ESPN College Football

Three wins in a row and Notre Dame is on the rise, slowly justifying its lofty preseason expectations. Keep it up, and the Fighting Irish may just have some individual hardware coming their way at season's end.

Michael Floyd: Following his worst statistical output since his freshman season, Floyd responded with a bang, hauling in 12 receptions for 137 yards. He scored on a 35-yard touchdown pass on the Irish's second play from scrimmage, surpassing his yardage total from a week earlier at Pitt. He eclipsed the 100-yard mark in the first half alone at Purdue, and his 16 career 100-yard games are now the most in school history. (He was tied with Golden Tate entering the game.) Floyd's 47 catches are good for third in the nation, and his 561 receiving yards rank eighth.

It will take a big turnaround for Notre Dame to be in position to boast any Heisman hopefuls. If the Fighting Irish do get going, they will at least have some star power that grabs the nation's attention.

Michael Floyd: The question now is just how far can he outdistance himself from every receiver in Notre Dame history. Most career catches? Check. Most career receiving yards? Check. His 15th 100-yard receiving game tied Golden Tate for most in Irish history, and his 25 catches through two games are tied for most in the nation. His 313 receiving yards this season are the third-most in the country.

Cierre Wood: Consecutive 100-yard games have him 18th in the nation in rushing yards. The 100-yard performances must continue -- and the fumbling must not -- for him to gain national attention if Notre Dame can put together a respectable season after a disappointing 0-2 start.

Michigan defensive end Ryan Van Bergen enjoyed the Denard Robinson Show as much as anyone.

Watching Robinson and the Wolverines offense go up and down the field last week against Connecticut also served as motivation for Van Bergen and the defense.

"Definitely feel like we're strides behind the offense in getting everything down," Van Bergen told ESPN.com this week. "We had some glimpses Saturday, and I think we'll be able to seal some things up and hopefully keep improving.

"We'll get to that level eventually."

Led by Robinson's record-setting performance, the Michigan offense overshadowed a pretty solid defensive effort against Connecticut.

The Wolverines allowed only one touchdown and held UConn scoreless in the second half. Take away a juggling 47-yard reception by Michael Smith, and Connecticut had only 296 yards in the game.

To be fair, the Huskies missed several opportunities to attack Michigan's young secondary, particularly in the first half. Connecticut had its moments, but so did Michigan's defense, none bigger than J.T. Floyd's forced fumble and Obi Ezeh's recovery near the Wolverines' goal line late in the third quarter.

"We're certainly still a work in progress, but I was really pleased to be able to limit UConn to 10 points," coach Rich Rodriguez said. "We played pretty well assignment-wise, we tackled pretty solidly. We gave up a couple big plays, but we also made a couple big plays defensively."

And the defense could have made more.

"We had two interceptions hit guys right in the hands," Van Bergen said. "There were some plays Saturday that if we sealed up, our numbers on defense would have spoken even bigger."

The challenge for Michigan's defense should get tougher Saturday at Notre Dame (NBC, 3:30 p.m. ET). Although Michigan beat the Irish last year 38-34, the defense had little to do with it.

Jimmy Clausen, Golden Tate, Michael Floyd and Armando Allen pretty much had their way with Michigan, piling up 490 yards and 27 first downs.

Clausen and Tate are gone to the NFL, but Floyd and Allen are back, along with tight end Kyle Rudolph, one of the frontrunners for the Mackey Award. They're operating in a new spread offense under first-year coach Brian Kelly, and a new quarterback, Dayne Crist, will be calling the signals.

"I would call this team significantly different," Van Bergen said. "Notre Dame did a lot more drop-back, seven-man protection for Clausen with two guys in routes. This is a bit more of a spread attack, using more receivers.

"They have a developed quick game, and it’s something we’ll have to prepare for."

Both Van Bergen and Rodriguez identified tackling as an area Michigan must improve after Week 1. With so many young players, especially in the secondary, Michigan allowed "some leaky yardage," Van Bergen said.

That can't happen against Notre Dame, which operates at a rapid pace and makes it tough to reach Crist.

