As when UW hosted heavily-favored LSU in its season opener, the informal tailgate consensus before Saturday’s game against USC was that if the Huskies gave fans a reason to re-enter the stadium after halftime, then that would have sufficed. Against LSU, the Dawgs simply met that goal, adding a little extra dose of optimism by outgaining the mighty Tigers in a 31-23 loss. But against the Trojans, they far exceeded those expectations, upsetting the nation’s third-ranked team (and Coach Steve Sarkisian’s mentor) by a 16-13 margin and touching off an on-field celebration for the ages.On the strength of that win–and, in fairness, influenced by the game LSU effort–the Dawgs find themselves ranked in the Top 25 for what seems like the first time since the Reagan administration, without having yet played a game on the road this year. But while this is all great, it should give Sark great pause, especially as his team looks to its October 3 trip to South Bend.The Irish, of course, are coached by Charlie Weis, who, like Sarkisian, inherited a program whose reins were forcibly relinquished by one Tyrone Willingham. While not even Willingham could dispute the logic behind his dismissal in the midst of a winless UW season, his ouster from Notre Dame was controversial. His Irish squad had gone 6-5 in 2004, and Willingham’s recruits were poised to flower. They did–the following year, under Weis. On the strength of a 9-3 record and a near-miss against mighty USC, Weis was instantly coronated, and rewarded with a lucrative 10-year contract shortly thereafter.Fast forward four years and we find Weis to be a much-maligned figure who’s got a loaded gun to his head in terms of job security. After that 2005 campaign and a similarly successful 2006 season, Weis’ Irish have failed to bottle anything resembling that lightning. In a sense, Weis peaked too early, and has been competing against himself ever since.Expect Dawg fans to be more patient with Sarkisian. But if I were Sark, I’d do everything I can to downplay expectations going forward, as back-to-back road games against Stanford and Notre Dame could send the Dawgs crashing back to earth.