Underdog Irish need a victory
NEW ORLEANS – For just a second, Charlie Weis’ calm cracked. His eyes narrowed. His tone hardened.
You can question the Notre Dame coach about his perceived arrogance, or his team’s shaky defense or underdog status. And you’d better believe Weis has gotten plenty of that in the never-ending days leading up to tonight’s Sugar Bowl.
But don’t go anywhere near saying his Irish are just trying to compete with Louisiana State.
“We’re not coming here to be competitive or stay till the end,” Weis said when faced with a question Tuesday that opened with those terms. “We’re here to win. Rephrase that question if you want me to give an answer.”
The question was rephrased and Weis reiterated an earlier theme, which is that Notre Dame (10-2) has to be strong on offense, defense and special teams (what he called a “complementary game”), and that it needs a fast start against a surging LSU squad (10-2 with six straight wins) that has outscored opponents 122-20 in the first quarter.
“We’ve talked about the five losses we’ve had in the last two years,” Weis said, “and with the exception of the USC game last year (a 34-31 Trojan win), the other four came down to us being tight at the start of the game. I promise you one thing. I don’t know how we’ll play, but we are not going to be tight at the start of this game.”
Weis says this from the certainty of going against his release-every-detail nature and slowing down the information he’s relayed to his players. Rather than overwhelm them with specifics at the start, he’s provided small game-plan doses.
The result, he said, is a team stoked for action.
“They’re antsy,” Weis said. “That’s unusual for them. Pulling back is not my normal mentality.”
Pulling back only goes so far. Weis insists full-throttle effort from the first play is crucial.
“The most important thing our team needs to understand is the first quarter,” he said. “We have to understand what it takes to adjust to the tempo of the game. You’re playing on (artificial) turf and not grass. You’re playing against a hostile crowd. The bottom line is make sure the first quarter doesn’t get away from you, that it’s not 21-0.”
Just about everybody is picking LSU, and for good reason. The Tigers have a dominating defense, a big-play offense and plenty of momentum from a six-game winning streak.
Notre Dame is 0-2 against elite teams this season, 0-4 against them under Weis and has an NCAA record-tying eight-game bowl losing streak.
“We get tired of hearing it and we use it as motivation,” he said. “But the bottom line is who cares what anyone else thinks? After you kick off and start knocking each other around, that motivation stuff doesn’t last long. It’s about how you play.”
In truth, it’s about Notre Dame playing as it hasn’t played all season. The defense can’t allow the big plays that were so costly in blow-out losses to Michigan and USC. It has to contain LSU quarterback JaMarcus Russell and not let him have a Vince Young-like performance.
The offensive line has to protect quarterback Brady Quinn and tailback Darius Walker has to be a factor. And the Irish absolutely have to win the turnover battle
That’s a lot of truth. But if Notre Dame is to start a new bowl era, truth is a great place to start.