"They like to up-tempo you," Rodriguez said. "They’re going to put it out in space, whether it's to their tight end or their backs or their receivers, and we've got to get them on the ground quickly. Because if not, they'll go up and down the field on you.

"We had a hard time stopping them last year, and even though it's a different scheme, this scheme may be even more difficult to stop."

One way to do it is control the line of scrimmage. Michigan failed to record a sack last week, but end-linebacker Craig Roh and others applied pressure to quarterback Zach Frazer.

Notre Dame's offensive line is supposedly better, but Michigan boasts more experience up front with Van Bergen, Mike Martin and others.

"Having our experience won't hurt us," Van Bergen said, "and their youth, they might be more inclined to get frustrated if things start not going their way. It'll be interesting to see how that develops."

Notre Dame wide receiver Golden Tate won the Biletnikoff Award as the nation’s top wide receiver.

Tate was the pick over Jordan Shipley of Texas and Freddie Barnes of Toledo for the award.

Tate is the first Notre Dame receiver to win the award.

No wonder Notre Dame turned down the option of going to a bowl with its 6-6 record. The Fighting Irish had already experienced enough drama to fill multiple seasons.

It was a year unlike any other in South Bend. There were 10 games decided by a touchdown or less, most of them coming down to the final minute and two of them going into overtime. The Irish won three of the first four of those nail-biters, but then the luck turned against them.

Jimmy Clausen finally lived up to his promise as the former No. 1 national recruit by having one of the finest seasons ever by a Notre Dame quarterback. Golden Tate broke every major single-season receiving record, and Michael Floyd and Kyle Rudolph had star-turning moments in between injuries. The offensive line turned a corner and became a credible unit.

But the offense stalled too often in the red zone, and it could never score enough points to mask the defensive deficiencies. Defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta installed his patented blitz-heavy scheme, but the Irish couldn't tackle, get consistent pressure on the quarterback or cover receivers with any skill.

That's why they lost their last four games, and it's why Charlie Weis was fired after a third straight regular season without a postseason. It's time for a new drama to unfold under the Golden Dome.

Offensive MVP(s): Tate and Clausen. It's impossible to separate the two, who each had perhaps the best season in school history at his respective position. Clausen threw 28 touchdowns and only four interceptions, while Tate had more than 1,650 yards from scrimmage and 19 total scores. Each made the other look good, too.

Defensive MVP: Kyle McCarthy. The senior safety was one of the few players who had a good year on the defensive side of the ball. He was the heart and soul of the defense and made several key plays, including a game-saving interception against Michigan State, one of his five picks on the year. That a safety led the team in tackles probably says a lot about the defense, however.

Turning point: The Navy loss. Notre Dame was 6-2 and still had hopes of a BCS bid when it inexplicably got beat at home by Navy for the second time in three years. That pretty much sealed Weis's fate, and the team never won another game.

What's next: A new coach -- probably Cincinnati's Brian Kelly -- will try to come in and wake up the echoes that have mostly been quiet since the Lou Holtz days. Losing Clausen and Tate is a big blow, but there are still enough playmakers to cobble together a decent offense. The key will be somehow strengthening that porous defense, or else it's likely going to be another struggle in 2010.

The decision by quarterback Jimmy Clausen and receiver Golden Tate to leave Notre Dame and enter the NFL draft was no surprise to anyone. But it illustrates that the next coach in South Bend -- whether that's Brian Kelly, Jim Harbaugh, Randy Edsall or whoever else -- has some challenges awaiting beyond fixing the defense.

Replacing Clausen is going to be the taller order. Clausen not only was a three-year starter with an intricate grasp of the offense, but there's no healthy successor ready behind him. Freshman Dayne Crist got some valuable playing time earlier in the year when Clausen was struggling with a turf toe injury, but Crist tore his ACL in midseason and may not be ready to participate fully in spring practice. Notre Dame has no other scholarship quarterbacks on the roster.

Clausen said he texted Crist on Monday morning before he made the announcement.

