ND <r>O.K., I thought a little more...I feel good now about wishing Book would be the starter. <E></E></r>
Well this is what our offense looks like when we can get the ball to the skill people. Let's hope Book can continue this on moving forward. VTech won't be sleeping on us after a gutless effort tonight against Old Dominion and Stanford is getting their wake up call against Oregon.
ND <t>I had to listen to the broadcast over the radio and just now finished watching the recording. It's amazing how different the offense looks with Book at QB. I know it's just one game and it was against Wake Forest but I just have to feel if Wimbush was the starter we would have won but it would have been another 24-17 type game. <br/> <br/> Great game for Book, dynamic game for the ND offense.</t>
I think next week Stanford will play press right on the LOS and try to jump a lot of routes. Beating them with the deep ball, repeatedly and solid play action to freeze the safeties and LBs will be key. Also, it would be great if our defense could shut them down.
The book on Book. 25/34 passes for 325 yards and 2 TD passes. 49 yards rushing on 10 attempts and 3 TDs scored. The offense produced 566 yards of total offense and 56 points. Watching #12 out there reminded me of Roger Staubach. What was Kelly thinking? You don't need a QB with sprinter's speed if you have a clever guy who can think on the run with a lightning-quick release.
ND <r>JO'Co,<br/> <QUOTE><s> </e></QUOTE> You hit the nail on the head. With the targets we have on offense, you simply need a QB that can assess what he's seeing in front of him quickly and just as quickly get the ball out on time. At least in one game, Book seems top have he right attributes to do it. <br/> <br/> I think for a long time I really wanted Wimbush to be the starter because of his running ability but after seeing what Book was able to do especially on the short passing game I can see I was wrong. We have too many weapons on offense to not have a QB who can utilize them effectively be in the game.</r>
ND <t>Another positive note, don’t forget, Dexter Williams should be making his first game appearance against Stanford Saturday.</t>
This really was a best case senario for the Irish. They needed to get something going on offense and clearly Book runs this offense better than Wimbush. Wimbush likely would have beaten Wake Forrest as well, but I don't think he could have done what Book did with the offense. Kelly said a number of times how they needed Wimbush to beat Michigan, well he did do that, but I do wonder if Book couldn't have beaten Michigan as well. And of course there is a lot of talk about what to do with Brandon now and Kelly is very vocal that they still need Brandon and he'll play an important role. But to me that role will be a backup QB in a traditional mode as in sit and watch and wait for an opportunity be it injury or poor performance. It's what the vast majority of backups do all over college football. Not many situations like what we are seeing at Alabama or Georgia or Clemson. Using him as a RB or WR is just not practical. First he's never played either of those positions and just being a great athlete is not enough to just move into the lineup and start contributing. He's our backup QB. I could see him being used sort of like a Wildcat QB in certain situations. But if Book continues to play well then it's the end of BW as a QB. Next year Phil and Book will be the guys. Brandon could over Spring change positions but I will guess that since he's going to graduate that he'll transfer and give QB another shot. We didn't miss Tommy Kraemer against Wake Forrest, I wonder if Trevor Ruhland will now be the starting guard. I'm sure Kraemer will continue to get plenty of snaps as Ruhland is likely to be the starting center next year.
Watched some highlights last night. I was struck by that TD pass on 4th down to Brock Wright from Book. I didn't notice at the time, but watching it last night and rewinding it I noted that Book released that ball before Brock got to the goal line and had his back to Book, but when he turned the ball was right there for him. I didn't realize what a great throw that was, it's little things like that that count. I have to think that in that situation that Wimbush would have waited till Brock turned for the catch to throw the ball, bringing into play the sideline and having to make one of those toe touching catches. Maybe he'd have made it or maybe he'd have not got a foot down inbounds.
ND <r>I watched a replay of the Stanford vs Oregon game. I can't believe the Ducks let the Trees beat them when the had the ball and a first down with less than 2min left in the game. <E>:shock:</E></r>
Yeah Stanford is a team that doesn't really panic. They have to be run right into the ground, or right out of the house.
I wonder how much we'll see of Dexter on Saturday. Last year when Stepherson came off the 4 game suspension he got some plays but not very many. It would be nice if we could finally see a 1) Healthy Dexter 2) Motivated Dexter. But it's doubtful he got a lot of or any reps so far this season due to needing get Tony Jones, Jafar Armstrong and Avery Davis reps because they would be actually playing in games. Dexter has been in the program though so he should know the plays and if he's been doing the right things he should be in tip top physical shape. We'll see. Cole Kmet will also be back, pretty fast recovery from a high ankle sprain. He's not going to play ahead of Mack or Weishar but still will be good to see him back.
I read somewhere that Jafar isn't going to play against Stanford, and that looks to put some immediate pressure on Dexter. I have no idea how true any of that is, but it was out there.
Well Armstrong is out for Stanford with a knee infection. No explanation of how he acquired the infection. He had a great game vs WF and never appeared to injure or tweak his knee, he looked 100% every time he was on the field. It's not clear if he just has a skin infection or if it's his joint which is obviously more serious. Tony Jones will start and Avery Davis is likely to get more caries than the season high 9 he got last week at WF, but he's not physically built like Dexter who is a RB by trade rather than a converted QB playing his first season as a RB. I hope Dexter is ready.