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I don't know why I keep reading the Notre Dame nonsense, but all of a sudden this blog posting just came into my head, and now I have to get it out into the ether, or I'll surely go mad... That bein' said, I've noticed I have 3 (!) comments attached to me original Weis diatribe: (fannation.com/blogs/post/288735-hoppin-up-on-the-ol-weis-wagon).  And so, as the man said, let's just take us a look-see at what we have.

Firstly, thanks for reading, cmelton22, and I 'preciate the support (Go Dawgs!).  And then we had a few critical crits, whom I will now address:

 So yabbadabba out in Iowa City (Go Hawks?) said I had some faulty recruiting stats or sources or whatever, and that's fine and dandy (something about medians vs. means and rivals.com vs. scout.com, I don't know)- I mean, that's all irrelevant, my friend.  It still boils down to Notre Dame being Notre Dame; Jimmy Clausen's backup's personal note-taker should be better equipped to run a 2-minute drill than Cameron Dantley, but that's not the case.  And I think that comes down to how these players are being coached and developed.  Same goes for your juco transfers, "ton of career ending injuries," all your excuses, yabbadabba (what's next, maybe Ty Willingham imbued a voodoo curse upon the very turf at South Bend on his way out?) - this schedule's not that tough, and these guys should be able to win these games handily. 

Okay, and then dc11893 gave me a snarky (which is good, dc11893, I love snarky, sarcastic stuff) list of instructions for ND to follow to achieve greatness, and he had a good point about weak schedules and being able to recruit from whatever academic or moral level you darn well please.  And that's all well and good, but... sorry, I'm not buyin' your merch, either, my friend.  Because ND's schedule is pretty soft, even without a Div II school in the mix.  I mean, in Charlie's first season they squared off against ALL THREE service academies, and the last time that meant anything in college ball was, well, right between WW II and Korea, I reckon.

And now I just keep seeing these message boards talking about negativity and let's fire the assistants and on and on... and I say forget that this guy came in and said all that schematic advantage nonsense and here comes the National Championship drivel, forget that AFTER he left the Patriots was when they REALLY turned into an offensive juggernaut, I say forget all that slop.  Because, whether it be the lowly Aztecs way back when that the Pillow-Fighting Irish barely squeaked by (and who were later abused to the tune of 70-7 by 4-and-8 New Mexico by the way- look it up) or the Lame Duck Rising-to-the-Occasion Orange, what it boils down to is that this team ain't playin' to win.  Not in the first quarter, second quarter, sidelines, o-line, d-back, none of it.  
And does the blame fall on Weis?  Sure- as it must; I've never trod those hallowed halls at South Bend, but I'm pretty sure that those players and staff have the best of the best facilities, training, conditioning, etc.  And you guys want to toss some coordinator or assistant under the bus?  Okay, fine- but at the end of regulation you're not winning games that shouldn't come close to coming down to "5 plays"  or hoping to get into position to attempt a miracle 56 yarder.  

And all Charlie (I mean, the poor guy was obviously shellshocked and who knows what the hell else he could have said?) could keep stammering after the 'Cuse debacle was "well, when you're up 23-14 you sometimes get comfortable and blah,blah, whiney snivel..."  23-14??!  Are you serious, Chaz? If that's the best he can do with the elite ranks that Notre Dame lines its locker room with, then there's your problem.  We're talking about less than 2 TD's here- this isn't USC up 41 nil on Wazzou at the half (sorry for the foreshadowing there, fellas).  I would think this shouldn't be such an issue, especially only 1 week removed from the near miracle-meltdown at the hands of the Middies.  I don't know- I just think at the absolute very least that Weis would be a guy who instills that killer instinct, play 60 minutes, take no prisoners mentality in every single player.  Am I wrong to assume that's what you get for whatever you're paying this guy?

Oh, yeah, and my final point, and I know you've heard this one before, but it's just such an unshakeable truth:  whoever these kids are from Syracuse and BC, maybe even Pitt, they weren't good enough to play at Notre Dame, or at least be offered scholarships there.  And yet there they were, and they were winning, because somebody coached them well.