Last time Notre Dame traveled to Wake Forest was in mid-September of 2018 after the Irish had jumped out to a 3-0 start that including a dominating performance against a favored Michigan team.
Despite the fast start win-loss wise, Brian Kelly and Notre Dame decided to make a change that week, inserting Ian Book as their starting quarterback in place of a struggling Brandon Wimbush.
This week Book and the Irish return to Winston-Salem to take on Wake Forest again but this time have a quarterback with 25 starts under his belt in which Notre Dame has gone 22-3.
So how has Ian Book changed as a player since that September afternoon two years ago?
“Battle scars, success at 22-3 as a starter and a pretty good resume,” Kelly said Monday, “Had we known that we probably would have put him in sooner”.
Book has completed 485 of 763 pass attempts since (63.5%), for 6068 yards and 54 touchdowns while running for 11 more scores including three last week against South Florida.
Kelly looks well beyond the box score when he discussing what Book has improved on since.
“His leadership, knowledge of the offense and you just can’t duplicate experience,” Kelly said, “you see consistent leadership and winning when you factor in the 22-3”.
Book hasn’t gotten off to a too quick of a start in the passing game as he’s thrown for 406 yards over two games with one touchdown pass and one interception. It’s also worth noting that throwing the ball wasn’t much of a necessity Saturday as Notre Dame ran for 281 yards in their 52-0 win over South Florida.
Notre Dame has an early kickoff at Wake Forest this Saturday as the ball will be teed up at noon E.T.
Book will be looking to duplicate the tremendous success he had in his first trip to Wake Forest in 2018 when he threw for 325 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for three scores and another 43 yards in the 56-27 win.