For The Record Among Notre Dame Quarterbacks
If a full football season is played in 2020 and fifth-year senior Ian Book stays reasonably healthy, he could become the first Notre Dame quarterback to reach 30 victories as a starter.
Interestingly, Notre Dame is the lone school among the 10 winningest Football Bowl Subdivision schools that does not have a signal-caller who achieved the 30-win milestone.
The Fighting Irish have three that are tied with 29 apiece:
• Tom Clements — 29-5 (.853 win percentage)
He started every game from 1972-74 in head coach Ara Parseghian’s final three seasons, highlighted by the 11-0 national title in 1973.
• Ron Powlus — 29-16-1 (.641)
After taking a medical redshirt as a 1993 freshman, he started all but two games from 1994-97. In 1995 he was sidelined in the regular-season finale and the 1996 Orange Bowl because of a fractured arm.
• Brady Quinn — 29-17 (.630)
Beginning with the fourth game of his freshman season in 2003, Quinn started his final 46 consecutive contests through 2006, the longest streak by a Notre Dame quarterback. He also tied Powlus for the most overall starts at the school.
Book currently has a 20-3 record (.870) as the starter.
His debut in that capacity came in 2017 at North Carolina, a 33-10 win when starter Brandon Wimbush was unable to play because of an injury.
In 2018, Book supplanted Wimbush as the starter in the fourth game and was 8-0 in the regular season (shelved against Florida State because of an injury) before losing to Clemson in the College Football Playoff.
He started all 13 contests during last year’s 11-2 campaign.
Thus, at a program that has averaged 11 wins the past three seasons, if Book starts in 10 victories this year, he would finally become the first Irish quarterback to reach the 30-win benchmark.
Myriad factors have contributed to no one yet reaching 30: only nine- and 10-game regular seasons with no bowl games through the 1960s, freshman ineligibility until 1972 (otherwise Clements might have started in 1971 as a freshman), injuries (otherwise Powlus might have reached 30) or timing at the program.
There also is a distinction, though, between “most wins” and “winningest” quarterbacks at a school. The three winningest quarterbacks by percentage at Notre Dame with a minimum of 20 starts are:
1. John Lujack — 21-1-1 (.935)
Three-time national champion and Heisman recipient in the 1940s while serving in World War II in between.
2. Tony Rice — 28-3 (.903)
This was highlighted by a school-record 23-game winning streak in 1988-89 that featured the 1988 national title.
3. Ralph Guglielmi — 26-3-2 (.871)
Hall-of-Fame inductee led three straight top-four finishes from 1952-54.
Currently Book (.870) is slightly ahead of Clements (.853) for fourth place, although the 1973 national title puts Clements in a separate pantheon of football immortals.
Still, among top 10 all-time winningest programs, Notre Dame remains alone at not have a 30-game winner.
The Football Bowl Subdivision record is 50-3 (.943) by Boise State’s Kellen Moore, which eclipsed the previous standard of 45-8 (.849) by Texas’ Colt McCoy from 2006-09.
Ohio State has four quarterbacks with at least 30 wins as a starter, with J.T. Barrett on top at 38-6 (.864), while Michigan’s Rick Leach was 38-8-1 (.819) from 1975-78.
In the “old” Big 8 and Big 12, Nebraska’s Tommie Frazier was 33-3 (.917) in the 1990s while Oklahoma’s Steve Davis was 32-1-1 (.956) in the 1970s, with both winning two national titles.
Alabama’s A.J. McCarron (36-4, .900) also won two titles in 2011-12 — although Jay Barker’s 35-2-1 (.934) record that featured the 1992 national title features a better winning percentage among Crimson Tide signal-callers.
At USC, Matt Leinart was 37-2 (.949) with multiple championships from 2003-05.
Finally among the all-time top-10 teams in winning percentage, Penn State’s Trace McSorley reached 30 wins as a starter in 2018, finishing 31-9 (.775).
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