Weis has seen the best and worst of Big House

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP)—Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis has seen the best and worst of Michigan’s Big House.

After his team beat the then-No. 3 Wolverines, quieting the crowd of 111,386 in Notre Dame’s first win in Ann Arbor in 12 years, Weis was asked about being the first Irish coach since Knute Rockne to open with two road wins.

Two years later, en route to a humiliating 38-0 loss to the Wolverines, the scoreboard flashed that Washington was leading Ohio State 7-3. Michigan students chanted: “Tyrone’s better! Tyrone’s better!”—a reference to Weis’ predecessor, Tyrone Willingham.

Rockne or Willingham? Weis doesn’t want the 18th-ranked Irish (1-0) thinking about either game or the rivalry when the two schools with the best winning percentages in NCAA history meet on Saturday. He wants the Irish to forget about everything, including last week’s 35-0 win over Nevada.

“We’re only talking about this year. We’re not worrying about anything from any other time except this week,” he said Tuesday. “We’re not going to spend any time talking about last week, let alone the last time we were there. We’re just moving forward.”

He expects Michigan (1-0) to take the same approach a year after the Wolverines turned the ball over six times in losing 35-17 to the Irish. He noted that Michigan is coming off a decisive 31-7 victory over Western Michigan after a week in which coach Rich Rodriguez was answering questions about a lawsuit over a real estate venture and accusations that his players were practicing beyond NCAA limits.

“I don’t think they’re worrying too much about what happened last year,” he said

Some fans would argue that this isn’t a rivalry game. The teams never played while Rockne and Ara Parseghian coached the Irish. They met three times during Fielding Yost’s 25 years as Michigan coach and twice while Frank Leahy coached the Irish and Fritz Crisler coached the Wolverines.

The two teams never met while Weis was a student at Notre Dame, resuming the series in 1979, the year after he graduated. But Weis, who always talks about how he treats every game the same—doing so again Tuesday—knows how important the game is.

Several Irish players said last year they had never seen Weis fired up so much before a game as he was before Michigan.

“He was pumped,” receiver Golden Tate said at the time. “He got us pumped.”

Weis also revealed how important he thinks the game is back in April 2008, though not to the media. Talking about the upcoming season, he told a group of Notre Dame supporters: “Then we’ll listen to Michigan have all their excuses as they come running in and saying how they have a new coaching staff and there’s changes. To hell with Michigan.”

Weis later explained the last comment was made out of respect for Bo Schembechler. The former Michigan coach, who died in 2006, was known on more than one occasion to say, “To hell with Notre Dame”—most notably when the Irish turned down a chance to join the Big Ten.

While Weis wouldn’t admit Tuesday that the game is any more important to him or his coaches, he conceded Notre Dame players might treat the Michigan game different.

“I think because both teams were somewhat question marks going into the opening week and both had sound, convincing wins, it’s increased the interest of everyone else as it relates to the game. The trickle-down effect is that it permeates to the players,” Weis said.

Weis also has a little extra personal pride at stake in this one. The former offensive coordinator with the New England Patriots is friends with Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, a Michigan graduate. In 2005, Brady lost a friendly wager when the Irish won and had to wear a Notre Dame hat to a news conference.

Weis was asked if there was any wager this year.

“We have traded texts. That’s all I’ll say,” Weis said, smiling.

For a team coming off a 3-9 season and another team just a year removed from a 3-9 season, a lot more is at stake Saturday than a friendly wager.