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Weis says Notre Dame's use of laptop in coaching box wasn't illegalEAST LANSING, Mich. -- Charlie Weis insisted Notre Dame wasn't trying to break the rules by having a laptop computer in its coaching box during a 23-7 loss to Michigan State on Saturday.

"It wasn't like there was somebody trying to do something illegal," Weis said.

Michigan State spokesman John Lewandowski said the school asked a liaison to the officials to remove the laptop after noticing one being used by the Fighting Irish. The liaison took the laptop out of the their coaching box during a break in the first half.

"The first thought you have is, 'Are they tracking tendencies or other data,'" Lewandowski said. "You cannot use that type of that resource in the coaching box. That's just like you can't have a replay monitor."

Weis said the officials approached him about the laptop and then he asked offensive coordinator Mike Haywood about it.

"I asked upstairs if there was one," Weis recalled. "I was talking to Michael and he said, 'No.' Then, I guess one of the interns had one over there. Then I immediately told [the officials] that there was an intern [with a laptop] and he took it off a ledge and put it on the floor."

Weis said he told the officials that he wasn't trying to do something improper while walking off the field at halftime.

"The last thing I ever want to do is lie," he said.

Weis is 24-16 in three-plus seasons at Notre Dame after working as the offensive coordinator for Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots from 2000-04. Belichick and the Patriots were fined and sanctioned by the NFL last year for video taping opponents sideline signals.

Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press

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