3 Things from the 56-27 Notre Dame Victory Over Wake Forest

What a Novel Game!

Keep them coming, folks. The Book puns are sticking around for a while!

Finally, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish we have been looking for. That game against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, minus a slow start in the first quarter, was more of a game we were anticipating from the Irish. A dominant win, but that still comes from some thoughts from everyone. Here are three of mine.

I was wrong!

Yes, I am admitting it. I really don’t care that I was wrong because I’m just glad the Irish won handily. I agreed that the Irish should’ve continued with Brandon Wimbush as the starter. I thought I was right, and I was forseeing this game to be a huge problem.

I was a bit on edge/ way too jumpy with my conclusions in the first quarter. I admit it was an overreaction to the slow play and the first time we had trailed in the season.

I still agree with consistency, so Ian Book should probably start and continue as the guy going forward. With a Top 10 matchup against the Stanford Cardinal later this week, consistency and confidence are going to be helpful. I am weary that it was only Wake Forest, because they were riding the struggle bus (I felt so bad for Hartman, he was getting demolished out there). However, poise and control will help especially with two very tough opponents coming up in the next two weeks. I still stand by that we didn’t have enough of a sample size for Ian Book to start, but now we do. HUGE credit to Ian for the way he played, especially unexpectedly using his feet and mobility well.

Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

Brandon Wimbush still needs to play.

Yes, he still needs to be in the offensive scheme. Not as the main quarterback. I understand what the coaching staff was doing going strictly with Book, and I loved the consistency. Regardless, going forward it would be great to see Wimbush run some wildcat or even set up in the backfield maybe to run in the slot. I would even like to see if he could line up out wide, too. His speed and athleticism can be used, and they need to be used to continue offensive production. Even with dropping 50+, you could tell Wimbush’s running ability was missed out there. The Irish need that going forward. It’s too bad we can’t put Ian Book’s arm/poise with Wimbush’s speed. That would be ideal. We can’t have that, but their talent can be utilized effectively.

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“Just win, baby!” —Al Davis

—Michael Scott

But actually, enjoy this one, Irish fans. We all finally can enjoy a dominant game that was relatively stress free. I consider the game against Michigan a dominant game, but it had stress of being big time. As we have seen, winning is not easy to do. Just ask Oregon or Virginia Tech. Once again, the Irish got it done against an opponent they were supposed to beat. Continuing to do that in any way can show great success. Clearly, two of the toughest tests of the season are coming up in back to back weeks, but I believe the performance on Saturday was more like the team that we should see. This game on Saturday helped give us all life that this team could succeed for the rest of the season. It’s all good.

Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images