Quarterback switch propels No. 8 Irish
Notre Dame threw the Book at Wake Forest. Ian Book rushed for three touchdowns and threw for two more in his first start of the season, leading the No. 8 Irish past the Demon Deacons 56-27 in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Book replaced Brandon Wimbush in the starting lineup and was 25 of 34 for 325 yards, with touchdown passes covering 3 yards to Brock Wright and 7 yards to Chase Claypool, along with three short scoring runs.
“Every week, I've tried to prepare like I'm the starter, and when my name's called, I need to go in there and play at my best and make sure the offense can succeed,” Book said.
He helped the Fighting Irish (4-0) more than double their previous season high for scoring and roll up a season-best 566 total yards, surpassing the previous high midway through the third quarter.
Before this one, Notre Dame hadn't scored more than 24 in a game, and its wins over Michigan, Ball State and Vanderbilt came by a total of 20 points.
Coach Brian Kelly said he made the switch because he was concerned that the offense's struggles were starting to weigh on the other parts of the team.
“I didn't sleep great last night, because that's a pretty big decision to make when you're 3-0 and your quarterback that was leading your football team was 13-3 as a starter,” Kelly said. “But I had a lot of confidence in Ian and I thought our offense played to the level that it was capable of. That certainly showed itself today.”
Jafar Armstrong had touchdown runs of 1 and 30 yards, and Tony Jones Jr. added a short scoring run for the Irish, who will ride their best start since 2015 into next week's showdown with No. 7 Stanford.
Matt Colburn had a 2-yard touchdown run and Nick Sciba kicked two field goals for Wake Forest (2-2), which has lost two straight.
“Notre Dame outplayed us. They outcoached us. They outprepared us. They were just more ready to go than us today, and they showed it,” Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson said. “The score's probably closer than the game was.”
Purdue 30, No. 23 Boston College 13: Rondale Moore caught two touchdown passes for the Boilermakers, and Purdue picked off four passes.
David Blough passed for 296 yards and three touchdowns for the Boilermakers (1-3).
The Eagles (3-1) rolled in unbeaten and in the top 25 for the first time in 10 years, but Anthony Brown, coming off a career game with five touchdown passes, threw four interceptions. Star tailback A.J. Dillon was held to 59 yards on 19 carries.
North Carolina 38, Pittsburgh 35: Antonio Williams and Nathan Elliott turned in careerbest performances in the Tar Heels' return after having a game canceled due to Hurricane Florence.
Williams, an Ohio State transfer, ran for 114 yards and two touchdowns for UNC (1-2, 1-0), while Elliott shook off two games worth of inaccuracy to throw for a career-best 313 yards with two scores while completing 71 percent of his passes.
Duke 55, N.C. Central 13: Quentin Harris threw for three touchdowns and Brittain Brown ran for 118 yards on 13 carries as the host Blue Devils beat the FCS Eagles in a clash of Durham teams.
No. 3 Clemson 49, Georgia Tech 21: Trevor Lawrence threw for 176 yards and Travis Etienne ran for 122 as the Tigers won in Atlanta.
Florida State 37, Northern Illinois 19: The struggling Seminoles survived as Deondre Francois threw for 352 yards in Tallahassee.
Southern Methodist 31, Navy 30: Hunter Thedford caught a 2-point conversion pass in the first overtime in Dallas on a play that led to several minutes of discussion by officials and a review before it was held up, and the host Mustangs earned their first win over the Midshipmen in 20 years, ending an eight-game slide in the series.
After Ben Hicks threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to James Proche, new coach Sonny Dykes decided to go for his first win with SMU (1-3, 1-0) right then.
Offensive lineman Chad Pursley went in motion from the tightend spot on the left to the slot right, and Hicks threw to Thedford over leaping linebacker Taylon Heflin in the end zone.
The officials met for several minutesas fans chanted “S-M-U,” then started booing, before referee Adam Savoie announced a review. Not too long after that, he announced the play was legal, delighting most of the fans.
LaGrange 42, Apprentice 13: The host Panthers (1-2) capitalized on four Apprentice turnovers and rolled up 373 yards of offense to beat the Builders (1-2) in Georgia.
The Builders scored on Terrence Sudberry's 19-yard touchdown pass to Louis Picolo and Kareem Wilson's 17-yard fumble return. Apprentice's Fred Hendri- eth had 14 carries for 72 yards.
Kelly Hall was 14 of 22 for 171 yards and two touchdowns for LaGrange.
North Dakota State 38, Delaware 10: The FCS No. 1 Bison, who have won six of the last seven national titles, took a 28-0 first-quarter lead in Fargo and cruised. NDSU intercepted three passes by Pat Kehoe.
Howard 41, Bethune-Cookman 35: Caylin Newton was 20 of 32 for 301 yards and two touchdowns as Peninsula native Mike London's Bison (1-2, 1-0) beat the Wildcats (1-3, 0-1) in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference opener in Daytona Beach, Fla.
Ferrum 81, Greensboro 0: The Panthers routed the visiting Pride as Zack Clifford was 13 of 16 yards for four touchdowns and 246 yards.
Emory and Henry 52, Rochester 17: Tyler Redmond's 100yard interception return for a TD highlighted the victory by Hampton native Curt Newsome's Wasps in New York state.