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What They're Saying: Notre Dame Fighting Irish 52, Bowling Green 0

A look at what the media is saying after Notre Dame's 52-0 victory against Bowling Green.

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Lou Somogyi, Blue & Gold Illustrated: Rapid Review: Notre Dame 52, Bowling Green 0

• For the second straight week, Book was 8-of-8 passing in the first quarter. Last week against Virginia it totaled only 68 yards, but this time versus Bowling Green it produced 128 yards with touchdown passes to three different receivers.

• This was Notre Dame's first shutout victory since Sept. 6, 2014, a 31-0 whitewash of Michigan in defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder's second game with the Fighting Irish. Coincidentally, VanGorder is now in his first season at Bowling Green.

• No. 2 quarterback Phil Jurkovec was inserted at the 4:11 mark of the third quarter with the Irish ahead 38-0, and his two series in the game produced 75- and 79-yard touchdown drives. He accounted for 121 yards total offense (79 passing with a touchdown, and 42 yards rushing on four carries).


Vince DeDario, Blue & Gold Illustrated: Thoughts From The Press Box: Notre Dame Crushes Bowling Green

***Overall when you score 52 points it is a good day for the offense but there are certainly opportunities to get better going into the USC game next week. Some of the mistakes that were made will not end up as touchdowns against a solid Power 5 team like Southern Cal. I was a little surprised that the offense came out in the first series and decided to only throw the ball. It felt forced for sure and led to a three and out that no one in the country was expecting, including Brian VanGorder.

***We talked all week about the offensive line and how they would perform against an overmatched defensive unit for Bowling Green and I thought they did a great job as a unit. Were there a few mistakes here and there, of course. It is difficult to play a perfect game but they dominated Bowling Green up front just like they should have and established the line of scrimmage down the field as opposed to getting pushed back into the face of the quarterback. They certainly did what they should have done in this game.

***Ian Book started the game 9-9 with three touchdown passes and looked poised in the pocked and was going through his reads very well. His overall stats for the game were very impressive as he went 16-20 with 261 yards and five touchdowns.

Douglas Farmer, NBC Sports: No. 9 Notre Dame breezes through Bowling Green defense as if it has seen it before

Notre Dame finally knows how it feels to go up against a Brian VanGorder defense. More precisely, the No. 9 Irish (4-1) know how it feels to go through a VanGorder defense, as they did over and over again Saturday in a 52-0 victory against Bowling Green (1-4)

Notre Dame turned the below scoring summary into a game of Mad Libs in the first half as the Irish passing game picked apart the Falcons and defensive coordinator VanGorder’s scheme. First, senior quarterback Ian Book found sophomore tight end Tommy Tremble uncovered in the end zone. Then he connected with junior tight end Cole Kmet for a score, somehow open before Book even received the shotgun snap.


Mike Berardino, Indianapolis Star: Notre Dame mauls 'faceless opponent,' just as it has been trained to do

Notre Dame was as businesslike in Saturday’s 52-0 win over Bowling Green as the dark suit Brian Kelly wore to his postgame news conference.

Ian Book may have become the first quarterback in school history with five touchdown passes in a single half, but no one was extrapolating too much from this walkover into next week’s rivalry visit from unranked USC.

The Irish (4-1) may have outgained the outmanned Falcons 573 yards to 228, but it was more about the preparation and “locked in” nature of the nation’s ninth-ranked team, as senior defensive end Julian Okwara put it.


Tyler James, NDinsider: Rapid-fire offense, shutout defense combine in Notre Dame's blowout of Bowling Green

Ian Book’s chance to tie a single-game record came on Notre Dame’s first drive of the second half.

The Irish quarterback threw five touchdown passes in the first half of a 52-0 rout of Bowling Green Saturday in Notre Dame Stadium and needed another to tie the school record set by Brady Quinn in 2006.

Book fell a dropped pass short of what likely would have been the record-tying touchdown. Book threw a pass to a wide-open Javon McKinley on third-and-4 from the Bowling Green nine-yard line. If McKinley caught the pass, which was thrown slightly behind him, he probably turns it into a touchdown. Instead the Irish had to settle for a field goal.

Book’s day ended when backup quarterback Phil Jurkovec replaced him on the following drive with Notre Dame leading 38-0. Head coach Brian Kelly said the coaching staff and Book were aware of the chance to tie the record, but they weren’t going to force any extra opportunities.

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