Stanford prepares for Notre Dame’s dynamic Book
Under other circumstances, Stanford might be facing quarterback Ian Book a month from now when it plays Washington State. He initially committed to the Cougars in 2016 before Notre Dame lured him to South Bend.
He’ll start for the No. 8 Irish against the No. 7 Cardinal on Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium after a sensational performance in his first start of the season and just the second of his career. He passed for 325 yards and two touchdowns and ran for three scores in a 56-27 rout at Wake Forest.
The redshirt sophomore took the starting job after head coach Brian Kelly decided that incumbent Brandon Wimbush, though 3-0 this year and 12-3 in his career, wasn’t a good enough passer to get the Irish past the tough teams — such as Stanford — on the schedule. With Wimbush, Kelly thought, the inconsistent offense was putting too much stress on the defense.
Kelly is playing it coy on his Saturday starter, but if it’s not Book, it’s possible that even Touchdown Jesus will raise an eyebrow.
Stanford head coach David Shaw is impressed with Book. “The kid’s got an accurate arm, a quick release,” he said. “He’s a good athlete. He can get out and escape and get first downs. That’s an added thing you have to deal with.”
Book is a Northern California native who stands an unimposing 6-foot, 203 pounds. He threw for 7,632 yards and 78 touchdowns as a threeyear starter at Oak Ridge High School in El Dorado Hills (El Dorado County).
After redshirting in 2016, he played in 10 games for the Irish last season. He started one game (when Wimbush was hurt) and won, but he is best known for coming off the bench to rally the Irish past LSU 21-17 in the Citrus Bowl.
Kelly might want to keep a two-quarterback system alive to keep Wimbush engaged in case Book gets hurt. After the Wake Forest game, Kelly said, “It would be absolutely foolish for me to sit here and go, ‘We’ve got one quarterback and one quarterback only.’ We’ve got two really good quarterbacks. and I’m going to reserve the right, each and every week, (to determine) who’s the best guy for that week to win.”
Chris Simms, NBC Sports’ Notre Dame football studio analyst, said he wasn’t shocked by Book’s performance Saturday. In his second year of covering the Irish, Simms said he has been “extremely impressed” just watching him throw.
“When you watch pregame warm-ups, just about every game I’ve been to, I said he’s the best thrower of the football on the field,” he told The Chronicle on the phone. “He can really spin it. He throws a very catchable, perfect-spiral type of football that makes it easy for the wide receivers to run after the catch. He’s got a quick release. He has a great understanding of the drop-back pass game, and I think that’s something that’s been missing at Notre Dame.”
Simms thinks Kelly knew his team could go only so far with Wimbush. The offense might roll up big yardage on the ground but would struggle in tight games when it had to pass. One such game was last year’s 3820 loss to Stanford, when Wimbush threw two interceptions in the fourth quarter.
Both teams are 4-0, and the winner probably will enter the College Football Playoff discussion. As Simms sees it, the rest of the Irish schedule, though not easy, is “not a murderers’ row.” He thinks Notre Dame’s overall talent level is “disrespected on a regular basis.” There are NFL prospects all over the roster, he said.
“Nobody’s on the level, in my eyes, of Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson and Georgia; they’ve separated themselves from the rest of college football,” he said. “But if one of those teams does slip up, then Notre Dame is one of those teams that can creep up into that conversation.”