Mike Beradino with Indystar joins Dominique Yates of the Courier Journal to talk about Notre Dame's win over Louisville. Dominique Yates, Louisville Courier Journal
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – This wasn’t Ian Book’s best game, not even close.
His passes sailed at times, including one that allegedly caused Louisville cheerleader Elizabeth Scott to suffer a broken nose.
Notre Dame’s junior quarterback uncharacteristically threw behind his receivers and bolted out of the pocket at the first sign of trouble.
Book finished the first half with just 63 passing yards, three sacks and a pair of fumbles, including one that was lost after he ran up the back of tight end Brock Wright. That left a fallen Book to bang the front of his golden helmet into the plastic turf in obvious frustration.
It took him 24 snaps to find 6-4 Chase Claypool, the most dangerous weapon at his disposal, as Louisville dropped into a Cover-2 defense. Admittedly “rusty,” Book finished with as many completions (14) as rushes, not the sort of run-pass balance offensive coordinator Chip Long was seeking.
And yet, after his ninth-ranked Fighting Irish had skated off with a 35-17 win before a record crowd at Cardinal Stadium, coach Brian Kelly went easy on his returning starter.
“He knows that he can be better,” Kelly said. “We’re not going to beat him with a shoe.”
And you doubted this kinder, gentler version of Kelly?
“I mean, it’s one game,” Kelly said. “He needs to be better. He knows that and he will be better. He’s smart. He’s athletic. You saw the first run he had (on a 37-yard scramble). He has changed his body.”
Book lamented the “sloppy football” he helped orchestrate in the first half, when Notre Dame fell into a 14-7 hole against a 20-point underdog coming off a 2-10 nightmare and a coaching change. But when throws needed to be made down the stretch, Book made them.
On consecutive plays midway through the third quarter, he found Claypool for 31 yards on a shallow cross and redshirt freshman tight end Tommy Tremble for 26 yards and a touchdown. That burst pushed a tenuous lead to two touchdowns.
After a Louisville field goal made it a two-score game early in the fourth, Book engineered a 12-play, 75-yard scoring drive that included three straight third-down conversions. The first two came on passes to Tremble and redshirt freshman Lawrence Keys III, and Book later scrambled for exactly four yards on third-and-4 before hitting Claypool for 34 more.
Before that game-clinching drive, Book (10-1 as the starter) had a few things to say to his teammates.
“On the sideline he’s a leader and he’s been emphasizing that,” Claypool said. “Being a captain now, he’s really putting his foot forward and saying, ‘Let’s go, let’s retaliate, let’s go down the field and score right away.’ That’s exactly what we did when he said it.”
Already without tight end Cole Kmet and third receiver Michael Young, both out following clavicle surgery, Notre Dame lost versatile running back Jafar Armstrong to a possible groin injury after three straight touches (for 26 yards) on a game-opening touchdown drive. Tony Jones Jr. (112 rushing yards) took up the slack, but Book had to adjust to Armstrong’s loss as well as he dealt with a surprisingly pesky Louisville pass rush.
At times it was easy to forget the Cardinals gave up 44.1 points per game a year ago, third-worst among the 130 FBS teams. Only Oregon State and Connecticut were easier to cuff around.
“There was some uncharacteristic flushing from the pocket that we hadn’t seen from (Book),” Kelly said. “I just think he was getting out of things a little quick because there was some uncertainty. Maybe thinking a little bit too much. He just has to trust it, and that will come.”
Book, who tacked on another 130 yards passing after the break, finished with 81 rushing yards. He said he was “excited to go back, watch the film and move on from it,” noting what most excited him was the number of fresh faces that stepped forward to make plays on offense.
The same thing was happening on defense, where Clark Lea’s group clamped down after allowing touchdown drives of 88 and 75 yards on its first two series. From Myron Tagavailoa-Amosa and Ade Ogundeji up front to middle linebacker Drew White to young cornerbacks TaRiq Bracy and Houston Griffith to freshman safety Kyle Hamilton (two pass breakups), the kids were more than all right on this night.
It was Tremble, in fact, who received the game ball after making three catches for 49 yards.
“Our young players emerged tonight,” Kelly said. “We actually need our veterans to step up another level of their play, which I’m certain they will. The good news for me tonight as a head coach is the younger players showed themselves. Now with all of them together moving forward, this can be a pretty good football team.”
They will have 12 days to get ready for the home opener against lowly New Mexico and nearly three weeks to prepare for a trip to third-ranked Georgia. If the Irish put in the work, Kelly will spare the shoe.
“It was a sloppy win, I think, for us,” safety Alohi Gilman said. “But as time goes on, we’ll continue to get better. We’re just going to keep fighting. We’re an unfinished product.”
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