Jimmy Clausen Is the Best Quarterback in the Nation

Notre Dame junior quarterback Jimmy Clausen completed 23-of-31 passes and threw for a career-high 422 yards in Saturday’s thrilling 37-30 overtime victory against the University of Washington in South Bend.

“He played a terrific game,” Washington head coach Steve Sarkisian said of Clausen, 22, who was named the Davey O’Brien Foundation Quarterback of the Week for his stellar performance last weekend.

“There weren’t very many things that were just clean for him in the pocket. A lot of what he did was when pressure came, he was able to avoid the rush, buy time, kept his vision extremely well and made lots of plays down the field.”

Clausen, the signal-caller with the best passing efficiency rating in the country (179.3), has become a frontrunner to win the Heisman Trophy because of the ability he has shown to flourish on the gridiron during pressure situations this autumn.

“The kid (Clausen) is playing at a very, very high level,” Irish head coach Charlie Weis said of his highly-touted 2007 recruit.

Clausen has thrown for 1,544 yards and 12 touchdowns, in comparison to a measly 2 interceptions, while leading the Irish to an improbable record of 4-1.

The legend from Thousand Oaks, California has amassed his impressive statistics despite being hampered on the field this season with a turf toe injury on his right foot.

Clausen, who never lost a game in his prep career at Oaks Christian High School (42-0) and is the owner of the California state record for touchdown passes (146), has long chapped the asses of critics that perceive him as a flimsy pretty-boy.

Much of the negativity was born when, with brazen confidence that bordered on unlikable arrogance, Clausen announced his oral commitment to play for the Irish at the College Football Hall of Fame in Indiana after he arrived in a stretch Hummer Limousine.

At the announcement, the high school football star once named “Offensive Player of the Year” by the USA Today in 2006 predicted that he would guide Notre Dame to four national championships.

Clausen, who has been mocked for the flamboyant hairstyles that he has worn over the years, took over as Notre Dame’s starting quarterback in the second week of the 2007 season.

Clausen, behind a patchwork offensive line, was routinely brutalized on a weekly basis and the Irish concluded their 2007 campaign with a putrid mark of 3-9.

In 2008, Clausen fared a tad better and the Irish managed to win their first bowl game since 1994 and they escaped with a winning mark of 7-6.

Nevertheless, with the exception of the portly and inexplicably egotistical Weis, Clausen entered this season as the most scrutinized member of Notre Dame’s football program.

To this juncture, Clausen has stifled all of his critics and he has proven himself to be the best quarterback in the nation.

In Clausen’s junior season in high school, a Sports Illustrated feature dubbed him “The Kid with the Golden Arm.”

For the majority of his time at Notre Dame, fans only saw sporadic glimpses of a “kid” with a “golden arm.”

Mainly, supporters of the Irish simply saw Clausen as an immature “kid” both on-and-off of the field.

Jimmy Clausen has finally matured into a man and he still possesses a “golden arm.”

With a player the caliber of Clausen, the Irish no longer require luck to win.

Notre Dame needs to play sound defense and they have to protect Clausen and keep him healthy.

If the Irish can succeed in doing the aforementioned tasks, good fortunes will follow Notre Dame all the way to their bowl game in 2010.