Shinskie had his moments but still played like a freshman. I'll have my second viewing thoughts and grades up late Sunday.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
All good things must come to an end
Like the bowl streak our win streak over Notre Dame was probably a bit overemphasized by those who follow BC. Yet, regardless of its importance, you still don't want it to end! And like the loss to Vanderbilt, this game was a frustrating mess because we didn't play well, had a chance to win the game and ultimately lost to a mediocre team.
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Why am I so depressed right now? Probably because I have to deal with the Midwest Catholics for an entire year. And it does not help that BC has the same record as Iowa fricken' State. Ouch!
Here is what cheers me up. If BC somehow miraculously wins its remaining games, they will have 9 wins. Not bad in a down year after losing 2 players to the NFL, a player to cancer and starting a freshman QB.
Unfortunately, I don't think BC will win all their remaining games as all will be a challenge and 2 are on the road.
Before the season started, I predicted we'd end up in the Nut Bowl. Until the Clemson game today, I had actually raised my expectations of a third trip to the ACCCG, but such is life at BC. You're either gunning for the Orange Bowl, or in a lower tier one. At least the SF bowl is a well run and interesting destination. We might as well be the last ACC team invited.
All things must pass
All things must pass away
All things must pass
None of lifes strings can last
So, I must be on my way
And face another day
-George Harrison
Gotta say that, although disappointed with a loss and the ending INT, I'm impressed with the way the team and Shinskie played today. Gives me a bit of hope that the team has better days ahead for the remainder of the season. Beating any team six in a row regardless of opponent, is no small task. I'm looking forward to the final visit of the Irish to CH next year, but let's focus on the ACC and getting the Atlantic title. Now if only we can find a way for Clemson to get that next loss...
On the bright side, Clausen probably won't be back next year. Neither will Tate for that matter.
What burns me is that Notre Dame now leads the series 10-9. I hate that. I despise that. And next year they come back with Claussen, Tate, AND Floyd. They will be unstoppable.
Did I mention how much I hate that?
The loss was frustrating, but not horrible. I think the team will learn a lot from the loss, and ultimately the game agaisnt ND will build confidence. A quirky confidence builder for sure!
As for the ACCCG, Clemson now has a leg up. But they must still beat FSU. Who knows which FSU and which Clemson teams will show up for that game. The Clemson who lost to Maryland, or the Clemson who beat #8 Miami. FSU still has lot of talent and still potentially has a chance to win the division, remarkably enough, and might be just motivated enough to beat Clemson. We'll know the answer before we start the remainder of our ACC schedule
BC –
at UVA (11/14)
UNC (11/21)
at Maryland (11/28)
Clemson –
FSU (11/7)
at NCSU (11/14)
UVA (11/21)
FSU will most likely need to beat Clemson to become bowl eligible, so I guess we have that going for us.
The season is FAR from over. We'll see exactly what this team is made of next week. Do they rebound and start a winning streak or do they get down on themselves and spiral downward? We've seen how they respond to being blown out, now lets see how they respond to a disappointing loss where they had a shot at the end.
It sucks to lose to ND, but there is still plenty to play for.
What was the argument Clausen was having with the BC player after the the game all about?
Are you all that confident that BC is going to win all 3 remaining ACC games? 2 are on the road and BC has not found a way to win on the road. I just don't think the BC offense is good enough to get them to the ACCCG this season. Further, I really don't believe Clemson loses from here on out. It's the San Fran nut bowl this year gang. Not bad for a rebuilding year.
There's no way Clausen and Tate come back next year eagleboston. They would be passing up way too much money in next year's draft to do so and given Bradford's and Tebow's injuries this year, they would be stupid not to go.
Also, it would be disastrous for the ACC to have BC and its 500 fans down in Tampa for a 3rd straight year. Mark my words, there will be some very bad calls from the refs in the final 3 games. They do not want the Yankee team winning the Atlantic again.
Good point Bravesbill. Although Ryan stayed for his senior year and that turned out pretty well for him.
Ryan was good his junior year but he wouldn't have been a 1st rounder. Ryan didn't become an elite QB until his senior season.
