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. -- When it comes to team bonding, victory is the greatest adhesive. These Irish are a tight bunch, and Charlie Weis conceded on Tuesday that "going through all those tight games at the end of the game has bonded the team even more."
The Irish have won five of their past six, and that one loss came down to one play. Or four. Or a mismanaged final 35 seconds (cue Glenn Frey's "Get Over It"). Whatever. The 6-2 record and the Alcoa "Fantastic Finishes" have certainly done more to unite this team than a trust-fall exercise. However, there is something else at work here: character at the top of the roster.
Brace yourselves, Irish fans: The quarterback, he ain't coming back.
The Double D was in the midst of a 17-hour journey between South Bend and Eugene on Thursday (perhaps I just should have driven?), so it missed Charlie Weis' post-practice presser with reporters.
One of the subjects Weis broached was what has become everyone's favorite parlor game around the Gug: Will Jimmy Clausen return for a senior season? "We're not even going to address the subject until the first week in December," my man Brian Hamilton reports Weis saying on chicagobreakingsports.com. "We've already addressed the fact that we're not going to address it. So we're just worrying about the next five games, starting with Washington State. First of all, let's see how we play. But we'll revisit it then."
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- For the past four seasons I have been attending the Notre Dame captains' press conferences inside the spacious and cozy confines of the Gug's auditorium. And for the past four years these sessions have provided me with vivid, uncomfortable flashbacks of lecture hall profs whose monotonous delivery would lead me to daydream about whether they'd be serving chicken patty sammiches for lunch in the South Dining Hall.
Dig it: Most of the Irish captains have been extremely bright and charismatic guys. Men such as Brady Quinn, Tom Zbikowski and Maurice Crum come to mind. The problem is always that they seem to be coached the way a defendant is before taking the stand. In fact, the only humorous moment that comes to mind from the past few years happened in 2006. I rose from my seat to grab the microphone from a fellow reporter to ask Zibby a question. As I began to ask the question while trying to sit down, I missed the edge of the theater chair and stumbled to the floor.
Every Thursday, Pickin' On the Big Ten previews the weekend's action, even when the truth is ugly.
It was a bad week for vowels.
The seven Big Ten schools whose names start with consonants played anywhere from OK to brilliantly this past weekend. The four that start with vowels -- Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Ohio State -- all dropped a pantload on the field.
Illinois gets a partial pass because Missouri has been on a nice run lately. Ohio State played a Navy team that usually goes bowling. Indiana struggled with a Division I-AA FCS school, but they're Indiana; you kind of expect these things from them after a while.
That leaves one school. Iowa. And if I was an Iowa fan ... wait. I am an Iowa fan. Make the jump and see what has me feeling punchy. I promise I'll get around to the games eventually.
Christmas decorations begin in late August, and now the ClayNation Hypesman Watch (CHW) is here in the first week of May. It's part of a new term, I just coined: Heisman Creep. (And it has nothing to do with Maurice Clarett). We're going to try something radical here, every other week or so we'll drop in and give you a top 10 list for Heisman candidates. Even though most of them are finishing their spring finals right about now. The goal is to ridicule the Heisman obsession, keep us entertained, and write about the Heisman in a way no one else is.
And, plainly, it's never too early to start debating the most over-hyped award this side of a kindergarten valedictorian.
And it ain't pretty. Perhaps sensing an opening to take shots at the Notre Dame coach after the new athletic director had to issue something resembling a vote of confidence this week and Jason Whitlock took to calling him college football's "Pear Bryant", the Tribune fired off several more volleys at the ego of the Irish coach.
When [Jeannette PA football coach Ray] Reitz told Weis that [recruit Terrelle] Pryor might attend a USC quarterbacks camp, he remembers Weis replying: "Why send him there? If he's with me for one day he'll be good, two days he'll be great and three days he'll be incredible."
Later, unprompted, Weis asked the Jeannette coaches if they wanted to take a picture of his Super Bowl ring.
What, no request to kiss the ring as well? Ask Pitt what it thinks about Jimmy Clausen after two years with Weis.
Leading up to the game with North Carolina, Notre Dame fans were voicing their displeasure that their team was 4-1 and unranked. This was the first time the Irish have been4-1 and unranked. Well, North Carolina made that point moot today with a 29-24 victory. And they had a lot of help from Notre Dame not being able to hold on to the ball. Notre Dame turned the ball over five times, while the Tar Heels had zero turnovers.
Irish quarterback, Jimmy Clausen had a strong day passing the ball for 384 yards and two touchdowns. But one of his two interceptions was taken back for a touchdown. That play, at the start of the third quarter tuned the momentum of the game. From then on out, North Carolina looked and played like the better team, outscoring Notre Dame 20-7 in the second half.