"Dayne's ready," Clausen said. "I told him it's his team now. He's got to take the bull by the horns, and he'll do a great job. I just told him to get healthy as fast as he can."

Getting Crist back for some work in the spring will be crucial, especially if the next coach implements a new offensive system.

Tate was the Irish's top playmaker this year and was so valuable in so many ways. He had 18 total touchdowns and always put the defense on its heels.

But losing Tate, while costly, won't be as damaging as it may seem. That's because Notre Dame still has junior-to-be Michael Floyd, who's a No. 1 receiver in his own right. In fact, he was more productive than Tate before his collarbone injury against Michigan State. Floyd just has to stay healthy for the whole season, something he hasn't done in his first two years.

The Irish also have Kyle Rudolph, one of the best pass-catching tight ends in America. And youngsters John Goodman and Shaq Evans showed promise in short stints this season. If you give a coach like Kelly weapons such as Floyd, Rudolph and some promising youngsters, that's plenty to make a passing game go. And Notre Dame returns its top three running backs.

The key will be getting Crist ready as soon as possible. The next coach will have some work to do.

It was an odd sight at the farewell news conference for Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen and receiver Golden Tate. Ex-coach Charlie Weis sat in between his two former offensive stars but wouldn't take any questions, instead just sitting there and smiling, with an occasional chuckle when something funny was said.

The players asked Weis to be there and they took his counsel as they pondered whether to skip their senior seasons and enter the NFL draft. In the end, though, it really wasn't about Weis or whoever the next Irish coach would be. Both guys would have turned pro anyway, and they each made the right decision.

Both players were asked if they felt they could have accomplished more as collegians. And, yes, both leave without Notre Dame having recorded a winning regular season during their three years in South Bend. But it's too much to pin blame for those struggles on their shoulders.

As Clausen said, "It's time for us to move on." Tate echoed that, saying, "With the year I had this year, it was kind of hard to stay. I don't think I can do much better."

Both players enter the draft at the peak of their value, and staying an extra year would likely only allow scouts to pick out flaws in their games, particularly if each were forced to adjust to a new system.

Clausen could be the first or second quarterback drafted and will be the most ready of any prospect, having started three years in Weis' NFL-style offense. He had a phenomenal year any way you slice it, completing 68 percent of his passes for 3,722 yards, with 28 touchdowns and only four interceptions. Clausen set a school record by passing for at least 300 yards in seven games and led four fourth-quarter comebacks for victories.

Tate said Weis told him before the season he should only leave if he had a 1,700-yard, 15-touchdown kind of season. Well, he got darn close to that. Tate set Notre Dame records with 93 catches for 1,496 yards and 15 receiving touchdowns. He also had two rushing touchdowns, a punt return for a score and 1,915 all-purpose yards.

Though only 5-foot-11, Tate has explosive speed, terrific hands and shows his old running back skills once he catches the ball by breaking tackles and bulldozing through defenders.

Weis didn't speak to the media -- and after his weekend comments on Pete Carroll, maybe it's best he sit that out for a while -- but he did issue a statement on his two players.

"They made big play after big play week after week this fall, and there's no question they are two of the best players in the nation at their respective positions," the statement read. "Maybe the best part is that the arrow is pointing up for both of them, and there's still an upside to both of their games."

It's the right time to take that upside to the NFL.

Both the Chicago Tribune and AOL Fanhouse are reporting that Notre Dame is likely to turn down a bowl invitation this weekend. The team is expected to meet with athletic director Jack Swarbrick on Friday to make a final decision.

But the reasons against going to a bowl are overwhelming. For one, the Irish don't have a head coach. Even if a new coach is named by Monday, he would only have about three weeks to install his system and get ready for the Little Caesars Bowl, one of Notre Dame's possible destinations. There would be more time if the Irish were invited to the Jan. 6 GMAC Bowl.

Neither possibility, however, offers much prestige or money. Proud Notre Dame fans would feel embarrassed to see their team playing in Detroit or Mobile, Ala., and each bowl game has a payout of $750,000. By the time you subtract expenses, the school would likely break even or lose money on the proposition.

