Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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28 SEPT. 24, 2018 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED of 49), which puts it roughly in the 70s nationally. The Irish have also al- lowed teams to convert 4 of 7 fourth- down attempts. Ball State ran 97 plays in week two, while going 8 of 23 on third-down conversions and 3 of 3 on fourth- down plays. Vanderbilt turned a third-and-two into an 18-yard touchdown toss from senior quarterback Kyle Shurmur to redshirt junior tight end Jared Pinkney in the fourth quarter to cut the Irish lead to 22-17. Though the Commodores techni- cally finished 0 of 1 on fourth-down conversions, a pass interference call against junior cornerback Donte Vaughn kept a drive alive and gave the Commodores new life in its ef- fort to steal a win in South Bend. The Irish stopped Vanderbilt on fourth down later on the same drive. Moving forward, the Irish will need to do a better job getting off the field in those situations. BACKUP QB IAN BOOK WILL REMAIN INVOLVED Although Notre Dame is not neces- sarily implementing a two-quarter- back system, the Irish staff continues to utilize junior Ian Book in certain situations — especially near the goal line. Against Vanderbilt, Book com- pleted 3 of 3 passes for 13 yards, which included a two-yard touch- down toss to fifth-year senior tight end Nic Weishar in the corner of the end zone that gave the Fighting Irish a 22-10 lead. "It's something that we're work- ing on during the week," head coach Brian Kelly said of utilizing Book. "There has to be a package that you feel confident in. It can't be whole- sale on everything that you do. "There are specific things that we're doing. We're drilling down on things that our whole offense is quite aware of, that these are the plays, this is the package that we're work- ing on." For what it's worth, senior starting quarterback Brandon Wimbush said that he is on board with what the Irish are doing. "We both have bought into it," Wimbush said of Book. "Fully bought into it whoever, however, to get a win, we're going to do it. "Obviously, it worked today, so we're excited." ✦ NOTRE DAME VS. VANDERBILT QUARTER-BY-QUARTER COMPARISON Notre Dame 1st Qtr. 2nd Qtr. 3rd Qtr. 4th Qtr. 1st Half 2nd Half Total Time of Possession 9:19 7:52 4:56 8:41 17:11 13:37 30:48 Third-Down Conversions 4-5 1-5 0-2 0-3 5-10 0-5 5-15 Fourth-Down Conversions 0-0 0-0 0-0 1-1 0-0 1-1 1-1 Average Field Position ND-12 ND-29 ND-17 ND-40 ND-23 ND-26 ND-24 Vanderbilt 1st Qtr. 2nd Qtr. 3rd Qtr. 4th Qtr. 1st Half 2nd Half Final Time of Possession 5:41 7:08 10:04 6:19 12:49 16:23 29:12 Third-Down Conversions 1-2 1-4 2-3 1-4 2-6 3-7 5-13 Fourth-Down Conversions 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-1 0-0 0-1 0-1 Average Field Position VAN-19 VAN-22 VAN-30 VAN-18 VAN-21 VAN-24 VAN-22 PLAY CHART (NO. OF PLAYS) Yards ND VAN Nega ve 7 5 0-5 38 42 6-9 14 7 10-19 11 9 20-29 2 6 30-39 2 1 40-49 0 0 50 or more 0 0 RED ZONE EFFICIENCY (INSIDE 20-YARD LINE) No Poss. TD FG Score Notre Dame 5 2 2 1 Vanderbilt 3 2 1 0 BIG PLAYS (25 YARDS OR MORE) Notre Dame • 1-10 ND35 T. Jones 20-yard run to VAN45, plus 15-yard Vanderbilt penalty on Deyo Odeyingbo • 2-10 VAN44 Wimbush 32-yard pass to T. Jones to VAN12 Vanderbilt • 2-3 VAN32 Shurmur 26-yard pass to Pinkney to ND42 • 2-10 ND29 Shurmur 26-yard pass to Pinkney to ND3 • 1-10 ND47 Shurmur 30-yard pass to Bolar to ND17 • 2-6 VAN24 Shurmur 26-yard pass to Pinkney to 50 Junior quarterback Ian Book took advantage of his opportuni- ties versus Vanderbilt, connecting on 3 of 3 throws for 13 yards with a touchdown in the victory. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA