Rock bottom

Gerry Faust never lost to Navy. The Faust years were the leanest of my Fighting' Irish fandom and even the fomer Moeller High head coach was always able to beat Navy.

Not so offensive "guru" Charlie Weis. I'm not upset about the upset, mind you. Who but the most die hard or hard hearted wasn't pulling for Navy in the 4th quarter and into the 3! overtimes. Indeed, as a ND fan I'm glad the streak ended.

This Notre Dame team, obviously, isn't very good so losing to Navy this year wasn't going impact their rankings or bowl games, etc. And let's face it. The streak had become embarrassing. Not for Navy, but for ND. Navy is practically a Division I-AA team, or what is now called the Bowl Championship subdivision. Notre Dame is, well, Notre Dame. One of, if not the most, storied college football teams in history. A perennial top 10 team, with blue chip recruits at every position and heisman hopefuls every couple of years. It's not like this streak was a matchup of equals, or even of conference foes who while not in the same talent level were at least in the same "league."

References to the streak was a prompt for many to question why exactly ND was still playing Navy every year. (They have a long history and Navy loves the game. Their AD has said the annual game will go on in "perpetuity.")

So it's good for everyone - ND, Navy, and college football generally - that the streak came to an end today.

But that doesn't excuse the continued descent of the program under Charlie Weis. His fans point out that this team has former head coach Ty Willingham's seniors, so the talent is thin. But there are only 6 scholarship seniors on the team. And ND only has given out 71 scholarships - while they can max out at 85. Whose fault is that?

And one would think a team of freshmen, sophomore, and junior Weis recruits would be able to beat Navy. Alas, not so. And it isn't just the players. What in the world was Weis thinking not going for the potential game winning FG with 45 seconds to go in the game? And their final play on the attempted two point conversion play - an off right tackle sweep that couldn't gain a yard and a half. It looked half-hearted as much as half-baked. I seriously have to wonder if Weis in some subconcious recess wanted Navy to win. That or he is an even worse coach than his 1-7 record suggests.

Congratulations to the Naval Academy on a win well-deserved. But this is a wake up call that Charlie Weis might not be the savior to restore the team to perennial contention he originally appeared to be.