Erik --
there are video of it all over the net, including at ;
http://www.sportsbybrooks.com/video-jimmy-clausen-gets-pushy-with-bc-player-26651
Looks like Gunnel had some pointed words for Jimmy C, and Jimmy C did not know enough to just walk away without shoving -- guess no one ever told him that!!
I saw some site caling Jimmy "america's least favorite QB." Funny. He seems like a total douche bag. If you compare him to Ponder or Skinner vs BC defense, those ACC QBs seem to be much better than Jimmy. I think Jimmy in the NFL will be worse than Brady Quinn and will ride the pines!!
Gunnell's version is that before the game Clausen was talking a ton of trash and then shoved a BC receiver completely uninstigated (Megwa or Jarvis I think, I don't remember) and so when Clausen came to say good game he didn't wanna hear it.
Here's a giant (please underline giant 5 times) long shot but lets say there were some epic meltdowns in the top 10 and GT keeps playing well. If we made it to to the ACCCG and played them and lost and they went to the NC would we get the Orange Bowl by default or do they go pick an at large at that point?
Yea I can't tell which I would prefer to see more next year.
a) Jimmy Clausen go to the NFL and just get completely embarassed ala his freshman year at ND but on a grander stage (but he would be making a ton of money which would still anger me)
or
b) Jimmy stays and gets to come to Chestnut Hill one more time where the crowd reminds him of his 4ints last year in CH while Keuchly and god willing Herzlich abuse the s.hit out of him.
Here is an excerpt from an ESPN piece on the Gunnel/Jimmy Clausen flap...Good job Gunnell!
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The trash talking at Notre Dame Stadium reached a fever pitch as soon as the Fighting Irish wrapped up their 20-16 victory over Boston College. Players were getting into each other's faces. Curses were being flung everywhere. The emotion that had been brewing throughout the hard-fought game finally boiled over.
This was most evident near the Eagles' sideline. BC wide receiver Rich Gunnell, who had a career day by racking up 179 yards and a touchdown, was about to be interviewed on the field. That's when Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen came over, apparently to congratulate him.
Gunnell wasn't having any of it. The fifth-year senior started jawing back and forth with Clausen. For a second, it seemed a brawl might erupt right there.
So, what happened? Here's Gunnell's version:
"In the beginning of the game, we were warming up, running on the field and [Clausen's] out there chirping and talking all this trash and he pushed, I think, Justin Jarvis. He just pushed him for no reason, and I just looked at him like, 'What are you doing? Who do you think you are?
"He's just sitting there still talking and then afterward, he was trying to be all friendly. I was like, 'I don't want to hear it now.'
"It just rubbed me the wrong way. I didn't like what he did. It just seemed like he was a little fake toward the end of the game because they won. I know if it was the other end of the stick, he'd probably be saying the same thing to me."
Clausen told the media after the game that he was just trying to tell Gunnell that he was a heck of a receiver. "I was just trying to say 'good game' to him," Clausen said.
Gunnell agreed with that part of the story, but wasn't buying what Clausen was selling. "After the game he just tried to say 'good game' this and that," the receiver said. "And I thought it was phony."
Speaking of Keuchly abusing people, I love how this kid tackles. It's scary that he's just a freshman because he hits hard, keeps driving and then when the play is over looks pissed that the other team even tried to score.
Overall I am more annoyed The Streak is over than anything. ND has a very very good offense and we held them in check today. We have a Freshman QB, basically freshman LB's and, let's be honest, were bit an elite team. We turned the ball over five tunes to their zero, and still had a chance to win! Our D is young. Out tram is young. We have a lot of good days ahead. Can anyone honestly say they thought we would be 5-3 right now, with this team, ad this close a loss to ND?
Next week will be really tough, but wr can definitaly run the table on our ACC games. The team will learn a lot from today. Shinski will learn a lot. Let's put it behind us and go run the table! This game was meanigless except for the fact that it's ND. ACC games are much more important these days.
PS. Jimmy Clausen is a complete d-bag. That crap he pulled is rediculous. Good for Gunnell to tell him to beat it!
