My freshman year at ND I saw the 2005 "loss" to USC. Easily one of the worst/best days of my life. As much as I'd love to watch us beat USC when I'm in South Bend on Saturday, I just cannot see us beating a team this talented. I hope they prove me wrong.

I hate to say it but I fear the worst – to win we need our three second recievers to step up big as Golden and Rudolf can't get this one alone – if we can run the ball well and the D gets steady against the play-action we could see a nail biter once again – if we pull out the victory the sky is the limit for this team and teams to come – GO IRISH – ND'90

With Floyd, ND would maybe have an outside chance to keep it close. Without Floyd, and if ND's defense looks the same as it has looked the first 5 games, it'll be another long, embarrassing game. USC will just run through us like we don't exist to keep the frosh QB mistakes down, and USC's fast defense will simply frustrate ND as they have repeatedly done for the past few years. The talent gap is still too wide. Miracles can happen, so let's hope this is it.

2006 Penn State finished 24 in the AP.

"And David put his hand into the bag and took out a stone and slung it,and it struck the Philistine on the head.. and he fell to the ground." AMEN !!

GO IRISH !!!

Although biblical references are certainly appreciated, particularly here of all places,I feel we should be considered the Goliath, not USC. I think the parallel illustrates where we are not relative to our past, rather than the chance ND might win against USC. Either way, let's hope for some Papal intervention.

"Lose big and the Gruden, Saban, Meyer, Kelly talk heats up again". Is anyone actually talking about Saban or Meyer? If they are it's time to remove their head from their cornhole.

http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/the_sporting_blog/entry/view/38966/usc_doesnt_seem_worried_about_notre_dame

umm…wow…the trojans really seem stressed out to play the Irish…man..I hope someone on the Irish is seeing this….and it's pissing them off….

USC is so damn cocky…it's like they think they're gonna come in here and have their way with us…like an old dog…I'm tired of this crap….

WE NEED TO OPEN A CAN OF WOOP ASS ON THE TROJANS…

WHOS' WITH ME?

IRISH MIKE

I just don't buy all the Book of Revelations / Chicken Little panic that this game is the be-all and end-all for ND football. Yes, this is probably the only opportunity for ND to make a case as oneofthe elite teams this year, but a decent performance in a loss here, followed by winning out the rest of the year, or even finishing 9-3, and we're right where reasonable people said we need to be before the year started.

Look, I can't contain the excitement thinking about what a win would mean to our ranking, Jimmy's Heisman chances, and even an outside shot at a MNC, but a loss won't immediately mean the season is a failure or Charlie is done. The rest of the season will tell that story – a spiral like last year would, and should, mean the end for Charlie and backto the drawing board for the next few years. But a respectable effort against a superior program and 5-6 more wins would be right in the range of expectations for the year.

The offense is right where it needsto be, and the defense has the talent but is a year behind, thanks to what turned out to be a less than desired DC hire 5 years ago. The pipeline is full and the future is strong.

This game is the biggest in Charlie Weis career, i mean you talk about hulk hogan vs andre the giant, the fate of a entire nation (irish) against the distain of being a sub par team for the next decade hanging on just one game, if notre dame doesnt win this game we wont beat usc for another 4 years, and we wont beat a big team for god only knows how long, we have to win this game and prove not only to the nation but to ourselves that notre dame is for real, and that our biggest game wont be vs michigan state, weis's job notre dame future all hang on this game, we cant lose, if the people that are there on saturday cant shake the roof off that place, if we let old people who came to a football game for a nice quiet saturday afternoon run the crowd, then we need to get the **** out of college football, i dont care what usc has done or what players they have, in the end its 60 minutes of football between 22 players and in that 60 minutes anything can happen

WE ARE NOTRE DAME, WE DONT BACK DOWN FROM ANYONE

We dont back down, we never have and we never will

The actual number of recruits invited to the USC game is 20.
I was informed of this by a member of the coaching staff, while attending a meeting in the Gug, the weekend of the Washington game.

Did you talk to Lou? Idiots who state their internal feelings as facts should reexamine their existence. Most who in the know think Lou left because Monk wouldn't allow him to recruit the same kids he did before, took away his coaches tickets and started backing Davie.

Only Lou knows why Lou left, but fan expectations never seemed to be a motivator. The University neutering football and lowering expectations seem to be more realistic options given Lou's nature and what is known (as opposed to your internal feelings.)

I would argue that you're symptomatic of the low expectation "Monk" crowd that killed Notre Dame football and likely Lou.

Lou never shied away from Hi expectations and in fact, called himself out for it.

Evidence would suggest that you're the problem and you're trying to place blame on others.

The boys are ready and they 'believe'. We're going to win on Saturday and there are no if's or but's about it.

Go Irish!!!!

I'm weary of all the talk about prior years. They don't matter. Reggie Bush is gone. Matt Leinart is gone. Carson Palmer is gone. Mark Sanchez is gone. The only thing that matters is what happens now, this Saturday, in South Bend.

What Washington did to beat USC is far more relevant than what Oregon did. You'll remember that Washington beat them, right? This season, right?

I like Charlie's relaxed style this season. I believe he has come to terms with the reality of ND; you're only as good as last week, and then only if you win by 3touchdowns.

I think we get another close win here. I could be wrong. I do know that no one important to this team has been around for seven consecutive losses.

It's a new day.

Lose and recruits start to drop off?

Manti Teo visited for the Syracuse game.

Just to clarify, Weis doesn't pick when these guys take there official visits, the kids do. Most of them are on the quarter system in high school and have some break in school work in these next couple weeks. I'm sure Weis would prefer to have these guys spread out throughout the season so he could give each more individual attention. Anyway the game itself is almost irrelevant to the recruiting process. Floyd made his official for USC in '07 and committed that weekend. Te'o came for Syracuse last year. I hope we win. If Floyd was healthy we'd have a much better chance. The defense needs to make Barkley beat us with his arm. That means tackling Joe McKnight.

This weekend's game is a win-win.
Win and you win the recruiting battle. Lose and the Irish are one step closer to the press release announcing the next coach of Notre Dame, Brian Kelly, who would be a huge improvement over Weis.

Whatever happens today, Weis has had plenty of time and opportunity to prove that he's an elite, top-tier college head coach. Well, is he? You all know the answer.

mpsND'72

The excuses are going beyond absurd. I've seen Message Boards claiming Weis is 23-8 over 2.5 years, the poster obviously gets to pick the time span. The next favorite is that the defense is young. Will we every be old? Next year when our O-line graudates, will we still be young?

Charlie Weis is the guy at work who most people like, who works hard, but who just can't get it done. He has management buffaloed into thinking he can, so they continue to let him replace his subordinates. And just for good measures, he throws out the old "I got here at 4 am".