Ian Book Moving Up in Record Books, But Focused on Boston College
Ian Book rises up in November.
You saw it last fall as he smiled his way into the end zone against Virginia Tech and the Irish haven't lost since.
Saturday night was a big chapter in Book's career as he got a signature win, moved up in the record books and kept Notre Dame in the hunt for the College Football Playoff.
Book has thrown for 1,535 yards this season and 7,653 for his career, which is good enough for fourth place in the Notre Dame record book.
The California native's 310 passing yards against Clemson moved him ahead of Ron Powlus (7,602) and just behind his offensive coordinator Tommy Rees (7,670).
Stats likely don't mean much to him right now, but the win over Clemson does as wins against the No. 1 team in the country don't come along often.
"Quarterback is really hard," stated Book. "It's a hard spot. You deal with a lot of pressures, but when it goes the right way, you get a lot of love. That's the position and tonight is one of those nights. I'm going to remember it forever and it's unbelievable, but again, starting on (Sunday), I have to get ready for another great team."
Book should remember it forever as he was able to prove doubters wrong.
Notre Dame trailed 33-26 with 1:48 left in the game and 91 yards from pay dirt. Book hit Avery Davis for 53 yards and found him again for the game-tying score with 22 seconds left.
Deep ball. Check.
Comeback. Check
Moving into third place in school history with his 8th 300-yard game? Check.
However, Book credits his teammates and Brian Kelly for sticking with him after a fumble at the goal line earlier in the game.
"He didn't give up," Book said of Kelly. "This whole team never gave up and there wasn't a moment where I didn't think we weren't going to win.
"That's what's different about this team. I can say that. I've been here for a while. This team is special. We're just resilient. When you play a great team, everything isn't going to go the right way. The sidelines are unbelievable. They are always ready to go and it's so fun."
No. 2 Notre Dame will have another challenge on Saturday as they head to Boston College.
The storylines will be about Phil Jurkovec this week, but it's more about not having a let down following the Clemson win.
That's where Book can shine bright. He's been here. He led the Irish to a perfect 12-0 record in 2018 and knows what is needed to avoid an upset.
"It can be challenging, but I don't think it'll be challenging with this team," explained Book. "Obviously, we have a really good team next week, but it's football and you enjoy the win. Go home and relax and enjoy it. Starting on (Sunday) we have a new opponent.
"We've talked about that all week. After this game, we some really, really important games to win. We want to go play in a National Championship, so everyone knows what we have to do. We have a really good opponent next week who played this team really well and it's going to be a really fun matchup. The mindset of everybody on this team and the mindset of this team will be switched. We'll be ready to go."