Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis spent a sleepless night trying to figure out the best way to "shock"
his players' system after Saturday's 36-33 quadruple overtime loss to Pittsburgh, reiterating that his main priority is improving his team's ''psyche'' after its second last-minute loss in three games.
Weis believes rearranging his practice schedule will be an effective first step.
"We're doing things different for the next couple days because I think that if I just let them go into their normal routine, I could set it up for them taking a little bit longer to get out of the tank,"
Weis said.
Don't expect Weis to be warm and fuzzy after his team blew a 14-point halftime lead. He said several front-line players would get challenged this week, although he didn't mention them by name. Mental mistakes, especially by repeat offenders, also will be a high priority as preparations begin for Saturday's game against Boston College. He also said he will make an effort to determine what the team does best and stick with that in an effort to simply schemes and eliminate the mental mistakes.
"My biggest job is really the next 48 hours more than it is the next four weeks because the mode for this week is going to be set on Monday and Tuesday,"
Weis said when asked how this loss might impact the season. "I can't be worrying about the whole rest of the year right now."
• • Chris Stewart injured his knee while jogging onto the field late in Saturday's game. The injury may be significant enough to require arthroscopic surgery, which means the 6-foot-5, 337 pound right guard may have played his last game of the season. "His knee just locked up on the way to the field,"
Weis said of Stewart. "He's got to get tested. If he does get tested, he'll get scoped. If he does get scoped, it will probably be four weeks."
Freshman Trevor Robinson has played well enough to earn playing time and is the likely candidate to replace Stewart.
• • Saturday's game between Notre Dame and Boston College will kick off at 7 p.m. and be televised by ESPN.
