Davie Under the Gun Over Irish’s 0-2 Start

Bob Daviecould accomplish something that even Gerry Faust couldn’t do in his five seasons as Notre Dame coach.

A loss Saturday at Texas A&M; would give the Fighting Irish a 0-3 start for the first time in school history.

An 0-2 start has put Davie under fire less than 10 months after signing a five-year contract and leading the Irish to their first major bowl game in five years.

Davie said he doesn’t care about the criticism he receives or what reporters write about.

“All I care about is what it feels like walking off the field with those players and what it looks like when you put the tape on,” he said.

Davie is 30-21 in his five years as coach, a .588 winning percentage.

Of men who have coached more than two seasons at Notre Dame, the only ones with worse winning percentages are Joe Kuharich, who went 17-23 in four seasons (.425) and Faust, who went 30-26-1 in five seasons (.535).

Notre Dame is also under fire because the team wasn’t on the sidelines for a pregame ceremony Saturday honoring victims of terrorist attacks.

Before its game against Michigan State, Notre Dame had a ceremony that included the Rev. Edward A. Malloy, the university president, leading the crowd in a prayer and the singing of “America The Beautiful” and the national anthem.

Michigan State players held hands during the prayer, while the Irish players stayed in the locker room.

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Minnesota Coach Glen Mason said that Travis Cole will be the starting quarterback for the Gophers against No. 24 Purdue. He has ben splitting duties with Asad Abdul-Khaliq.

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Florida State cornerback Malcolm Tatum, who gave up touchdowns of 52 and 53 yards in a 41-9 loss to North Carolina, has a broken right hand but is not counting out the possibility of playing against Wake Forest. Defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews has a different view of the situation. “He might not play any more the rest of the year,” Andrews said. “Players don’t decide who plays.”