SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Charlie Weis wouldn't blame Notre Dame for firing him.

"If they decide to make a change, I'd have to say I'd have a tough time arguing with that. If they decide to make a change, I'd have a tough time arguing that because 6-5 is not good enough," the Fighting Irish coach said yesterday. "Especially when you've lost five games by a touchdown or less and several three-point games that went right down to the wire.

"My intent is to be here. But if that were the rationale, I mean it would be tough for me to argue with that point," he added.

Notre Dame lost its third straight game and fell to 6-5 on Saturday with a 33-30 loss in double overtime to Connecticut on senior day in South Bend.

Weis made the comments yesterday when asked about what he said when he was hired five years ago after Tyrone Willingham was fired with a 6-5 record.

At the time, Weis said: "You are what you are, folks, and right now you're a 6-5 football team. And guess what? That's just not good enough. That's not good enough for you, and it's certainly not going to be good enough for me."

Weis' 35-26 record gives him a .573 winning percentage. That's worse than the .583 winning percentage that got Notre Dame's two previous coaches, Willingham and Bob Davie, fired.

Weis declined to answer most questions about how the Irish have done in his five years, saying he's too busy getting ready for Stanford (7-4) to think about that. He said he'll answer those questions in the future.

"I'm going to need significant time to get to that point," he said.

Athletic director Jack Swarbrick said again yesterday, after Weis spoke, that he will decide on Weis' future after Saturday's game at Stanford, saying nothing Weis said had changed that.

"It's still status quo. That's not to say something couldn't happen, but I don't foresee it," he said.

When asked to characterize his relationship with Swarbrick, who was hired in July 2008, Weis said it has been "fair and cordial the whole time we've worked together."

Weis, who has a contract that runs through the 2015 season, said he couldn't envision any scenario where he would resign.

"No, that's not happening," he said.

Weis conceded that he's responsible for any shortcomings of the program.

"Who else is responsible? Now, I could sit there and try to blame everybody else, but ultimately, it falls on my shoulders," he said.

Swarbrick said he couldn't speculate on whether Notre Dame will go to a bowl until he knows the team's final record and what bowls are available.

"There's a myriad of factors," he said.

Swarbrick said what players want to do "will play a big role in our decision."

BCS STANDINGS

IOWA, PENN STATE ELIGIBLE FOR AT-LARGE BCS BERTHS

Iowa and Penn State ended their seasons eligible for an at-large BCS bid, and Oklahoma State and Virginia Tech are also in position to be eligible for invites to the four big-money bowl games even though they have no shot to win their conferences.

The top seven teams in the Bowl Championship Series standings released yesterday were unchanged from last week, with Florida, Alabama and Texas still in control of the national championship race.

Barring any major upsets over the next two weeks, the winner of the Florida-Alabama Southeastern Conference title game will face Texas in the BCS title game on Jan. 7 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.

With fourth-place TCU a victory away from securing an automatic BCS bid and the loser of Florida-Alabama essentially a lock to be selected, only two at-large berths would remain.

To be eligible for an at-large BCS bid, a team must finish 14th or better in the final standings, which are released Dec. 6.

Iowa is 11th after completing its regular season Saturday with a 10-2 record, while Big Ten counterpart Penn State is 13th after also finishing 10-2.

The Hawkeyes and Nittany Lions will likely by vying for an at-large bid with sixth-place Boise State, which is two victories away from a 13-0 regular season but would be unable to gain an automatic bid if it finishes behind TCU.

ELSEWHERE

Princeton: Head coach Roger Hughes has been fired after 10 seasons. Hughes went 47-52, winning the 2006 Ivy League title and posting three winning seasons overall. His dismissal came one day after the Tigers beat Dartmouth, 23-11, to conclude their season with a 4-6 record.

Youngstown State: Head coach Jon Heacock says he's stepping down after nine seasons that included one trip to the Football Championship Subdivision semifinals. The Penguins went 60-44 — 6-5 this season — and won two Missouri Valley Conference titles under Heacock, twice selected the conference coach of the year.