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In August, I published a piece comparing current Notre Dame Fighting Irish quarterback Brandon Wimbush to his six of his predecessors at the position: DeShone Kizer, Everett Golson, Tommy Rees, Jimmy Clausen, Brady Quinn and Carlyle Holiday.
I anticipated the reaction to the post, which was a mixture of “Holy crap! This is a cool way to think about it!” to “Totally unfair to compare Ty Willingham-coached teams to Brian Kelly in year eight.”
I acknowledge a true statistician may be able to find a fairer comparison. I’m still going to run the data and see what emerges.
There were 69 plays runs during Saturday’s game against the Michigan Wolverines, with Wimbush under center for 67 of them.
So here’s how every Notre Dame QB did in their 736th snap through their 802nd snap, with Wimbush’s numbers representing his line for the Michigan game.
Play selection, yards and first downs
Quarterback | Run | Pass | Yds gained from run | Yds gained from pass | Total | 1Ds | 1Ds by pass | 1Ds by QB run | % of 1Ds accounted for | % of 1D runs accounted for by QB |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Quarterback | Run | Pass | Yds gained from run | Yds gained from pass | Total | 1Ds | 1Ds by pass | 1Ds by QB run | % of 1Ds accounted for | % of 1D runs accounted for by QB |
HOLIDAY | 48 | 19 | 131 | 133 | 264 | 12 | 5 | 0 | 41.7% | 0.0% |
QUINN | 30 | 37 | 62 | 277 | 339 | 14 | 8 | 1 | 64.3% | 16.7% |
CLAUSEN | 35 | 32 | 160 | 315 | 475 | 25 | 15 | 1 | 64.0% | 10.0% |
REES | 26 | 41 | 131 | 327 | 458 | 21 | 14 | 1 | 71.4% | 14.3% |
GOLSON | 37 | 30 | 162 | 271 | 433 | 23 | 13 | 2 | 65.2% | 20.0% |
KIZER | 41 | 26 | 172 | 275 | 447 | 18 | 11 | 4 | 83.3% | 57.1% |
WIMBUSH | 45 | 22 | 115 | 170 | 285 | 14 | 7 | 3 | 71.4% | 42.9% |
If these were single games, the lines would look like this:
Holiday: 9-of-19 (47.3%), 133 yards. 1 touchdown (running). 1 interception, 1 fumble lost, 6 times sacked
Quinn: 19-of-37 (51.3%), 277 yards, 2 touchdowns. 3 interceptions, 3 times sacked.
Clausen: 22-of-32 (68.8%), 315 yards, 3 touchdowns, 0 interceptions, 1 time sacked.
Rees: 28-of-41 (68.3%), 327 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 interception, 1 fumble lost. Not sacked.
Golson: 21-of-30 (70%), 271 yards, 3 touchdowns (2 passing, 1 rushing), 0 interceptions. Not sacked.
Kizer: 17-of-26 (65.4%), 275 yards, 6 touchdowns (5 passing, 1 rushing), 0 interceptions. Sacked once.
Clausen has shaken off the troubled 2007 season. His arm is a major part of the offense at this point in his career. Rees’ numbers are buoyed by the Irish’s 56-14 dismantling of the Navy Midshipmen in 2011. Four of the seven quarterbacks played Michigan at this point in their careers, which is quirky more than statistically significant.
OVERALL OFFENSIVE PROWESS
For those curious to compare offenses from different years and offensive styles:
Notre Dame Offensive Rankings
Year | Quarterback(s) | Rushing Offense | Rank | Passing Offense | Rank | Total Offense | Rank | Offensive S&P+ | Rank |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Quarterback(s) | Rushing Offense | Rank | Passing Offense | Rank | Total Offense | Rank | Offensive S&P+ | Rank |
2000 | Battle, Godsey, Lovecchio | 213.55 | 15 | 132.18 | 109 | 345.73 | 76 | n/a | n/a |
2001 | LoVecchio, Holiday | 188.18 | 30 | 101.55 | 114 | 289.73 | 110 | n/a | n/a |
2002 | Holiday, Dillingham | 139.38 | 68 | 174.15 | 91 | 313.54 | 108 | n/a | n/a |
