Charlie Weis: On a Hot Seat in South Bend

The Charlie Weis era at Notre Dame may have begun it's official funeral march today. The more-than-disappointing loss to a 2-8 Syracuse (the same Syracuse that the University of Akron hung 45 on earlier this year) highlights exactly what is wrong in South Bend.

Even when the Irish are without a doubt the more talented team on the field, the game is in doubt because of the poor decisions by the sidelines.

In three of the Irish's five losses, Notre Dame blew 10+ fourth-quarter leads. In wins against Stanford and Navy, 21 point second-half leads turned suddenly into nail-biting finishes. One could argue that the Irish are young and lack depth and experience, but common sense and anyone watching the game can see the more obvious truth: Notre Dame is poorly coached.

Despite youth, a program that considers itself one of college football's elite can never make this claim. Back-to-back top five recruiting classes now enrolled should negate that "lack of depth" problem, especially against San Diego State, Navy, and Syracuse.

Even the best players are ineffective when they are out of position constantly. One has to wonder how intense Irish practices are as turnovers and crippling penalties have become the norm. The play calling often pins the offense into obvious situations, bringing many third and long's.

Today against the Orange, Weis—calling his own plays for a disastrous second straight week—called 24 rushing plays in the first three quarters against a nine-man defensive front for 40 yards. When the defense knows you have to throw, and know you have trouble picking up the blitz, you are a long shot to succeed.

Perhaps the largest indictment against Weis is his constant misguided belief that 4th-and-4 at midfield is "go for it" territory. He coaches like he's playing the game on PlayStation. Go for it...And if it goes badly, just hit reset!

Two consecutive series in the third quarter that depending on your affiliation was either horrifying or hilarious have caused this Weis doubter to begin printing "Fire Weis Now!" t-shirts...

Leading 13-10 in the third quarter, Notre Dame blocks a Syracuse punt and takes over at the 20 yard line. A first down holding penalty negates a first down and sets up 1st-and-20 at the 30. A first down draw nets zero yards. A second-down sack loses 15 yards setting up third and 35 at the Orange 45.

A 15-yard gain negated by a holding penalty in the backfield sets up 3rd-and-47 at the Notre Dame 47. Clausen throws for seven on third down and the Irish punt. Following a three and out by the defense, the Irish block a second consecutive punt, setting up the offense inside the Syracuse 25-yard line for a second straight possession.

Notre Dame manages a first down and has a near touchdown, that Weis burned a time out challenging. The Irish field goal attempt is missed due to a bad snap.

To sum up, two blocked punts, two possessions begin inside the opponent's red zone, zero points, two timeouts spent.

To further confound Irish fans everywhere, Notre Dame went for two fourth-down conversions outside their 40-yard line, converting neither. 

A hallmark of poorly coached football teams is also evident at Notre Dame this season: This team is getting worse.

The offensive line is regressing, the defensive line is no longer getting any penetration. After the Pittsburgh loss, it appears that the team has quit. Clausen is getting hit at 2007 levels and is often fleeing for his life rather than looking for an open receiver.

Weis's solution to this was to tell Clausen to not look down field, connect on more screens and outlet receivers. With no running game to speak of and a newly-hatched plan to throw quick and short, the offensive guru has essentially raised the white flag.

Unfortunately, it seems as though Weis critics are correct in calling him arrogant and ignorant to the college game. In games like today's, Weiss believed that the Irish's talent advantage was enough to win the game...Or one must assume because an offensive game plan was hard to pick out.

When Weis's idea of line 'em up and run 'em over was obviously not working, and Syracuse's strategy of "keep it close and make a play late" was gaining traction, Weis was slow to change his strategy.

Similarly, last week, when holding a 21-point lead in the fourth, he pulls the foot off the gas before delivering the knock-out punch, underestimating the Navy spirit and almost suffering this week's embarrassment seven days early.

As humiliating as last week's inability to recover an onside kick was, today was worse. The only consistent successful offense came in the way of play action and down field passing...But Weiss kept trying to establish control of the line.

When everyone in the stadium could see that the game was slipping away, Weiss kept running. When down field passes to Tate, Rudolph, and Grimes set up a first down at the Orange 35, and a knock out score was again within reach, Weiss kept running.

Three missed field goals didn't help, but the latter two would have been career longs for a kicker that has had his struggles.

The Irish will fall to 6-6 after what promises to be another blow-out loss to USC.

28-21 after four years in the program.

At the University of Akron, that may be tolerated. At Notre Dame, it shouldn't be. Weis has no excuse left. These are his guys. And these guys played well enough to win against North Carolina, Pittsburgh, and now Syracuse.

The team is also talented enough to have played closer games against Boston College and Michigan State. The four or five poor coaching decisions that Weis makes are now the only reason that Notre Dame continues to find itself staring up dejectedly at a clock showing zeros and score favoring the opponent.

The only reason to not fire Weis today is that he is poised to bring in another top five recruiting class. One has to ask himself, however: Are these the RIGHT recruits?

The last two classes were high because of QB and WR recruits, but the Irish are weak up the center. WR and RB highlight the new class, which will rank it high on rivals.com, but does not necessarily translate into wins under Weiss who desperately needs OL and DL help.

Notre Dame should be better. The players are bigger. Faster. But not better. It is a short walk to the conclusion that if it's not the talent, it's not the players, it's probably the coach.