Notre Dame, Weis begin to rebuild

SOUTH BEND – Rebuilding.\nNotre Dame coach Charlie Weis started the season by vowing never to use the word. Now he will spend the next nine months trying to accomplish it after the Fighting Irish (3-9) went from earning consecutive Bowl Championship Series berths to becoming the target of late-night talk show jokes.\nWeis got started right away. Instead of returning to South Bend after the Fighting Irish beat Stanford 21-14 on Saturday, Weis stayed out west trying to build on a recruiting class some analysts already rate as the nation’s best.\nWhen Weis returns, he plans to dissect the season to determine exactly what went wrong. He then plans to travel to New England in February to meet with his former coaching colleagues on the Patriots so they can point out his mistakes.\nWeis already knows some of his mistakes. He plans to make practices in the spring and during the preseason more physical, possibly even allowing quarterbacks to be tackled during practices.\nThe lack of hitting this year hurt the Irish, especially early in the season, when they were repeatedly overpowered. \nWeis knew the Irish would struggle after losing players like Brady Quinn, Jeff Samardzija, Darius Walker and others, especially because the senior and junior classes were small and unheralded. But no one expected the Irish to be this bad.\n“You knew there were going to be some voids of experience this year,” Weis said. “Just numerically, you knew there were going to be some voids. What you hoped was between the guys that came back for a fifth year and the half dozen or so guys that were in the senior class, you hoped that they could hold the fort enough while the young guys got their feet wet and ready to go. You were hoping it wasn’t such a dramatic dropoff as far as wins and losses go.”\nThe good news for the Irish is they don’t lose much next year. The biggest losses will be tight end John Carlson, center John Sullivan, defensive end Trevor Laws, linebacker Joe Brockington and safety Tom Zbikowski.\nOne of the biggest needs for the Irish is to develop a respectable kicker. Weis’ lack of confidence in the kicking game may have cost Notre Dame a victory against Navy, when the Irish went for it on fourth-and-8 from the Navy 24. Evan Sharpley was tackled for a 7-yard loss and the Irish lost in overtime.\nThe Irish also need better play at quarterback. Jimmy Clausen ended the season strong. After his first seven games, six of them starts, Clausen had a completion rate of 57.4 percent, for 618 yards with one touchdown and five interceptions, an efficiency rating of 89.51.\nIn his last three games, he had a completion rate of 54.8 percent for 636 yards with six touchdowns and one interception, a 123.9 efficiency rating.\nThe question is, how much better can Clausen and his young teammates get? The offense was one of the worst in school history. The Irish averaged 242 yards a game of total offense, which was worst in the nation and the second worst total for Notre Dame in 61 years. Even worse, they averaged 75 yards a game rushing, by far the worst for Notre Dame since at least 1946.\nNotre Dame hit a lot of lows this season, including: worst start in school history (0-5); worst home losing streak (six straight); two of the 10 worst losses ever (38-0 to Michigan and USC) and the first nine-loss season.\n“It’s still 3-9. Let’s not kid ourselves,” Weis said. “But at least it’s 3-9 with two wins at the end of the year.”\nThe real challenge, though, is for the young players to develop into dependable players who can help the Irish win.\n“There’s a lot of promising young players here,” Weis said. “They’re going to have to take the next step to move us in the right direction.”