Jimmy Clausen, You Are No Brady Quinn

Let me make one thing perfectly clear. This article has nothing to do with who will or won't have the better NFL career. This is purely about what both Brady Quinn and Jimmy Clausen have done at Notre Dame. For any other quarterback mentioned, I am also looking at only what he did in South Bend.

Jimmy Clausen has had a great year this year. He is by far the most improved player in all of college football. Much like his predecessor, Quinn, Clausen has made an incredible jump from sophomore to junior year. Also like Quinn, Clausen has led one of the best offenses in the country. Both guys had minimal help from the defense also.

The difference is end results. With Quinn at the helm the Irish went to two straight BCS Bowls. There will be no BCS this year and if Clausen leaves, his legacy is not even close to Quinn's.

I remember when Quinn graduated and Clausen arrived in a rather arrogant fashion. Like many I was skeptical and knew he had a tough act to follow. After all, Quinn was the best quarterback I have seen in my lifetime at Notre Dame. He was the best quarterback in South Bend since Joe Montana.

Looking at the gap of great quarterbacks between Montana and Quinn, the only other quarterback that even belongs in the conversation is Rick Mirer. Ron Powlus was a huge disappointment. There was no doubt that Quinn was something special and the Irish hadn't seen a quarterback like that in a long time.

I heard all the hype about Clausen and hoped he would live up to it but knew he had big shoes to fill. That is why I would usually avoid any talk about who would be better between Quinn and Clausen. I found that disrespectful to Quinn and all he did for the Irish while he was there.

He put Notre Dame back on the map in college football when it was gone for so long. Many of these really good recruits that came under Weis are there because of Quinn. They saw what was going on in South Bend and wanted to be part of it.

Clausen himself was probably influenced by Quinn. He saw what this quarterback was doing in this system and understandably wanted in.

Whenever, I heard Clausen would be even better than Quinn I would roll my eyes. Deep down I was thinking I sure hope so. After three years, you can say that he has a great statistical year. However, when is the last really long winning streak they had with Clausen at the helm?

Oh yeah, they haven't had one. The longest streak we had with Clausen is three games. We all remember the long string of victories Quinn led the Irish to in both his junior and senior seasons. Those streaks both started after disappointing losses to USC and Michigan. That tells me that as good as Clausen is, he is not a proven winner.

Sure Clausen did lead all these comebacks this year. However, can any of them really compare to the one Quinn led the Irish to against Michigan State? Just look at the size of deficits.

Clausen did lead the comeback against USC and was one play away from forcing overtime. Then we remember that when Quinn was in that same position he scored on a keeper. The only problem was he scored a minute too quickly.

My favorite memory of Quinn was against UCLA when Notre Dame did not play a great game. However, when the Irish got the ball with a minute left I knew they would win. I had faith in Quinn. Of course, he didn't let me down.

This past Saturday, the Irish played it's worse game of the year. Yet with a minute left, they got the ball back. I knew the Irish would win because Clausen would't let me down. Oh yeah, he got safetied.

Certainly it is not all on Clausen. His defense has let him down and there is doubt about the coach. Oh wait, Quinn had that same coach and his defense was even worse.

I am not trying to attack Clausen here. I think he has done an incredible job this season. Saying he is not as good as Quinn is not by any means an insult.

I was hoping to write an article at the end of the year entitled "Brady I love you, but Jimmy is the Man." However, I can't say that he is better than Quinn because the results aren't even close.

In closing, I would love to see Clausen come back next year and I would love to be able to retract all of this.