updated 1:56 p.m. ET Sept. 7, 2006

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis can live with the intentional grounding penalty Brady Quinn took to avoid a hit.

It's the other eight penalties the Fighting Irish offense took -- most of them on the line -- and other mental errors in their season-opening victory against Georgia Tech that has him worried heading into Saturday's game against No. 19 Penn State (1-0).

Weis is clearly frustrated by the problems.

“When a guy gets physically beat, somebody beats him because the guy’s a good player or the play took too long to develop, that’s one thing,” Weis said Tuesday. “But it’s another thing when you have double-digit mental mistakes and nine penalties. If we play like that, we’re going to be stagnant every week. That’s what we’re going to work on this week.”

The 14 points fourth-ranked Notre Dame scored last week was its lowest total in 13 games under Weis. The 384 yards total offense was the fourth lowest.

Two penalties caused Notre Dame's first drive into Georgia Tech territory to stall. The Irish never looked like the offense that broke many of the school's offensive records a season earlier.

"If Ohio State beats Michigan on Nov. 18, then they will hand the Heisman Trophy to Troy Smith. But if OSU loses to Michigan, and Notre Dame beats USC on Nov. 25, then Brady Quinn will be the frontrunner for the award." — NDFootball FROM NOTRE DAME CENTRAL: MSNBC.com contributor John Tamanaha believes that even if Ohio State loses to Michigan, Smith still takes the 25-pound Heisman home if he merely puts up numbers in the neighborhood of his current season averages -- 15.8-of-23.7 for 200.6 yards and 2.2 touchdowns.   Click, comment on Heisman race

"The bottom line is when you do things like that, you're not going to score a lot of points," Weis said.

Weis said he's more worried about fixing those mistakes than he is solving the problems Penn State's defense brings.

"I'm dead serious. No matter how good Penn State is athletically, which is very athletic, we have to take care of our own problems right off the bat," he said.

The penalties against the offensive line were particularly disturbing because the Irish return four starters and Weis thought that would be the least of his concerns. The Irish did start a freshman, Sam Young, at right tackle, but he had just one false start penalty. Veteran left tackle Ryan Harris had two penalties, one a personal foul for a leg whip and another for holding.

Weis said he didn't mind the penalty against Quinn.

Slide show   Week in Sports Pictures A Flyin’ Lion, an onrushing Tide, hard hoops fouls and more. more photos

"Sometimes there are penalties you'll take," he said. "Like I'll take an offensive pass interference if somebody's about ready to intercept the ball. ... To me that's smart football. But holding, leg whipping, blocking downfield, blocking in the back, those are things that are just lack of concentration and a lack of fundamentals and techniques."

Weis said he will address the problems this week in practice, although he declined to say exactly how.

"They'll be tired at the end of practice," he said.

MORE FROM MORE NEWS AND OTHER FEATURES

Hansen: Weis facing key questions

Hansen: Weis facing key questions Man who witnessed Rockne plane crash dies Notre Dame ends worst season on high note Opinion: Who knew you could get fired for losing to ND? Forbes: Irish most vaulabe college football program Notre Dame finally wins at home, rips Duke '57 captain says '07 team could learn from his ordeal Quinn loses bet, wears USC jersey for interview Notre Dame upsets UCLA for first win of season Irish drop to 0-5 after defeat to Purdue   Add More news and other features headlines to your news reader: