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Weis hopes third time is a charm at ND
Frank Leahy won a national championship in his third year as football coach at Notre Dame. So did Ara Parseghian, Dan Devine and Lou Holtz.
Charlie Weis, who enters his third season in South Bend, knows all about that history. The Fighting Irish must find a way to replace 13 starters, but that matters little to a demanding fan base, and Weis as well.
"I thought we had a chance to win the national championship the first year we were here, and we really weren't that far off from having a chance," Weis said. "So my expectations are always high. The problem sometimes is getting everyone to buy into it."
Weis faces a tough sell. Brady Quinn is gone, as is star receiver Jeff Samardzija and running back Darius Walker. But the difficult schedule remains.
Four of the first six games are away from home, including visits to Penn State, Michigan and UCLA. There is a tough season opener at home against Georgia Tech and October visits from Boston College and USC, the nation's preseason No. 1.
ESPN's Mark May predicted the Irish could start the season 1-7 or 2-6, making him persona non grata. So is the merest whisper of the phrase, "rebuilding."
"God strike me dead if I use that word," Weis said.
Call it what you like, but Weis has plenty of changes to make, especially at quarterback.
Weis hopes to one day have a future Tom Brady in Jimmy Clausen, but the coach has not publicly anointed the freshman phenom - who had an offseason surgical procedure on his elbow - with the starting job.
Weis also is considering holdovers Demetrius Jones and Evan Sharpley. The secretive Weis has no intention of announcing his starter before the September 1 opener against Georgia Tech, even if the participants will know the decision.
"I've always been under the guise that if you have two quarterbacks, it means you usually don't have one," Weis said.
Playing quarterback at Notre Dame is a hard enough job to begin with, and Weis' choice will have a short learning curve. Whoever takes the ball will play behind an offensive line that has just two players with starting experience - center John Sullivan and right tackle Sam Young.
The biggest concern, however, may be on the other side of the ball.
Notre Dame had a 10-win season in 2006, but again came up short against elite competition. After defeating Penn State, Notre Dame lost its final three games to ranked teams by a combined score of 132-59, including a humbling 41-14 loss to LSU in the Sugar Bowl.
Weis fired defensive coordinator Rick Minter and brought in former New York Jets assistant Corwin Brown, who has installed a 3-4 system.
"When we look at the tape, if we're not what we say we are, then we're going to fix it and get it right," Brown said.
One of the best players that Brown will have to work with is senior safety Tom Zbikowski, who has bridged the eras of Weis and former coach Tyrone Willingham. Zbikowski rose to stardom in 2005 but leveled off last season due to a series of injuries.
"A lot of people, as usual, are saying that we are going to win one out of our first eight," Zbikowski said. "That's old news and they've said that the past three years."
The Fighting Irish are 19-6 in two seasons under Weis, a number that looks good compared to predecessors Bob Davie and Willingham. But consider that Weis' signature game at Notre Dame may not even be a victory, but a defeat.
The Irish won at third-ranked Michigan in 2005, but the Wolverines proved to be vastly overrated. The last-second loss to Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush and USC a few weeks in South Bend later demonstrated that the Fighting Irish had made notable strides.
Taking that next step, against a brutal schedule, will be even tougher.
"We've had a transition, a big transition," Weis said. "It presents a whole different set of challenges."
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