Notre Dame, Ind (UHND.com) — At his Sunday afternoon press conference, Charlie Weis wasted little time before letting the media know exactly where his mind was after the Irish’s upset of #3 Michigan — on Notre Dame’s next opponent, Michigan State.
“At 2:00 I’m going to meet with the team and I’m going to tell you right now exactly what I’m going to say to the team to start off the meeting. Michigan State has now won four consecutive games at Notre Dame Stadium” Weis told the media to kick off his day after press conference.
Weis let the media know there are no lingering thoughts or any celebrating going on his mind after this past weekend’s impressive road win. Weis has said all along that the season is a series of one game schedules and his words on Sunday back this up.
While Charlie may have convinced the media that his mind is now totally focused on Michigan State, it remains to be seen if he can get his team’s mind off of their most recent conquest.
Immediately following Saturday’s game Coach Weis said one of his biggest concerns was his player’s heads and making sure they didn’t start thinking they are better than they really are.
Weis seems to have found an excellent angle to get his players focused on Michigan State by using history as motivation. “Michigan State has won 11 games here at this stadium, which is more than any one of our opponents in the history,” noted Weis after saying he would be telling the players that Michigan State’s 4 straight wins inside Notre Dame Stadium was the 2nd longest streak any Notre Dame opponent has ever had.
Avoiding a let down this weekend will be on Weis’ mind all week especially now that the Irish have moved into the top 10 of the AP Poll for the first time in 3 years.
“And by the way, one last comment about Michigan State – in their first two games they (Michigan State) won 91-28. So before the players hear anything as it relates to the Michigan game, that’s the first thing they are going to be hearing today.”
The good news is that Weis wasted very little time letting his players know that they can’t dwell on the Michigan win. “They might have had a real good time last night and slept in late and had a nice brunch. But by about 2:01 they are going to be hearing about Michigan State real hard, I promise you,” said Weis.
Charlie is started to sound a little like a former coach in his press conferences that always talked up his opponents and did his best to convince you that he was terrified of the next opponent. Lou Holtz was famous for making it seem like a game against Navy was like facing an NFL team.
While Michigan State is far from a pushover, and is indeed a quality opponent, it’s refreshing to see the head coach realize the history behind a game and a rivalry. It’s also refreshing to see a coach completely focused on the current week’s opponent as opposed to anything down the road or in the past.
Weis’ ability to convey this same message to his players will go a long way in determining the outcome of Saturday’s game in which the Irish are early 7 point favorites.
Not having teams ready to play was a staple of the previous unsuccessful regimes at Notre Dame, but so far this is something Weis appears to be much better at.
He wastes little time preparing his team and uses the time he has with the team effectively. When asked about how the first home game might create any distractions for his team Weis again let us know he was on top of it, “We’ll talk about that today. I won’t wait until Tuesday to bring it up, because Tuesday I want to be talking about game plan. I want to be talking about Michigan State’s personnel. I want to be all football.”
Weren’t the post game press conferences for Notre Dame on Tuesdays last year? Hmm… Weird.
