[bigboydan]

Charlie Weis sure didn't take long to finally put him in there did it.

Clausen gets starting nod at QB against Penn State

Updated: September 4, 2007, 12:32 PM ET

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- True freshman Jimmy Clausen will start for Notre Dame against Penn State on Saturday.

"I think he's ready to run the offense. If I didn't think he was ready I wouldn't do this," coach Charlie Weis said Tuesday. "I'm not going to play musical chairs with our quarterbacks."

Clausen was rated by many as the top high school recruit last year. Weis said Sunday that Clausen could not have started the opener because he was recovering from arthroscopic surgery to have a bone spur removed from his throwing elbow. Weis said Clausen wasn't fully healthy until last week.

Notre Dame was held to 130 yards passing last week, ranking them 94th of 113 teams. Clausen played the final two series and was 4-of-6 passing for 34 yards and sacked once.

Saturday's 33-3 loss Saturday to Georgia Tech was the worst season-opening loss in Notre Dame history. It was the third straight game the Irish were soundly beaten, dating back to a 41-14 loss to LSU in the Sugar Bowl and a 44-24 loss to USC in the regular-season finale.

It's also the first time the Irish failed to score a touchdown in a season opener since a 20-12 loss at Michigan in 1985.

The three points are the fewest points scored by the Irish under third-year coach Weis. The previous low was in a 14-10 win in the season-opener against Georgia Tech last season.

But even more frustrating was that the Irish offense looked inept against the Yellow Jackets as Weis went through three quarterbacks trying to find a spark. Demetrius Jones tried to run the ball and Evan Sharpley and Clausen tried to pass, but none of them could find any room as the Georgia Tech defense repeatedly overpowered the Irish line.

The Irish quarterbacks were sacked nine times for a loss of 69 yards, including Sharpley being sacked seven times. Even subtracting the sack yardage from the rushing total, four Irish backs managed 44 yards rushing on 17 carries. Starting tailback Travis Thomas lost seven yards on seven carries and the Irish line was repeatedly stuffed on short-yardage situations.

[Doc JS]

Dan,

If Weiss thinks that Clausen is the furture (and I think that's the general concensus), then this is the right play. Throw him into the fire. Let him take his lumps. The Irish are going to be bad this season regardless of who QB's. So, next year, he'll have a years experience under his belt.

[Benson17]

It won't help that much.

Notre Dame blows this year.
Penn St. will roll.

[bigboydan]

Are they sucker points this week or not is the real question.