Notre Dame Football: Ian Book must be starter going forward

Ian Book was the surprise starter for Notre Dame football in Week 4. He should the man going forward after a five-touchdown performance against Wake Forest.

The passing game was the chief reason for the concern surrounding the Notre Dame football program three games into the 2018 campaign. Fans of the Fighting Irish were well aware of the struggles that senior quarterback Brandon Wimbush had dating back to the start of the 2017 season.

Through the first three games of the season for Notre Dame football, Wimbush racked up just one touchdown pass with four interceptions. Although that did lead the Irish to three wins, including one over the No. 19 Michigan Wolverines, all of them were by very close margins. That’s fine against Michigan, but not against the Vanderbilt Commodores and Ball State Cardinals.

Notre Dame was set for a very sneaky Week 4 matchup away from South Bend, against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons in Winston-Salem, NC. Their early season showings had earned them spots on upset alert lists across all top 25 ranked teams in Week 4.

However, head Notre Dame football coach Brian Kelly had a little something up his sleeve for the Demon Deacons. Wimbush was benched in place of junior quarterback Ian Book. Even true freshman quarterback Phil Jurkovec got some playing time against Wake Forest, but it was only for two passing attempts.

Kelly’s faith in Book was well warranted with the showing he had in their massive 56-27 victory over Wake Forest. Book was nearly perfect with 325 passing yards and five total touchdowns. He completed 25 of his 34 passing attempts and also added 43 rushing yards. All this came with no interceptions for Book the entire game.

Book also spread the ball around nicely by completing passes to 10 different wide receivers, even though he had just 25 completions altogether. This balanced offense we saw from Notre Dame alongside a nice defensive effort is what this team needs now to compete for a spot in the College Football Playoff.

The missing piece for this team looks to have been Book. He’s less prone to mistakes than Wimbush and is still solid with his legs. Wimbush is the more elusive quarterback, but the array of weapons and strength of the defense for the Irish makes Book a much better fit as the starting signal caller.