While some players, especially the seniors, undoubtedly would like to put the gold helmets on one more time, do you really think Jimmy Clausen or Golden Tate want to risk injury and their NFL futures in the Little Caesars Bowl? And what does Notre Dame have to gain by beating a MAC team to finish 7-6? It has far more to lose by losing to a MAC team and finishing 6-7.

The program would be better served by having its new coaching staff focus solely on recruiting and preparing for the spring. If Notre Dame really wanted to go bowling this year, well, it should have won more games.

What's most amazing about how spectacular Charlie Weis failed in 2009 is how much the season was set up for him to succeed.

The Notre Dame schedule wasn't the cream-puff lineup as some people described it, but by Irish standards it was very manageable. Only three teams on the entire slate -- Pitt, USC, and Stanford -- are ranked in the Top 25, and none of them are among the nation's top 14. Stanford wouldn't be ranked if Notre Dame had won Saturday's game, while USC came to South Bend with its most vulnerable team in several years.

All Weis really had to do to keep his job was to beat Navy and Connecticut at home and a Michigan team that finished 5-7. That would have made the Irish 9-3 and given the coach a strong argument to return for a sixth year. Yet he couldn't do that or avoid a disastrous four-game losing streak to end the season despite having one of the best quarterbacks in school history (Jimmy Clausen) and the finest receiving season ever by a Domer (Golden Tate).

Notre Dame's best wins this season were against 8-4 Boston College, 6-6 Michigan State and 4-7 Washington. Not exactly the kind of victories you include in a great moments in history section of the media guide.

Because of all that, as athletic director Jack Swarbrick said Monday night, "you couldn't know with significant certainty that next year's results would be better."

Here's what I think is certain: if Swarbrick hires the right caliber of coach, he'll produce much better results than Weis.

Notre Dame is not the super power it once was, but it's hard to go 3-9, 6-6 and 6-6 in three straight regular seasons in South Bend, as Weis did. Sure, the Irish will lose Clausen and probably Tate, much of their offensive line and several defensive starters. But the cupboard is far from bare.

Dayne Crist, who should return from an ACL injury by the spring, was a highly-rated quarterback recruit who got some valuable experience this year. Star receiver Michael Floyd returns, along with promising youngsters John Goodman and Shaq Evans. Tight end Kyle Rudolph is back, as well as running backs Armando Allen, Robert Hughes and Theo Riddick.

Defensively, the Irish can build around guys like Darius Fleming, Steve Filer, Kapron Lewis-Moore, and future superstar Manti Te'o, assuming Te'o does not go on his Mormon mission after this season. Yes, the defense needs serious improvement, especially in its tackling, but that's what good coaches do.

Weis got this team close this year but couldn't get over the hump. Ten of Notre Dame's games were decided by a touchdown or less.

Next year, the Irish have Army, Tulsa, Navy and Western Michigan on the schedule and get Purdue and Michigan at home. Those are six winnable games right there.

Weis's failure was in not winning the games he should have won and never winning the games he wasn't expected to win. That's not a very high standard for the next guy to achieve.

What we learned from Notre Dame's 45-38 loss to Stanford on Saturday:

1. Charlie Weis did not end his tenure in style: Remember after the Navy loss, when Weis stressed that the following week would be all about accountability? Apparently the head coach doesn't need to be accountable after the team's fourth straight loss. Weis declined all on-field interviews with ABC during the game and then didn't bother to show up to his own postgame news conference. No matter. His team's performance did all the talking for him.

2. Greatness, wasted: Weis has said he thinks quarterback Jimmy Clausen is the best player in school history, and Clausen capped a tremendous statistical season with five touchdown passes on Saturday. Receiver Golden Tate wrapped up the best season by a wideout in Irish history with 10 catches for 201 yards and three touchdowns. There may not be a quarterback-receiver combo as good as those two in South Bend in a long, long time. And now both are almost certainly headed to the NFL as juniors, leaving school without having ever been on a team that finished the regular season with a winning record.

