Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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24 NOV. 16, 2019 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED IAN BOOK HAS CAREER DAY WITH HIS LEGS Senior quarterback Ian Book has taken a lot of heat during the past few weeks, and he did his best to silence the critics with his play in Notre Dame's 38-7 romp over Duke. The surprising aspect was that he had a fairly average night through the air in terms of yardage (181) and did most of his damage with his legs. It was clear early that offensive co- ordinator Chip Long wanted to get Book involved in the run game and his quarterback rewarded him, often with correct reads in the zone- and power-read schemes. Book ended the night with 12 car- ries for 139 yards (11.6 yards per at- tempt). He was able to break loose for runs of 17, 45, and 53 yards and showcase his speed. "Our quarterback Ian Book de- serves a lot of credit, came out as- sertive, decisive would be the words that I would look toward," Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly said. "We utilized his ability to run against a team that runs a lot of cover one. We felt like that that would be an as- set for him. It got him into the flow of the game." The best part about this develop- ment for Book is it makes the offense that much more dangerous. Earlier in the season, Book was not seeing the development of the zone read as well as he did against Duke. Before it was more of an RPO (run- pass option) situation where Book would have to choose between a pass and a run. He was at best, 50/50 on those reads. Offensive coordinator Chip Long decided to use Book as a running op- tion against Duke and he delivered. Adding Book as a viable runner adds a dimension to the offense that really was not there in the past. The other element is that when Book was having success in the run game, he became more confident in the passing game. He stood tall in the pocket and went through his reads, which he was not doing on a consis- tent basis earlier in the year. Using Book as a dual threat option will only benefit this team moving forward. DON'T BE FOOLED, DUKE'S DEFENSE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE GOOD Duke certainly doesn't have the rep- utation of being a football school, but this season the Blue Devils were actu- ally quite stout on defense. Heading into the matchup with Notre Dame, Duke ranked No. 17 in ESPN's team defensive efficiency, ahead of teams like LSU and Florida, among others. Through this lens, the Fighting Irish offense, which produced 469 total yards, looks much more impres- sive. They did this by averaging 6.34 yards per play and taking advan- tage of the weaker aspect of the Blue Devil defense: their so-so ability to stop the run. Duke ranked near the middle in rushing yards per game before the matchup with Notre Dame, allow- ing 145.1 yards per contest and 3.78 yards per carry. The Irish ended up with 288 yards on the ground and averaged 6.9 yards per carry. Senior quarterback Ian Book's career-long runs of 45 and 53 yards helped, but even without those, Notre Dame av- eraged 4.75 yards per carry. "Anytime you go on the road and win against a Power Five team in convincing fashion, you've got to feel really good about your team and their preparation, their execution and most importantly, in the month of DUKE GAME NOTES BY ANDREW MENTOCK AND VINCE DEDARIO Book broke loose for runs of 17, 45 and 53 yards — the latter two the longest of his Irish career — en route to a career-high 139 yards on 12 rushing attempts. PHOTO BY KEN MARTIN MISCELLANEOUS NOTES • Senior defensive end Julian Okwara left the game in the second quarter with an ankle injury. It's a possibility the injury could be seri- ous, but details were unknown at press time. • Sophomore running back Jahmir Smith set a new career-long rushing effort with his 40- yard scamper against Duke. His previous high was a 24-yard run against Louisville. • Senior quarterback Ian Book's four touch- down passes gave him 44 for his career, mov- ing him into sixth all time in program history. He passed Everett Golson and Rick Mirer, who both had 41. • On the opening drive of the second half, senior cornerback Troy Pride Jr. snagged an in- terception and returned it 39 yards. It marked his first pick of the season and the fourth of his career. • Sophomore cornerback TaRiq Bracy posted his first career fumble recovery in the fourth quarter off a backward pass by the Blue Devils.