Just what is it that Weis does to stay afloat?

Somebody at Notre Dame is going to have to explain what Charlie Weis has done to keep his job.

Is it his ability to strategize? His ability to motivate? His ability to recruit?

Or what?

If football is important to Notre Dame - as if there's any doubt - then what happened Saturday was embarrassing.

The Fighting Irish should have Navy as outmanned on the football field as Navy would have the Irish outmanned on the open seas.

Yet Notre Dame lost to Navy for the second time in three years under Weis, this time by a score of 23-21.

Until two years ago Navy hadn't beaten Notre Dame since our sailors manned their torpedoes on frigates (and no, I'm not sure what frigates are other than they sound amusingly ancient).

Anyway, for 43 years the Middies couldn't beat an Irish team coached by anyone from Ara Parseghian to Bob Davie or Lou Holtz to Gerry Faust.

Somehow, Weis figured out how to lose twice to Navy. You almost have to try to do that for it to actually happen.

What you'll hear a lot today is how mentally, emotionally and militarily strong Navy players are and how difficult it is to match their resolve.

No argument there.

Somehow, though, Temple beat Navy while Southern Methodist and Air Force took the Middies into overtime before losing.

So this isn't exactly the British Empire Navy in shoulder pads and still Notre Dame concocted 2 losses in three years to the Midshipmen.

Again, what does Irish head coach Charlie Weis do in South Bend? He's a good recruiter, you say? That's almost a condemnation rather than a commendation this morning, don't you think?

If Weis is bringing in such outstanding talent, there's no excuse for being outplayed by a bunch of guys for whom football is shore leave on the way to the Persian Gulf.

Notre Dame has some athletes who are good enough to earn enough NFL money to buy cruise ships and Navy has some sailors good enough to some day make a career of captaining cargo ships.

Seriously, the more you watch Weis on the sidelines on Saturdays and at his news conferences during the week, you wonder how this guy could inspire college players to play.

Weis alternately looks baffled and like he left his pulse back with the Patriots when he migrated from New England to South Bend.

So it shouldn't be surprising that Weis can't instill life in his players. That did look like the issue Saturday - the Middies appeared to be inspired and the Irish appeared unable to match their inspiration.

OK, let's say that wasn't true. Then it must have been that Navy's coaches prepared their overachievers and Notre Dame's coaches didn't prepare their underachievers.

Look, it's understandable that Notre Dame lost to USC even though the Irish had terrific junior Jimmy Clausen at quarterback and the Trojans had a raw freshman.

But for the Irish to lose to mediocre Michigan, which is 1-5 in the Big Ten, and to a Navy steamer that lost to Temple -

Well, it really does make you wonder what Charlie Weis does all week in South Bend and what he has been doing the past five years to keep his job.

mimrem@dailyherald.com