Giving No Quarter

Perhaps it’s not a coincidence that Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis spent less time on his weekly opponent breakdown this Tuesday than any other game so far this year, since Washington State rates by just about every measure as the weakest team on the 2009 schedule.

This week seems to be more about self-scouting than anything else, and one theme appeared to jump out during Weis’ talk with the press – getting a full start-to-finish effort from his team.

“We haven’t played a full 60-minute game across the board,” Weis stated, “and this gives us an opportunity to try to do that. We’d like to get on top of them early and go hard for the whole game, and see if we can’t put a game together, a full game together on offense and defense and special teams, where you can walk out of the game with everyone gaining confidence.”

Of particular importance, the coach noted, will be the third quarter. It’s the one quarter this season that the Cougars have actually done well in, while the Irish have had plenty of struggles coming out of the locker room after halftime.

The hope is, of course, that the game will be in hand by then anyway.

“We’re going to go against a program that we don’t have a lot of familiarity with,” Weis said. “It’s one of those situations where we’re going to have to go down there and be ready to go, or else we’re going to find ourselves in the same game that we’ve been playing in for the last month and a half.”

The trip to San Antonio for this “off-site home game” is the team’s first extended travel of the season, since the two previous road games were bus trips to Michigan and Purdue. There won’t be any sightseeing adventures, however – in part because half of the Irish players have already been there for the U.S. Army All-American Bowl as high school seniors, but also because it’s about business. Notre Dame won’t even arrive in Texas until Friday evening.

“I have a trip planned to my hotel room,” Weis said, adding that the team has a curfew.

“Our fans will be on the Riverwalk, but our players, if they’re on the Riverwalk after 10, you know we have a problem.”

One of the interesting asides with the “off-site home game” concept is the recruiting aspect. Because it’s considered a home game, Notre Dame can provide recruits with tickets – but because it’s off campus, the coaches cannot have any actual contact with the prospects during the weekend.

“We have a bunch coming to the game,” Weis said, “but we can’t talk to them.”

Giving Nothing Away
Weis said that the biggest area of improvement from last year has been his team’s ability to take better care of the ball. Notre Dame has only five turnovers in 2009, tied for second fewest in the country, and the Irish are fourth nationally in turnover margin.

“Our biggest area of improvement comes from not throwing it to the other guys nearly as many times as we’ve done in the past,” Weis said.

Junior quarterback Jimmy Clausen is on track to threaten the school record for lowest interception percentage in a season, set by Matt LoVecchio in 2000 (1 interception in 125 pass attempts). Clausen has just two picks in 230 throws.

The improvement in that area has helped Notre Dame’s winning percentage as well, something that doesn’t surprise Weis at all.

“Years ago, we had done a big study in the NFL,” he said. “The greatest predictor of wins and losses was turnover margin. Everyone talks about rushing offense and rushing defense. Turnover margin was by far the greatest determining statistic in winning percentage.”

Poll Position
The coach was asked about Notre Dame’s re-entry into the national rankings this week after beating Boston College.

“If we want to put ourselves in the picture to play in a top-flight bowl game at the end of the year,” he said, “we have to slowly but surely, week by week, take care of business. That’s the most imperative thing.”

Weis didn’t seem worried about the team’s relatively low ranking (23rd in the BCS standings), since almost half the season is still ahead.

“We’re not going to go jump ahead of 10 teams in a week,” he stated. “You want to get ahead of a couple of teams. Each week you want to get up ahead of a couple of more.”

Becoming A Manti
Freshman linebacker Manti Te’o has come on of late, leading the Irish in tackles two of the last three games. Weis believes the primary reason is that Te’o has a greater comfort level now than at the beginning of the season.

“As a defensive player, the number one thing is being able to pull the trigger,” Weis said. “By that I mean even when you know what to do, to just let it loose and go. When he first started playing, he would be a little hesitant. You’d see that momentary pause before he’d go ahead and finish off a play, and that momentary pause is the difference between making a play and not making a play. Now, all of a sudden, that momentary pause is starting to vanish. You don’t see that anymore. Now, when he sees it, he goes.”

The coach also commented on the observation that Te’o, perhaps more than anyone else on the defense, has been “tackling through” ball carriers.

“That’s what really good linebackers do,” Weis said, “run through somebody’s face. That’s what Manti does. He’s only a freshman, but as I said not too long ago, I thought the sky was the limit, and fortunately for us, he’s really starting to get on a little bit of a roll here.”

Pleading The Fourth
Weis conceded that he has become a bit more conservative this season in terms of going for it on fourth downs, even if some onlookers might dispute that assessment.

“There’s been a bunch of times this year in plus territory where I’ve punted the ball,” he stated, referring especially to the games against USC and Boston College.

Last week, the coach explained, was primarily a case of playing for field position after the Eagles had pinned Notre Dame deep in its own territory a few times.

“You didn’t know that going into the game it was going to be a field position game,” Weis said. “It all comes down to field position and weather an opponent, a combination of all those factors.”

At one point, Weis was asked about Kevin Kelley, the coach at Pulaski (Ark.) Academy who went the entire 2008 season without punting – and opted for an onside kick on about 75 percent of kickoffs.

Were he to take a similar approach with the Irish, Weis said, “I’d get run out of Dodge.”

Depth Chart Notes
• Junior Harrison Smith was moved to Sam linebacker after starting in that spot against Boston College. He’s listed as a co-starter with sophomore Darius Fleming. Senior Sergio Brown steps into the No. 1 spot at strong safety, with sophomore Jamoris Slaughter behind him.

• Senior wide receiver Robby Parris disappeared from the depth chart at wide receiver this week after Weis declared him “doubtful” for the Washington State game. Junior Duval Kamara is the No. 1 at the ‘Z’ receiver spot, with sophomore John Goodman at No. 2.

“I’ll try my best for ‘doubtful’ to be ‘out,’ ” Weis said of Parris. “I would try my best to not use him this week.”

• Sophomore Robert Blanton and junior Gary Gray are listed as the starters at cornerback, with seniors Raeshon McNeil and Darrin Walls in the No. 2 spots. McNeil earned a good amount of playing time in the nickel back role against Boston College, and Weis hinted that this weekend would likely bring more of the same.

• Junior running back Robert Hughes has been deemed ready to go after taking a rough hit at the goal line against Boston College.

“He had a little ding and he passed his cognitive test,” Weis said, “so he’ll be practicing today.”