Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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28 OCT. 31, 2020 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED IAN BOOK THRIVES UNDER PRESSURE AGAINST PITT Fifth-year senior quarter- back Ian Book felt angst after his poor performance against Louisville last weekend. The Notre Dame offense produced just 12 points against a strug- gling Cardinal defense, and he barely exceeded 100 yards through the air. "Last Saturday night, we were hanging out after the game, and I could just see the frustration on his face," fifth- year senior wide receiver Ben Skowronek said. The following day, Book was done wallowing and fo- cused on his preparation for Pittsburgh. He put in extra work watching film and on the practice field in order to make sure he didn't have a repeat performance against a potent Panthers defense. Against Pitt, the Irish quar- terback came out swinging and completed three passes for 60 yards, notably a 34-yard touchdown pass to Skowronek, on the game's open- ing possession. More importantly, he never let up until backup sophomore quarterback Brendon Clark was put in late in the third quarter. In the 45-3 win, Book finished the game 16 of 30 through the air for 312 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions. His play was also critical when it came to Notre Dame's ability to keep the Pitt front seven at bay. The Pan- thers came into the contest averaging 4.8 sacks per game but, in large part thanks to Book's pocket presence and agility, they had just two sacks. "Ian's got great escapability and he's very difficult to handle," head coach Brian Kelly said. He finished the game with eight carries for 40 yards, which accounted for more than half of Notre Dame rushing production in the first three quarters of the game. MICHAEL MAYER AND BEN SKOWRONEK BECOME MAJOR TARGETS Notre Dame suffered a crushing late-week injury heading into Satur- day's game. Kevin Austin Jr. broke his foot — the same injury he suf- fered in August and had just recov- ered from — and will miss the rest of the season. Head coach Brian Kelly confirmed the news, which was first reported by The Athletic prior to the game, after Notre Dame's win. "We're going to get him back in the spring, and he doesn't lose a year," Kelly said. "I know he's very disap- pointed. We're disappointed for him. He's had a rough run of it." All of a sudden, the Irish were with- out one of their most explosive offen- sive players against, perhaps, the best defense they would see all season. Other players needed to emerge in order for Notre Dame to move the ball in the passing game. But who? The Irish found their answers in fifth-year senior wide receiver Ben Skowronek and freshman tight end Michael Mayer. Combined, the pair was targeted 11 times and produced seven catches for 180 yards and three touchdowns. Three of those recep- tions went for more than 20 yards. Skowronek produced Notre Dame's two biggest plays of the game with 34- and 73-yard touchdown receptions. The latter came on a third-down play with 14 yards to go, where Book threw a jump ball to Skowronek and the 6-3 wide receiver out-leaped a cor- nerback before outrunning the rest of the Pitt defense in a race to the end zone. "Ben had not been healthy, but we knew what he was capa- ble of," Kelly said. "He went up and took the ball away and set a great tone for how we were going to be moving forward." For Mayer, his longest recep- tion of the game was a 23-yard catch on second-and-11. He also had two catches to move the chains on third down, but his biggest play of the game was a 14-yard touchdown. He finished the game with five catches for 73 yards and a score. "He has now become a guy we're featuring in third-down situations," Kelly said. "Ian knows where he's going to be. They've built a really good rapport in a very short period of time. He's a very, very im- portant weapon for us." NOTRE DAME RUN GAME LIMITED FOR FIRST TIME IN 2020 In the first four games this season, Notre Dame relied on its offensive line and potent rushing attack to put points on the board. The Fighting Irish averaged 261.0 yards and 3.3 touchdowns on the ground per con- test, as well as 5.9 yards per carry. But Kelly was well aware of Pitt's stout run defense, which had allowed a nation-leading 61.5 rushing yards per game, and adjusted accordingly. "This game plan was going to be centered around our ability to make plays down the field throwing the football," head coach Brian Kelly said. "It's difficult to run the football when there are nine guys there and it's a man-to-man coverage, regardless of how good your offensive line is." Notre Dame succeeded at winning vertically, but finished the game with its lowest rushing total of the season, with 50 carries for 115 yards (2.3 yards per attempt) and two touchdowns. Subtract fifth-year senior quarter- back Ian Book's eight carries for 40 yards, and the Irish running backs produced just 79 yards and two touchdowns on the ground (1.93 yards per attempt), and didn't have a single rush for more than nine yards. PITTSBURGH GAME NOTES BY ANDREW MENTOCK AND PATRICK ENGEL Fifth-year senior quarterback Ian Book eclipsed 300 passing yards in a game for the seventh time in his career, plus added 40 rushing yards. PHOTO BY CHARLES LECLAIRE, USA TODAY/COURTESY ACC