The legacy of Jimmy Clausen is that of a missed opportunity in Notre Dame football history.
After all, he might well be the best quarterback ever to suit up in the Notre Dame blue and gold. And yet, he leaves without ever winning more games than he lost in a regular season.
Jimmy Clausen's brilliance has been well-documented. If the Heisman Trophy could be awarded in a vacuum, without paying attention to team records, Clausen would have a really good shot at winning it and would quite possibly be in New York City this weekend for the presentation. It sounds ridiculous because he plays for a 6-6 team, but the fact of the matter is, Jimmy was the best quarterback in America this year. It really wasn't particularly close.
Statistics can't tell the story of Clausen, but they're a start. 3,722 passing yards. 68 percent passing. 28 touchdowns. Four interceptions, two of which were tipped and the other two of which were catchable balls (if poor decisions). Stats, though, don't capture the fear of God that was put into any team when Jimmy had a chance to win the game. I can only imagine what USC fans probably felt like as Jimmy was dissecting the Trojans' defense on his team's final drive on October 17th, or the relief they probably felt after Duval Kamara slipped on his route to prevent Jimmy's perfect pass from hitting him between the numbers for a game-tying touchdown that may well have turned the tide of the Irish season.
That USC game did turn the tide of the Irish season - for the worse. Although ND escaped a mediocre BC team and clobbered a hideous Washington State team in the two weeks after that, the Irish were never the same. And it was because the shine was off Clausen. It wasn't his fault, but ND's failure to deliver a victory against SC at the end put a dent in Jimmy's aura of late-game invincibility that he couldn't undo.
If it weren't for his supporting cast failing at the end of all four November games, Clausen would probably have a 10-2 record and a BCS bid to show for his efforts, but he doesn't. Clausen won ND games they probably shouldn't have won against Michigan State, Purdue and Washington with three consecutive game-winning drives, all on a painful turf toe that he did his best to pretend wasn't there (the way he walked when not being chased by defenders gave him away). If his defense had a pulse, it would've been four, as Clausen engineered what should have been a game-winning drive at Michigan. For that matter, if his defense had a pulse, ND would probably be 12-0 - ND scored at least 21 points in all six losses this year.
November made things pretty bad for Jimmy. His offensive line was so pathetic late in the game against Navy that he ended up being sacked for a safety that locked up the game for the Middies. The following week against Pitt, Jimmy was chased around by the Pitt defense while attempting to lead his team back and ended up having the chance to win it being stolen away from him by a replay official who inexplicably ruled an incomplete pass that had been blown dead well before anyone from Pitt picked it up as a fumble - one in a long line of ridiculous replay decisions that have gone against ND in the Weis era. Against UConn, everyone but him seemingly screwed up, as two late-game fumbles by Michael Floyd and Armando Allen helped UConn to OT and ultimately to the win. And in the final insult, ND allowed Stanford to score the go-ahead TD because it was the only way to ensure a chance to win it with Clausen. Jimmy once again got betrayed by his O-line but got ND within striking distance before running out of time.
Clausen will probably be shredded by the media pundits for his team's poor performance, just like Brady Quinn was (and still is in Cleveland). They'll ignore that Clausen is one of the most insanely accurate passers to ever walk this earth - I swear that more of Jimmy's incompletions than not were the product of throwaways or receivers failing to make a play on a ball they needed to make. Ultimately, he'll probably get picked behind a quarterback he's obviously better than, like Quinn was, and he'll probably get pigeonholed by whatever team takes him and unfairly benched behind someone he's obviously better than, like Quinn was. And none of that will ever take away from my memories of him - just like with Quinn.
