The state of Notre Dame football.

[b donka]

Watched Notre Dame Sherman Oaks (high school) last night. Dayne Crist is a bona-fide stud and looks to be every bit as good as Clausen against high school competition. The guy reminds me of Tim Tebow - big (6'5", 225), strong arm, very mobile and athletic. I was very impressed.

It's tough to say who is better b/c of the surrounding players/competition.
Dayne has zero elite recruits on his squad.
Clausen was surrounded by all-world stars (Marc Tyler & Marshall Jones - both now at USC), several D1 recruits on the line, and some sic younger guys (Marshall Jones brother, Clay Matthews' son)

Another point on the Weis/Willingham issue - Weis got a huge raise and contract extension b/c pro teams began inquiring. If the same had happened to Willingham, the same thing would have happened.

100% agree w/ above points about depth, but to build a strong program, teams need to build/develop depth. It's a weak excuse to say we don't have the depth.
Here's a story regarding legendary USC player/coach/motivator Marv Goux and Pete Carroll. Story goes that (from LADailynews) "When USC coach Pete Carroll was hired, legendary assistant coach Marv Goux gave him a little lesson on when you knew you finally put together your program. “When Anthony Munoz got hurt in 1979, they were depressed because they didn’t know if they could depend on Don Mosebar,” Carroll said. “Then he got hurt and they thought the season was over because they had to put in a guy named (Bruce) Matthews. He only played in the NFL for over 20 years. That’s what we’re shooting for.”