Weis happy with unhappy team
Some might have surveyed the sad scene in Notre Dame's locker room and deemed that the team finally had reached its breaking point.
Charlie Weis saw it differently.
When the Fighting Irish coach entered the room following his postgame news conference Saturday, he spotted players still in uniform, shell-shocked by a historic triple-overtime loss to Navy.
It was the response Weis had hoped for.
"They were pretty depressed, and they should have been," Weis said Sunday. "But my question is, would you rather they weren't depressed after a loss like that? You would hope that they felt bad.
"Because when you've lost the team is when they don't feel bad, when they don't care."
Keeping the team from giving up could be Weis' toughest challenge in the final three games.
Another quarterback change could be coming with freshman Jimmy Clausen getting healthier. Junior Evan Sharpley started his second straight game Saturday, passing for 140 yards and 2 touchdowns, but he also took 4 sacks and had a fumble that Navy returned for a touchdown.
Weis expects to decide the starter for the Air Force game on Tuesday. He said Clausen could have played Saturday but will be full-go this week.
"If Jimmy's ready to go, which I'm saying he is, its not just a slam dunk who is doing what," Weis said. "I'm still in the gathering-information mode."
Weis also elaborated on his decision not to attempt a 41-yard field goal into the wind with the game tied and 45 seconds left in regulation. He wanted to get the ball to the 20-yard line near the right hash on third down, but Armando Allen was stuffed for no gain on a stretch play.
"It's important to know where the boundary of the range is with the wind and without the wind," Weis said. "We felt that in that case anything over the 20-yard line was going to be a bit of a stretch."
On the spot: After making SportsCenter's Top Plays by scoring on a hook-and-lateral last week at Purdue, Northwestern junior wide receiver Eric Peterman continued to see his role expand.
Peterman, a quarterback in high school, took several direct snaps in the first half against Iowa. He gained 10 yards on a keeper and found Tyrell Sutton on a shovel pass that gained 13 yards.
NU began practicing with Peterman in the backfield several weeks ago.
"It gets me the ball with an extra blocker," Peterman said. "Hopefully we can expand on that package because it worked fairly well."
Inches to go: Notre Dame nose tackle Pat Kuntz left Saturday's game in the first quarter after taking a knee to his back. X-rays were inconclusive Saturday, but Charlie Weis expected a new set to be taken Sunday. …
Northwestern has allowed 11 sacks in its last two games after surrendering 3 in the previous three games. "It's just individual guys getting beat," center Trevor Rees said. "People aren't doing their assignments."