John Walters

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Two questions for you to begin: 1) How many of the 119 teams that play in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) have more pure talent than Notre Dame? and 2) How many of those 119 teams play a better brand of football than Notre Dame?

Both questions are purely subjective, of course, but if your answer to the second question is a greater number than your answer to the first — and it probably is — the next question becomes: Whose fault is that?

The Fighting Irish snatched defeat from the jaws of victory once more on Saturday, squandering a double-digit lead after halftime (once more), allowing a running back to gain more than 100 yards rushing in the second half alone (yet again) and watching helplessly as their opponent ran onto the Notre Dame Stadium turf to celebrate as time expired (ibid).

And the Irish did not lose to just anyone. On Saturday, the Irish fell to Syracuse, which earlier this week fired head coach Greg Robinson. In at least 30 of the 45 games Robinson had coached at Syracuse before Saturday, the Orange had fallen behind by at least double digits. In every one of those 30 games, they had failed to come back to win. Until Saturday.

Syracuse 24, Notre Dame 23. Why wait until after Thanksgiving to experience abject, soul-crushing humiliation? Saturday, on Senior Day of all afternoons, the Irish avoided the holiday rush. And with this latest defeat, it becomes increasingly difficult to remain neutral — much less carbon-neutral — as to the fitness of Charlie Weis to run this program.

Like silver-haired physicians, we observers recognize the symptoms: a feeble rushing attack (41 yards on 28 carries); missed opportunities aplenty; mental breakdowns. The Irish had a trio of third-quarter drives that began at the Orange 23-, 24- and 5-yard lines and managed only a field goal from those three series. And, when Notre Dame launched its final drive with 42 seconds remaining, they had no timeouts left because they’d carelessly wasted two in the opening minutes of the third quarter.

The symptoms are familiar. What is the disease?

Anyone out there still feel remotely confident playing the inexperience card?

After starting the season 4-1, this is what Notre Dame has to show for its efforts the last six games:

• Three losses to opponents whom the Irish led by at least 11 points at some stage of those games.
• A shutout loss to its supposed Catholic lil' brother, Boston College, which has now beaten the Irish six straight.
• A defeat of Navy that came within one play of being a total calamity, a near 20-point meltdown in the game’s final 99 seconds.
• A convincing victory at Washington, which is 0-11 after losing on Saturday to the team everyone previously thought was the nation’s lowliest program, Washington State.

Three different reporters attempted to ask Weis if he worried about his job status following Saturday’s loss, the most humiliating of this season (but not, alas, of his career). To the first two inquisitors, Weis good-naturedly replied that he was not avoiding the question, but that “it’s really important for me not to be making big-picture analyses after a tough loss. ... Let me do some thinking on that one, OK?”

When a third reporter asked essentially the same question, Weis answered, “No.”

Do you still believe? Not whether Weis should or should not be fired, but whether he has the ability to lead Notre Dame back to elite status? What, really, is there to believe in besides the precocious natural skills of underclassmen such as Golden Tate (two touchdown catches on Saturday)?

The routine is far too familiar by now: In the first half, or even the first three quarters, the Irish play loose. The breaks — fumbles, special teams plays — go their way. And if the offense should happen to stall, there’s always the go route up the left sideline to Tate, Notre Dame’s gridiron equivalent to Hank Paulson’s bailout package.

But, as the game extends and the plays that put an opponent away need to be made, Notre Dame lacks the trait. Call it heart. Call it character. Call it bad luck. But it is a plague that has troubled this team all season. And if there is one thing Notre Dame has consistently done the past six weeks, it is fail to make the crucial play that swings fate in their favor.

This team should be no worse than 8-3 right now, perhaps even 9-2. Instead, they are by definition — or will be in seven days — a .500 team. Bowl eligible? Let’s hope not.

If the Irish were merely hapless, say, the way the teams paired in today’s Apple Cup are, meltdowns on frigid afternoons such as this one might be explicable. Forgivable.

Notre Dame, however, is not without talent. Nor do the Irish want for facilities, or a devoted fan base, or for national attention. The Irish, for extended periods of time, even exhibit enough prowess on the turf (I refer you to those double-digit leads: 11 points in the second quarter at North Carolina; 14 points in the third quarter against Pittsburgh; and 13 points in the fourth quarter on Saturday against Syracuse) to convince observers that they have great potential.

The Irish, it appears, have everything but the feel of a winner.

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