It could look like this

Notre Dame's Athletics Director, Jack Swarbrick, is scheduled to meet with Charlie Weis sometime this week to review the season (and more likely to discuss his future in South Bend). Swarbrick was in LA Saturday when Southern Cal humiliated the Irish 38-3. Folks, it could have been much worse.

For the record, the Irish have been pelted by the Trojans the past two years by a combined score of 76-3.

Swarbrick, who has a law degree from Stanford, is a smart man who will evaluate all of the data available and make a sound decision. He's also relatively new on the job and could be ready to make a swift and career-defining decision here. That could mean Urban Meyer, who Notre Dame flirted with in 2004 when it fired Ty Willingham.

If Swarbrick needs any inspiration this clip could help.

'Fire Weis' should start in earnest now

What if this were Ty Willingham instead of Charlie Weis and Notre Dame had just lost to 20-point underdog Syracuse? Wait. We know how that ended. So why isn't Weis being run out of town as Notre Dame pursues Urban Meyer or whoever the Irish believe is their right to own as their next head coach?

After a little more searching I found this poignant column by Jeff Carroll at the South Bend Tribune.

Apple Cup

As Washington State travels to Seattle to play rival Washington for the 101st Apple Cup it may be hard to find a more pathetic match up during that stretch. Wazzu is 1-10 (thanks to Portland State) and 0-8 in the Pac-10. The Huskies are even worse at 0-10, 0-7 as the miserable Ty Willingham era is close to coming to an end.

It's amazing to see how far these two programs have fallen. Washington won a share of the 1991 National Championship and going to Seattle used to be one of the toughest road games in the nation.

The Cougars can claim Drew Bledsoe and Ryan Leaf as former QBs and recently won 10 games in three consecutive seasons (2001-03).

This is the worst Division I game of the season and maybe ever. Someone will win Saturday, but will anyone really care?

Willingham fired/resigns - Notre Dame fans scream "See! We told you so!"

Well, that's two coaches down in 2008. Ty Willingham's firing from Washington was certainly not as surprising as Tommy Bowden's ouster at Clemson, but the mid-season ax is always a bit shocking.

Of course, Notre Dame fans are excited because this gives them a scapegoat for last year's nightmare in South Bend - namely Willingham's recruiting. Ty's well-known lax efforts on the recruiting trail didn't help in Seattle, where UW is behind other school's in facilities and has a smaller recruiting base in the Pacific Northwest. UW just never had the depth or talent of opponents and when Jake Locker was called for that silly penalty that ultimately cost them an upset of top-10 BYU earlier this year, the Huskies never recovered.

And say what you want about Willingham's coaching ability, the guy's got cajones - or he's not really paying attention. The day he gets fired, he does his radio show, including an interview with the UW president on why he fired Ty. That's weird.

So, who's next to go?
I would say Syracuse's Greg Robinson, but frankly he's coaching as if he's already been fired.

The rumors continue to fly around Phil Fulmer and Tommy Tuberville in the SEC. Mike Stoops seems to have saved his gig for awhile after playing USC tough once again.

Lane Kiffin's name continues to be hot for a few of the jobs and his Pac-10 background would be a good fit for UW. But I question exactly what Kiffin has done to earn a shot at a premium coaching spot. At USC he took over for a year or two after Norm Chow left before Al Davis hired him on the cheap in Oakland.
The best pick would be Gary Pinkel, a Don James disciple who's turned Missouri around, but I don't see Pinkel leaving Mizzou at this point in his career. Possibly, Mizzou offensive coordinator Dave Christensen would be the right fit.

UW is a good job if a new coach can upgrade the facilities and recruit California.