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UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 14, 2019

Ian Book

South Bend, Indiana

New Mexico - 14, Notre Dame - 66

Q. Five touchdowns.
IAN BOOK: Yeah, felt good. I thought the coaches did a really good job of having us -- a great game plan that was able to put us in the right spots and then, you know, I was really happy with being able to make the big play when we needed it. Thought we might have started a little slow in the beginning but I think you saw that we were able to pick it up as the game went on and that's huge. We need that in the offense and really happy for the offense and big shout out to the O-line. I thought they did a great job tonight protecting me. It was great.

Q. Last week seemed like a lot of times you were trying to run the ball. Do you feel like you thought to pass first more today than you did last week?
IAN BOOK: Yeah, felt good. Felt comfortable. Like I said, O-Line did a great job. We had a great week of preparation, so I felt comfortable in the pocket. All those guys up front have played for a long time and know what's going on. I trust all of them to do their assignments. I felt comfortable in the pocket today and that's huge for the offense and it's my job to stay in there and give the ball to all of our play-makers.

Q. I don't know if you've been able to look at any Georgia tape, what do you think, knowing what you know about them, what's going to be the key to being productive offensively against them?
IAN BOOK: I think we just got to go into it -- it's going to be a hostile environment. We just have to go in there and play our game and focus on us and the small details. That's what it takes to win on the road. We talk about having a road warrior mindset and that's what it's going to take for us. This week, we don't have to do anything different. We have to keep doing what we're doing, keep trusting the coaches, follow our plan, and we've been talking about this game for a while, and feels good to win this one and we're going to feel good and then once tomorrow comes, it's Georgia weekend. We've been looking forward to it. It's time to take advantage of it.

Q. A couple of guys today, Avery and Javon specifically had their first breakthroughs, first touchdowns. Earlier in the year, Brian Kelly said the new guys stepping in -- you worked with them plenty last summer and September, does that help you can you still feel that chemistry when those guys are stepping in at a moment's notice?
IAN BOOK: No doubt. Coach Kelly talk about Next Man in mentality. That's something I clearly remember him saying since I was a freshman. To see Javon ready when his name was called and same with Avery, going from offense to defense back to offense, winning the game ball tonight, there's nothing better than that. Super happy for those guys. I feel like the chemistry with all those guys, we've been working since January. It's there and happy to have all of them on the offensive side and I know it's just going to get better from here.

Q. When Avery flipped back to offense, how long did it take to get back up to speed?
IAN BOOK: He had to learn some of the plays and that but he's really athletic. You saw that tonight. Someone, you might switch their position, you might think it's going to be a bigger issue than it was with him. Shows the type of player he is and where he's at mentally and he's ready to go. Nothing better than to see him get that run tonight. I'm excited for him and I know he was, too. I like to say he belongs on offense. That's what we like and we'll keep him there.

Q. You talked about how the Georgia game is something you've been talking about for a while. You had a team coming in today that was a small major team, obviously you could have overlooked this team and let them hang around in the fourth quarter, but how nice was it to put this game away early?
IAN BOOK: It felt good as an offense just getting the confidence up and going out there and being able to execute. It wasn't a game we were going to look over. I thought the coaches did a great job of not focusing on not -- the game in front of them. Being able to come here and get the win like we wanted, we'll enjoy it tonight and once tomorrow hits, it's Georgia week, and everyone knows that.

I thought it felt really good to be able to put it away, and like I said, it's just Georgia week and we've been talking about this since the year began. We need to be road Warriors and this will be our second test.

Q. Why do you think those shuffle passes worked so well, and are you pretty happy as a quarterback to get those on your stats?
IAN BOOK: Yeah, obviously I guess it feels good because it's considered a pass. But either way, if it was a run, I'd have been just as excited. I'd ran down there and celebrated in the end zone regardless. But when you have guys like that with speed who can really get around on the edge, it's a great design play and being able to do that twice and get some big chunk plays was awesome.

Q. You made the nice throw to Tremble. Do you remember that play and the touch you needed to get that one done?
IAN BOOK: What about it? What about it?

Q. Describe it.
IAN BOOK: I remember it, no doubt. (Laughter) yeah, that's something I want to focus on, stay there and take it on the chin if you have to and get the ball to our play-makers. I talk about that every time. Good job by Tremble being able to stay in his route, and I trust him to make plays. His confidence is out the redshirt freshman right now and it should be. He's a great player. Being able to stay down, being on the ground and you hear the crowd roar, there's nothing better than that. You know it went well. It was good.

Q. When you were sort of going through these last couple weeks from Louisville, how much of it is put in the context of Georgia, where something may work against Louisville or MÃ©xico, but you're like, okay, this actually needs to be sharper before we go to Athens?
IAN BOOK: I wouldn't say we compare it to Georgia. It's more like every play can be tuned up and fixed and we know that. But I thought we did a really good job for Louisville and knew Mexico just focusing on the game in front of us and coming out 1-0 every week. That's what it's about, coming out 1-0. That's what I thought we were doing.

Q. How much did you need the fourth quarter and third to go the way they went?
IAN BOOK: It felt good to get in a rhythm, both the fourth quarter and third, to keep scoring and keep rolling and keep making touchdowns and keep putting points on the board. Like I said big confidence booster for all of us, and for those younger guys to be in there and get some touchdowns was awesome, so it was good for everyone.

Q. With winning by 52 points, are you the type that kind of goes back over and looks for the imperfections in a game like this?
IAN BOOK: Oh, no doubt. No doubt. We're going to watch it tomorrow. All of us quarterbacks will get in there. I can already name a bunch of mistakes I had. We'll go in there, like every week -- there is no perfect week. So you have to find the mistakes and get better for us and it's going to be a huge week for us.

Q. Without Armstrong, how do you feel like the running game measured up today?
IAN BOOK: I've been saying this for a while ever since spring ball started. I think we have a great group of running backs. You have four or five guys that can really run the ball and all have, you know, different aspects of their game. It's huge and it helps our offense, so it's great to see all our guys get in there and play. That running back group just helps our offense be the offensive identity that we want to have. They really help out for that.

Q. Could you describe what McKinley's assets are?
IAN BOOK: He's really athletic and super strong. When you see him running, you saw four or five guys bounce off of him. I was super happy for him, and he's faster than people think. So when you get him the ball in a drag like that and he can go all the way down the field and make four or five people miss, that's huge and again, he has another touchdown on a back shoulder fade. He's able to go there and be strong with his hands and bring down a fade ball. He's someone you want on the perimeter and he's someone we need this year and he's doing great.

Q. Do you know what he went through off the field? Did you relate to him during that time?
IAN BOOK: Yeah, he's in my class. I was there by his side through all this. I think he's really level-headed so he's able to put things behind him and move on and he's a great kid. You might not know he's such a great kid on the field. He works hard every day and that's why it's so rewarding for me to see him make plays like he is tonight.

Q. Sounded like you had a couple situations in the Louisville game where you could have or should have made checks and didn't. What did you do to brush up on that and how well did you do that today?
IAN BOOK: Just through the preparation. Focusing on the smaller details and not playing outside of the system. Like I said, the coaches had a great game plan for us. I've just got to follow that. It's my job to follow that, trust my eyes, trust what I'm seeing and just get the ball to those guys. Something I worked through the whole entire week.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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