by CollegeFootballNews.com

Time to start looking for Weis replacements

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I've tried to make excuses for Charlie Weis. I've spent most of this year explaining why and how he's doing a solid job of making Notre Dame relevant again. I've tried to let it go that the Irish lost to a bad Michigan team and needed heroics and mini-miracles to get by Purdue, Washington and Michigan State, but I've done all I can do.

I've always been under the belief that a coach should be fired once he's on the hot seat. Name one head man other than Kentucky's Rich Brooks who could've been fired, and should've been fired, but was able to turn things around. And I'm not talking about the guy who had one bad year here and there; I'm talking about the coach who's in trouble because of the way things slid. This loss to Navy showed that Weis could have everything go right with his offense yet still lose to an inferior team coming off a loss to Temple.

There's no excuse for a well-coached team to lose to an option team with far less talent. It's one thing to have the NFL-caliber athletes of Georgia Tech rumble with the option, but Navy doesn't have many players who could make the Notre Dame team, much less start, and it all comes down to execution and discipline. Navy outguessed, outplayed and outworked the Irish, but in the end, the tremendous Midshipman offense put up only 21 points. The Irish offense is to blame, too, for three turnovers, highlighted by the Jimmy Clausen fumble at the goal line, and putting up only 14 points until the final moments.

Weis will be a terrific NFL offensive coordinator. Terrific. I have no doubt that he could go to Kansas City, St. Louis, Oakland — well, maybe not Oakland — and instantly be a monster success. But it's not working in South Bend, and for a program that has no excuse to not be in the BCS every year, it really might be time to start fresh.

So let the fun begin. Cincinnati's Brian Kelly will be the one the Irish Nation desperately wants, but there has to be at least a lunch meeting over the idea of bringing the guy who just beat you to your side. Considering what Paul Johnson is doing at Georgia Tech, and what Navy continues to do with him gone, why not at least look at Ken Niumatalolo? It's going to be a fun debate.

— Pete Fiutak

ND still has to play Pitt and Stanford

There was nothing fancy. Nothing was especially complicated. Navy simply executed better and beat Notre Dame at the point of attack in an upset that will raise the temperature under Charlie Weis' derriere to an all-time high.

The Irish knew what was coming. Everyone knows what's coming when the Midshipmen are in town. A healthy 57 carries produced 348 energy-draining, clock-milking yards, most of which came from fullback Vince Murray and quarterback Ricky Dobbs. Navy doesn't have the athletes or the size to stack up with Notre Dame, nor does it have the blue-chip recruits that attract NFL scouts to its games. It doesn't really matter, however, when your kids are more fundamentally sound and make fewer mistakes. Which, naturally, brings us back to Weis.

Of all the difficult news conferences Weis has had to endure since becoming the Irish head coach, he might be about embark on his most trying week with the program. The questions will be pointed and the topics will be predictable. Now that Notre Dame is out of the mix for a BCS bowl picture, having dropped a game to Navy for the second time in three years, does the coach expect to be back on the sidelines in 2010? Trips to red-hot Pittsburgh and Stanford are still ahead for what figures to be a very difficult November in South Bend now that the team has lost for the third time.

— Richard Cirminiello

Props to Navy and its stud coach

Ken Niumatalolo doesn't have top-tier athletes at Navy, but they play fundamentally sound football for him. (Darron Cummings / Associated Press)

1. Two straight wins in South Bend. Another winning season. Another bowl bid. Another stand-on-the-head performance from coordinator Buddy Green's defense. Some teams (Michigan State, South Carolina, Virginia, N.C. State and several others) always falter during a season. Navy always overachieves. This is the program that does more with less than any other FBS outfit. Ken Niumatalolo is proving to be just as much of a sideline stud as Paul Johnson, and the college football world knows just how good Georgia Tech's mastermind really is.

2. No BCS bowl (not that it ever should have been on the table after the USC loss). No Jimmy Clausen Heisman Trophy victory (a plane ticket to New York, yes, but not the hardware). Other teams and individuals gained a lot on Saturday. Boise State and Case Keenum should feel really good right now.

— Matt Zemek

Hey Charlie, teams need a defense, too

Ricky Dobbs was back, and Notre Dame was done. Two years ago, it was considered an upset for the ages when the Mids snapped a four-decade-plus losing streak and defeated the Irish. After winning for the second time in three years, we might just get to the point where an ND triumph over Navy is an upset. Pin this one directly on the Irish defense, and start those Charlie Weis hot-seat comments all over again. After looking as if it had a good shot at BCS riches, the Irish are now staring at three remaining games, including two on the road against teams that can't wait to get hold of that shaky D.

Weis came in telling everybody how smart an offensive coach he was. What he didn't say was that he didn't put much of an emphasis on defense. For that, he is being rightly fricasseed, and for that he might lose his job. Because with Jimmy Clausen likely to be heading to the NFL after this season, the Irish won't be able to count on outscoring everybody next year, and that could be ugly. I don't want to make this all about ND, because Navy shook off a disappointing home loss to Temple last week and rallied spectacularly on the road. But after seeming as if it were headed for a renaissance, Notre Dame now seems adrift, and its coach is wide open to justified criticism.

— Michael Bradley