One of the only remotely positive things to come out of that game was Sullivan's injury and Wenger stepping in a center. I don't say that to wish ill for John or because I believe he is the sole problem on this team - hell you would need an abacus and an engineering degree just to start calculating the problems with this team - but I say it because of Wenger's post-game quotes about Clausen.
It looks like Wenger and Clausen have begun to develop a chemistry that is going to be so vital in the next 2 years to generate any kind of reasonable ND success (and I mean reasonable as in 9 or 10 win seasons).
The drops were attrocious, but to Jimmy's credit he did not once ever pout about it. Prima dona problem players would have had ample ammunition and opportunity to throw a hissy fit after those egregious drops all day long, but he did not.
The deep ball is not there for Clasuen this season. I know he was not seen as a cannon arm QB coming in (like Mallet was) but he WAS the #1 QB for a reason...his accuracy was miles ahead of Sharpley and at a minimum the team should be able to hit the off-season this year with little doubt that they have a starting QB, a back-up QB and a future QB all lined up for fall camp.
Off-season "musts" for Clasuen:
1) fully heal from the elbow surgery and embark on a serious weight-lifting and flexibility regiment.
2) spend as many hours throwing routes to Golden Tate as they both can do
3) develop a chemistry with Yeatman, Kamara and Ragone as well
4) study as much film of himself versus Brady Quinn running similar plays and internalize them to the point that when he closes his eyes, he sees the play executed perfectly and the #10 jersey starts to look like a #17 in his mind.
#5) Read John Maxwell's "How to develop the Leader Within You" and "How to Develop the Leader's Around You" about 5 or 6 times each. He shows some innate leadership abilities, but those MUST be overt and omnipresent for ND to succeed. If nothing else, this season shows Weis is utterly incapable of winning games at the D1 level without a very strong QB to lead the team.
He should also spend as much time as possible building a relationship and friendship with Sam Young, Dan Wenger, Eric Olsen, Chris Stewart and Matt Romine - as they SHOULD be his starting O-line next year (or at worst in his junior year in 2010). Turkovich and Duncan should be back-ups. Young needs a serious dose of footwork training in the off-season to be able to be more effective than he has shown and the others will need a strong leader to aid their develoment. If Quinn could win with LeVoir, Morton, Santucci and Sullivan all playing key roles, then Clausen SHOULD be able to do likewise with the aforementioned line.
All in all, I believe the last two weeks - while MISERABLE overall failures in a season for the ages for all the wrong reasons - at last have settled the debate over who should be ND's starting QB. Neither Navy nor Air Force featured dominating pass defenses, but if one were to objectively comapre Clausen and Sharpley in those games, the potential of Jimmy is clearly head and shoulders above Evan. The stats may not show it as clearly, but the way each player runs the offense makes it pretty clear that Evan is a serviceable back-up, but Jimmy is the future star.
