It doesn't come overnight. It takes plenty of repetition, hard work and attention to detail. There's a price to be paid for achieving such precision.

To say the least, trying to get 11 players to come together and mesh like a well-oiled machine is a daunting proposition.  

Often finding that necessary chemistry is very difficult. Sometimes you never do.

Having your offense click or flow isn't like turning on the lights. You just can't flip on a switch and expect things to run smoothly. That's just not the way it works on a gridiron.

It takes time and patience for a team's offense to find a groove. Establishing a simpatico between all the working parts is a byproduct of practice, diligence and getting the most out of your personnel. 

And even if you're fortunate enough to find that tempo, it then becomes every bit as challenging to maintain it. You can lose that desired rhythm almost as soon as you've discovered it.

Attempting to sustain an offensive momentum over a lengthy period of time will test even the most gifted of coaches. It can rack your brain. It can drive you to drink. What works today may prove ineffectual tomorrow. It's a constant battle to keep  those chains moving. And there is no set formula that guarantees success.

Just ask Charlie Weis.

He was hailed as an offensive genius last year because he was able, for the most part, to transform a moribund Irish attack into a certifiable juggernaut.

It was deemed one of the more remarkable turnarounds in recent memory. Almost instantaneously, Weis had made the Domers a genuine threat whenever they possessed the ball. Charlie's creative X's and O's translated into plenty of wins not to mention countless thrills.

So naturally, everyone assumed that ND and Weis would simply build on their efforts of '05 and be even more devastating in his second year.

To many, all Weis and the Irish had to do was show up, lace up their shoes and the scoreboard would light up like a pinball machine.

No matter that ND had lost a pair of  splendid pass catchers in playmaker Maurice Stovall and tight end Anthony Fasano. Or that speedy wideout Matt Shelton had also moved on.

Or surely having to replace two solid starters on the offensive line would prove to be nothing more than a minor nuisance. No big deal, right?

Well, not exactly.

You don't subtract five key cogs from your "O" and not feel it regardless of the quality of replacements you have ready to step in.

And the Irish felt it.

Aside from a notable outing against Penn State in which ND helped age Joe Pa a bit more, Weis' offense at times looked disjointed and sluggish.

The flow that was anticipated had been stopped up. The tempo was clearly out of sync.

Some of the offensive malaise could be attributed to the fact that the Irish were forced into a frenetic style versus the Michigan teams.

Trailing by huge deficits, the Domers were compelled to abandon their game plan and just wing it in hopes of staging a miraculous comeback. Fortunately, those desperation tactics worked against the Spartans but ND's luck didn't hold against the Wolverines.

But generally speaking, most of the "O's" inconsistency resulted from inferior execution. The line was struggling, the running game had been stuffed and even ND's vaunted aerial attack had experienced its' own share of misfires.

Things had gotten so unpredictable that even Brady Quinn was forced to admit that unlike the year before, the Irish hadn't yet established an identity on offense. The senior quarterback wasn't sure what they were or where they were headed.

In other words, their id was hid. And that uncertainty truly troubled both Weis and Quinn.

That's why the Purdue tilt loomed so large. If after five games and nearly half the season, ND's offense was still prone to breakdowns, the future would be dicey.

But against the Boilermakers, the offense boiled over. It finally got hot.

The rhythm, the flow and the continuity had at last returned. The Irish were hitting on all cylinders, particularly in the first half.

Now some in the media tried to downplay ND's excellence by pointing out that Purdue had one of the most porous defenses in the country. And based on statistics, that point couldn't be argued.

But given the manner in which the Irish were executing, it's doubtful almost any defense could have offered much resistance. On this given Saturday, the Domers were in a zone.

Quinn was the consummate field general. He was like a John Stockton in cleats the way he was dishing, feeding and assisting.

Nearly all his throws were on time and on the money. Most everything was clicking; the hitches, the slants, the comeback and sideline routes and the flares to the back.

To say the least, Quinn had it going.

So did his wideouts and tight end. Running more precise patterns and reading Quinn more efficiently than they had all year, the receivers thrived.

Rhema McKnight continued his notable comeback from injury with a monster game that included 10 receptions that went for 120 yards and a pair of scores.

John Carlson and Jeff Samardzija got open when needed and were key targets for Quinn combining for nine catches, good for 108 yards.

But the biggest revelation and the most encouraging sign to come out of the Purdue tussle was the revival of the running game. A ground game that had been grinding to a halt finally found some traction.

First, a tip of the hat must go to the offensive linemen. They were like bulldozers, the way they were carving out huge and gapping holes. You need to travel to the Great Plains to find as much open space as Ryan Harris, Dan Santucci, John Sullivan, Bob Morton, Sam Young and Paul Duncan were providing.

And the appreciative beneficiary of that open territory was  Darius Walker.

Now afforded some room to run, the junior halfbcak was at his very best. Reading his blocks expertly and making decisive and quick cuts, Walker danced his way to a whopping 146 yards and a score.

After being contained the previous two weeks, Walker seemed to have an inordinate amount of  verve and spunk against Purdue. When the holes opened up, he hit them immediately. There was a decided spring in his step that had been missing as of late.

And a fundamental truth was once again reaffirmed. For the Irish to be a offensive heavyweight, they must repeatedly use their Walker.

The question now is was the offensive explosion against the Boilermakers merely a brief interlude or was it a harbinger of things to come?  Was it transitory or can it last?

Now that the Irish have found that rhythm and tempo so necessary to their offensive well-being, can they hold onto it for a while? Can they maintain and sustain the groove they recaptured last Saturday?

We'll know a great deal more about ND's offensive health once they take on Stanford.

If they can do to the Cardinal what they did to Purdue, the Irish may be on to something.