Notre Dame's Clausen good to go
NOTRE DAME | Jimmy Clausen has shown his toughness to NFL scouts and silenced critics who questioned his maturity and leadership
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen comfortably sat in the recruiting lounge of the team's palatial football facility.
He deftly dodged questions of his Heisman Trophy candidacy and an NFL future.
(AP)
He talked of how the adversity of the previous two seasons was paying dividends this year.
This was Wednesday, some 72 hours before adversity again would strike Clausen and his teammates in the form of an unfathomable 23-21 home loss to Navy, a 12-point underdog.
Good-bye BCS bowl bid. So long, Heisman talk.
Such conversation was downgraded to talk of ND being a Pittsburgh prime-time party-pooper when the Irish (6-3), who were banished from the Top 25 Sunday, visit the No. 8 Panthers (8-1) Saturday.
''Right now that's the only thing you are chasing,'' Weis said. ''You can't be worrying about two or three games down the line. You've got to worry about Pittsburgh Saturday night. Pittsburgh just ended up beating Syracuse soundly [Saturday]. They're ready for their dog-and-pony show. It'll be the largest crowd in Heinz Field history. They're all ready for their major celebration when Notre Dame rolls into town.
''It's like the sacrificial lambs are rolling into town. We don't intend to be that.''
Wake up the echoes, indeed.
Weis talked plenty about accountability through his press conference Sunday. But not once did he take any blame for being the coach of the first ND team to do the unthinkable.
''There's never been a Notre Dame team that lost to Navy twice in the past 50 years,'' linebacker Brian Smith said. ''We beat them 43 straight times and I've lost to them twice already. It's frustrating.''
Frustrating.
The words being bandied about by alums around the postgame tailgates were much more stinging.
If athletic director Jack Swarbrick didn't stick around to hear them Saturday, the e-mails and voice mails headed his way will get those same messages across.
Weis was willing Sunday to point out that the game film was full of players' miscues.
''It's going to start here today when we get with the players,'' Weis said of holding people accountable. ''Unlike after the Michigan game and USC game where I didn't feel a beat-down was in order ... Now that I kind of know all the things that happened in the game on offense and defense and special teams, now I can authoritatively get in front of these guys and say, 'OK, we want to talk about what happened, let's talk about what happened' and just go through the game. Without being just totally condescending and demeaning, let them know that you want to know why you lose. Here's why you lose, and go right down the list.
''It's always easy because I always start with me. But there's plenty of evidence in this game where these guys are going to feel sick to their stomachs, and for the guys that really care, which I think will be most of them, for the guys that really care, they're not going to feel very good about what they're going to see.''
Yet Weis wouldn't even admit that bypassing a field goal on a fourth-and-goal from the 3 early in the second quarter, with ND down 14-0, was wrong.
''In hindsight you can say, well, those three points would have been the difference in the game,'' Weis said. ''There's a lot of plays in the game where a situation like that comes up. But we had a play that we felt really good that we were going to score a touchdown on, that Robert Hughes is coming wide open on, but the Sam linebacker is hitting [Clausen] as he goes to throw it.''
Three years ago, Clausen said he came to Notre Dame ''to win national championships and Heisman Trophies.''
His sterling play this season -- 68 percent completion rate, 2,770 yards passing, 20 touchdowns to three interceptions -- could still earn him a trip to New York to watch someone else hoist the Heisman.
As for winning a national championship. This team -- which with one more loss may not even get a Gator Bowl bid -- is eons away.
''It will be tough,'' Clausen said, when asked about leaving ND with his No. 1 goal gone. ''Your goal every season is to win a national championship. You shoot for the highest. You don't shoot to be 9-3, 10-2. But it's not like you come to Notre Dame just to win national championships. You come for the experience, the tradition, the education.''
Clausen, who is considered a top 10 draft prospect, said Wednesday he has not spent a moment thinking about jumping early to the NFL.
To be sure, his family has.
The phone never rang for brother Casey Clausen on draft day. The former Tennessee quarterback turned to Jimmy and said, ''This will never happen to you.''
Injury, however, could.
Jimmy Clausen, who has played the last six games with a turf toe, might have had his NFL dreams derailed with the hit he took at the goal line Saturday. His hurting left arm from that collision should serve as a reminder how fragile this all is.
It will be tough enough to get through this season without further bodily damage.
Clausen has shown his toughness to NFL scouts, quieted his critics with the leadership and maturity shown.
''People are going to say what they want to say,'' Clausen said. ''I've only been focused with what goes on in this building, and with my family, and coaches. You really can't listen to everything.''
Clausen always will listen to Weis, who should tell his QB: ''Pass on another season at ND.''
It's what needs to be said.
Even if they are Weis' last words as Irish coach.
And they should be.
* Clausen: T-7th; 9.0