SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis had the same question for his players following a mistake-filled 38-34 loss to Michigan as many of the team's fans: Where do the Fighting Irish go from here?

"I said, 'Are you going to sit there and pout and say we should have won the game? Is it going to be that kind of attitude? Or are you going to use this to not be feeling like this again?"' he said. "I think the No. 1 thing they have to do if they don't want to be feeling like this again is do something about it."

The speech was reminiscent of the speech Weis gave to the Irish several days after a 38-3 loss to USC in the regular-season finale last year. The Irish rallied from that to beat Hawaii 49-21 in the Hawaii Bowl and opened the season with an impressive 35-0 victory over Nevada.

But how many times can Weis ask the Irish (1-1) which way they are going following a loss and get a positive reaction? Weis said Sunday he's counting on the team leaders, especially the four captains, to get the message across.

"The best way to have a quick positive turnaround is by putting them in charge of it because there comes a point when things don't go the way you want them to go, you can get on the players and get on the players, but unless the players join in and jump onboard, the turnaround takes a little too long," he said.

In his fifth season as coach, Weis can't afford a long turnaround. With the loss to Michigan, his career record fell to 30-22, a .576 winning percentage. That's below the .583 winning percentage of his two predecessors, Tyrone Willingham and Bob Davie, and far below the expectation of Notre Dame fans growing more impatient each year further removed from the school's last national championship in 1988.

The loss knocked the Irish out of the rankings heading into Saturday's game against Michigan State (1-1), a team that has beaten the Irish nine times in the past 12 meetings, including six straight at Notre Dame Stadium.

Irish players said the Michigan loss was a difficult one to take.