When Jimmy Clausen announced that he was forgoing his senior season at Notre Dame, any chance that the Irish offense would keep pace with the 2009 edition left South Bend as well. With the ascension of Dayne Crist to the starting role, coming off major knee surgery and into a completely new offensive system, it was hard to know what kind of team the Irish would produce when Notre Dame had the ball.
We’ll have most of the offseason to critique the eight games Crist played, but a much fairer measuring stick for Crist is comparing him to the quarterbacks that stepped in and took over programs where other star quarterbacks departed for the NFL.
Quarterbacks Sam Bradford, Tim Tebow, Jimmy Clausen and Colt McCoy were the only four quarterbacks taken within the first 100 picks of the NFL Draft. Each quarterback left behind a top-30 college offense and a successor with different levels of experience.
At Oklahoma, Bradford’s senior season was one wrecked by injury. After coming off an incredible Heisman winning season, Bradford lasted only 14 throws in a season opening loss to BYU, knocked out with a shoulder injury that would limit him to only three games for the season. In his place, quarterback Landry Jones filled in admirably, beating teams like Idaho State and Tulsa before losing to Miami and giving the starting job back to Bradford. Thrown back into action against Texas, Jones led the offense the rest of the season, throwing for 13 touchdowns and 10 interceptions in conference play before leading the Sooners to a win over Jim Harbaugh’s Stanford squad in the Sun Bowl.
In Florida, Tim Tebow left the keys to Urban Meyer’s offense with heralded recruit John Brantley, who apprenticed for two seasons under Tebow, throwing for 10 touchdowns and only one interception during mop-up time. Brantley had two years under Meyer and company’s tutelage, and his advanced passing skills were expected to add another dimension to a Florida offense that was young but filled with playmakers.
At Texas, Longhorn fans got an early look at the quarterback of the future during last year’s national championship, when Garrett Gilbert filled in for an injured McCoy after the opening drive of the BCS Championship game. Gilbert only completed 15 of his 40 pass attempts against Alabama, but seemed to improve as the nightmarish game went on, leading many to think he was poised for a breakout after throwing 66 times during 2009.
Meanwhile in South Bend, Crist became the unquestioned starting quarterback after Clausen decided to leave for the draft. He only threw 20 times in 2009, having completed two short throws in the opening win against Nevada, filled in briefly against Michigan State when Clausen injured his foot, and then got the most action of his career against Purdue. Ironically, Crist was at his best when he ran a small package of zone-read plays, driving the Irish to two straight touchdowns in the second quarter against the Boilermakers before sputtering and being relieved by Clausen, who rallied the Irish in the end for a victory. Crist’s next action was his last before his season-ending knee injury, completing just two of six throws in mop-up duty against Washington State, though one was a long touchdown pass to wide receiver John Goodman.
Comparing Crist with the situations Jones, Brantley, and Gilbert walked into helps add some much needed context for what should have been expected out of Dayne as a first time starter. In fact, when you look at the work Crist (and as an extension, Rees) did, there’s reason to be impressed with the coaching staff’s ability to prepare their newbie quarterbacks and have great enthusiasm for the future of Notre Dame’s offense as the depth chart continues to develop.
If we’re comparing apples to apples, it’s better to throw Jones either out completely, or compare his work in 2009 to that of Crist’s. Even then, Jones was captaining the ship for an elite team -- the 2009 Sooners were a preseason #3 team, and the 2010 edition was voted top ten in both the AP and Coaches Poll this preseason.
Here are Crist’s 2010 numbers for eight games, matched up with Jones’ ‘09 stats:
Crist: 15 touchdowns, 7 interceptions. 59%, 6.9 YPA, 129.34 QB rating.
Jones ’09: 26 touchdowns, 14 interceptions. 58%, 7.1 YPA, 130.83 QB rating.
Jones put up huge chunks of those numbers against a 5-7 Tulsa team and Texas A&M, throwing for 11 TDs and just 3 INTs in those two games. But either way, the numbers are remarkably similar for Jones in 12 games compared to Crist through 8, and it bears mentioning that the ’09 Sooners had four first round draft picks.
Even more interesting is comparing Crist’s season to those had by Brantley and Gilbert, two quarterbacks that also were put in charge of consensus top five teams.
Here’s Crist’s season when compared with those had by the starting quarterbacks at Florida and Texas:
Crist: 15 touchdowns, 7 interceptions. 59%, 6.9 YPA, 129.34 QB rating.
Brantley: 9 touchdowns, 9 interceptions. 61%, 6.4 YPA, 118.79 QB rating.
Gilbert: 10 touchdowns, 17 interceptions. 59% 6.2 YPA, 110.99 QB rating.
Crist’s season, only eight games compared to full seasons for Brantley and Gilbert, is superior to two quarterbacks that were expected to pilot national championship contenders. Crist had far less grooming than either first-time starter, learned a vastly different offense from a new coaching staff while rehabbing a major knee injury, doing it with a team that was unranked at the beginning of the season, approximately 30 or so spots behind the Gators and the Longhorns. When framed this way, there’s plenty of reason to believe that Crist can take a great leap forward next year, with just about his entire offensive line returning and potentially Michael Floyd and Kyle Rudolph.
With Andrew Hendrix and Luke Massa taking off the redshirts, Tommy Rees showing he can win football games, and Everett Golson entering the fray, there will be plenty of time to debate next season’s depth chart at quarterback. But Crist’s performance in his opening season at quarterback shouldn’t be discounted, especially when considering his cohorts.