When he took over as Notre Dame football coach in December 2004, Charlie Weis said his first order of business was to upgrade the Irish’s talent level.
He still has a ton of work to do.
Notre Dame fell to 1-6 with Saturday’s 27-14 loss to Boston College, and once again the Irish were barely competitive.
The Eagles are a Top 5 team, undefeated at 7-0 and now have won five in a row from their Catholic counterpart.
Each of the previous four had the feel of an upset, at least a mild one. This one was a thumpin’. If the Eagles hadn’t inconvenienced themselves with 131 yards in penalties, including four personal fouls, and stuck to a rather pedestrian game plan on offense, the two-touchdown spread might have been, oh, doubled.
“Notre Dame did not play like a 1-6 football team, not at all,” Eagles coach Jeff Jagodzinski insisted.
So don’t fault the Irish’s effort, but “no medals for trying” is one of Weis’ pet phrases. And effort alone wasn’t going to offset an ill-advised take-a-knee by the punter, an excessive-celebration penalty and a touchdown-negating holding call, each of which cost the Irish field position and/or points in a game in which they were on the short end of a pronounced talent disparity.
Particularly at quarterback. Weis removed Jimmy Clausen one series into the third quarter after the freshman failed to get the Irish within hailing distance of the end zone. Evan Sharpley matched Clausen’s yardage output on his first series, improvised his way to one touchdown, lost another to that holding call and kept the capacity crowd at Notre Dame Stadium entertained, if not hopeful.
Quarterback controversy? Sharpley probably gives the Irish a better chance to win right now, particularly with Clausen banged up and with mighty USC due in town next week.
Meanwhile, Boston College senior Matt Ryan, a probable All-American, had a routine day at the office, passing for 291 yards and two touchdowns and remaining upright the entire game thanks to nimble footwork and a heady pocket presence.
Bears general manager Jerry Angelo was among the more interested observers.
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dmcgrath@tribune.com