On the next to last play of the game, Clausen hit Michael Floyd for 24 yards at the North Carolina 19. Floyd fumbled the ball on the play and North Carolina recovered. With the crowd going wild and both teams walking on to the field to shake hands, the play was reviewed for what seemed like 10 minutes before a ruling that the play on the field stood. It was a weird scene waiting for the results, and kept the final outcome in question with Notre Dame so close. But the luck of the Irish ran out today, and Notre Dame fans can go back to worrying about things other than their team being ranked.
North Carolina, on the other hand is right in the mix for a shot at the ACC title game. With Virginia, NC State, Duke, and Maryland still on the schedule, things are certainly looking up. Also, with backup turned starter Cameron Sexton coming on strong at quarterback and not making mistakes while moving the team, questions about the offense might be put to rest.
There are plenty of reasons to be optimistic in South Bend right now. After all, at this time last year the Fighting Irish were 0-5 and well on there way to the worst season in school history. This season they've already surpassed 2007's win total, and are 4-1 while seeming to get better every week. Jimmy Clausen improves with each game, having two consecutive career games, and wide receivers Michael Floyd and Golden Tate give the Golden Domers the ability to score from anywhere on the field.
If there has been a weakness for this Irish team, though, it's been the kicker. Through five games Irish kicker Brandon Walker has made only one of his seven field goal attempts, and he's seven for twenty dating back to last season. After two more misses on Saturday in Notre Dame's 28-21 win over Stanford, Charlie Weis has seen just about enough of Mr. Walker.
"We definitely have to explore Ryan [Burkhart] kicking field goals,'' Weis said Sunday. ''Because in Brandon's case, it's not obviously a case of being able to kick it high enough or far enough. When you're 1 out of 7 kicking field goals, it just doesn't cut it.
''I've heard worse suggestions than that,'' Weis said when asked if sitting Walker for a game or two was an option. ''I don't know the answer to that at this point. We're going to get after this Monday and Tuesday, and we're going to make a decision on what we're going to do.
God bless you, Week 3. Finally, it's time for football with outcomes less predictable than Al Davis' wardrobe or what happens when you leave PJ Hill alone with a Twinkie. Here's 10 games to watch other than Ohio State-USC.
Kansas vs. South Florida, Friday 8PM Why We're Watching: Velour. Please, Mark Mangino, bring back the velour. We'll plant a velour tree, write velour ballads and pray to a velour god who wears gold chains and sleeps on a circular bed (Which is probably James Caan).
Then there's the football, as two previously not-ready-for-primetime teams meet on national television in a game that's as much about this season as a dipstick on the state of two climbing programs. Quarterbacks Matt Grothe andTodd Reesing are the constants from last year's teams, but both the Bulls and Jayhawks have to prove that they've successfully rebuilt key areas of their teams. South Florida lost two four-year starters at cornerback to the NFL draft and replaced them with Jerome Murphy and Tyller Roberts, two players with two career starts entering the season. Kansas lost its leading rusher and its leading receiver, but seems to have no problem filling the holes with Brandon Anderson-styled powerback Angus Quigley and an array of receivers (Reesing has completed passes to 11 different players).
But the matchup of the game will be South Florida's George Selvie against red-shirt freshman lineman Jeff Spikes. Selvie led the nation in sacks last year, but hasn't had the chance to so much as touch a quarterback inappropriately this season. He's due, which should alone send a shiver down Bulls' fans like they just hired Isiah Thomas to run the team. And if that doesn't strike enough fear, consider this: When he was a kid, George Selvie had a Buick fall on his head. If you think that doesn't make you an unstoppable badass, ponder it some more with the entire Wisconsin offensive line sitting on your head to add to the realism.
If South Florida wins, they likely won't play another ranked team this season until they meet West Virginia in December. [ Ed. Note -- The Bulls edged out Kansas on a dramatic last-second field goal. ]
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.
Brace yourselves, Irish fans: The quarterback, he ain't coming back.
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- For the past four seasons I have been attending the Notre Dame captains' press conferences inside the spacious and cozy confines of the Gug's auditorium. And for the past four years these sessions have provided me with vivid, uncomfortable flashbacks of lecture hall profs whose monotonous delivery would lead me to daydream about whether they'd be serving chicken patty sammiches for lunch in the South Dining Hall.
Every Thursday, 
Every Thursday, 
And it ain't pretty. Perhaps sensing an opening to take shots at the Notre Dame coach after the new athletic director had to issue something resembling a vote of confidence this week and Jason Whitlock took to calling him 
Leading up to the game with North Carolina, Notre Dame fans were voicing their displeasure that their team was 4-1 and unranked. This was the first time the Irish have been4-1 and unranked. Well, North Carolina made that point moot today with a 29-24 victory. And they had a lot of help from Notre Dame not being able to hold on to the ball. Notre Dame turned the ball over five times, while the Tar Heels had zero turnovers. 
There are plenty of reasons to be optimistic in South Bend right now. After all, at this time last year the Fighting Irish were 0-5 and well on there way to the worst season in school history. This season they've already surpassed 2007's win total, and are 4-1 while seeming to get better every week. 
