Rockne's Roundtable

He was before my time FC. But my old man is very fond of Joe T. Also was a helluva pro QB having won a superbowl. He represent's ND very well imo. Class man.

Good point on the rushing yardage, Lou. Clausen could certainly throw, but a lot of his throws were of the jump ball variety. You didn't really see that 20 or so years ago. I remember Huarte and Hanratty lifting perfect rainbows to Jack Snow and Jim Seymour. While Clausen had a great touch on that kind of throw, guys who didn't see Huarte, Hanratty, LaMonica, Theisman et al have no idea what they're dismissing when they call Clausen a clear number one.

On the other hand, Clausen played on pretty bad overall football teams. It's just hard to compare players from different eras and supporting casts. It would have been fun to see Clausen play on some great Notre Dame football teams, and, although a lot less fun, at least interesting to see how some other Notre Dame great QB's would have fared in the Weis years.

Ham,

The run from Huarte through Montana was extremely special, but nothing in college football matched the 1943-56 run.

Angelo Bertelli — Heisman Trophy, College Hall of Fame, national champ
Frank Dancewicz — No. 1 overall pick in NFL Draft
John Lujack — Heisman Trophy, College Hall of Fame, national champ three times
Frank Tripucka — Unbeaten in lone season as starter, number retired by Denver Broncos
Bob Williams — College Hall of Fame, national champ
Ralph Guglielmi — College Hall of Fame, unbeaten in 1953
Paul Hornung — Heisman Trophy, Hall of Fame

Even in the darkest days under Joe Kuharich, the Irish featured the No. 2 pick in the 1960 NFL draft with George Izo, and Daryle Lamonica (1960-62), who had a brilliant pro career while going 66-16-6 as a starter (second to Otto Graham in all-time winning percentage by a starting NFL QB).

Lou, that was quite a run, indeed. Of course the comparison makes me think of questions like the '27 Yankees vs. the '98 Yankees. The landscape changes, even in the shorter interval of the ND QB comparison. The benchmarks are based on the time frames, and while the benchmarks are the same, the time frames aren't. I find those to be impossible questions.

Lou, I've always maintained, at most, you can say they were the best in their era. As such, I should not have claimed any "Golden Era" status to the quarterbacks I named, even though their greatness is undeniable. The playing field is not level across the decades. For example, as indicated, Unitas did not have the benefit of coaching and training that modern day quarterbacks do (think of the "training regimens" of stalwarts like Bobby Layne, Billy Kilmer and Sonny Jurgensen). Conversely, they were not playing against the caliber of opponent that current quarterbacks do. Defensive linemen, today, are probably as quick as linebackers were back then, while today's linebackers are as big as some of the linemen Unitas would have faced. What scale can balance all these factors? It should be enough to say they were the best of their time. No small achievement in that.

Ham,

Yes, it does all become relative.

Joe Montana finished his Notre Dame career barely completing 50 percent of his passes (including 23-of-59 in bowls with five INts and two TDs), and threw more picks (30) than TDs (27), including bowls. Tony Rice's passing stats were even worse than Montana's, including two TDs and nine picks as a senior.

Tommy Rees hasn't even entered his junior year and already has more TD passes than Montana and Rice (32), fewer interceptions (22) and has completed 64 percent of his passes.

So based on that raw data, who would a space alien trying to learn the game say is the best among the three? Indeed, it's a different game.

Sometimes the mouse that is running that wheel in my so-called cranium just conks out.

Lou and Ham. You're preaching to the choir. At least one member of the choir.