The Friday 5 Spot: Media blackout enlightenment, Clausen at QB, and more

Welcome back, my friends, to the Irish show that never ends. Maddeningly.

Not that it was a Holmes-ian deduction or anything, but ATB's theory about Charlie Weis' near-total media blackout for his players this week was that the Irish were so beaten, so gutted after the Navy loss and so utterly depressed that Weis didn't want them to have to answer questions about being beaten, gutted and depressed.

That was just about the exact reason Weis gave Thursday for making, basically, five players available to talk this week--his five captains, who have proven to be experts at filling 20-minute press conferences with prescripted pablum this season. (Freshman tailback Robert Hughes spoke Tuesday, but the death of his brother was the extenuating circumstance and the only topic broached.)

"I think between (offensive coordinator) Michael (Haywood), (defensive coordinator) Corwin (Brown), myself and the captains, I thought (we) probably would be the best people to handle that this week," Weis said. "I'm not doing that on a regular basis. I just thought it would be in the best interests of a lot of guys who don't know how to handle adversity and tough questions, that I'd protect them."

Funny how, in a discussion with Notre Dame staffers earlier this year, ATB was told that freshmen aren't available because we need "to let them become men." Guess the best way to teach manhood is to go by that old bromide: When the going gets tough, the tough hide behind the coach.

This was mentioned in the Tribune's Friday story about ways the Irish can provide hope in these last three games, but it's time to take the training wheels off Jimmy Clausen. And if that's not possible, what does it say about the future of the quarterback position at Notre Dame?

Whether it's because of play calls, a bum hip, the surgically repaired throwing elbow, tentativeness in the pocket or an inability to look downfield under pressure--whatever the reasons, Jimmy Clausen hasn't exactly dissected defenses with surgical precision this season. Nor, really, should he be expected to do so as a true freshman--but what can be expected is a sign that such ability is there.

So if Weis has been holding back a bit, protecting a banged-up Jimmy Clausen from the pass rush, it's time to stop. It's time for Jimmy Clausen to demonstrate at least glimpses of the "accuracy" and "zip" Weis said he saw in practices this week.

"He looked better at just about everything than he looked a few weeks back," Weis said of Jimmy Clausen on Thursday night. Then let him show it, if he can.

How about Ian Williams? The freshman defensive lineman has played sparingly or irregularly, up until extended action against Navy thanks to nose tackle Pat Kuntz's back injury. Yet Williams has 30 tackles this year. As reporter Tim Prister pointed out this week, Williams has the same amount of stops as hybrid end/linebacker John Ryan in, what, hundreds of fewer snaps? Impressive.

The game notes say that Notre Dame has played before a sellout crowd in 246 of its last 247 home games. Yet last week and this week, the school announced that Air Force and Duke had returned some of their ticket allotments. And the parking lots near Notre Dame Stadium weren't exactly brimming before the Navy loss.

Almost as interesting as the on-field results will be the in-seat results, and whether a couple more blips appear on that sellout streak these next two weekends.

And for those Irish faithful in desperate, desperate need of hope, there are these words from Friend of ATB Chip Scoggins, the impeccable Minnesota beat writer for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, regarding Irish commit Michael Floyd of St. Paul's Cretin-Derham Hall High school: "He's the best high school player I've ever seen."

2008: Never has there been a more anticipated season in Notre Dame history, for all the wrong reasons leading into it.

[More at http://blogs.chicagosports.chicagotribune.com]