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Does Notre Dame have a quarterback controversy? Does Coach Weis play the QB that gives his team its best chance for victory on Saturday's and if not, why not?

Please remember I am an outsider and have no inside information regarding Coach Weis nor the Notre Dame football program.

I watched with interest through fall camp seeing that Coach Weis was not naming a starter for the Georgia Tech game. I also was aware Notre Dame was pinning their early season hopes on a stable of running backs. Therefore, it came as no surprise to me that Demetrius Jones was named the starter for the Georgia Tech game, recognizing Jones could assist the running game. I was surprised during the game that there didn't seem to much of a scheme in place to utilize Jone's talents. I was further surprised to see how quickly Jones was pulled from that game. When Jones didn't see the field in game two, I didn't understand how Jones went from starter to not seeing the field during the Penn State game. The Weis explanation that I read was Clausen is the QB that gives us the best chance to win, but he wasn't quite healthy enough to start against Georgia Tech-although Clausen did play.

Week three you have Michigan and during game week I thought the Irish might go back to Jones because Clausen didn't play well against Penn State and Michigan had proved to be inept in their first two games against a running QB. Jones doesn't get on the bus for the game which led me to believe he must not have been in the ND gameplan for Michigan. As with other thngs, I could be wrong, but I assumed Jones would have gotten on the bus if he was a part of the game plan.

Fast forward to the Purdue game when Sharpley enters to game for Clausen and gives ND a chance to win against Purdue in the second half. Fast forward again to the Boston College game wherein Sharpley replaces a non productive Clausen and again puts the team in a position to challenge to win. In between you have the ND victory agaist UCLA. I did not see the game, but apparently Clausen didn't play well, but also, didn't take the game on his shoulders and lose the game.

The Notre Dame running attack throughout the season has not been good, with few exceptions.

Now we enter SC week with Notre Dame all of a sudden looking at an SC team that looks beatable. Who will start at quarterback? Coach Weis is saying a decision will be announced tuesday. Coach Weis says he evaluates his QB's based upon performance in practice as much as performance in games and that Clausen is the better QB in practice-one who can make all the throws. I think it is a fair analysis of the Notre Dame passing attack under Clausen to describe it as dink and dunk, end of story. I think it is further fair to say that when Sharpley has entered the game he has made some plays down the field. The team seems to have a bounce in their step that I don't see when Clausen is quarterbacking. Again, in fairness, you have to recognize that when Sharpley enters the game there are different circumstances than when Clausen starts the game.

So what is the deal? It goes without saying that Coach Weis knows more about QB's, his team, and the game than I. Does that mean Coach Weis can't be wrong or make a mistake-of course not. I believe, and have previously said on DeathRattle, that in my opinion Jones got the short end of the stick. My opinion-you don't win the job in fall camp, play a quarter and a half and find yourself on the bench and in the plan no longer. To me that is what appeared to happen with Jones.

Clausen VS. Sharpley. I understand the deal about practice performance, but in crunch time in basketball, do you want your best practice foul shooter at the line or your "gamer" who is not about to miss the big free throw at games end. Those may not, and often are not, the same people. Maybe this is all as simple as Clausen was promised the job in his recruitment. Maybe it is as simple as Coach Weis will not admit a mistake. Maybe it is as simple as the talk of winning is lip service only and Coach Weis decided to sacrifice this season for next. Maybe Coach has told all the recruits that they will be coming in with a second year QB at the helm. Where does it put the program if Sharpley becomes the starter. He has one more after this.

My thoughts are that Sharpley should start against Southern Cal. Based upon what I have seen in games Sharpley gives the team its best chance to win and I would bet the team feels the same way. Does Sharpley mean ND should beat SC-hell no! To me Sharpley increases ND's chances against SC and they are only chances. I will await the starter decision with interest and for the explanation that goes with it, if any.

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