I guess Charlie Weis really learned a lot from Bill Belichick, and not just about being a tremendous crank: the FORT WAYNE JOURNAL GAZETTE reports that Notre Dame had a laptop taken away from their press box during their game against Michigan State - a laptop that was a violation of NCAA rules.

Dellgate, anyone? Not that it helped - the Golden Domers still lost 23-7. Or maybe that’s just what kept it from being worse.

Michigan State officials spotted the laptop in the press box during the first quarter, and had it removed before halftime. The laptop could have been used for anything from viewing replays to tracking tendencies. But Spartans associate athletic director for communications John Lewandowski was convinced that it was being used for something:

Lewandowski said there was no question the laptop inside the Notre Dame box was on and being used.

“For what, you’d have to ask them what they are using it for but the concern for our coaches is are they tracking tendencies, using historical data from whatever,” Lewandowski said. “It took us a while to track down the liaison but it was out of there before the end of the first half.”

For his part, the AP reports that Weis did the honorable thing when asked about it after the game: he blamed an intern. Although he didn’t say what the intern was using the computer for. I’m guessing it wasn’t an intense game of Scrabulous, but judging by Notre Dame’s performance, that might explain a lot if their coaching staff was looking for a place to dump the “Q.”

The highlight of the affair? This gem of a quote from Weis:

Weis said he told the officials that he wasn’t trying to do something improper while walking off the field at halftime.

“The last thing I ever want to do is lie,” he said.

Thanks Coach - I blew my knee out after I fell out of my chair laughing so hard at that. I tore my ACL, MCL and PCL - top that, Tom Brady! But the good news for Weis is that the fact that 90 percent of America is rejoicing in your loss should make this whole thing blow over.