The CULion "Clausen Challenge"

[CULion17]

I don't think anybody will argue that the four picks by Clausen were poor decisions and made winning nearly impossible.
Regardless, anybody who thinks the kid should be benched, or that he sucks, or some of the other crap I have read is not posting objectively. If you think last night was bad, you would have been hospitalized had you watched Dayne Crist who has never taken a snap ever in college or Sharpley who hasn't taken a snap all year against that defense.
Every single opposing coach this season has commented quite highly in regards to the sophomore qb. This guy will start for the rest of his career unless injured.

Here is the challenge Clausen must now face. Every opponent since the UNC 2nd half has had great success by rushing no more then 4 defenders and dropping at least 7 defenders in coverage. A legitimate rushing attack would help this problem but seems to be a tall order. Providing Clausen with more then 3 seconds to find receivers open in the coverage windows might be asking too much as well. So Clausen is having to pick a side based on pre-snap read, pull the trigger to one of those options based on post-snap read, and DON'T FORCE PLAYS THAT AREN'T THERE. Throwing the ball away 20 times is frustrating as hell but a lot better then throwing the ball away 16 times and throwing 4 picks. The ability to not press when your down and force passes that aren't there is what seperates good quarterbacks from great quarterbacks. He will get good practice vs. Navy and Syracuse before a big test from the SC defense.

The CULion "Clausen Challenge": I'd like to offer you all an opportunity to relate to what Clausen is facing, have fun, and potentially earn money.

1) Find a large tree and attach tire on a rope.
2) Warm up by throwing a football at the non moving tire from 15yds 15 times.
3) Now have a helper swing the tire and throw 15 more times from the same distance.
4) Now set up 8 obstacles between you and the tire spread out over the distance the tire will cover from left to right on any given swing from one side to the other. Ladders, stacked chairs, patio umbrellas, xmas trees, and other items make for great "defenders".
5) Swing the tire and try to throw the ball thru it without hitting any of the "defenders". This will simulate trying to hit your receivers in the coverage windows. 15yds distance and a few reps to get warmed up.

Here's the $ step

6) Use the same scenario as step #5, but now have three people rush you while you take a three step drop. Let one of the individuals knock you on your ass every third rep. You also can try to avoid the rush if you choose.
Here's how to win the money. Do 46 reps of step #6 and hit the tire with the ball at least 26 times w/out hitting a "defender" more then four times. First person to send me a tape of you doing this successfully and I will not only enjoy the hell out of watching it, but I will send you $100 cash. Anybody else want to contribute?

I am in no way issuing this challenge to be an ass or condescending. I think I might inspire a fun afternoon for somebody, or create an AWESOME drinking game by doing this. One thing that I can guarantee will happen for anybody who does this: you will have a greater appreciation for how frustrating an experience it can be for a QB sometimes. You will also experience what Clausen will hopefully be challenged with in practice for the remainder of the season (using real people of course).

[HereComeTheIrish]

Good stuff, CU.

[DiamDawg]

Dude ... i'm with U on Jimmy ... he is moving along and progressing quite well .... he does need to make post snap reads ... but dude ... the OL is no wheres near as bad as U want to make them out to be .. not even close ...

place blame where it is deserved ... and the OL deserves some .. but so does Jimmy ... they need to improve and so does he ..

[daytonirish]

Agree I went overboard last night. But by what you said, then what do the Irish do if Jimmy gets hurt. According to what you posted we have no one capable of stepping on the field. If Sharpley is not ready to come off the bench then the coaches are to blame. Do I think Sharpley should have see the field last night, yes I do. But like you said I have never played QB at this level or any other so it is just an opinion. But the game does sound like fun, wish you would have posted it before it got cold here and we have snow flurries. Heck my beer will freeze outside.

[ND_Ownz!]

The kid's a true Sophomore, running a complex O. And let's not forget what a waste last year was for him, since he spent almost all of it on his ass or running for his life.
I think he's done very well considering he is still getting almost no time to make any reads.

[CULion17]

Dude ... i'm with U on Jimmy ... he is moving along and progressing quite well .... he does need to make post snap reads ... but dude ... the OL is no wheres near as bad as U want to make them out to be .. not even close ...

place blame where it is deserved ... and the OL deserves some .. but so does Jimmy ... they need to improve and so does he ..


I'm sorry but saying that Jimmy's four picks make it nearly impossible to win is placing blame in my book. I don't know what else you want me to say to better convey that I blame Jimmy and give him most credit of all for the loss.

