by Neil Hayes, Chicago Sun Times

First-year athletic director Jack Swarbrick is scrubbing his hands in anticipation of overseeing the postmortem examination. Swarbrick is the wild card in this process. The Notre Dame grad and former successful lawyer has been involved in bringing the Super Bowl and the NCAA national headquarters to Indianapolis, but he has no track record as an AD, making it difficult to predict his decision in regard to coach Charlie Weis' future.

Swarbrick said he will meet with Weis to review the season when both return to South Bend. Because Swarbrick is traveling this week and Weis is on the road recruiting, that meeting might not occur until a week from today, giving him plenty of time to examine the forensics reports and dissect the gruesome remains.

''You evaluate based on the available data,'' Swarbrick said after the game Saturday night. ''We have new data coming in all the time.''

We've compiled the following data to aid Swarbrick as he ties on his mask and ponders the future of a coach who has lost 15 games in two seasons -- the most ever by a Notre Dame coach -- and 17 of his last 26.

If USC is the standard bearer for excellence in college football -- and therefore the program Notre Dame would most like to emulate -- it's difficult to build a convincing case that the Irish have closed on their age-old rival since last year. On the contrary, the gap appears as gaping as ever.

''USC is a team you have to look at when you're looking at playing for championships because that's what they do on a regular basis,'' Weis said after the Trojans held his offense without a first down until the last play of the third quarter, limited it to 1.9 yards per play and outgained it 449-91. ''You could see the discrepancy today between their team and our team is very wide.''

The Trojans have won seven straight in the series and have outscored the Irish 120-27 in the last three. Considering USC dominated Notre Dame 38-0 last season, a three-point differential hardly seems like measurable improvement. Weis, however, saw at least one positive.

''One of the big aspects of today was whether we were going to play with passion and emotion,'' Weis said. ''They made a lot more plays than we did, but from the beginning of the game to the end of the game, we played with passion and emotion.''

Swarbrick's decision would be easier to make if the Irish showed clear improvement in the wake of last year's 3-9 season. While Weis' team did double its win total from last year, it did so against the weakest schedule in memory.

Navy (7-4) was the only team Notre Dame beat that will end the season with a winning record. Instead of getting better as the season progressed, the Irish got worse, losing five of their last seven.

The offensive line, under the guidance of coach John Latina, continues to be Notre Dame's most glaring weakness. The unit allowed 20 sacks after surrendering an NCAA-record 58 last season, but the running game finished the season ranked 98th out of 119 major-college teams.

The Trojans were the latest team to expose Notre Dame's vulnerability up front. They controlled the Irish running game with their front seven to the tune of 50 yards on 27 carries. The front four pressured quarterback Jimmy Clausen throughout the game, sacking him four times and making blitzing largely unnecessary. The strategy allowed USC to keep four players in the secondary, which meant Irish receivers were blanketed even on rare occasions when Clausen had time.

Bolstering the offensive line is the key to rebuilding the team. If the line improves at its current rate, problems up front will plague the team again next season.

Weis was billed as a quarterback guru when he came to South Bend after tutoring the Patriots' Tom Brady. His reputation grew as Brady Quinn developed into the most prolific passer in Notre Dame history and a first-round draft pick under his tutelage.

For those reasons, Weis and Clausen will be forever linked. But Clausen's decline in the second half mirrored his team's. In the first six games, the sophomore completed 62 percent of his passes for an average of 272 yards per game with 14 touchdowns and eight interceptions. In the final six games, Clausen completed 57 percent for 190 yards per game with six touchdowns and nine interceptions.

Weis spent much time during preseason practices making sure his team played with confidence and emotion but got little return on that investment, especially late in the season, which raises questions about his ability to connect emotionally with this team.

The defense played with more emotion and passion, which is likely attributable to the passion of coordinator Corwin Brown. Offensive players rely more on Weis for motivation and often played like zombies.

STATS THE STORY

Where the 2008 Irish rank in key categories among 119 major-college teams:

Rushing offense: 113.4, 98th nationally

Passing offense 231.4, 46th nationally

Total offense 344.8, 74th nationally

Scoring offense 22.7, 85th nationally

Rushing defense 142.7, 62th nationally

Pass defense 184.8, 30th nationally

Pass-efficiency defense 105.8, 17th nationally

Total defense 327.5, 39th nationally

Scoring defense 22.3, 42th nationally

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