Jimmy Clausen, Charlie Weis, Notre Dame "Not Good Enough"

"We lost to Syracuse." Those are four short little words, which almost got me beat down by none other than the mighty Jimmy Clausen.

I was out at CJ's last night, having a couple of drinks with my friends who were in town for the game, and we were on our way out of the bar, when we saw Jimmy walk in.

He was all smiles, hitting on the ladies, high fiving his buddies, and in a generally good mood when I saw him. That pissed me off.

I was not in a good mood.

In fact, I was in a lousy mood; the Irish had lost a game that they had no business losing. This was worse than the loss to Navy last year, who at least had a winning record. I couldn't get over the fact that we really lost to a 2-8 Syracuse squad who had already fired its head coach. I was in a foul mood, and I'm just another fan.

Shouldn't the leader of this football team also be miserable? Shouldn't he be almost embarrassed to show his face in public after that debacle? And if he does come out, shouldn't he display a little humility?

So I said four little words to Jimmy as we passed in the crowded bar.

"We lost to Syracuse."

Boy howdy, did that do the trick.

Jimmy turned to me, as I was just past him by then and screamed "Come say that to my face!" He was trying to get after me, but his entourage was holding him back, and he kept yelling as I made my way out.

Normally, I would never blog about my personal interactions with the football team. I'm usually of the opinion that what happens at CJ's, stays at CJ's. And I have some stories I could tell about CJ's over the years.

But here I am the next day, and I just couldn't get Jimmy's stupid grin out of my head. This is the guy that's supposed to be the leader of our football team, and he was yakking it up with his buddies like this loss was no big deal.

It was nice to see that he responded so viscerally to the statement, but his attitude walking in is a symptom of a larger disease within the program.

Some of these kids aren't playing with much heart.

*****

I really like Coach Weis. I think he has the potential to do great things with this football program.

But, I also think that he has not done his job at Notre Dame, and now has placed himself in a precarious position.

He needs to win next week (against a program that has been a dynasty for the better part of the last decade). I'd be willing to bet that the odds makers in Vegas will have Notre Dame as the biggest underdogs in Notre Dame history next week.

John Walters at NBC made the most damning review of Weis at this point in his career, and provided me with everything I need to know about the program right now.

"Bob Davie: five seasons, 35-25 record.

Tyrone Willingham: three seasons, 21-15.

Charlie Weis: just under four seasons, 28-20.

What do each of the last three Notre Dame coaches have in common? As of today, the same exact winning percentage at Notre Dame: .583."

Once again, Weis' own words are going to come back to haunt him.

If "9-3 is not good enough," then certainly 3-9 and 6-6 won't cut it either.

I have not seen "a hard-working, intelligent, nasty football team" out there during Weis' tenure.

"You are what you are, and right now you're a [6-5] football team."

And that's just not good enough.