We'll have to agree to disagree on the Oline. No where near as bad? Really? 5 ND offensive lineman can't keep 3 defensive lineman away from the QB for more then a couple seconds. Coach Haywood can't even play with a full deck because of them. We've wondered all year why the passing game is all fades, slants, outs, seams, and screens well now we finally figured out why. If 5 lineman can't give the qb a couples seconds against a 3 man rush how in the hell is he going to get time to wait on a post, dig, or crossing routes? Is the lack of a running game Clausen's fault too? Did you see a ND offensive lineman used as an extra defender to tackle Aldridge?


DI, I am not saying that Sharpley and Crist aren't capable backups. CW apparently spends one on one time with both of them during the week to help them mentally progress. What I'm saying is that they would have fared far worse then Jimmy in the same circumstances last night due to skill, experience, and the fact that BC's defense made ND a one dimensional team hoping to find an open receiver in 3 seconds amongst 8 defenders.
I wouldn't have been against benching him for a series to wake his ass up, but not pulling him completely.

[eric_navy]

CU, I totally agree with you on this. I have not seen the type of quantum leap in the Oline that some have. It would be almost impossible for them to get worse after last year, but they still get burned way too much, and it's really easy for opposing defenses to shut down the offense by dropping everyone into coverage.

What do you think needs to happen for them to improve? The popular answer is a new Oline coach, but you haven't been very warm to this. Do you have other ideas that could make these heavily recruited individuals turn into at least an average unit?

[SoCalDomer]

I appreciate your post up to the clausen challenge.

I can criticize the president without having been a president myself. I can criticize a quaterback without having been a quaterback myself.

Now, I'm with you on not calling for Clausen to be benched. Nor am I saying he sucks, or any other inappropriate comments about his worth, character, etc.

My frustration is what appears to be the lack of alterations made so that Clausen wouldn't feel the need to force it into double or triple coverage. I only recall one play where there was an open WR hit going all the way across the field. why that play or others like it weren't called more often i don't know. or why more quick slants, screens (non-WR screens that is), etc, weren't called, i don't know. whether those would have made a difference, again, I don't know.

but i do know great coaches and great players make adjustments when they need to. great coaches game plan to play against the opponents' weaknesses, not to play into their strengths. if the opponent was going to take away the deep stuff, call short plays. if the coaches can't get the team to execute any of the short plays, or any plays that are effective, then i guess all that is left to say is the coaches aren't doing their job.

[CULion17]

SoCal, whether alterations are made or not there are always temptations in any game to force something that isn't there. I, you, and everyone else definitely see that he has to figure out real soon you just can't force good things to happen.

Believe it or not I think the staff is gameplanning pretty well. The problem is when you drop 8 in coverage the deep, middle, and short is covered pretty well so you have to have the time to wait for the receivers to get into the windows. The best remedy is a run game that keeps a defense from even considering dropping 8 into coverage.


I think I'm going to start an oline thread and a playcalling thread to touch on those sore topics.

[ALLND62]

The kid's a true Sophomore, running a complex O. And let's not forget what a waste last year was for him, since he spent almost all of it on his ass or running for his life.
I think he's done very well considering he is still getting almost no time to make any reads.

I definately do not blame Jimmy; I know it is supposed to be a complex pro system; but I am amazed at how bland the plays are. We hardly ever use any misdirection and we put our receivers in motion and they stop right behind the hole that our backs are going to try and run thru. the 2 biggest surprises that we did Saturday was 1. threw a pass to Ashwap and 2. let Ashwap carry the ball. I am glad to see that he got a couple plays but those kind of new plays are not going to make the defense wonder whats coming next. If it weren't for our fake punts we would have no imagination at all. I love the Irish and all of their players but the play calling nearly makes me ill.............I probably should take up drinking so I could laugh at how plain and easy to figure out what we are doing and where we are going. I only coach 5th and sixth grade football but we don't run that plain of an offense.

[daytonirish]

I think it has more to do with the execution than the play calling. We could call gadget plays 5 times during a game, but if the team doesn't execute them then they are useless. I think CULion posted it, but any way what this team needs to do is get a series of plays and practice them until they get to a point that everyone is so positive it will work that everything falls into place. ( CU if it wasn't you who talked about TT working on x amount of plays and getting them perfected than I'm sorry for naming you).

[SpanishElite]

Im with CU and Dayton on this one. Clausen pressed and tried to make the big throws when they werent there. He tried to throw a seam ball with 2 deep safeties and the MLB dropping and threw the INT. He overthrew Rudolph because he saw the underneath coverage and threw another INT. Yes it was wet, but I dont think that or his ankle injury had a huge affect on the game.