2003 | Quinn, Holiday | 157.25 | 56 | 179.08 | 92 | 336.33 | 90 | n/a | n/a |
2004 | Quinn, Dillingham | 127.42 | 85 | 218.08 | 54 | 345.5 | 81 | n/a | n/a |
2007 | Clausen, Sharpley, Jones | 75.25 | 115 | 167 | 110 | 242.25 | 119 | 15.8 | 117 |
2008 | Clausen, Sharpley | 109.69 | 100 | 245.38 | 34 | 355.08 | 65 | 23.2 | 83 |
2010 | Crist, Rees, Montana | 126.62 | 92 | 253.08 | 34 | 379.69 | 61 | 35.6 | 16 |
2011 | Rees, Hendrix, Crist | 160.38 | 54 | 252.62 | 40 | 413 | 35 | 36.3 | 14 |
2012 | Golson, Rees | 189.38 | 38 | 222.77 | 71 | 412.15 | 54 | 35.2 | 21 |
2014 | Golson, Zaire | 159.5 | 68 | 285.5 | 18 | 444.9 | 32 | 36.8 | 21 |
2015 | Zaire, Kizer, Wimbush | 207.6 | 28 | 258.8 | 35 | 466.4 | 27 | 41.2 | 11 |
2016 | Kizer, Zaire | 163.3 | 80 | 254.3 | 48 | 417.6 | 62 | 34.4 | 36 |
2017 | Wimbush, Book | 269.3 | 7 | 178.9 | 102 | 448.2 | 27 | 33.6 | 24 |
2018 | Wimbush, Book | 194.8 | 47 | 246 | 59 | 441.7 | 45 | 34.8 | 32 |
EVERY QB SINCE 2000 THROUGH 802 SNAPS
And finally, here are the updated stats for each of the seven quarterbacks who have reached at least 802 snaps at Notre Dame:
Notre Dame Quarterback Statistics, First 802 Snaps
Quarterback | HOLIDAY | QUINN | CLAUSEN | REES | GOLSON | KIZER | WIMBUSH |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Quarterback | HOLIDAY | QUINN | CLAUSEN | REES | GOLSON | KIZER | WIMBUSH |
Run | 587 | 411 | 413 | 371 | 440 | 437 | 500 |
Pass | 215 | 391 | 389 | 431 | 362 | 365 | 302 |
Yds gained from run | 2361 | 1737 | 1040 | 1876 | 2144 | 2323 | 3161 |
Yds gained from pass | 1239 | 2219 | 2301 | 3019 | 2845 | 3179 | 2057 |
Total | 3600 | 3956 | 3341 | 4895 | 4989 | 5502 | 5218 |
First downs | 172 | 174 | 171 | 236 | 245 | 241 | 211 |
First downs by pass | 56 | 94 | 100 | 145 | 134 | 135 | 87 |
First downs by QB run | 40 | 16 | 11 | 6 | 27 | 38 | 43 |
% of 1Ds accounted for | 55.8% | 63.2% | 64.9% | 64.0% | 65.7% | 71.8% | 61.6% |
% of 1D runs accounted for by QB | 34.5% | 20.0% | 15.5% | 6.6% | 24.3% | 35.8% | 34.7% |
Touchdowns | 21 | 24 | 24 | 45 | 36 | 53 | 46 |
Touchdowns thrown | 3 | 11 | 17 | 27 | 14 | 27 | 17 |
Touchdowns thrown % of all TDs | 14.3% | 45.8% | 70.8% | 60.0% | 38.9% | 50.9% | 37.0% |
Touchdowns run | 18 | 13 | 7 | 18 | 22 | 26 | 29 |
Touchdowns run by QB | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 11 | 14 |
% of total TDs that were run by QB | 14.3% | 0.0% | 8.3% | 0.0% | 25.0% | 20.8% | 30.4% |
TDs by QB (arm or legs) | 6 | 11 | 19 | 27 | 23 | 38 | 31 |
TDs by QB as % of total TDs | 28.6% | 45.8% | 79.2% | 60.0% | 63.9% | 71.7% | 67.4% |
Interceptions | 8 | 18 | 12 | 15 | 6 | 10 | 7 |
Interceptions per attempt | 3.7% | 4.6% | 3.1% | 3.5% | 1.7% | 2.7% | 2.3% |
Fumbles | 21 | 12 | 23 | 14 | 14 | 15 | 7 |
Fumbles lost | 12 | 3 | 12 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 5 |
Fumbles by QB | 13 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 5 | 7 |
Fumbles lost by QB | 6 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 5 |
QB carries (including sacks) | 189 | 54 | 76 | 28 | 107 | 151 | 167 |
Fumbles lost per QB carry | 3.2% | 3.7% | 3.9% | 17.9% | 3.7% | 1.3% | 3.0% |
Sacks | 31 | 15 | 38 | 7 | 16 | 23 | 25 |
Sacked per pass attempt | 14.4% | 3.8% | 9.8% | 1.6% | 4.4% | 6.3% | 8.3% |
Completions | 108 | 189 | 223 | 277 | 218 | 231 | 151 |
Completion % | 50.2% | 48.3% | 57.3% | 64.3% | 60.2% | 63.3% | 50.0% |
Yards per comp | 11.47 | 11.74 | 10.32 | 10.90 | 13.05 | 13.76 | 13.62 |
Yards per attempt | 5.76 | 5.68 | 5.92 | 7.00 | 7.86 | 8.71 | 6.81 |