South Bend, Ind. – That sound you’re hearing, whistling through your trees? That’s really not the wind. That’s the Notre Dame fight song.
Your lawn hasn’t sprouted a new, stubborn weed. Those are four-leaf clovers. And no, your son isn’t actually starting to look like a leprechaun. The Notre Dame preseason hype hasn’t reached that level.
But it’s close. And it’s going to get worse.
Heads up, folks. Notre Dame is back, and so is the hype. This time it’s so gushingly positive, even Touchdown Jesus’ outstretched hands are covering his ears. So imagine what hyper- sensitive coach Charlie Weis is doing with his Fighting Irish.
USA Today’s preseason coaches poll placed Notre Dame (9-3 last season) tied for third with Southern California, behind No. 1 Ohio State and No. 2 Texas. It’s the Irish’s highest preseason ranking in 14 years.
Notre Dame is splashed on magazine covers. Its gold helmets are all over TV promos. The Sept. 2 opener at Georgia Tech already is billed as the game of the week. Senior quarterback Brady Quinn is the Heisman Trophy favorite, partially because he’s throwing to All- America wide receiver Jeff Samardzija, who pitched pretty well this summer in the Chicago Cubs’ minor-league system.
Notre Dame’s first practice is today, and Weis’ hype control already has begun.
“I’ve been involved with three different programs that after having a good year, everyone got caught up (in the hype) and we had a bad year,” Weis said Sunday during Notre Dame’s media day attended by about 100 reporters from across the country. “It happened twice in New England and once with the Jets.”
Warning to Notre Dame opponents: Weis, a former New England Patriots assistant coach, is good at this. After the Patriots won Super Bowl XXXVI in the 2001 season, they went 9-7 in 2002. After the Patriots won Super Bowl XXXVIII, they learned from their mistakes and won the NFL title again the next season.
What methods did Weis take from that?
“Honestly, I use my New Jersey rhetoric and just rag them all the time,” Weis said. “Every time Quinn throws an incomplete pass, he already knows it’s coming. I will say, ‘Yeah, there’s my Heisman Trophy winner.’ Or every time Samardzija drops the ball, I’ll say, ‘Yeah, you’d better get that fastball geared up.”‘
Seven offensive starters return from a team that averaged 36.7 points and 477.3 yards. But also back is the defense that gave up nearly 400 yards a game, including Ohio State’s 617 yards in the Fiesta Bowl that Notre Dame lost 34-20.
“Sometimes,” Weis said, “experience can be a negative instead of a positive.”
The defense could pop the hype in the first game. Notre Dame’s torched secondary and punchless pass rush go against Georgia Tech wide receiver Calvin Johnson, an All-American, and quarterback Reggie Ball, a senior with 36 starts.
“(Irish defensive players) are going to be played as the underdog the whole time,” Weis said, “and it’s something that psychologically is easy for me to play on: ‘You guys aren’t that good anyway. That’s what everyone is telling you.’ They might hear that once or twice, about every five minutes.”
John Henderson can be reached at 303-820-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com.
