SOUTH BEND, Ind. - After eight hectic months, Charlie Weis is looking forward to his first game as Notre Dame's football coach.

Since being named coach on Dec. 12, Weis has finished off a recruiting season, helped lead the New England Patriots to their third Super Bowl title in four years, hired a staff, installed a new offense, moved his family and traveled the country recruiting for next year.

Now he's finally getting down to the business of coaching the Fighting Irish at No. 23 Pittsburgh on Saturday.

"I'm anxious to get to the first game," Weis said Sunday at a news conference. "It's been a long time since December."

The primary reason for the news conference was to announce the depth chart. There were few surprises.

Bob Morton, who started at left guard last season, is the starting center. John Sullivan, who started at center last season, is his backup. Dan Santucci is the starting left guard and Dan Stevenson is the starting right guard.

But Weis said all four will play against Pitt.

"We have four inside players that are starters," he said.

It's the same on defense, where Trevor Laws is the starting left tackle, Brian Beidatsch is his backup and Derek Landri is the starting right tackle. Weis said the three will rotate between the two positions to keep the players fresh.

At quarterback, David Wolke, who played a series against Washington last year but didn't attempt a pass, was named the backup to Brady Quinn.

"We felt that if Brady went down and we had to play somebody, the guy who gave us the best chance to win a game would be David," Weis said.

But Weis said a big gap still remains between Quinn and Wolke. If Quinn were hurt, the Irish would have a package of plays ready for Wolke. Weis said he doesn't treat players as interchangeable parts.

"You don't try and do the same thing with different people. That's what dumb coaches would do," he said.

Five freshmen are listed as backups: Asaph Schwapp at fullback, Michael Turkovich at left tackle, Paul Duncan at right tackle, Pat Kuntz at defensive line, Steve Quinn at linebacker and Kyle McCarthy at strong safety. David Grimes is listed as the top punt returner.

Weis said a key is an NCAA rule change that allowed freshmen to get on campus early and take summer school classes.

"It put them at a much greater competitive advantage than any freshman has had ever had before," he said.

Weis said he will ratchet up the intensity Monday for the Irish, who were 6-6 last season. But his first priority heading into the season is to help the Irish players have some fun.

"Because last I checked, they didn't have a whole lot of fun the last time they played," he said. "Football, as tough as it is, as much work as it is, you're supposed to have some fun."

Weis also tried to dispel some of the gloom-and-doom predictions for the Irish this year, saying his players know there is a wide-range of expectations for them.

"On the one hand, they hear from the Notre Dame alum that they're going to win every game. On the other hand, they're hearing from the national broadcasters that we're going to lose every game," Weis said. "Somewhere in between lies the truth. If I were a gambling man, I'd be betting on our players - and I'm not a gambling man."