Listening to the postgame show on the drive home from South Bend this evening, they couldn't stop gushing over Clausen: "he demonstrated every pass in the playbook today, yada yada yada." No he didn't. Clausen went vertical about three times all game, and each throw was ridiculously far off the mark. The sissy bomb he threw up for grabs from the endzone was particularly laughable. No, he threw the same 8-yard out route about 25 times, and it was devastatingly effective because of the infamous Spaz cushion.
But Clausen will come out early for the draft because he thinks he's awesome and the media are constantly billing him as such. He will get taken in the first round because it's a weak draft for QBs. And he will be a miserable failure as an NFL quarterback. His cockiness will rub the rest of his team wrong, and they won't follow his lead. That scenario has played out a hundred times. Meanwhile, Tate and Floyd will be outstanding on Sundays, and people will start to realize "hey, this guy just had great talent at receiver--it wasn't that HE was that good.
How much of the belief that this is Clausen and Tate's last college season is based on wishful thinking?
I don't see Clausen leaving this spring when he could begin the 2010 season as the Heisman favorite and a potentially higher draft spot.
It's one thing to believe Bradford would have left early for the money since he could have been a no. 1 or early 1st round pick, but I think Clausen stands to improve more with another season.
They ran the same route b/c BC was dropping 7 and 8 guys and Claussen did the right thing by taking what was given.
BC played well defensively. They have few defensive playmakers, so I'm okay with the zone coverage.
The story of the game is BC's five turnovers. I'd thought it'd be Claussen, but he rarely even looked downfield.
Even given the INTs, if Harris doesn't fumble at the 2, BC may very well win that game with 4 TOs.
Good heart by BC...given the road woes.
Forget Clemson. Just win the next one.
A big thanks to BCMike for getting the downstairs room today at the Atlanta gamewatch.
Here's what I like:
BC wins and everyone is like "oh, look out, BC is in the hunt for a BCS game." ND wins and everyone is like, "Man, well, it's a rebuilding year, but we still almost beat this mediocre ND team."
We all knew it would a slugfest. ND has the better players this year, and they showed up when it counted. Next year might be different, who knows? But this is why they lace 'em up and play.
You know, I came away from this game rather impressed with Claussen (sacrilege!). He's definitely a better QB than Brady Quinn ever was. Brady had two bug-a-boos. He would force throws and he absolutely fell apart if there was pressure. There was nothing Jimmy could do on the safety, but it never seemed like he panicked when the pocket collapsed (those few times) and managed to embarrass our linebackers with a couple scrambles.
Is he a D-bag? Yeah. The dude is insufferable in that peculiar Favre-ian way. But he's good and probably the most impressive passer I've seen this year. It really hurts to say that. And guess what? He's one of the Heisman favorites right now. What QB at a blue-blood program is playing better? Sucks balls.
BC-Norcal --
Have you been reading Clausen's press or making your own assesments??
Just compare how Clausen did against the BC defense vs how Skinner and Ponder did.
Clausen never (i think) completed a long pass; never "threaded the needle" in coverage. It was just short passes to open receivers -- which BC was allowing. We made Clausen play the game we wanted him to play; he did not dominate the game or change the game, as a great QB will.
He is all hype. I was not particularly impressed with his play. I really thought he was going to blow us away and that did not happen.
How is he all hype?
He did what a smart QB should...he took what was given. Should he force the ball downfield, like someone else we know did 3 times?
He's got a great arm and he made the right decisions. Why "thread the needle" when guys were open by 5 yds in the flat all day?
Actually, I think BC's defense played quite well. Even a little pressure every now and then.
Great QB's change games, particularly when they have very talented receivers, as ND does, and are playing a middle-of-the-road defense, like BC's. Clausen took only what BC gave him and did not dominate or even impress. Nice QB but nothing special that's for sure.
Compare your buddy Jimmy against the competition stat-wise vs BC (note: NCAA QBr is higher than NFL QBr and the NCAA and NFL stats are not comparable). As you can see, Jimmy does not compare well to Ponder, Taylor or Skinner and Jimmy is most comparable to Russell Wilson.
