Consider the Fighting Irish silenced if not altogether gagged.

Afforded a chance to prove that they were ready to join the elite of college football, Notre Dame took a frustrating step backward last Saturday night in Los Angeles.

With their beat down of the Domers, USC clearly demonstrated to Charlie Weis that the chasm that exits between his program and those of the heavyweights is still sizeable.

It looks as though Weis and his staff are destined to spend plenty of long days and nights searching for answers before they’ll figure out how to close the gap that separates them from their stated goal of reaching the top of the BCS food chain.

In a performance that was both ragged and disappointing, the Irish didn’t live but rather died in L.A. It was an effort that had all the makings of a B-movie which was rather appropriate given the close proximity of the Coliseum to Tinseltown.

ND’s script began with a demoralizing opening, followed by a disjointed middle and then concluded with a dud of an ending. When the scoreboard finally screamed cut, the Irish were on the sorry side of a 44-24 pasting.

If the Michigan spanking left ND black and blue, SC’s tanning went much deeper than that. It cut the Irish to the core and wounded their pride.

It also short-circuited some meaningful aspirations that held great importance to the Domers, particularly their departing senior class.

Like staying alive for a possible national championship run. Or maybe just once getting the best of the men from Troy.

But it wasn’t to be. In light of what happened, those thoughts of glory proved to be nothing more than pipe dreams.

A combination of Trojan might and Irish light when it mattered most, left ND’s hopes crushed on the Coliseum turf as if they’d been stomped into oblivion by that infernal white horse Traveler.

In many respects, ND’s erratic and uninspired effort came as a complete surprise. Weis and crew seemed to have so much going in their favor.

The Irish had motivation galore to fuel them.

We were told that the creative Weis had broken down SC game tape until there was nothing left to scrutinize.

The Domers were seemingly hungry to validate themselves and demonstrate to their critics that they were an upper echelon team and not merely a byproduct of what some labeled a dubious schedule.

Brady Quinn seemed poised to have that one truly signature win against a powerhouse that would vault him from merely great to legendary status.

And surely gritty seniors like Jeff Samardzija, Rhema McKnight, Derek Landri, Tom Zbikowski and Victor Abiamiri among others would make sure the Irish came out fast and kept the pressure on from start to finish.

Unfortunately, none of which the Irish were expected to deliver took place. At times, it seemed as if everyone was missing in action.

Quinn misfired much more than usual. The dependable Darius Walker coughed up a key fumble at SC’s 3-yard line. McKnight experienced an unlikely case of the drops. The offensive line’s play was inconsistent and spotty.

The special teams were beyond bad, they were deplorable.

And the defense was once again undressed in a big-time setting. Gifted receiver Dwayne Jarrett torched the Irish for three scores and exposed the ND secondary for what’s it’s been far too often, a step slow and a bit dazed and confused.

Though Notre Dame’s 10 wins took many different paths, their two defeats followed disturbingly similar storylines.

Against both the Wolverines and Troy, the Domers came out flat, fell behind early, had glaring breakdowns on both sides of the ball and basically fought an uphill battle all day.

That isn’t exactly the kind of blueprint you want to implement against high-powered opposition. Do so and you’re asking for trouble.

Now that they’ve been so convincingly dispatched by the second and third-rated teams in the country, the Domer detractors are giving their jabs and barbs full throat. Once more, the assertions that the Irish are overrated, over hyped and not deserving of a BCS Bowl berth are being heard loud and clear.

Weis and his charges are being lambasted as paper tigers who can’t stand up to the big bullies on the block. Their being likened to mere middleweights who aren’t capable of mixing it up with the true heavies.

And though this reporter still believes that the Irish are a Top-10 caliber team, it’s becoming harder to advance that argument given ND’s sluggish outings when the stakes were at their highest.

When the challenges were most daunting, not only didn’t the Irish meet them, you could make the case that they actually shrank from those tests.

When you offer only token resistance in the two marquee games on your schedule, you open yourself up for a heavy dose of criticism if not flat out ridicule.

There’s simply no explaining away ND’s freeze-ups in their two setbacks. No excuse or alibi can be offered, no rationalization will mitigate against the truth.

Bluntly put, the Irish got thoroughly whipped and soundly hammered. There’s no getting around that harsh reality. And sometimes reality bites!

And when you suffer drubbings of such magnitude, you’re basically forced to go mute. Given a chance to speak up on the field, the Domers lost their voice and the silence was deafening.

So doing any talking after the fact rings hollow and only serves to give your critics additional ammunition to level at you. Better to just keep quiet and take your medicine in a manly fashion.

So for now, because the Irish failed to put up on Saturday, it’s best they shut up.

They must clenched their teeth and accept the inevitable abuse that comes with such a sub par effort. At this moment, they have nothing to offer, verbally or otherwise.

But heaven help them if they produce another clinker in their Bowl game which will be another major test versus yet another notable opponent.