Weis, Irish starting over after 'embarrassing' day

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Charlie Weis has made no secret about the way he succeeds as a football coach.

Superior playcalling. Superior game planning. Superior schemes. Superior preparation. Superior coaching mentors.

Those were Weis' hallmarks during his first two years at Notre Dame. His brain was his trump card. The X's and O's usually would lead to a TKO.

But after watching Notre Dame knocked silly for the third consecutive game -- and the fifth straight stretching to last season -- Weis had no choice but to give himself an F. In a total admission of failure in preparation, Weis said Saturday that his team has returned to square one three games into the season.

A 38-0 defacing against Michigan allowed Weis to reach such a sobering conclusion.

"Fellas, I've tried about every aspect of X's and O's that you can do in three games," Weis told his players after the game. "I've used multiple formations, multiple personnel groups. But I feel the worst that I've not been able to create a small niche that is a staple or a foundation for us to grow from.

"You would like to think that three games into the season, there's some things that you're starting to do better and better. That has not happened."

Before getting to Notre Dame's next step, here are the gory details.

The Irish (0-3) suffered their worst loss since falling by the same score to Michigan four years ago. They're 0-3 for just the second time in team history and have dropped five straight -- all by 20 points or more -- for the first time since 1985-86.

Notre Dame must defeat unbeaten Michigan State next Saturday to avoid its first 0-4 start.

As for Weis' offense? It has yet to score a touchdown, a lull stretching back 14 quarters. And without a 38-yard drive on the game's final possession, Notre Dame would have finished with the lowest rushing total in team history.

As it stood, the Irish wound up with minus-6 rushing yards, the second time in three games they have finished in red figures.

Notre Dame's offensive niche is obvious.

"We need to run the ball," said junior quarterback Evan Sharpley, who replaced freshman starter Jimmy Clausen with 13:08 left. "So much of the offensive success is based around that. Right now, we're struggling."

That's putting it mildly.

The Irish couldn't run the ball or hold on to it Saturday, fumbling six times (losing two) and throwing 2 interceptions. Michigan (1-2) converted 3 first-half turnovers into touchdowns, traveling just 21 yards, 38 yards and 48 yards on each drive.

Behind running back Mike Hart, who backed up his victory guarantee with 187 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns, Michigan built a 31-0 halftime lead.

Clausen (11-for-17, 74 yards, 1 interception) struggled but had little help from the nation's worst offensive line, which allowed 8 sacks Saturday after surrendering 15 in the first two games.

Weis still refuses to use the rebuilding label but acknowledged that the "building" process begins today. The Irish won't watch film from Michigan or game plan for Michigan State.

They will practice like it's the first day of training camp to fix their myriad mistakes.

"I'm embarrassed by that performance out there," Weis said. "We are going back to our first day of installation. Everything is up for grabs. … We're not doing anything consistently good in certain aspects of our team.

"We have to create a niche because if we can't do that, we're never going to be any good. Forget about being competitive."