by Matthew Ondesko

People who read this column every week knows there is no bigger Notre Dame supporter then myself.

I grew up a Notre Dame fan. Followed the Irish for my entire life, which isn’t that long.

But, what happened today is amazing. For the second time in three years the mighty Notre Dame Fighting Irish loss to Navy. Navy, a team the Irish didn’t loose to for more than 40 years. A team the Irish should dominate every season.

I can handle the Irish losing to USC. Hell, I can handle the Irish losing to Michigan earlier in the year. But, to Navy – what in Touchdown Jesus is going on?

This isn’t a knock on the Midshipmen. Navy is a good football team. In fact, it is nice to see the service academies doing well again. But, come on. This is Notre Dame. The Irish shouldn’t be losing to the academies.

Or, should they?

Maybe, the Irish aren’t as good as we thought. Maybe we think they are good because college football needs them to be good. College football needs a good Notre Dame team for ratings.

I think what is confusing about this team is that they have talent. They have a lot of talent – especially on offense. They are loaded with Jimmy Clausen and Golden Tate and Michael Floyd.

But the defense is horrible. They are soft. That’s right I said they are soft. They don’t tackle. They don’t hit. They can’t cover anybody. And today we found out they can’t stop the run.

It’s embarrassing. Normally, I don’t blame a coach. Because the players play the game and coaches just coach it.

So, even though I want to just say Charlie Weis must go. It’s not his fault. I’m sure Weis isn’t in practice telling his players to miss tackles or miss assignments. You can only coach up the kids so much,

But, as I say that, I do think a change needs to be made. Maybe Charlie’s message has run on deaf ears. Yes, Charlie can recruit. He has one of the top 10 classes every year. But, the classes for some reason just aren’t panning out on the field.

Maybe, someone like Brian Kelly from Cincinnati would be a good fit. There is a rumor that Notre Dame is his dream job. It could be a good fit. Notice I didn’t great fit. I don’t think there is a great fit at Notre Dame for anybody. Just to much pressure to perform at the university.

People at Notre Dame think they are the Irish of old under Lou Holtz. Um, no.

They are a Notre Dame team that has a hard time winning again Navy – oh yeah they lost that game.

They could finish 9-3, but they also could finish 7-5. Expectations were through the roof this season and now the season could be a disaster. It will be interesting to see which Irish team shows up the rest of the season. The one that bounced back from USC or the one that lost to Syracuse last year.

I still am a big Clausen fan. I think he has grown and matured this season. He was a Heisman contender, but then they lost to Navy.

The question will be if Clausen and Tate come out after this season. For me, I would like to see Clausen stay for his senior season. I understand why he would come out. This class isn’t that deep on the quarterback position.

But, I need to see him do it for more that one year. He struggled his freshman and sophomore year.

One more season like this year and he is a sure fire first round pick.

Our veterans: I usually don’t mention the networks that much. But, ESPN deserves a thumbs up after they broadcast live from the Air Force Academy for College Game Day. All week, ESPN is celebrating the Armed Forces as it leads up to Veterans Day.

Air Force was just the beginning as ESPN will also have Sportscenter live from West Point. Good job ESPN and keep up the great work.

Quack attack: Like we knew this wasn’t going to happen. A week after Oregon made national headlines by dismantling USC; the Ducks were defeated by Stanford. Stanford is now bowl eligible and are also 5-2 in the PAC 10.

Top 5

Florida
Alabama
Texas
Cincinnati
TCU

Top 3 Heisman

Colt McCoy (Texas)
Tim Tebow (Florida)
Mark Ingram (Alabama)