…but Notre Dame has a Heisman candidate.
There was a reason I put Jimmy Clausen at No. 6 on my preseason Heisman Watch. The Irish quarterback seems to have turned the corner. He had a monster game against Nevada on Saturday, going 15 of 18 for 315 yards with 4 touchdowns passes and no interceptions. In his last two games, he has 716 passing yards, with 9 touchdown passes and zero picks and is completing 84 percent of his throws.
Now, before you say “But, it was against Hawaii and Nevada…”, I grant you that. But remember that Nevada, at least, was a trendy pick by many to go in and upset the Irish.
There is still a long way to go before Clausen can be considered a serious contender. The Michigan game will be a test and then he has a few weeks to build up some credentials before taking on USC. If Clausen has truly arrived as an elite quarterback, that game will be his chance to show it.
If Jimmy Clausen beats The Chosen One Tim Tebow for the Heisman this year, expect to hear a ton of crap from SEC fans about how “the South needs its own Heisman” and so on. That will actually probably happen regardless of who wins (assuming it’s not Saint Timmy) but it will be many times worse if the winner is from the Big 10/Notre Dame.