Mike Kern: Weis hasn't bowled them over at Notre Dame

Notre Dame hasn't won a national title since 1988. And really hasn't threatened to win one since 1993. That's what Weis was hired to do. And he did get to BCS bowls his first two seasons, only to get beat by 14 and 27.

After a 3-9 2007, he did beat Hawaii in Honolulu by 28 last December, ND's first postseason success since the 1993 season. Still, it only added up to a 7-6 finish.

Now he's lost at home to Navy, for the second straight time. After losing at Michigan early. Good thing ND found a way to beat Michigan State, Purdue and Washington at the end.

Of course, the three losses (don't forget Southern Cal) were by a total of 13, too. It's all relative.

Perhaps Weis and his lengthy contract will be back. Or maybe he's pretty much toast already.

Notre Dame obviously wants to be what it was again. If Weis isn't the guy, all the obvious names will pop into the conversation: Urban Meyer, Jon Gruden, Brian Kelly.

Yet perhaps there's a bigger question to be asked.

Like, why has a program of this stature not been able to get it right for so long? And I'm counting the George O'Leary fiasco in that run. At some point, don't the football gods have to even things out?

Makes you appreciate just how perfect Lou Holtz was for the gig, even if that was a generation ago.

Anyway, the Irish still have to play at Pitt and Stanford. They get Connecticut at home. They probably won't go 3-0. But what if they do? Of course, they could just as easily lose one or two.

If nothing else, it'll continue to be an intriguing story line.

By the way, whatever happened to that BCS bowl talk?

Trivial pursuit

 

Alabama is trying to go unbeaten through the regular season (not counting the SEC title game) for the second straight year. When was the last time the Crimson Tide did that? Hint: They lost their bowl game both seasons. See Answer Man.

All together now

 

Temple, Villanova and Penn are a combined 21-5. The last time all three had winning seasons was 1986, when they went 24-6. But Temple forfeited its six victories for using an ineligible player (Paul Palmer, the Heisman Trophy runner-up).