Irish face

plenty of work

for Penn State

By Ben Ford

Truth Staff

NOTRE DAME -- Things are going to change at Notre Dame this week, starting with the way coach Charlie Weis handles the quarterback situation.

Instead of going the top-secret route, as he did for Notre Dame's first game, a 33-3 home loss to Georgia Tech on Saturday, Weis plans to name the starter at his weekly press conference on Tuesday.

"I think the team needs a staple,'' Weis said in explaining that decision Sunday afternoon. "When you lose 33-3, right now we need to rally the troops, circle the wagons, all those phrases that you've used in different sports, well, it's time for us to do them. And I think it always starts with a foundation.''

Demetrius Jones, Weis said, was chosen specifically for the Georgia Tech game because of his running ability, but he couldn't move the Irish offense on Saturday despite the amount of time the team put into preparing for the game.

"We've been practicing this game plan for three weeks. How'd I do?'' Weis said ruefully. "That was supposed to at least get a chuckle out of you. But now you're into a week-by-week situation, so now all bets are off. Now everyone's fair game as far as what we're going to do.''

All three quarterbacks -- Jones, junior Evan Sharpley and freshman Jimmy Clausen -- are back in the running for the starting job for next Saturday's game at Penn State, Weis said.

It could be a tough decision.

Jones showed some mobility, but he also fumbled twice and was just 1-of-3 passing, though Weis said he has confidence in Jones' ability to throw the ball. Sharpley was better in the passing game, completing 10-of-13 passes for 92 yards, but fumbled and was sacked seven times by the swarming Yellow Jackets defense. Clausen was 4-of-6 passing and looked poised, but he didn't face the same kind of pressure the other two quarterbacks did.

Clausen, the freshmen, may have the most potential of the three, and is finally healthy enough to throw the ball consistently, Weis said. But his elbow didn't allow him to throw at the start of training camp, which created a gap between his development and the rest of the offense's.

"My dilemma was, going into the game with him and in competition with both Demetrius and Evan, is that I don't think you can prepare the team when you start training camp on Aug. 6 and the guy's peaking for Sept. 1,'' Weis said. "I said all along we'd have to wait until Sept. 1, and you can see that throwing the ball obviously isn't the issue for him. But on Aug. 6 it was an issue for him.''

A change in quarterback could mean a shift in offensive philosophy. Notre Dame essentially ran two offenses Saturday -- one for Jones, as a running quarterback, and one for Sharpley and Clausen. Weis said he'd never game-planned for a running quarterback before.

"We still have to do what the guy who's quarterbacking can do,'' Weis said. "Whether going back to the more conventional is the way to go, you still have to utilize the skills of the person you're using at quarterback. I still have to wait and see which direction we're going to go and then set it around that guy, because there's no sense trying to do something the guy's not capable of doing.''

None of the three quarterbacks is likely to be a quick fix for the Irish, who played their worst offensive game with Weis calling the plays. They managed just 122 yards of total offense, which ranked 110th of the 113 NCAA Bowl Subdivision teams that played through Saturday, rushed for minus-8 yards, which ranked dead last, and, in Weis' words, "hung the defense out to dry.''

The only positive Weis found -- and he admitted he was "reaching'' -- was that there were no dropped passes.

"Anytime we got something going, we spit the bit,'' Weis said, "and anytime you have a lack of consistency, there's two ways you have to look at it. You have to look at it that you don't have any opportunity to make any plays or you didn't tie enough good plays together. So from my viewpoint, our job is to figure out how to tie enough good plays together so that you're scoring points instead of not scoring points.''

Also on Weis' agenda for the week is improving communication among the team, from the players and coaches to themselves and from the coaches to the players. He said there were adjustments that were made that never reached the field on Saturday.

"Until they get it, there's a communication problem,'' Weis said. "We need to figure out a better way to get them to get it.''

It might seem like a disadvantage for Notre Dame to have only six days to correct its many problems before going into 107,282-seat Beaver Stadium at Penn State, but Weis said it might actually be a "blessing in disguise.''

"Now you don't have time to, 'Let's try this, let's try that, let's try this, let's try that,''' Weis said. "Now you get to, 'Here's what they do, here's what we're doing, let's go do it.'''

Contact Ben Ford at bford@etruth.com.