Notre Dame Football Compliments, Criticisms & Conclusions vs Virginia
By Matt Clark
Criticisms
Ian Book’s Struggles Continue
Ian Book continues to look out of sorts at quarterback this year. After a highly successful season last year that saw Book displace starter Brandon Wimbush, most anticipated a big step forward for Book.
That hasn’t happened.
In fact, the opposite has happened, with Book seeing major regression. Book has struggled so badly, that some Irish fans have began clamoring for four star recruit and sophomore backup quarterback, Phil Jurkovec, to get some snaps under center for Notre Dame. Right now, the calls for Book to be replaced are a whisper, with some mentioning the idea in passing.
That said, if Book’s struggles continue, expect those cries to get louder.
Also, head coach Brian Kelly is no stranger to changing quarterbacks mid-season, just ask Malik Zaire, Everett Golson or Brandon Wimbush. It was anticipated that Book would face massive pressure from the top pass rush in the nation in Virginia. However, Book seemed uncomfortable in the pocket even when the Irish line was giving him solid protection. He had a tendency to look to get out of the pocket early and scramble, which led to errant throws or him losing yards trying to scramble.
It seems as though Book is having issues with moving through his progressions quickly and effectively in a clean pocket and he is panicking unnecessarily, causing the offense to stall out. Yesterday’s abysmal performance saw Book throw 17 completions on 25 attempts for 165 yards and zero touchdowns. In addition, he rushed nine times for -11 yards and zero touchdowns.
Book must improve his presence in the pocket and improve upon his ability to scramble if the Irish hope to have any shot at a College Football Playoff appearance.
Finke’s Injury Seems To Be Impacting His Play
Chris Finke is typically a solid contributor that the Irish can count on for solid play. That said, a rib injury that he has been dealing with the past two weeks seems to be affecting his play.
Against Georgia, he had some big dropped passes that killed drives by the Irish, which is uncharacteristic of the sure-handed Finke. In the game against Virginia, he muffed an easy punt return with no one around him.
Finke’s game has been predicated by sound fundamentals. The past two weeks, he has not been playing to his typical abilities, leading one to believe that the rib injury, sustained prior to the Georgia game, is adversely affecting him. It would stand to reason that he may not play against a soft opponent in Bowling Green, instead allowing him to heal up ahead of critical matchups against ranked opponents USC and Michigan in the two consecutive weeks following the game against Bowling Green.
Irish Cornerback Play Was Suspect
Typically reliable, the Notre Dame cornerbacks were torched by Virginia’s Joe Reed and Hasise Dubois on Saturday. Reed and Dubois would each have nine receptions and one touchdown in the game, with Dubois accumulating 143 receiving yards and Reed 107 receiving yards.
The combination of Shaun Crawford and Troy Pride Jr. had their hands full against the duo from Virginia. Pride Jr. picked up a bad pass interference call on the afternoon, extending a drive by Virginia that would ultimately lead to a 16 yard touchdown catch from Dubois to put Virginia up 17-10 at the half. The cornerback group would play better in the second half, but would lose Crawford for the remainder of the game due to injury. The corners will need to step up their game going forward, as they face an elite USC wide receiver corps in two weeks.