3. The postseason, if there is one, will be dreadful: At 6-6, Notre Dame will have to scrounge around for an opening somewhere after every 7-5 team in the land is placed in a bowl game. They could wind up playing in the Little Caesar's Bowl in Detroit or some other low-level game that's almost embarrassing to the school's tradition. With all the turmoil surrounding Weis and Clausen in the last week and the need to focus on the coaching transition, accepting a bowl bid might not even be worth it for the Irish.

Toby Gerhart: Strike a pose?

In perhaps the most impressive Heisman Trophy statement of the season, Toby Gerhart rushed for 205 yards on 29 caries, scoring three rushing touchdowns and passing 18 yards for another in Stanford's thrilling 45-38 comeback win over Notre Dame.

Gerhart -- oh, he also caught a pass for 33 yards -- was simply a beast, repeatedly punishing the Notre Dame defense. He never went down on first contact, and it's certain that more than a handful of Fighting Irish defenders are going to be worse for wear Sunday morning.


This was Notre Dame's fourth consecutive defeat, so the program already was hurting. The Irish finish the season 6-6, with all six loses coming by seven or fewer points. Coach Charlie Weis is almost certainly going to be looking for work this winter.

But this one was about Gerhart and Stanford, which finishes the season 8-4 and will be heading to its first bowl game since 2001. The Cardinal, by the way, went 1-11 in 2006, the season before coach Jim Harbaugh arrived.

Notre Dame took a 14-10 lead in the first quarter and didn't trail until Gerhart's final TD run with a minute left -- a run in which the Irish appeared to let him score in order to get the ball back.

The Irish drove to the Stanford 24, but couldn't punch in a tying TD.

For much of the game, the offenses dominated the opposing defenses. Notre Dame countered Gerhart with Jimmy Clausen and Golden Tate, a pass-catch combination that had the Cardinal secondary on its heels. Clausen completed 23 of 30 passes for 340 yards with five touchdowns and no interceptions. Tate hauled in 10 passes for 201 yards and three touchdowns.

But the Cardinal defense got the game's critical stop with six minutes left. On a third-and-2 from the Irish 35, running back Robert Hughes was stopped for no gain.

Stanford took over. Or Gerhart took over. He rushed seven times for 54 yards on the 10-play, 72-yard game-winning drive, treating the Irish defenders like they were pinball bumpers.

At this point, it's impossible to imagine that Gerhart won't be invited to New York for the Heisman Trophy ceremony. This performance, however, may have made this a two-man contest with Texas quarterback Colt McCoy, though a couple of fellows playing in the SEC championship game on Dec. 5 might make their own counter-statement.

Gerhart has rushed for 1,736 yards this season -- 144.67 yards per game. His 26 rushing touchdowns lead the nation and are a new Pac-10 record.

Moreover, in an age when speed kills, Gerhart reminds us that sometimes power ain't much fun to stop either. Not that Gerhart is slow. He hates it when folks doubt his speed, and we don't want to get on his bad side.

He's a hard man. Some defenders might swear he's made of bronze.

The offenses are in control as Notre Dame leads Stanford 24-20 at halftime.

The big names -- Andrew Luck, Toby Gerhart, Golden Tate, Jimmy Clausen -- have all made their plays, as expected.

The biggest surprise might be this: Stanford owns the rushing advantage by only 1 yard -- 81-80.

Gerhart scored his 24th touchdown on the season -- which ties the Pac-10 record -- and has 73 yards on 14 carries.

Clausen is 11-of-16 for 151 yards, with most of the damage going to Tate, who has six receptions for 108 yards with two touchdowns.

Tate and Michael Floyd are giving Stanford's struggling pass defense more trouble than Gerhart is giving the struggling Notre Dame run defense.

The theory is that Gerhart starts to wear a defense down. We'll see.

Just about every game Notre Dame has played this season has been decided in the waning moments.

This one might, too.

For a change, Notre Dame actually grabbed a double-digit first-half lead.

But the Irish, who have been playing from behind much of the season, couldn't hold onto that 24-13 advantage before halftime. Stanford marched down for a score just before the first-half gun to make it 24-20 and set us up for what will probably be another thriller.

