FanHouse Zach Frazer

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.

Weis has scheduled a press conference to discuss his soup of choice in late June.

It's the end of May, the deadest of dead periods for college football: too early to preview without risking transfer or suspension or injury rendering carefully laid words moot, too late for gonzo recruiting coverage, and... man, it's hot and I'm tired and I would like a smoothie. So this is what passes for news:

The competition to replace Brady Quinn as Notre Dame's starting quarterback was narrowed to three Wednesday instead of the two coach Charlie Weis wanted. Evan Sharpley, Jimmy Clausen and Demetrius Jones will vie for the job, Weis said.

This, phrased differently, is this: "Time for you, redshirt freshman Zach Frazer, to find another place to play." Perhaps the bigger news is that highly touted recruit (and early enrollee) Gary Gray has a shoulder injury and will miss the 2007 season, -- relevant when you finished the year 90th in pass efficiency defense -- but when the AP can lead with Jimmah Clausen, the AP damn well leads with Jimmah Clausen.