Notre Dame football facing win-or-else season in 2009

This year all the excuse making will end for Notre Dame football. The Fighting Irish returns a ton of experience from last year's team. Depending on which depth chart a person goes by, they will return at least nine starters on offense and seven on defense.

The big question is whether or not this experience will result in more success on the field. Though last year's team took a step forward, the season did not live up to the tradition of the program. When I think of Notre Dame football, I don't think about trips to the Hawaii Bowl and 7-6 records. However, after the debacle of 2007, any improvement must have looked good to fans.

Will Jimmy Clausen blossom into a first-rate quarterback? It remains to be seen. When I watch him, he reminds me a lot of his brother Casey who played at Tennessee. Casey was a solid but underrated quarterback, playing in the tough SEC. However, I don't see Notre Dame fans being satisfied with Clausen becoming just a solid quarterback.

Head Coach Charlie Weis is facing a turning point. All he has proven during his tenure is that he was able to win with Tyrone Willingham's players. With Florida Head Coach Urban Meyer openly saying that Notre Dame is his dream job, Weis has to win this year. Meyer is the best head coach of this decade, if not this era. When somebody of his caliber says that, it gets noticed.

So, what will Charlie Weis become? Will he become the coach that leads the blue and gold back to national prominence this year? Or will he go down in history as another Gerry Faust who was a pretty good coach clearly over his head at Notre Dame?

Here is the schedule:

Sept. 5: vs. Nevada
Sept. 12: at Michigan
Sept. 19: vs. Michigan State
Sept. 26: at Purdue
Oct. 3: vs. Washington
Oct. 17: vs. USC
Oct. 24: vs. Boston College
Oct. 31: vs. Washington State (at San Antonio, Texas)
Nov. 7: vs. Navy
Nov. 14: at Pittsburgh
Nov. 21: vs. Connecticut
Nov. 28: at Stanford

Now is the time for Notre Dame to win nine games.

However, I don't see it happening.

Notre Dame won't return to glory this season, but will go to a bowl

From a negative standpoint, Notre Dame's 3-9 record was the biggest story of the 2007 college football season.

In his first two seasons there, head coach Charlie Weis earned kudos for leading the Fighting Irish to nine- and 10-win seasons. Led by quarterback Brady Quinn and other players recruited by previous coach Tyrone Willingham, Weis delivered a lot of wins.

However, last year, it all fell apart. While most experts expected Notre Dame to go through a transitional year, nobody expected the program's complete collapse. The Irish's three wins came against teams with a combined 11-26 record, and they were humiliated by rivals Michigan and USC.

This year should be a true indicator of where Weis is taking the program. He no longer has Willingham's players to lean on. This is his fourth season as head coach so the players we will see were recruited by him.

On the bright side, I don't think it is possible for Notre Dame to be as bad as they were last year. At times, they were embarrassingly pitiful. The offensive line gave up nearly 60 sacks, and the defense got worn down late in games because the offense could not sustain drives. Just because of experience gained by those players, Notre Dame will win more than they did last year.

The schedule also eases up this year. Notre Dame plays four of its first five games at home. The Irish should win the opener against San Diego State to avoid starting the season with a long losing streak like last year. However, if the Aztecs were to somehow upset them, the turf on Notre Dame Stadium may actually open up and swallow the entire Irish team.

Look for them to finish that early five-game stretch with a 3-2 record (I think they will also beat Purdue and Stanford). However, the Irish hit the road for four of their next five games. One of those games will be at Washington against former coach Willingham. If nothing else, the week leading up to that game should be spicy.

Despite all that, Notre Dame should be able to win six or seven games and go to a bowl.

The Irish will take a small step forward this year. But at programs like Notre Dame, small steps often aren't enough.

A disturbing double standard could be emerging at Notre Dame

There have already been a lot of surprises early in the college football season and one of them has to be the 0-2 start of Notre Dame. Most folks understood that the Fighting Irish might struggle somewhat this season because of all the talent they lost from last year's squad.

However, I don't think many expected a start this slow. They have lost to Penn State and Georgia Tech by a combined score of 64-13, and the offense has not scored a touchdown yet. Given the reputation of head coach Charlie Weis as an offensive genius, this is especially surprising.

If Notre Dame's season continues to crumble, Coach Weis could be on the hot seat. He is in his third season and had quite a bit of success in his first two years. However, as we all know, major programs do not have much patience with losing.

Weis' predecessor was Tyrone Willingham. Willingham had winning seasons in his first and third seasons but was fired after that third season with an overall record of 21-15. If Weis is held to the same standard as Willingham, his job could be in jeopardy if he leads them to a losing record.

In his first two years, Weis had his success with players recruited by the previous coaching staff. Stars like quarterback Brady Quinn won a lot of games for Weis, but they were not recruited by him. This year, many of the players are ones recruited by Weis and the results have not been good so far.

True, the team is young and inexperienced, but programs like Notre Dame expect to re-load and not go through major rebuilding seasons. At least, that is what they like to say.

The curious aspect of all this will be if Notre Dame does post a losing record and Weis does not get fired. They will be opening themselves up to charges of a double standard because they will not be treating him like Willingham.

Where this could get especially ticklish is that the school could be charged with racism. Willingham is black and had a successful track record as head coach at Stanford before coming to Notre Dame. Weis is white and had no head coaching experience in college football before he got the job.

Thus, it will appear that Notre Dame will be showing greater flexibility and patience with a white coach with no previous experience than it showed with a black coach who had better credentials.

By the way, Willingham is now in his third season at the University of Washington where he is slowly but surely rebuilding the program. The Huskies are 2-0 this year and beat nationally ranked Boise State last weekend.

I would be willing to bet that that has been noticed by some folks at Notre Dame.

Obviously, there is a lot of football left to be played, and given Notre Dame's track record, they can still pull out a winning record. If they don't, things could get interesting.