Notre Dame's defense has actually played pretty well. Between the early fumble by Theo Riddick and the last drive by the Cardinal, the Irish had several good defensive series and held Toby Gerhart in check. But you wonder how long it will keep up.

The Irish have a good chance to stay in this thing because of their passing game, though. Jimmy Clausen has three touchdown passes, the last one a 78-yard beauty of a bomb to Golden Tate. Stanford's defensive backs don't look like they're good enough to stop the superior Irish receivers.

Can Notre Dame get a win for Charlie Weis in perhaps his last game as coach?

There were plenty of reasons for Notre Dame's minds to wander this week, from the Charlie Weis coaching turmoil to Jimmy Clausen's shiner on his right eye.

But so far, none of that seems to matter. The Irish have a 14-10 lead after a quarter at Stanford. Weis expressed confidence earlier in the week about the game plan for the Cardinal, and his defense has played pretty well early on.

A costly early fumble by Theo Riddick -- subbing at tailback for the injured Armando Allen -- led to a Stanford touchdown. But Notre Dame got one back on a fumbled punt return and turned that into a score. Golden Tate and Michael Floyd have already made some terrific catches -- particularly Floyd's touchdown grab. And Weis brought out a trick play with a fake quarterback sneak/swing pass that went for a big gain.

We pretty much know how this is going to go: down to the wire like every other Notre Dame game. The first quarter told us that the Irish aren't going away without a fight.

Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh was greeted this week with questions about his coaching philosophy, the architectural plan he used to reconstruct the Cardinal football program and a couple of Rorschach ink blots intended to evoke the deep Harbaughian essence.

"That's one of those deep, probing questions," he responded to an inquiry about his coaching influences. "I'm just a coach trying to win a game."

It's not surprising reporters tried to tap into the Mind of Harbaugh this week. His Cardinal are playing host to Notre Dame on Saturday, and you may have heard that lots of intrigue surround the Fighting Irish and coach Charlie Weis at present.

As in: Most believe Notre Dame will be shortly looking for a new coach.

Some feel that Harbaugh might be a candidate, though Harbaugh has pooh-poohed such talk as only he can, telling the San Jose Mercury News this week, "I love Stanford, I'm only talking Stanford, and I will be at Stanford. God willing."

It's also not the best moment for Harbaugh during this mostly charmed season. A week ago, Stanford was the nation's hottest team after dispatching Oregon and USC on consecutive weekends. Then it lost the Big Game to resurgent California, taking a thorough statistical beating even though it only lost 34-28.

That dispiriting loss, which knocked the Cardinal out of the national polls and down a notch in the Pac-10 standings, did allow Harbaugh to share with reporters a behind-the-scenes look at his life.

He told of getting into his car with his family after the defeat and his son turning to his young daughter and saying, "Grace, you're only as good as your last game."

Ah, the life of a college football coach. They love you one week. Not so much the next.

But Harbaugh and his Cardinal can bounce back Saturday against the sagging Irish, who are riding a three-game losing streak that likely cut the thin rope tethering Weis to employment in South Bend.

Stanford (7-4, 6-3) is done with Pac-10 play. It will end up either second or third in the conference standings -- most likely in a tie for either spot. It already has qualified for its first bowl game since 2001. A win would just make it more appealing to bowl selectors as well as a national audience.

This one should feature some offense. Notre Dame has quarterback Jimmy Clausen and receiver Golden Tate, who may feast on a Cardinal secondary that ranks eighth in the Pac-10 in pass efficiency defense.

Stanford counters with Heisman Trophy candidate Toby Gerhart, who should secure at least an invitation to New York with an impressive performance. Gerhart leads the nation with 23 rushing touchdowns and is third in rushing with 139.18 yards per game.

Notre Dame ranks 80th in the nation against the run.

While Weis' goose is likely cooked, Harbaugh knows what he needs to do to restore the momentum of his rebuilding project.

"We know we've got to rise again, rise from that adversity," Harbaugh said. "This team has risen from adversity before."