And, scene

Michigan State 31, Notre Dame 14 with 2:45 left in the third quarter. The Spartans just scored the killer TD on a 4th-and-2 play from the 30 that started with a fumbled snap and ended with a wide-open receiver running into the end zone after a perfect pass. Ugh. As noted on ND Nation, "0-8 is lookin more likely," if not "damn near inevitable."

P.S. Of course, Notre Dame has rallied from 17-point fourth-quarter deficits against the Spartans before. But somehow I don't think it's going to happen again, unless Brady Quinn flies in from Cleveland and suits up. And perhaps brings the Browns' offensive line with him.

UPDATE: Michigan State 31, Notre Dame 14, final.

The Irish are 0-4 for the first time ever, and F***in' Sparty has won six straight games at Notre Dame Stadium. (The first time any visiting team has just done that.) They've also lost six straight games by 17+ points.

ND looked inconsistent, but with flashes of brilliance competence, in the first half. The second half was horrible. Overall, though, I think Four Leaf Domer put it best: "[T]his was actually a major step forward today. We went from total ineptitude to just sucking."

That said, I don't agree with him that "it took us a long time to get this bad." It seemed to happen pretty much overnight. Last season, good. This season, godawful. I've yet to see any successful attempt to adequately explain it.

Here's a debate on whether Irish fans should be jumping off the Weis bandwagon at this point.

Speaking of which, did the NBC sideline reporter just call Weis "Ty"?

UPDATE 2: Also on ND Nation, mkovac asks, "How much of this 0-4 season is on Charlie?" and says, "in my mind, he's lost me, just like Willingham lost me when SC beat ND so badly in the Coliseum in 2002, followed by a bowl loss and a 38-0 drubbing at the hands of Michigan in Ann Arbor." He proceeds to lambaste the Irish for "incompetent play" and then wonder aloud if Notre Dame has "so successfully downgraded its program" that it "has turned itself into an Ivy League team."

Comments

[Mad Max, Esquire]

Does anyone else think Charlie Weis sounds like Hank Hill?

[Mad Max, Esquire]

Well, Notre Dame didn't suck-fest it like they did against Michigan. Unlike previous games, ND didn't lose because of blown plays, bizarre turnovers, etc. They just weren't real effective moving the ball and the defense continues to be a mess.

The best news is Charlie Weis is the ONLY Notre Dame coach to go 0-4. Somewhere Ty Willingham is smiling.

[Trisha]

"Somewhere Ty Willingham is smiling."

That gave me a great laugh. Thanks for that :) This is about the time everyone jumped off the Willingham bandwagon, too, I think. Notre Dame fans are only happy if their team is winning. I wonder, do they expect their coaches to never lose? After Coach left, I don't remember a time when ND's football coaching woes weren't plastered all over the news. Maybe that's why I hate them so much...but I digress.

I heart Sparty ;)

[I R A Darth Aggie]

THIS...IS...SPARTA!

[Mad Max, Esquire]

I think it is safe to assume Charlie spent his summer reading press clippings about himself and suing doctors who saved his life instead of prepping his team to play. I feel bad for the student-athletes who are playing for a guy who road this far on the coat-tails of others (Belicheck, Willingham) only to have his lack of talent rear its ugly head after they signed on to play for ND.

The Patriots are on their way to a SuperBowl run while Notre Dame is on its way to its worst season EVER. That should tell you how much Weis contributed to the success of the Patriots.

[kcatnd]

I still can't ignore what Weis was able to do his first two years at Notre Dame. He got a very mediocre team to overachieve tremendously. I don't see the point in continuing to bring up Ty...now is now. It's not like Ty has been revealed to be a brilliant coach. I think people put too much blame on coaches for everything. Weis proved he could do some good things at ND the last two seasons, including awesome recruiting that has yet to fully impact the program. It's still way too early to say everything is his fault. I'm sure he could be successful at USC, LSU, Oklahoma, or Florida. And I doubt Pete Carroll or Urban Meyer could have done that much better in the same circumstances.

Trisha, "Notre Dame fans are only happy if their team is winning" - well, YEAH. Notre Dame and every single team in college football.

[David K.]

He got a very mediocre team to overachieve tremendously

Have you considered that maybe the team was better than you give them credit for?

[thebeef]

David,

Yes, I considered that. Then I discarded it in the trash-bin of retarded thoughts.

[kcatnd]

Have you considered that maybe the team was better than you give them credit for?

And admit that Charlie Weis is overrated as a coach, deified by ND fans for no good reason, and overpaid??? NEVER!

[JC]

Perhaps ND shouldn't have given Weiss a 5 year contract so soon...

[Sandy Underpants]

...Or a 10 year one.