As of the 2008 season, Notre Dame's bowl record is 13-15.
Notre Dame 9
As of the start of the 2012 season, Alabama and Notre Dame have met six times, all between 1973-1987. In those games, Alabama has won once and Notre Dame has won five times. Notre Dame has outscored Alabama 112-86 in all meetings. 11/14/1987 Alabama 6 - Notre Dame 37 10/4/1986 Alabama 28 - Notre Dame 10 11/15/1980 Alabama 0 - Notre Dame 7 11/13/1976 Alabama 18 - Notre Dame 21 1/1/1975 (Orange Bowl) Alabama 11 - Notre Dame 13 12/31/1973 (Sugar Bowl) Alabama 23 - Notre Dame 24
Through the 2008 season, three. They lost the Fiesta Bowl played January 5, 2009 and the 2006 and 2007 season BCS Championship games. Ohio State's last bowl victory came over Notre Dame, 34-20, in the Fiesta Bowl on January 2, 2006.
Notre Dame's won loss record in the 2007 season was 3-9.
Total Meetings (4) Notre Dame Won 3 times and lost once
USC and Notre Dame have met 79 times prior to the 2008 football season. Notre Dame has won 42 times, lost 32 times and had 5 ties. There first meeting was in 1926. Source: http://football.stassen.com/cgi-bin/records/opp-opp.pl?start=1869&end=2007&team1=Southern+California&team2=Notre+Dame
4 ... 1974 (game was played 12/31/73) defeated Alabama, 1981 lost to Georgia, 1992 defeated Florida, and 2007 lost to LSU.
As of 2009, Notre Dame and Ole Miss have played twice, in 1977 and in 1985. The first game was won by Ole Miss, 20-13 (the only game that Notre Dame lost that season), and the second was won by Notre Dame, 37-14. Source: http://www.olemisssports.com//pdf5/638465.pdf?&DB_OEM_ID=2600
Through the 2008 season, 0. Michigan lost to Notre Dame, 35-17, on September 13, 2008. Michigan had won the two previous games. Michigan won the first 8 games of the rivalry (1887-1908) but, since then, has not won more than 2 in a row.
Scapegoat theory
Assuming that you are referring to Notre Dame's Head Coach, Charlie Weis, the answer is that he lost 90 pounds.
USC went 11-2 in 2007. They defeated Idaho, Nebraska, Washington State, Washington, Arizona, Notre Dame, Oregon State, California, Arizona State, UCLA, and Illinois in the Rose Bowl. They lost to Stanford and Oregon.