Weis gets advice on Bowl preperation

[Guest SirJohn]

From SeattlePI.com

 

Weis gets advice on bowl preparation

 

By TOM COYNE

AP SPORTS WRITER

 

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Charlie Weis is accustomed to coaching in Super Bowls - not Fiesta Bowls - so he turned to some coaching friends for advice.

 

"They told me how they screwed it up first and then fixed it," said Weis, whose Notre Dame team plays Ohio State on Jan. 2. "I'm hoping I'm bypassing the screw-it-up phase and getting to the second phase of getting it right off the bat."

 

The coaches - whom he would not identify - said the most common mistakes were to have their teams do too much physically too early or to give players the game plan too early.

 

"By the time the game came around they were either too bored or too beat up to even play the game," he said at a news conference Saturday.

 

That's why Weis doesn't want Notre Dame (9-2) focusing on Ohio State (9-2) - at least not yet. He's adopted a training camp mentality toward the bowl. The team practiced Saturday and will take off all this week for final exams. It will then practice daily Dec. 19-23 before taking a few days off and heading to Phoenix on Dec. 27.

 

"The advice of several people was don't worry about how quick you get them in, but when you get them in give them a full dose of fundamentals and techniques and don't overload them with everything game-plan oriented with Ohio State all at one time," Weis said.

 

Notre Dame is on a seven-game bowl losing streak. The last bowl victory for the Irish was a 24-21 decision over Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl at the end of the 1993 season.

 

Weis doesn't believe the seven-game streak will have any influence on this year's game, but he will use it as motivation.

 

"It will be mentioned every day, multiple times. It will be emphasized," Weis said, with Brady Quinn and several other players sitting in the room waiting for the coach to finish. "I think it gives you a great opportunity to humiliate them. I think I'm really looking forward to that."

 

Weis said he was disappointed Quinn wasn't invited to New York for the Heisman Trophy presentation with the three finalists. The coach said he called an official with the Downtown Athletic Club, which presents the award, to let him know.

 

"I just didn't get it, to tell you the truth," Weis said. "The rationale was there was a clear drop-off between three and four."

 

Quinn said he, too, was disappointed.

 

"At the same time now I have an opportunity now to practice and prepare for a bowl game that to me is more important than being somewhere where you're probably not going to end up receiving the award that those guys are going for," he said.

 

Quinn gave his first hint Saturday that after the Fiesta Bowl he might say if he will return for his senior season.

 

"I feel like the best thing for me is to come back," he said. "I only say that because if it happens that I did ever happen to leave, it's not as like I said I would definitely be back next year and I'd be going against my word - that's not something I want to do."