News and notes from Notre Dame's 21-17 Citrus Bowl victory over LSU.

The hope heading into the Citrus Bowl matchup against LSU was that junior Brandon Wimbush had gotten past his struggles and would get back to being the quarterback that led the Irish to an 8-1 start and the No. 3 spot in the College Football Playoff rankings in early November.

That didn’t happen.

Wimbush completed a 35-yard pass to junior wide receiver Equanimeous St. Brown on the first play of the game, but during the rest of the first half he completed just 2 of 7 passes for 17 yards, and the offense sputtered.

Backup quarterback Ian Book led the Irish to a field goal on the final drive of the first half, and then the sophomore took charge in the second half to lead the Irish to a come-from-behind victory.

Book playing wasn’t a surprise. With Wimbush struggling late and missing two practices with migraines, Notre Dame had prepared for Book to play.

“We went in with the idea of both of them playing,” head coach Brian Kelly said of the quarterback rotation that ended with Book playing the entire second half. “This wasn’t a surprise to Ian; Ian was prepared.

“Brandon knew as well that both of them were going to play. That was the game plan going in.”

Book made the most of his opportunity, leading the offense 51 yards down the field on 11 plays, ending with a 46-yard Justin Yoon field goal to give the Irish a 3-0 lead heading into the break.

It wasn’t until the fourth quarter that Book really got into action, but the Irish staff believed he could get the job done.

“We have great confidence in Ian,” Kelly said. “He hasn’t played a lot of football, but we threw him right into the fire, and he leads a winning drive with the game on the line.

“He’s got that ability, and it doesn’t surprise us that he’s able to do that.”

Kelly and offensive coordinator Chip Long’s confidence in Book might have been rattled in the third quarter when his interception ended a promising Notre Dame drive. Instead of letting it bother him, Book settled down and started playing his best football.

Book completed eight of his next 10 passes for 112 yards with two scores, and added key runs of 15 and nine yards.

That is a level of accuracy Notre Dame has not seen from its quarterback position this season — as a group the QBs entered the game completing 50.9 percent of their passes. With Book taking over in the second half, the Irish coaches were able to tailor the offense to his ability.

“As a quarterback, he is extremely accurate in throwing the football,” Kelly said. “We took advantage of what his strengths are, and we ran a lot of boots. He likes to get on the move, the play action.

“We established much more of a running game than we did with Brandon. we really just tried to fit it to the strengths that Ian has right now.”

Notre Dame entered the Citrus Bowl without its second, third and fourth leading receivers due to injury and suspensions. When the game was on the line, its leading receiver — junior Equanimeous St. Brown — was on the sidelines with an injury.

The Irish offense was in desperate need of unproven players to emerge. Notre Dame got exactly that when freshman Michael Young and junior Miles Boykin made money plays with the game on the line in the fourth quarter.

“Next man up. I’ve been watching those guys, and they’ve been doing a good job of setting an example of coming prepared each and every day and how to practice,” Young said following the game.

“For me it was just give it my all and show the coaches we might be down a couple guys, but we have a couple of guys that are able to step up.”

Young scored his first career touchdown in the win, hauling in a six-yard scoring toss in the fourth quarter to make it a 14-12 game. The score was especially satisfying for the native of Louisiana. who did not receive an offer from LSU.

Boykin was the hero late, hauling in a 29-yard reception between two defenders to convert a third-and-19 to set up the team’s first touchdown, and making a spectacular one-handed grab and then out-running the LSU defense for a 55-yard game-winning score with just more than a minute left in the game.

“It was really just a blur,” Boykin said of his late score. “We talk about situations like this all the time, and it’s not often that you get to be in one like this.

“It was just an extremely humbling moment for me just to be able to go out there and help make a play to help my team win.”

Kelly apparently saw Boykin’s big moment coming.

“We were in practice, and we knew that we were going to have to get a couple of one-on-one matchups on the outside,” recalled head coach Brian Kelly.

‘I said, ‘Miles, you’re going to win the MVP trophy,” Kelly said. “He looked at me like I had two heads, but I felt like he had a chance.

“He’s got the ability, if we could get him the football. “Ian [Book] got him the football, and Miles made a great individual play and, lo and behold, I’ve got the MVP sitting next to me.”

Boykin finished the game with career highs in receptions (three) and receiving yards (102) en route to Citrus Bowl MVP honors.

In a game of two teams looking for knockout blows, Notre Dame proved the more punishing unit and made the plays on defense when it mattered most.

“We fought for every inch. [Derrius] Guice is a heck of a back,” head coach Brian Kelly said of the LSU junior that rushed for 98 yards on 21 carries.

“Their offensive line is outstanding, but we fought for every inch, and it became a game of inches down there where we were able to hold them to the field goals.

“That was the difference in the game.”

In the second quarter, Notre Dame had its back to the wall, facing a LSU second-and-goal at the 1-yard line. The Tigers ran off tackle, but senior linebacker Nyles Morgan brought down 228-pound running back Darrel Williams short of the goal line.

A play later, senior linebacker Greer Martini and senior rover Drue Tranquill stopped LSU quarterback Danny Etling inches short of the goal line, ultimately forcing a LSU field goal attempt that was missed.

With the game tied 14-14 in the fourth quarter, LSU again had a third-and-goal situation. The Tigers ran a shovel pass to Guice, who was brought down short of the goal line by sophomore end Daelin Hayes and freshman safety Jordan Genmark Heath, forcing yet another LSU field goal attempt.

Notre Dame bowed up when it mattered most.

“It’s a mentality that we’ve developed within our football team,” Kelly stated. “It’s a mentality that we lacked last year that — we didn’t fight for every inch.

“Playing the kind of schedule we did this year with 11 bowl teams, you have to fight for everything, and I think our kids developed that toughness and that mindset. Today it was absolutely necessary against LSU.”

Junior linebacker Te’von Coney was a driving force for Notre Dame’s defense, finishing with a career-high 17 tackles, with many of them punishing. Despite his strong performance, following the game Coney wanted to talk about the work the entire defense put in.

“I think we stayed in the process, stayed in the moment,” Coney explained. “Never got down or too up and stayed level headed. We did our job each play and trusted each other, and it paid off.

“It just goes back to doing your job all the time. Coaches put the players in the right position to do their job. If you do your job, everything is going to turn out well.”

The extra time to prepare proved beneficial for the entire defense, and it was ready to handle LSU offensive coordinator Matt Canada’s multiple offense.

“We had a month to prepare, so [linebackers] Coach [Clark] Lea made sure I knew where the ball was going in certain formations,” Coney explained. “I just went out there and my instincts took over. I did what I had to do.”

• Notre Dame is now 18-18 all time in bowl games.

• Notre Dame improved to 7-5 all time against LSU and 2-2 in bowl games against the Tigers.

• Freshman safety Jordan Genmark Heath set a career high with five tackles in the win.

• A pair of 31-yard runs from Wimbush and junior running back Dexter Williams gave Notre Dame 28 rushes of at least 30 yards on the season, which tied Arizona for the most in the country.

• Junior placekicker Justin Yoon’s 49-yard field goal in the third quarter was his longest of the season.

• Senior linebacker Nyles Morgan was stripped of his captaincy and starting position prior to the game due to an “internal matter.”

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