Notre Dame Football: 3 Biggest Storylines vs Stanford

Is Book the Real Deal?

Don’t worry — I’ll avoid using any Book puns that you’ve been seeing constantly for the past week. We all know how great the offense looked last Saturday vs Wake Forest — racking up 56 points and over 560 yards of offense. It was refreshing to see everything come together for four quarters and get a glimpse of what the offense can be with a capable passing game.

Ian Book was the savior last week, going 25 of 34 for 368 total yards and five touchdowns in his second career start. While his praise was well deserved, he did put up these numbers against a very poor Wake Forest defense — statistically one of the worst in the country.

Wake Forest actually fired their defensive coordinator Jay Sawvel the day following the loss.

My point is that he certainly made the most of his start, was controlling the offense and finding success on plays that Wimbush had struggled to do all season. But can he do it against a much tougher opponent in Stanford?

Stanford was gashed last week vs Oregon’s up-tempo offense and gave up 31 points, but in the three games prior, the Cardinals gave up a total of 23 points. There’s no question the Irish offense have the ability to find success this weekend with Book leading the way, but this is his first real test as a starter in a huge game.

If Notre Dame continues to play to his strengths and Book continues to make plays in the passing game, I’m confident in him and this offense. There are great matchups all over the field on both sides of the ball in this game, but the play of Book is going to be one of the biggest factors for the success of the offense and the outcome of this game.