College Bowl Season
DALLAS—Even since Notre Dame completed its second perfect regular season and was voted into College Football’s four-team playoff as the third seed, the Irish have been a pin cushion for criticism from the media, schools in the Big and Pac-12, whose champions were left out, and the SEC, which thought Georgia—which lost to Alabama in that league’s championship game, deserved to be included.
No one questioned the credentials of the other three teams– Alabama, ACC champion Clemson and Big 12 champion Oklahoma, which beat out Ohio State and Georgia for the fourth spot.
But Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly, whose team was routed by Alabama, 42-14, in the 2013 BCS national championship game, has been left to defend whether his independent, which doesn’t play a league championship game, belongs on the same field as the other contenders, despite the fact their margin of victory over four teams who finished the season ranked in Top 25 teams or received votes in the AP poll was 17.8 points.
When Notre Dame plays Clemson Saturday in the national semi-finals at the Goodyear Cotton Bowl at Cowboy Stadium in nearby Arlington, there will be a talent gap. Second-seeded Clemson has six players who could be selected in the first round of NFL draft, including their entire front line of Austin Bryant, Dexter Lawrence, Clelin Farrell and Christian Wilkins. Notre Dame could have six players drafted overall. But it might be unwise to write off these Irish.
The Irish, who won their first three games against Michigan, Ball State and Vanderbilt by less than 10 points, are a completely different team now that Kelly and offensive coordinator Chip Long made the bold decision to replace Brandon Wimbush, a one-dimensional option style quarterback who had gone 12-3 as a starter, with junior Ian Book, before the Irish’s road opener against Wake Forest.
It didn’t take long for Book to make an impact. He completed 25 of 34 passes for 325 yards and two touchdown passes and ran for three more during a 56-27 win over the Demon Deacons. He led the offense—which had maxed out at 24 points in the previous three games under Wimbush—to eight touchdowns and 566 yards, completing passes to ten different receivers.
Book has been a revelation, expanding the Irish’s stagnant offensive repertoire and limiting the snaps the defense had to take. Before suffering a rib injury in the first quarter against Northwestern Nov. 3, Book was leading the country in completion percentage—ahead of Heisman Trophy winner Kyler Murray of Oklahoma and Tua Tagovailoa of Alabama. Book never told anyone he was hurt and played the rest of the way, passing for 343 yards and two touchdowns during a 31-21 victory in Evanston. It wasn’t until the two- hour bus ride home to South Bend, when Book was in so much pain to sit, that the coaches knew the extent of his pain.
The injury sidelined him in a win over Florida State and affected his passing, but he returned to lead Notre Dame to bi-coastal wins over Syracuse in New York City and USC in Los Angeles and lock up the Irish’s first ever CFP bid. Book finished the regular season completing 70.4 percent of his passes for 2,468 yards with 19 touchdown passes for a team that averaged 36.6 points, 485.3 yards of offense, a 162.5 pass efficiency rating and 6.5 yards per play with him in the lineup. Book averaged 306.9 yards passing in the eight games he started, which took pressure off the run game.
“I try to make the most out of it,’’ Book, who ranked sixth in pass completion percentage and eighth in passing efficiency (162.5) said after being named Notre Dame’s Most Valuable Player at the team’s annual banquet. “Just to be in the spotlight and take everything in as Notre Dame quarterback is extremely fun. I came here to be a starter and play football.
“This is what comes with it. I feel very fortunate to be in this position.’’ Book always knew his time was coming. It just took a while for others to see it. He was a three-year starter for Oak Ridge High in El Dorado, Calif., but coaches at elite programs were concerned about his 6-0 size and his 4.75 speed in the 40-yard dash. He was ranked the No. 20 pro-style passer in the class of 2016 and was recruited mostly by Mountain West programs.
Mike Sanford Jr. had offered Book a scholarship when he was the offensive coordinator at Boise State. When he took a similar position at Notre Dame in April of 2015, he still wanted the kid. Book and his family made an unofficial visit to camp that August and fall in love as soon as he saw Touchdown Jesus. Five days later, he called the five programs that had offered him – including Washington State– and told them he was going to Notre Dame. \
Book had to wait before he escaped from the shadows. After DeShone Kizer announced for the NFL draft at the end of the 2016 season, Kelly anointed Wimbush as the starter the next two years and it was widely assumed blue chip freshman recruit Phil Jerkovic would eventually take his place.
But Book, who was undersized and under recruited when he entered school, refused to become an afterthought. He made the most of his chances. When Wimbush was struggling in the 2017 Citrus Bowl, Book came off the bench to throw the game winning touchdown pass against LSU. And he quick to step up when the Irish needed to re-energize their offense early this year and become a national contender.
Book seems more than ready to write a new chapter as the Irish, who haven’t won a national championship since 1988, attempt to make their first championship run since 1993 against Clemson.
