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Syracuse 24, Notre Dame 23. If the flying snowballs in the first half were just a few freezing students trying to stave off boredom during a supposedly easy win, there's no question about the malice behind the projectiles that hit the field as Brandon Walker's last-second, 53-yard field goal fell short. Who wouldn't be out for icy vengeance: The Orange came into South Bend as 20-point underdogs, with two road wins under Robinson in 19 tries, at Illinois (final record: 2-10) in 2006 and at Louisville (final record: 6-6) last year. This is still the same team that lost to Akron earlier this year and is headed decisively towards its fourth straight last place finish in the Big East; with Robinson on his way out, you can't even imagine a more lame duck outfit.

So Domers will go on throwing those snowballs throughout the offseason, in various forms; even among the faithful, good will for Charlie Weis beyond this point is inconceivable. The Irish would have to upset USC next week to counteract the poison of a loss like this, the worst of the Weis era, and that is inconceivable. The amount of venom destined to go creeping through the veins of the program and fan base during the nine months between that ritual slaughter in L.A. and the next hail mary shot at redemption next September is, in all likelihood, fatal.

Ask Ty Willingham. You might recall that the first sure sign of impending doom for Willingham was Notre Dame's surprising, 38-12 loss at struggling Syracuse in 2003, which sealed a losing record in Willingham's second year; he met his end after finishing 6-6 in '04. With the certain pounding at USC on deck, Notre Dame is destined for the same fate this year, 6-6, and maybe a bowl game, if either the Car Care or St. Petersburg bowls are feeling generous and ND is feeling desperate enough to accept (it should). And Weis, who could plausibly afford to laugh away the 'hot seat' talk last week, had better begin fashioning one hell of a tourniquet.