And everybody knows like we have been saying here for 1 and 3/4 years, when you cant run the ball you cant do much of anything. We didnt have success running the ball inside, outside, with speed (AA) or power (JA and RH). And when BC knew he had to throw every play its easy to come up with schemes as a DC to stop it.

We need to get better every where. I think he attack the deep out region of the field along with the fade area alot. I dont see alot of slants or underneath stuff. But you look at how many tip and batted balls we got on our 3 step drop stuff because the OL couldnt get the DL hands down.

And on top of that all. When you have so many penalties and get into 3 and 2 and long there is not much you can do. Add on top of that a blocked punt, bad punting, penalties on special teams, and even though the defense played well an inability to cause turnovers you are going to loose very game.

All you can do is move forward, get better, and press on. I still support Coach Weis and the staff 100%. I dont think the middle of the year is time for coaching change talk. That is our staff and we are going to go into these last few games and make a bowl game and then win that thing to.

Go Irish.

[sreepointer]

I read early last week on practice reports that Jimmy wasn't sounding good, like he was sick. That was on Tuesday and Wednesday. I am not trying to make an excuse as much as maybe supplying an explanation.

From BlueandGold.com today:

Clausen Battles The Flu

There’s no denying that Jimmy Clausen hasn’t been playing his best football in recent weeks, and as Weis acknowledged last week, the sophomore quarterback is a regular on the Irish injury report. However, as bad as he’s been at times this season, he’s never looked so much like the 2007 version of himself as he did in Saturday’s game against Boston College.

Weis revealed on Sunday that a bout with the flu might have been a major contributor to Clausen’s erratic performance that resulted in four interceptions and no touchdown passes.

“He wasn’t looking very good on the plane coming down,” Weis said of when he first noticed symptoms with his starting quarterback. “As the game went on he probably wasn’t feeling too well, physically, and how the game was going.

“He’s had a bunch of different things that he’s had to deal with, physically, and he’s fought through all those. But I think that more than anything this weekend, it was not feeling good.”

We should cut him break regardless, everyone has a bad game every now and again, but this might help explain more as well.

[IMIRISH]

I can appreciate how having the flu could make one person not play well. However, unless the entire O'Line also had the flu, smallpox, or ebola what was their excuse? Are you really trying to justify how five grown men can't stop three rushers?

[sreepointer]

Not at all, but not all 4 of Jimmy's pics are on the line. He made some bad decisions, but there is plenty enough blame to go around. There has been a lot of Jimmy bashing going on over the last 24 hours and it is not all on him, or all on the line. It was a complete group effort to suck that bad last night.

[jdfromde]

if i send a video tape of me looking off the ladders, stacked chairs, patio umbrellas, xmas trees, and other items and then throwing to the open tire on the other side of the field, will i get the money?

[NDgrandson]

1) Find a large tree and attach tire on a rope.
2) Warm up by throwing a football at the non moving tire from 15yds 15 times.
3) Now have a helper swing the tire and throw 15 more times from the same distance.
4) Now set up 8 obstacles between you and the tire spread out over the distance the tire will cover from left to right on any given swing from one side to the other. Ladders, stacked chairs, patio umbrellas, xmas trees, and other items make for great "defenders".
5) Swing the tire and try to throw the ball thru it without hitting any of the "defenders". This will simulate trying to hit your receivers in the coverage windows. 15yds distance and a few reps to get warmed up.


I don't know about ladders or chairs, but Stoney has a variety of tables that are already stood up in his yard. As defenders go, he has been able to penetrate them with great consistency. BTW, all umbrellas have been removed. If hesends in video of him with the tables, the video would get major hits online, however, he might have to go back to jail.

[CULion17]

if i send a video tape of me looking off the ladders, stacked chairs, patio umbrellas, xmas trees, and other items and then throwing to the open tire on the other side of the field, will i get the money?

Awesome!!! I love GH!!
The answer is no btw. If u can get the objects to react to your eyes though, you will never have to worry about making money again in your life.

[txfightin4theirish]

I read early last week on practice reports that Jimmy wasn't sounding good, like he was sick.

Isn't there a special priest on the sideline devoted to carrying around a blessed can of chicken noodle soup for halftime?

[jdfromde]

Awesome!!! I love GH!!
The answer is no btw. If u can get the objects to react to your eyes though, you will never have to worry about making money again in your life.

oh, it's been done... they're just scared of cameras is all :alcoholic: