College Football | Firing Charlie Weis would be a mistake says Brady Quinn

BEREA, Ohio — Brady Quinn's best game as a pro seemed to make him nostalgic about his college days.

With Charlie Weis perhaps down to his final days at Notre Dame, Cleveland's quarterback said he would love to be reunited with his former coach.

"It'd be nice," Quinn said. "I'd like to play under him again if I had the opportunity. It'd be cool."

Quinn set career highs with four touchdown passes and 304 passing yards in a gut-wrenching loss at Detroit on Sunday. On Wednesday, he spent a portion of his locker-room availability addressing speculation about Weis' future with the Fighting Irish.

Quinn played two seasons for Weis. One of the most popular and successful players in Notre Dame history, Quinn believes the school would be making a mistake if they fire Weis.

"Personally I think it would be a horrible decision if they did make that change," Quinn said. "I think there are a lot of circumstances that play into seasons like this. Hopefully he'll have an opportunity to have another year with the guys."

There are signs Weis is on his way out at Notre Dame (6-5), which will conclude its regular season Saturday at Stanford. Athletic director Jack Swarbrick said Weis will return to campus after the game, detouring from a previously planned West Coast recruiting trip.

With a manageable schedule, this was supposed to be the season the Fighting Irish returned to national prominence and made a BCS bowl. Instead, they have been plagued by close losses — five by a total of 21 points — failed to beat rivals Michigan and USC and lost for the second time in three years to Navy, a school Notre Dame beat 43 straight times before 2007.

Weis is just 35-26 in five seasons at the school, but has gone only 16-20 without Quinn, who led Notre Dame to the Fiesta and Sugar bowls.

Quinn said it's tough to pinpoint why the Fighting Irish have slipped nationally.

"I know as a player there, one of the things we prided ourselves on was winning games and not worrying about stats or individual accolades," Quinn said.

"I think if you've got enough talent on that team, there's guys that need to pull together and start finding ways to win."

Notes

• UCLA's bruin mascot has gotten a messy paint job — in the colors of crosstown rival USC. A UCLA spokesman said the statue in Bruin Square was splashed with red and gold paint sometime between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. No arrests were made but campus police are investigating. Meanwhile, USC students in shifts are guarding their Tommy Trojan statue, which also is under wraps.

• Montana coach Bobby Hauck has been named the Big Sky Conference coach of the year for the third time in four seasons. Hauck led Montana to the conference championship with an 8-0 record and the Grizzlies finished the school's fifth unbeaten regular season to earn the top seed in the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.