Cougars have room for optimism against Irish

Is BYU's footballteam walking into a buzz saw in South Bend?

Notre Dame is fresh off an emotional defeat at the hands of No. 1 USC, where Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis has the Fighting Irish on a short leash. He's chalked-talked up the Cougars until the chalk is dust and white boards look like an Einstein equation.

The Irish have fall break — no classes this week — so they can eat, drink and sleep football and BYU. Revenge is on the minds of the players. So is losing to the Trojans.

The Irish are ranked No. 9. They are a far better team than a year ago — and likely better than if Urban Meyer had taken the job. Weis has done something Notre Dame coaches of late have failed to do: take all that blue-chip clay and mold it into some show time.

Nobody in their right football mind would pick a BYU upset. The experts are unanimous. Over at CBS Sportsline, the Harmon Forecast (no relation) has Notre Dame defeating BYU 31-20. Tony Mejia, who is 76 percent correct this year, has Notre Dame 20, BYU 13. Jeff Sagarin, who has the Irish ranked with the toughest schedule in the land, picks Notre Dame by 18.8 points.

Weis has proved he can institute multiple game plans — change the face of his team from week to week. And that makes Notre Dame tough to figure out and dangerous. It takes a ton of coaching to pull that off in college.

BYU coaches are launching high praise for the Irish this week, calling them a great football team that is impressive from top to bottom. They are also lavish in praise of the job Weis has done.

Is there any chance, any hope for the Cougars?

There's always a chance.

For the sake of playing devil's advocate — not a prediction, but for debate's sake — here is a poke at the improbable take.

It's not like the Irish are 6-0. They stand 4-2 — a bold record for a Top-10 ranked team — which shows a blend of nostalgia and respect even after a loss to Michigan State at home.

Is Notre Dame really over USC? And is a week with no school routine really a good thing? Can players overload on football?

Although answering Weis' call to muster the forces, Notre Dame has basically the same players that lost to a struggling Cougar team in Provo a year ago.

Nobody Notre Dame has played this season deploys the 3-3-5, and even USC struggled against it in Los Angeles a few years ago.