FightingIrish44 said:

The JC years were a disaster. Is that primary the fault of Clausen or his coach?

3700 yards. 28 TD and 4 INT. One of those INT’s hit Floyd in the back as he was blocking. That’s in only 12 games. Check the box scores of the 2009 season.

It was the defense that mostly lost the games. ND lost 23-21 against Navy while Clausen threw for 450 yards and a completion percentage of 72.5. 37/51 passing. I think he did his job.

Now you put Clausen in an Alabama uniform and suddenly he wins 12-14 games.

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Shakin' Down the Thunder said:

Is it for certain ND won't play Stanford next year? I don't see why they can't. Neither ND or Stanford has a finalized game for the last week of season next year. I can't see why the ACC would be opposed to it.

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FightingIrish44 said:

The JC years were a disaster. Is that primary the fault of Clausen or his coach?

3700 yards. 28 TD and 4 INT. One of those INT’s hit Floyd in the back as he was blocking. That’s in only 12 games. Check the box scores of the 2009 season.

It was the defense that mostly lost the games. ND lost 23-21 against Navy while Clausen threw for 450 yards and a completion percentage of 72.5. 37/51 passing. I think he did his job.

Now you put Clausen in an Alabama uniform and suddenly he wins 12-14 games.

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Get Nasty said:

Agree, but by impact I mean ability to push starters or start, but I doubt we get a game changer, or someone even as good as beaux

He’s playing at a high level

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NDblitz said:

I'm hopeful CAL and Stanford return. Oregon State Washington St CAL Stanford CSU Boise Fresno SDSU and maybe UNLV Tulane Memphis and SMU if possible would make a pretty good confernce.

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savvyandsassier said:

Yeah, I guess. Is that damning with faint praise? We avoided 2-10, and with JC around and his heralded junior season we managed to hit the six win mark? I think it might be. Didn't we lose the last four games, inexplicably, going from a possible New Year's Day bowl to the start of the BK era, which of course was a great boon to ND, in the space of a month? With JC at the helm, ready to really make his mark at ND and get us back into the top tier?

I would consider the JC years at ND a nearly unmitigated disaster. So while he made some very pretty throws, his matriculation was definitely a huge net negative for ND, other than it led to the BK era.

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Golson5 said:

2 different downfield throws. He has to catch that ball

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FightingIrish44 said:

I’m happy Clausen came to ND. Excellent QB playing for mediocre to terrible teams.

ND might have gone 2-10 in 2009 without him. We all saw the issues in 2010 and 2011 with Crist and Rees. It’s very possible that ND wins 10-12 in 2010 if Clausen returns. If Kelly arrives in 2009, perhaps Clausen leads the team to it’s first major bowl win since 1993. Too bad on both accounts. Now we’re in 2024 and ND still hasn’t won one.

If he returns for his senior year like Brady did, there’s a good chance he’s #1 in passing yards for ND.

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Shakin' Down the Thunder said:

What tells you that SC and Stanford would have that on their agenda? If ND could schedule Big 10 schools for years, then why can't ND continue to play SC and Stanford annually?

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savvyandsassier said:

Yeah, well.... he sucked. ND's rosters were not that shitty when he was there, that's way more than a myth. He had a legit QB guru who handpicked him in Weis Sr., and nurtured and coddled him. And while he had a big junior year and flashed his 'arm talent' quite a bit, mainly on slant routes that apparently made him such a wunderkind. And then went to the NFL and absolutely did not make it at all. After being a three year college starter with the offense revolving around him. And as a 2nd round pick someone who definitely had his chance to impress and consistently didn't.

And he was about as uncharismatic and naturally not likable as you could possibly be. So much so that it actually hurt his NFL career. And yet ND fans still cling to him as the misunderstood and underrated golden boy of the modern era for ND, who was felt to have been robbed somehow, in some unspecified way from achieving his true greatness, when the exact opposite would be true and he enjoyed every last possible advantage and opportunity. To the point that he appeared to have been so coddled and so overly nurtured and catered to, vaguely reminiscent of Todd Marinovich only from a totally rich family, that it probably stunted his development. In fact it almost certainly did.

But it's true that he has a pretty nice highlight reel. And a terrible W/L record.

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NDblitz said:

Lincoln Riley literally said as much in July.
. "There (have) been a lot of teams that sacrifice rivalry games," Riley told reporters. "I'm not saying that's what's going to happen, but as we get into this playoff structure and if it changes or not, we get into this new conference, we're going to learn some about this as we go and what the right and best track is to winning a national championship."
I've been looking at future schedules for years. And three teams have always been on there years in advance. Navy SC, Stanford.

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NDblitz said:

I have a sinking feeling USC and Stanford are going to make ND join a conference eventually by dropping ND. It's coming. USC is only scheduled through 2026. they are going to cite travel as the reason. Then ND is going to have a hard time scheduling P4 schools outside the ACC, especially if anyone wiggles out past 2028. People will not be too excited about 5 ACC schools, 1 Big 10 school, and 6 G5 teams on the schedule. The 2025 schedule, right now, looks really good. Like 10-2 gets you in the playoff good. 2026 is shaping up to be very solid too. But 2027 is a ? as there are currently only 6 games and no USC/Stanford. 2028 is solid.

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Get Nasty said:

Yep… but it’s also not shocking your drop percentage increases when you have less opportunities in most cases. In 3 games Leonard has thrown that downfield pass twice… that’s it… once a horrible throw for a pick and once a greathouse drop

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Irishjohn68 said:

What do you care you don’t even consider him a commit.

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