Weis' fate sealed, Irish and Kelly make sense

As it has for many Saturdays these last few weeks, the morning-after fallout started in South Bend and radiated outward.

Florida? Oklahoma? Cincinnati? Really, none of us can move on until Notre Dame makes "The Move." You can only hope that Charlie Weis doesn't hang in the public square for too long. The man is owed that much after the finality of the Connecticut loss hit home. AD Jack Swarbrick acted quickly last season, making a decision to retain Weis a few days after the regular season.

Charlie Weis likely will get his walking papers at the end of the regular season. (Getty Images)

The immediate impact of Weis' eventual firing after Saturday's loss to Connecticut -- let's not kid ourselves -- is that it might cause some very public and very emphatic denials from Bob Stoops and Urban Meyer. In the short term, that is certainly where this is headed no matter how long Weis hangs on.

I wrote a couple of weeks ago that if it was going to make a move, ND had to go after Cincinnati's Brian Kelly immediately. Nothing has changed. Stoops and Meyer are still not interested but Notre Dame will try, perhaps because of hubris, perhaps out of desperation.

The result is predictable. Those coaches, then, will have to utter the words, "I'm not interested," to a group of reporters and boosters to keep recruiting momentum going.

They will be grandiose announcements, playing to those recruits. Still, Notre Dame will make the coaches responsible for three national championships this decade say no.

Here's why they will:

•  Meyer is perfectly happy in Gainesville. One school of thought holds that the Florida coach might be looking for a new challenge in chasing his "dream job."

That's not to over-think the issue. Meyer is at the top of his game, able to chase SEC titles, if not national championships, each year. He is well-paid and well-liked.

There would be some rebuilding to do at Notre Dame. Probably a lot of rebuilding. And not just athletically. What kind of contract does ND offer after being duped into Weis' outrageous extension? Who deserves the blame for getting Notre Dame into that position after only seven games in 2005? Who will make the ultimate call this time?

Like Florida, ND chases BCS bowls, national championships. Unlike Florida, it is miles away from chasing either.

Who in Florida needs the aggravation at Notre Dame, especially Shelley Meyer, the coach's coach, who by all accounts loves being a Gator?

•  Stoops is equally as happy in Norman. He is tremendously frustrated with this season, though. The coach lost a couple of more players to injuries during Oklahoma's 41-13 loss at Texas Tech. The entire season has been one big blood-letting assuring Stoops of his worst season, at least, since 1999 when he arrived at OU.

That's not to say he can't get it back quickly. Texas isn't going to rule the Big 12 forever. All you need to do is duck in on Stoops' weekly press conferences to know why he is staying. The coach gets annoyed at probing questions from the relatively small Oklahoma media contingent when his team is 11-1. It's hard imagining Stoops taking questions each week from the Chicago and national media while trying to rebuild Notre Dame.

Things could change if Oklahoma AD Joe Castiglione were to go to Michigan. That's pure speculation with Bill Martin leaving in June, but Castiglione is the athletic administrative equivalent of Stoops and Meyers. A superstar. If he left for Ann Arbor, it would be a game changer, perhaps for Stoops too.

After the top two say no, it is assumed that Kelly will say yes. But there is a sticky issue here. If Cincinnati wins the Big East and goes undefeated, it will not only play in a second consecutive BCS bowl, the Bearcats may be playing for a national championship.

Would Notre Dame be willing to wait through, perhaps, the first week of January to get its man? It made that concession when Weis was in the playoffs with the Patriots. The first recruiting class, although solid, was a rush job.

Obviously, recruiting is a key issue with quarterback Jimmy Clausen and receiver Golden Tate likely to leave.

Now, for other Saturday coaching triumphs and turkeys. Some millionaires in hats, hoodies and Hagar slacks distinguished themselves. Others didn't:

•  Sometimes the Lord works in strange ways. The script says that UConn should have won its next game after the murder of Jasper Howard on Oct. 28. Instead, the Huskies grieved while they lost, three in a row going into Saturday at Notre Dame.

In the shadow of Touchdown Jesus, at the heart of Western Civilization Christianity, UConn won, that same Lord had mercy.

UConn is a 7-year-old Division I-A program. Notre Dame defines the sport. If Weis' failings were the top story, Randy Edsall and his wounded Huskies were close behind after a 33-30 overtime victory.

"The way we did it," Edsall said, "was very inspiring."

Kashif Moore had called Howard's mother before each game since her son's murder. Moore held Howard in his arms the night he was dying Oct. 18. Then, he caught a touchdown pass in overtime to help UConn get over its grief maybe just a little.

"I feels like a dream," Moore said.

•  First it was Bill Belichick with the fourth-down brain fart heard 'round the world (sorry for that visual). Then it was Les Miles with late clock mismanagement against Ole Miss on Saturday.

With 64 seconds left trailing by two on Ole Miss' 32 with two timeouts in hand, somehow Miles and his quarterback were able to squander the game.

The key play was inconsistent Jordan Jefferson taking a sack for a 9-yard loss. That absolutely cannot happen with time running. You knew that. Jefferson didn't.

The scene at the end of the game was jaw-dropping. The offense was on the field at the Ole Miss 5. Jefferson was trying to spike the ball with one second left. Memo to JJ: No matter what, the clock is going to tick off at least one second whenever you spike the ball.

Result: The clock actually ran out before Jefferson was able to spike it. Game over with the Tigers leaving the field dazed and confused.

"I felt like the quarterback could manage the situation," Miles said, "and that was my mistake."

Miles has had his share of miracle finishes at LSU. Maybe the averages are evening out because this one was absolutely botched. The Baton Rouge Advocate headline said it all: "Bad Timing."

•  The result might have a strange effect on the turmoil in Ann Arbor. If certain LSU factions are upset at Miles, and they are, there is any easy out for both parties.

Michigan.

We know now that Rich Rodriguez will get at least one more year in Ann Arbor. It will be next to impossible, though, for Rich Rod to recruit. Kids aren't stupid. They will know Rodriguez is on a short leash.

If things deteriorate enough in Baton Rouge, and even if they don't, don't forget that Miles is a Michigan man.

•  At various times during the season Kansas State and Bill Snyder were an inspirational story. Somehow the 70-year-old Snyder got the Wildcats to a Saturday showdown at Nebraska for the Big 12 North title.

K-State lost 17-3, which was a noble if not satisfying conclusion to the season. What has to hurt is a 6-6 record that isn't good enough for the Wildcats to go bowling.

Someone deserves blame for scheduling two Division I-AA teams (Massachusetts and Tennessee Tech). That meant K-State had to win seven games to become bowl eligible. The NCAA allows programs to claim only one I-AA victory to count toward bowl eligibility.

K-State had a long-standing reputation during Snyder's first run of scheduling cupcakes. Three times from 1989-2005 scheduled two I-AAs in a season. In two of those three seasons, K-State went to a bowl.

A program this fragile deserves better planning from its administration. Wasn't there a MAC or Sun Belt punching bag the 'Cats could have gotten to come to Manhattan?

For a lot of reasons, K-State deserved to go to a bowl this season. For scheduling reasons, it won't.

•  Remember how a lot of us thought Notre Dame was a can't-miss BCS team because of the "soft" schedule. The enduring image of the Irish season might be Notre Dame's crowd going nuts over a missed field goal by Connecticut at the end of regulation to keep the game tied.

Godspeed, Charlie.