J Clausen -- 26/39 246 yds; 66.7% completions; 6.3 yds per attempt; 2 TD; 0 INT; (136 NCAA QBr)
C. Ponder -- 29/42 341 yds; 69.0%; 8.1 yards per; 0 TD; 0 Int ; (137 NCAA QBr)
R. Skinner -- 25/35 354 yards; 71.4%; 10.1 yards per; 2 TD;1 INT; (169 NCAA QBr)
R. Wilson -- 23/40; 243 yards; 57.5%; 6.1 yds per; 1 TD; 1 INT (111 NCAA QBr)
T. Taylor -- 7/10; 126 yars; 70.0%; 12.6 yards per; 2 TD; 0 INT (241 NCAA QBr)
Also, 20 points by ND was not good; you know they were pressing for more, but Jimmy could not deliver. Future NFL QBs deliver!
Jimmy will be back next year b/c the NFL is not lining up to draft him!
So is your point that Tyrod Taylor or Riley Skinner should be the #1 pick in the draft? I'm obviously kidding on that one, but Taylor piled up those (small, small sample size) stats against a defense that never walked onto the field and Skinner in a second half when the D wasn't trying. This week was by far our defense's best game of the year. I also like how Ponder (who you tout so highly) put up the exact same stat line as Claussen.
I still came away from the game pretty impressed by Claussen. There was something about the way he didn't panic and didn't force throws. There were very few receivers open down-field all day, while the underneath receivers were never covered. Guess which routes he threw again and again? The open ones.
If anything, Weis coached his team into a near-loss. Why would they not just run the ten-yard out on every play? If they'd done that ND would've won by 5 TDs. Instead, Charlie got cute, especially in the 2nd and 3rd quarters. Why go wild-cat on 4th and goal?
I'm not trying to be an ND or Jimmy Claussen apologist. I detest both and think that Claussen is a spoiled, class-less punk. I also think that he and Ponder are the two very best passing QBs I've seen all year.
clausen is the same as Ponder .. yeah, except he threw for 100 yards less!
Clausen is just decent, not outstanding.
mod, I don't think you can look past Clausen's laundry. I believe if he played for another team, you would think of him differently.
There is no doubt, none, that Claussen is a legit 1st round pick and played pretty damn well against us.
Citing passer efficiency is absurd. He didn't turn the ball over in a close game. Think turnovers played a part in the outcome? What's next? You're going to compare BC's program to Duke's and Indiana's?
He's an ass. But he was smart.
Our QB wasn't and isn't. Yet.
And, defensively, we played much better against ND than we did against any of the other QBs you cited.
This is almost a silly argument.
CT and Coast --
Oh boy, you are both really falling for the ND hype.
The reason I cited statistics was to present an objective comparison. While CT calls such objective comparisions of QB performance against a common opponent "absurd," no alternative metric is offered. How would you do the comparison?
CT shall we go with your subjective impressions?
I am sure he will be drafted by the NFL, just like Brady Quinn was, and will be bust just like Brady Quinn. Joe Flacco II, Jimmy aint.
But who cares about the draft ... what is your objective evidence that he's so special? In our game ND really needed another score, and Jimmy the great could not deliver. That is the fact.
In the USC game, Jimmy only completed 55% of his passes and the completions averaged only 6.0 yards. Not the stuff that is indicative of a stud QB.
A good QB, yes, but that's it.
What is it about Jimmy/ND that brings out such joy in Jimmy?
So it's no possible for me to have a high opinion of a player just because he goes to ND?
I think he's a jerk and I hate the jersey he wears. I wouldn't want him to wear my team's jersey, at BC or in the NFL. I still think he's a very good player, though, and all that is is my opinion.
Can u back up your opinion?
mod:
Seeing as how ND won, I don't think they needed another score. Would a larger cushion have been nice for them? Sure. But you only have to lead by one to win.
Because ND is on TV every week and because I like Michigan and USC, I've had the misfortune of watching quite a bit of Claussen. He's a very accurate QB who can make all the throws. He rarely forces the ball or gets flustered under pressure. He is second in the nation in passer efficiency and has thrown only two picks all year even though defenses know that Charlie Weis refuses to run the ball. You want stats: 16:2, 2050 in 7 games, 161. Those are very good stats, especially when you consider that his O-line and running game are not good.
Evidence. Yes. It's called watching ND play several times this year.
Vs Michigan, USC, UW, etc. I don't know who you're watching.
No more Claussen PR for me.
CT thank you for your subjective impressions.
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