Here is an article from ndnation.com that gives a wonderful summary for what Charlie Weis had accomplished:

The Rock 9/26

Notre Dame's offense has finally become predictable in the way that wins football games.

Out of 55 possessions so far in the 2005 season, 47 have resulted in at least one first down. That means almost nine out of ten times the Irish are not going three and out and the defense is not left on field to be haplessly picked apart.

Notre Dame ranks fifth in the country in first downs per game, averaging 28 a contest. Of those five teams, Notre Dame is the only one to rank in the top ten in time of possession. Charlie Weis, Brady Quinn and Co. have been chewing up yardage and the clock with a ball control passing game that's helping to keep a suspect defense off the field.

Know When to Hold'em

If one looks into the mind of Weis, you might see the workings of a Vegas card counter: Tallying each game's information, comparing it to his past experience and gambling bigger when the odds are in his favor. Weis is the ultimate risk/reward game caller. Yes, he can be unorthodox, but you get the feeling that stems from him playing the percentages. He pushes defenses into over committing and getting them off balance, then betting against the flow.

One way Notre Dame has created such odd favoring mismatches is through the creative use of its talented tight end corps. After hammering teams with short passes to Anthony "Meat Hooks" Fasano, Weis will change it up using a tight end in motion to spring a trap block for Autry, I mean Darius, Walker.

Another way is through a similar use of the fullbacks. Down near the goal line in the second half, Weis put fullback Asaph Schwapp in motion to the left, baiting Washington's defensive line, then giving the ball on a cutback to Rashon Powers-Neal who walked in for a touchdown.

Weis seems content to play small ball until he can uncover a tendency and make the reward worth the risk. But to be able to do that you have to have a core competency and Notre Dame has developed a nice little package of slants, outs, draws and designed cutbacks that seemingly come out of a different look every time. That package allows Weis to dictate the flow of the game. The last time a Notre Dame offense had a core competency was when Jarious Jackson was quarterback. Unfortunately, too often that plan seemed to be to just give Jarious the ball and yell DO SOMETHING JARIOUS!

To put add some perspective to the ndnation.com article, Notre Dame ranks 13th in total offense so far this year at 475 yards per game.  The Irish finished 81st last year at 345.5 yards a game.

And now for a new chapter in the storied Notre Dame Legend:

“And Rock, tell the boys, when they are up against it, to go out there and win one for the Gipper!”

We are now hearing the latest transmogrification of the Legend into today’s genre.

The greatest players in Notre Dame history: The Four Horsemen and the seven Heisman winners: Bertelli, Lujack, Hart, Lattner, Hornung, Huarte and Brown.

The legendary Joe Montana’s name is missing from this august body of all-time greats, as he was ignored by All-American teams and by the Heisman voters.  But now, Joe’s legend is enhanced by the remarkable story of his namesake, an infinitely courageous young man named Montana Mazurkiewicz.  Unless you live on Mars, you have already heard the story, so we will not repeat it here: instead, here is a wonderful summary of what it means to the Notre Dame program to have a coach like Charlie Weis—sorry to have Charlie Weis, for there is no coach like Charlie—there is just Charlie—for he is one of a kind!!!

This is what Tom Goodenow of Blue and Gold had to say about Charlie:

Notre Dame is a special place. The demands placed on its football coach and the expectations for the program are unlike those found at any other institution. The administrators desperately needed to make the right hire.

By selecting one Charlie Weis, they got a coach with three admirable character traits. The fans already thought they had hired the lion, with the courage to take on the most difficult job in the country. And it seemed they had also hired the scarecrow, with the brains to out-scheme any opponent.

And now it appears they also got the tin man, a coach with a heart not always on display at practice, in the film room, or at press gatherings. But it is in there, beating away in a man with values and an appreciation for what is important that exceeds any knowledge he brings to the football field.

Tim Goodenow is the Web Editor of BlueandGold.com. BlueandGold.com compliments the spectacular growth of Blue and Gold Illustrated and merchandise outlet at NDShop.com. College football fans, both young and old, follow the rich tradition of Fighting Irish football.

Anthony makes the catch, in a rare moment of athleticism, he leaps over the defender, gets some extra yards. It's almost as if Montana was willing him to beat that defender and take it to the house.

What is the significance of this story for our University?

“Notre Dame is unique.  There is no other school, maybe even no other place like it, and it is that way because of the sum total of all of these things.

Father Malloy, for all of the deserved heat he has taken, is known to me as the priest who returned to the University from the annual Holy Cross week long planning and renewal session (against the rules of the order) just long enough minister to the family and to say the funeral mass for the son of one of our classmates (1963), because he had been so close to him for the 12 + months he lived after the diagnosis of terminal cancer.  Yes, the young man was a resident of Sorin and Monk was his counselor and confessor.  This young man’s dad will tell this story to hundreds of people, keeping the Legend alive, helping to keep it alive, perhaps forever!

There are hundreds of stories like this for every Montana story that we know about.

They make up the fabric of the University-----------which is the best example of an emotionally anchored brand I know of.

Nothing can kill it except the ignorance of those who live on campus, and the fading memories of its alums.  

This is the reason why we are the only school in the world that has more non-alum alums than alums who graduated!!  It explains this otherwise inexplicable phenomenon.

