Michigan Wolverines Start the Charlie Weis Doomsday Clock Ticking

Well that didn't take long.

When the 2009 college football schedules came out last winter, the cyberwaves were vibrant with stories about the resurgence of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football program.

The logic was simple—the football team started looking better towards the end of 2008's campaign and had just been blessed with an easy schedule.

Even staid fans of the Golden Dome were thinking that a 9-3 season was almost etched in stone. Rosier lenses saw a 10-2 season or maybe even an 11-1 masterpiece on the blank canvas.

Outside of the home challenges against the Michigan State Spartans, USC Trojans, Boston College Eagles, and Pittsburgh Panthers, the scheduling deities had showered the Irish with patsies.

The squad looked to be in no apparent danger from the rest of its slate considering the maturing squad, the for-real talent of Jimmy Clausen, the emergent Golden Tate, and the obvious genius of Charlie Weis.

At least on paper.

I was not alone in seeing doom rather than boon in the 2009 schedule.

As Notre Dame found out on Saturday in Ann Arbor, there are more than a couple gremlins out there drooling at the thought at deflating those grandiose expectations. Unfortunately, it's probably too late for the realization to save Charlie Weis.

The savior came to South Bend in 2005 all bombast, bluster, and belly.

Since then, he's delivered on only one, and a quick glimpse of the man will tell you which of the trio it is.

The revolution he promised has yet to materialize and more than a couple holes have been punched in his supposed gift for offensive scheming as well as talent assessment/cultivation.

If the game against the Michigan Wolverines is to be any yardstick, 2009 doesn't promise to mend any of those leaks.

It was a great game to be sure, but Notre Dame unraveled a bit and that never speaks well of the head coach or his staff. Especially considering the contrast between halves as well as the opposition.

The Fighting Irish stormed out to a 20-17 halftime lead and looked like the wildly superior side doing it.

The passing attack led by Clausen torched the Wolverine secondary while the Michigan offense sputtered out of rhythm.

If not for a kick-off returned for six by Darryl Stonum in addition to a huge fourth-and-11 conversion to set up a field goal before the first half expired, the scoreboard would've more accurately reflected the products on the field.

Here's where the trouble started for Weis.

Clearly, something went wrong in the locker rooms between halves. Once the two teams reappeared and took the field, everything started turning around for Michigan and Rich Rodriguez. It started almost immediately with running back Brandon Minor rampaging over defenders on an scoring drive that looked much too easy.

Then came another penalty on the Irish. Then the first turnover of the game, again, by the Irish.

But things really took an earnest turn on Notre Dame midway through the third quarter. The Irish were driving, trying to answer 14 straight points to open the second half by the Blue and Maize, and facing a big third-and-11 (not a good yardage for Notre Dame in this one). Out of his bag of tricks, Charlie Weis pulled the screen pass.

Why not? A very similar play had gone for a long touchdown in the first half so it figured to be a safe bet to cover some ground. Wrong. This time, the Wolverine defense was ready for it and blew the screen up for an incompletion.

Even though momentum would shift again before the clock reached double-zero, that play made it clear the Michigan Wolverines—under Rodriguez and defensive coordinator Greg Robinson—were adjusting to the flow of the game while the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Weis were not.

Complicating an already complicated picture for Big Charlie were nine penalties worth 75 yards and many more if you account for several big gains they erased.

Worse, the communication between the sidelines and the junior quarterback seemed labored. Clausen burnt four timeouts to avoid delay of game penalties, a total that includes two second-half timeouts as the game was lurching away.

Eventually, he had to just eat the yardage rather than fritter away the team's last one.

That's on Jimmy Clausen as well, but Weis carved the guru niche out for himself, so he must take the more generous portion of blame.

All in all, both teams played a very similar game—both had big returns, both missed field goals, both had critical turnovers, both got sensational days from their quarterbacks—so it was appropriate to have the contest come down to the final quarter.

And the final impressions of it equally so.

When the dust settled, you had Tate Forcier and his fleet feet standing amongst a sea of co-ed revelers in those glorious colors and you had Charlie Weis sending an assistant after the officials.

It was Forcier's sudden scamper for six at the beginning of the fourth that prompted this gem from Matt Millen (who is slowly reassembling his credibility behind the mic): "If you look real close, there's a jock strap on the field and it belongs to Darius Fleming...[Forcier] is a stud-bolt."

Brutal, but absolutely right.

The Wolverine true freshman turned a backfield stoppage on a definitive fourth down into a crippling touchdown in the blink-of-an-eye it took him to disrobe the Irish linebacker of his intimates.

I would not want to be Darius Fleming in next week's film session. That is gonna hurt.

Meanwhile, it was Weis' player who deservedly received a penalty for taunting after securing a two-point conversion in the last quarter (Notre Dame's final points). The flag allowed the end of the game to be played almost exclusively in Irish territory.

Worst of all, it was Charlie Weis who inexplicably called two pass plays while Notre Dame should've been salting away a three-point lead.

Instead of gorging upon the clock with running plays, the Great Ego sought to prove his unique acumen with just over two minutes left in regulation and watched as both passes fell incomplete to freeze time.

Forced to return the ball to a confident Michigan Wolverine squad with an apoplectic home crowd behind it, the ensuing scoring drive down a short field wasn't too surprising.

Of course, to a lot of Notre Dame Fighting Irish fans, the final outcome was. Extremely and jarringly so—that's bad news for Charlie Weis.

When Michigan State comes a-callin' on South Bend next week, the home squad better have their cleats screwed on tightly. Especially since Spartie just lost to the Central Michigan Chippewas.

Think they'll be a motivated bunch for their next game against the Irish? A nationally televised shot at redemption?

In the wake of a loss to the rebuilding Michigan Wolverines, Charlie Weis better have his troops ready to beat the Spartans.

Either that, or to get him out of town alive.

**www.pva.org**