Campus Confidential

By Adam Abramson

Allow me to top off the pile, if you will.

Notre Dame was pathetic on Saturday night.

Leading up to the game, I was in the camp that Notre Dame should keep Charlie Weis. The Irish made a significant resource and monetary investment in Weis, and I often feel coaches are let go too early -- I saw this being the situation in South Bend.

However, for the offensive mind that Weis is supposed to have, 91 yards against the Trojans was laughable. More importantly, his players appeared to have little fight for their coach. The 91 total yards are obviously the fewest managed against the country's top-ranked defense. All but two opponents doubled up the Irish's output, and one of the two that didn't was Washington State -- a program on the express train to nowhere.

What more is there to say? Weis led the Irish to the Fiesta Bowl and Sugar Bowl in his first two years, with a Tyrone Willingham quarterback. And both of those bowl bids were questionable, to say the least.

The program is in a similar situation when Weis took the reins. Jimmy Clausen has two years of eligibility left, as Quinn did when the offensive genius took over. The Irish were 9-13 in Quinn's first two years, but he finished 19-6 with the two BCS berths. Clausen is 9-15, with potentially the best football ahead of him.

The question is: Do you let Weis win those games or do you let a guy like Brian Kelly from Cincinnati win those games?

Fiscally, the answer is you keep Weis. But I don't see Notre Dame hard-pressed for cash. Also, Willingham didn't survive to see a fourth season after a 21-15 record in three years (Weis was 22-15 after three years) -- so why is Weis still there?

When Weis has won in South Bend, it was the wrong way. It's been widely reported he's rubbed many of the alumni the wrong way. Now that he's losing, he's not doing it the right way -- as we've seen the last five quarters of football (averaging 36 yards per quarter).

The bottom line is this: The Irish are bad and it's time to cut the ties -- again.