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ed mystique. He'll just have to do it against bigger fish than Purdue.

"This is a very different team," he said, "from the past two years."

Notre Dame needs a few trumpet charges. Here was one. Clausen stood and watched much of the Purdue game, then dragged his toe onto the field and led the drive that won the game on a fourth down pass.

"The thing that our huddle sees," Weis said, "is that he's so calm."

Clausen is completing 65.8% of his attempts and has one interception all season — efficiency enough to win games that once were lost.

Are the echoes officially woken up? Not yet. Check back after the USC game, two weeks from Saturday.

But more wins are coming. Maybe lots of them. You've been warned.

Mike Lopresti also writes for Gannett.

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By Mike Lopresti, USA TODAY
This is for the many Notre Dame haters out there, and the news is not good. The evidence is growing. The dark ages in South Bend might be over.

More anti-domers out there, probably, than even lawyers, and no doubt they've enjoyed the anguish, the hand-wringing, the defeats. When the Irish lost last year to 2-8 Syracuse, it must have felt like Christmas morning.

But the latest signs are ominous. Notre Dame carries a 3-1 record into Saturday's Washington game, and won't play in a hostile stadium until Nov. 14. The victory total is bound to swell, perhaps rapidly.

The two most recent wins were decided in the final seconds. When the Irish came zipping down the field at the 11th hour to beat Purdue last weekend, you wondered who Joe Montana was going to throw to next. What happened to all the foulups that would get them beaten by Pittsburgh and North Carolina?

"Who knows," tight end Kyle Rudolph wondered after making the winning catch, "what might have happened in the past?"

Curious stat. In all its gilded history, Notre Dame has won only four games with a touchdown in the last 30 seconds of regulation. Maybe Rockne never needed to. Anyway, last Saturday was one of them.

Drama like that puts the bounce into a program, gets the masses believing, not to mention the locker room. It is a splendid way to ignite a program.

"They learned the last two weeks how to win close games," Charlie Weis mentioned at his press conference the other day. "I think that's part of turning the corner."

Worried yet?

The players see an end to the Irish ice age. Notre Dame has not been Notre Dame in some time. Not even close. Whether it is now remains to be seen, but the trend is unmistakable.

"This was a testament to hard work," safety Kyle McCarthy said, "and putting those years behind us."

"We still remember what it felt like to get beat," receiver Golden Tate said. "We don't want to go back there."

For those who prefer to see the Irish in full retreat, we have depressing numbers. The offensive line that allowed 58 sacks two years ago has grown up into