewhere from Weis' bio in both publications. This is the stuff made for conspiracy and intrigue in the slow death march of the offseason, but fear not, there's an explanation. Sort of.

So this is how it's going to be for Charlie Weis from now on. Urban Meyer here, Urban Meyer there. The dark cloud that is Meyer has been hovering over Weis since he first started failing as Notre Dame's coach. Now, with Weis on his last chance, Meyer keeps looming even more than ever as a reminder.

Steve Spurrier was probably just trying to do his usual, sticking him thumb in someone's eye, in this case his former employer. Meyer has taken over his spot not only as Florida's coach, but also as the nation's top name. So Spurrier, now the South Carolina coach, was on the radio the other day, when he just so happened to bring up Florida and Meyer.

Every Monday during college football's endless offseason, The FanHouse Walk will put last week's stories to bed and deliver the essentials to bridge that agonizing space between now and September.

Was He Even Alive Then? -- Tennessee coach Lane Kiffin dove back to the pre-disco era in describing his football team after a recent scrimmage. "I feel like we're in the '60s right now with our offense. We've got to run the ball and throw play-action right now. That's about all we can do. It's pretty scary right now."

Mercifully football has moved beyond '60s era mundanity, but Tennessee fans might welcome '60s results as the Vols snagged two SEC championships over the decade.

Nearly a month ago, the National Football Post's Michael Lombardi hinted that Brady Quinn might not be accurate enough to make it as an NFL starter. He added, "As Cleveland makes changes to its roster, don't count out making a move at quarterback."

During the five weeks of McJaygate, Quinn was often mentioned as Jay Cutler's possible replacement in Denver. (The thinking: Josh McDaniels and Charlie Weis worked together in New England, and Weis would later coach Quinn at Notre Dame.)

On Monday, in a post about the possibility of Brady Quinn still landing in Denver, I mentioned that, via the Denver Post, an NFL source said it won't happen because "[Jay] Cutler's agent Bus Cook made it clear his client would not play for new Cleveland coach Eric Mangini."

Well, Cook, who also represents Brett Favre (hence the Mangini reference), takes issue with the allegation, telling the Cleveland Plain Dealer's Mary Kay Cabot, "That's not true ... Jay doesn't even know Eric Mangini except for maybe when they met when he was coming out of Vanderbilt.''

Cook adds:

Every Monday during college football's endless offseason, The FanHouse Walk will put last week's stories to bed and deliver the essentials to bridge that agonizing space between now and September.

Rejoice! Er, potentially rejoice -- Last week the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported speculation that FOX might extricate itself a year early from its BCS coverage commitments. Besides the rarely disputed notion that FOX's BCS coverage is woeful -- thank you, Thom Brennaman and endless band shots -- the network seems to realize they've been dealt a weak hand for their 2010 games.

A year ago, Derek Anderson was coming off a Pro Bowl season and proved that he was an NFL starting quarterback in the process, if not for the Browns, then certainly somewhere. Now, after enduring a benching and a season-ending knee injury in 2008, his future seems much less certain.

The same can also be said about Cleveland's other quarterback, Brady Quinn, who was drafted in 2007 as the face of the franchise only to start just three games in two seasons. Earlier this week, the National Football Post's Mike Lombardi didn't rule out the possibility of the Browns drafting another quarterback this April.

Every Monday during college football's endless offseason, Tearing Down The Posts will put last week's stories to bed and deliver the essentials to bridge that agonizing space between now and September.

Lane Kiffin As Rasputin -- There's a healthy tag page if you need catching up, but the latest involves Kiffin denying he told recruit Alshon Jeffery he'd end up pumping gas if he chose South Carolina. Assistant Ed Orgeron was summoned to say he was in the room and no such declaration was made. Then Kiffin claimed to have called Jeffery and confirmed with him that Kiffin said no such thing. All the while ESPN's Chris Low is sticking by his story while South Carolina papers allege South Carolina staffers confirmed with Jeffery that Kiffin made the comments.