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Quarterbacks: Notre Dame's Jimmy Clausen outperformed Florida's Tim Tebow against common opponent, and by a huge margin
Feb. 13, 2009
During Notre Dame's stunning Hawai'i Bowl performance, the sideline reporter for the Notre Dame radio broadcast paid a visit to the vicinity of the Hawai'i Warriors bench. He reported back to the booth -- and to listeners -- that Hawai'i players were stunned by how hard the Fighting Irish were coming at them, and that at least one of them reportedly made the comment "Clausen is tougher than Tebow."
The facts bear him out.
Clausen threw for over 400 yards and five touchdowns, completing 85 per cent of his passes, playing in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Against the same opponent, Tebow didn't even come close, playing on his home field.
Interestingly, while Hawai'i's final game was the bowl against Notre Dame, their first game was against Florida and then-defending Heisman winner Tim Tebow.
Baffling as it may seem, rather than offering its players the chance to visit Honolulu, Florida elected to play Hawai'i in Gainesville. In contrast, by accepting the bid to the Hawai'i Bowl, Notre Dame traveled more than 4,000 miles and played Hawai'i on the Warriors' home field.
So Florida, and Tebow, had a decided advantage.
With Florida, Tebow was surrounded by a team that ended up playing in the so-called BCS "national title" game. Even as Utah was the de facto national champion, Florida was named mythical national champion by at least two unofficial opinion polls (one of which was contractually obligated to do so by the BCS; this came despite Florida's weaker performance than Utah, including against late-season common opponent Alabama). In any event, Tebow was surrounded by a team that was either the unofficial national champion or at least in the top-5, depending upon who you ask.
Jimmy Clausen was surrounded by a very young team still in the process of rebuilding, that will not truly have a fully reestablished roster until 2010.
So once again Florida, and Tebow, had a decided advantage.
Despite the advantages for Florida, the startling difference in the performance of Tebow and Clausen was in favor of Clausen. In fact, Clausen outperformed Tebow to a degree that, quite frankly, is jaw-dropping.
Consider that ...
:: Clausen threw for 401 yards ... Tebow only threw for 147
:: Clausen threw five touchdown passes ... Tebow only threw one
:: Clausen completed 85% of his passes, 22 of 26, with no interceptions, while Tebow completed 64% of his passes, 9 of 14 (also with no interceptions)
Some might argue Tebow is multi-dimensional, in that he sometimes runs, so that one should take this into account. Against Hawai'i, Tebow ran for all of 37 yards, on 9 carries, barely more than 4 yards per carry. Clausen had -6 yards, on 2 "carries" (Clausen gave up one sack).
Factoring the "rushes" in, Clausen still had more than twice as much total offense as Tebow, 395 yards to 174 yards. So, the bottom line, Clausen had more than twice as much offense than Tebow, and then some, against the same opponent, with Clausen playing on Hawai'i's home field and Tebow playing on Tebow's home campus.
To be fair, there are a few areas in which Tebow is fighting an uphill battle.
:: Tebow, while a solid athlete, does not really fit anybody's idea of an NFL quarterback ... Clausen is running a New England Patriots offensive scheme that, not long ago, was associated with three Super Bowl victories in four years, with a modern NFL-style passing attack
:: Tebow plays for a program that, when its seniors run out of the tunnel in full pads on senior day, hands them bouqets of flowers (how can anybody not be demoralized by that?) ... Clausen plays for a team that doesn't ... a team with coaches who address their players using the word "men"
There is, in fact, one thing Tebow and Clausen have a bit more in common, to Tebow's great credit. This past year Tebow, a conservative Protestant, on an individual basis, refused to have his name associated with a self-proclaimed preseason All-American list put out by a "magazine" that features photos of women in a state of undress.
Clausen plays for the University of Notre Dame, reportedly the one institution in the land that, as an institution, has refused to have any of its players associated with that pitiable list.
(Ironically, perhaps Tebow would feel a bit more at home under the Golden Dome.)
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