Notre Dame 14; Georgia Tech 10 - I'm A Charlie Weis Fan

Ok. After being really upset with Charlie Weis for his continued bashing of the Notre Dame program under Tyrone Willingham -- and after being a proud owner of the Notre Dame 2005 playbook -- my ill-will toward Weis softened a great deal Saturday after their 14-10 win over Georgia Tech.

First, the Ty thing. Let's face it. Ty Willingham's problem was Bill Deitrick, his offensive coordinator, and Ty's unwillingness to fire him after issuing a terrible offensive design. This is what did in Ty's tenure. I know it. You know it. Weis knows it.

Some observers who don't like the idea of a black person running the ND program were very unkind to Ty and much more so that his predecessor Bob Davie, who did nothing. I grew to dislike their point of view, and in some cases them!

But I did have a chance to meet Charlie Weis and at Leigh Steinberg's Super Bowl Party in Detroit. You know. He's ok. Plus, about 33 percent of his staff is black and I think that's even more than was true for Ty. Nice.

Still, I held a sensitive spot for Ty, and didn't like reference to his program in the negative, because let's face it -- they went 10-3 in his first year.

Now, it's Charlie's turn and I had to admit I wanted him to fail. But after yesterday, not any more.

See, I'm a big fan -- huge -- of great offensive attacks. I'm a student of technical football. Faced with a speedy, multiple front and agressive Tech defense, Weis called the best game of his career. The two long drives reminded me of the ideas described in Bill Walsh's classic paper "Controlling the Ball With the Passing Game" where he says that you should make the defense chase the ball even if you only gain six inches.

That's what Weis did: played the short passing game to perfection and from many different formations, throwing to a vast array of receivers. A great work before a national audience.

Ok. I'm now a Charlie Weis fan. Just lay off Ty, will ya!.