Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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4 OCT. 15, 2018 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED F rom the Southeast, to the Deep South, to right here at Notre Dame, a fasci- nating trend is developing inside elite college football programs. It seems logically flawed but isn't keeping their headline coaches from tempt- ing fate nonetheless. Successful and veteran start- ing quarterbacks are getting the hook in favor of younger signal-callers perceived to have a higher upside, with limited body of actual game work to support that belief. It happened before this season when Alabama head coach Nick Saban named sophomore Tua Tagovailoa his opening-day starter in fa- vor of decorated junior Jalen Hurts. As the starter in 2016 and 2017, Hurts led the Crimson Tide to two straight national championship game appear- ances. However, he struggled early in last year's title tilt and was benched by Saban at halftime. Tagovailoa, then a true freshman, answered the call and rallied his troops to a 26-23 comeback win over Georgia for Alabama's fifth title in the last nine years, essentially end- ing Hurts' career as the Crimson Tide starter. The pink slip came more recently at Clemson for senior Kelly Bryant when after four games, four wins and a No. 3 ranking, Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney replaced his veteran in game five with five-star true freshman Trevor Lawrence. Bryant bided his time at Clemson during his first two seasons behind Tigers standout Deshaun Watson be- fore taking the reins last season and leading his team to a 12-1 record and a spot in the College Football Playoff, where the Tigers fell to Alabama in the semifinals. U p o n h i s b e n c h i n g , B r y a n t promptly announced he was transfer- ring from Clemson and called Swin- ney's decision "a slap in the face." Sidelined Irish senior quarterback Brandon Wimbush doesn't hold the postseason résumé of Hurts or Bry- ant, but his benching came follow- ing a 12-3 career record as a starter and after he led Notre Dame to a 3-0 record this season, a No. 8 national ranking and the game ball in the win versus Michigan. During their time as starting quar- terbacks, Hurts, Kelly and Wimbush had a combined 55-7 record for an .887 winning percentage. "It had nothing to do with Brandon in particular, as much as the offense needed to be much more effective," Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly said after calling on Irish junior Ian Book to replace Wimbush. To Kelly's point, Book made his debut as a starter at Wake Forest Sept. 22 — which the Irish won 56-27 — after the Notre Dame offense un- der Wimbush had gone seven con- secutive games without scoring more than 24 points. That's the second lon- gest such futile scoring drought since 1964, the season when coach Ara Par- seghian took over the Irish program. All three of these top-10 coaches should be applauded for not waiting to fix something that wasn't necessar- ily broken but in need of a tune-up. Book has made the Notre Dame offense multi-dimen- sional, and frankly, much more balanced and danger- ous. Tagovailoa entered last weekend tops in the country in passing efficiency while guiding an Alabama offense that led the nation in scoring at more than 50 points a game. The sample size is too small and the jury still out to eval- uate the impact Lawrence will make as a new starter at Clemson. The old theory used to be, "if you have two quarter- backs, you have none." A more modern mantra is, "if you have two quarterbacks, one won't be there for long." For some evidentiary trivia, name the only three Irish quarterbacks since Jarious Jackson graduated in 1999 who exhausted all their years of eligibility at Notre Dame without transferring, switch- ing positions or turning pro. While kicking that around, 17 other Irish signal-callers in those 19 seasons have either transferred or changed positions (most recently sophomore Avery Davis to running back). The trivia answer is: Brady Quinn (2003-06), Evan Sharpley (2005-09) and Tommy Rees (2010-13). Upon graduation in December, Wimbush will be the next to face the decision on whether to return to Notre Dame next season as a likely second- or even third-stringer, or to follow the path of predecessors Ev- erett Golson and Malik Zaire, who took the graduate transfer option and played their final season elsewhere. As a gifted and versatile athlete, Wimbush may be able to find his way back onto the field at another position down the road. But in the immediate, Kelly's risky decision — and that of a couple of other successful head coaches — may be the better one. ✦ When Proven Can't Stand Up To Promise UPON FURTHER REVIEW TODD D. BURLAGE Todd D. Burlage has been a writer for Blue & Gold Illustrated since July 2005. He can be reached at tburlage@blueandgold.com Senior Brandon Wimbush (above) had a 12-3 career record as Notre Dame's starting quarterback — including a 3-0 mark and a No. 8 national ranking to start this season — but was supplanted by junior Ian Book because the Irish had failed to tally more than 24 points in seven consecutive games. PHOTO BY ANGELA DRISKELL