Football was the vehicle originally that made all of this possible, and now this same energy, spirit, tradition, drive and commitment will re-energize the football program and return it to its proper place on the national scene, right at the top, the same place that the University strives for in all else that it does.

Let no one say that we cannot be great in whatever we do.  Striving for excellence, being the best and doing the impossible is part of the Notre Dame brand.  How do I know?  Well, it is because that is where I learned the importance of these things.  At the University of Notre Dame du lac!  Where else??

Have you been watching ESPN and the amazing commercials they have produced to promote college football and college sports in general??

In one, the setting is a nursing home.  You see and old codger, wearing an Auburn sweatshirt, aided by his walker and his portable breathing apparatus, sliding along the hallway, almost nimbly, but very slowly, and then you see another old codger coming toward him from the other direction. 

Then the perspective shifts.  Now you are looking at the hallway from a 90 degree shift.  You are looking at the picture from behind the nurses' station, and you see the two men going in opposite directions and just about to pass one another in the hallway, but one of them seems to take a header, the first guy, the one with the Auburn sweatshirt on falls, and he goes head over heels!!! 

Then, the perspective shifts back 90 degrees so that you are looking down the hallway again.  Now you are looking at the two codgers from a point at the end of the hallway, the codger in the Auburn sweatshirt is writhing in pain on the floor, holding his hand up in a vain attempt to receive succor and help from the other old codger.  His hand is quivering, out of control, desperate in a quest for the milk of human kindness, as the second old codger passes him in the hallway, passes him, ignores him and does so with a certain delicious delight!!!

The viewer never sees it, but is left to infer that the other old codger, purposely tripped the first one. And then, the old codger who tripped the first one, stands up straight and looks straight into the camera and for the first time the viewer sees his face and more importantly sees the expression on his face, which is a very wry sardonic smile, and the viewer also sees his hat, which says: Bama!!!

It ends with the theme line "Never Graduate."

Brilliant!!

The other commercial depicts a wedding reception.  The bride and groom are dancing cheek to cheek to the Notre Dame Victory March. 

What is so unusual about that?

I bet the creative people thought they were creating something, something unusual.

Ha-Ha

(My daughter and her groom did the same thing at their wedding reception, and her dad danced with her to the same sacred tune immediately thereafter.  And so do all Notre Dame daughters and sons and their spouses and parents!!!  Why Steve Zeber reports the same story from HIS daughter’s wedding!)

In fact, what is so unusual about the nursing home scene?

Hee he hee!!!

Fascinating it is that they chose two SEC schools to show demonic cruelty and Notre Dame to show a special heart touching poignancy...

Why would they do that?  Simple: it would not have been credible had they done the same commercial with Northern, Midwestern or Western schools!!

Comments on Purdue and on Tennessee

Tennessee

What is it about Phil Fulmer?  At times he seems to be a dimwitted coach, yet he has one of the very best records of active coaches—no—actually one of the best of all time.  His team laid a bomb against the Urbanites from Central Florida.  They showed up with no offense, and continued its no offense thru the first half of the game against LSU, into the third quarter and then all of a sudden the levee broke loose.  This was one of the ugliest games in college history.  Neither quarterback belongs on a top twenty five team.  Even though Clausen led the comeback, he looked awkward repeatedly, while the Bayou Boys’ Defense was conducting a Chinese Fire Drill.

How is it that Tennessee can come back time and time again finishing strong at the end of most of their games and finishing like gang busters in November?  Fulmer has one of the best records ever in November.  No other team in modern college football has been able to do this, but they do under Fulmer!  In their games against the Irish in recent years such as 1990 and in 1991 and again in the late 90s, they finished very strong.  In none of the games in the entire series have the Irish finished stronger than Tennessee!

If there are any of you out there who is taking them lightly, pay attention!!  They are very dangerous, deceptively so!!  Remember, they suffered an ignominious defeat to a nothing Rutgers team in 1979, the week before they pasted The Lisch Led Irish 42-18 in Neyland Stadium!!  And they did that headed by Johnny Majors, a nothing coach!!

Purdue

The Spoilermakers have invented a new offense for them, a curious balance of pitch and run.  Gone is basketball on grass and now it is replaced by the Tiller version of a perfectly balanced see saw!!  Is the rationale for this new offense that Brandon Kirsch is a fake, woefully inferior to the starting quarterback of the Chicago Bears, with whom he shared the starting job last year?  The Purdue loss in OT to a surprisingly exciting Gopher team seems to support such a hypothesis, however, do not underestimate the ability of the Boilers to dig their way out of the hole dug for them by the Gophers and steam Irish fans this Saturday.  Over the years, their quarterbacks find their spot in the pantheon of the Engineers’ Hall of Fame when they play the Irish.  Their signal callers are almost always at their personal best when they find themselves playing against the team directly north of them.  Consider Bernie Allen, Brian Griese, Matt Herrmann, etc.

What of Washington you may ask?  This game was a great victory for the Irish.  We will speak more to it as time goes on.  Suffice it to say that this game was an absolute must win and that our new coach was in a no win situation.

Watch for the blitzing package!!  The Irish did not blitz often against the Huskies knowing that the quarterback could be devastating if he took off on the ground.  Against Purdue, you will see an entirely different defense of the Irish will go down in flames.