Notre Dame Football vs Michigan Quarterback Comparison

After a bye week, 8th ranked Notre Dame Football (5-1) heads to The Big House, in Ann Arbor, Michigan to face the rival 19th ranked Michigan Wolverines (5-2).

Here is an in-depth positional breakdown of how Notre Dame Football matches up with the Wolverines in this epic matchup at the quarterback position:

Notre Dame

Ian Book 6’1″, 200 pound, senior, 3-star recruit out of Oak Ridge, CA

108 completions on 171 attempts for 1,419 passing yards with 14 passing touchdowns and two interceptions, as well as 49 rushes for 188 yards and three rushing touchdowns.

Phil Jurkovec 6’4″, 227 pound sophomore, 4-star recruit out of Pittsburgh, PA

6 completions on 8 attempts for 131 passing yards and one passing touchdown, as well as seven rushes for 59 yards

Michigan

Shea Patterson 6’2″, 205 pounds, senior 5-star recruit out of Shreveport, LA

116 completions on 202 passes, for 1,522 yards, with nine passing touchdowns and four interceptions, as well as 48 rushes for 89 yards and five rushing touchdowns.

Dylan McCaffery 6’5″, 220 pound, junior, 4-star recruit out of Castle Rock, CO

five completions on 11 attempts for 57 yards and zero passing touchdowns

Advantage-Notre Dame

Prior to the season, big things were expected from both Notre Dame’s Ian Book and Michigan’s Shea Patterson. Patterson was named to the preseason watch lists for the Manning Award (nation’s top quarterback), Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award (top senior/fourth year junior quarterback in nation), Davey O’Brien Award (best quarterback in the nation) and Maxwell Award (player of the year).

Meanwhile, Book was named to a number of preseason award watch lists as well, including the Davey O’Brien Award, the Maxwell Award and the Walter Camp Award (nation’s most outstanding player). However, Ian Book has been somewhat underwhelming this season, compared to his preseason expectations. That said, he played up to a higher level last week in a win against USC, appearing to have perhaps turned a corner in the season.

Shea Patterson, by comparison, has failed to impress all year, prompting many to suggest that head coach Jim Harbaugh should bench him in favor of backup Dylan McCaffery.

The clear edge has to go to Ian Book, who has positive momentum going into this game and seemingly less pressure. Head Coach Jim Harbaugh has mentioned that he is remaining with current starting quarterback, Shea Patterson, but one would think that the Notre Dame Irish have to be prepared to potentially face backup Dylan McCaffery if things should go awry for the Wolverines out of the gates.