Countdown to kickoff: Notre Dame vs. Ohio State only 30 days away

To preview one of the most anticipated games for Notre Dame this century and the official start of the Marcus Freeman era, BlueandGold.com is counting down the days to the matchup against Ohio State on Sept. 3.

This daily series of 99 stories celebrates by the numbers some of the most notable names, dates, moments and memories related to the past and present of Notre Dame football. 

With 30 days remaining until kickoff, we remember the Irish career of quarterback Ian Book. The California native who played in South Bend from 2016-20 is the winningest quarterback in Notre Dame history, with 30 victories as a starter under his belt.

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Tom Clements. Ron Powlus. Brady Quinn. All three played quarterback at Notre Dame. All three walked away from the shadow of the Golden Dome with 29 career wins as a starter, the program record at the time.

They were prodigies of sorts in high school, so the fact that they reached those heights didn’t make one’s jaw drop. Clements was so athletic he had an offer to play point guard for legendary head basketball coach Dean Smith at North Carolina. Powlus was the USA Today Prep Offensive Player of the Year in 1993 and one of the most highly coveted prospects in the history of college football. Quinn was a top-10 signal caller in his class according to the two recruiting services around in 2003 — Rivals and 247Sports.

Book, a three-star California product, topped all three of them with his work at the college level, at least in the victories column. By the time his career came to a close at Notre Dame, Book had won 30 games as a starting quarterback for the Irish. 

The signal-caller was originally committed to Washington State and was ranked No. 430 nationally and No. 30 at the quarterback position according to On3 Consensus when he graduated from El Dorado Hills (Calif.) Oak Ridge in 2016. He arrived on campus as the fourth-string signal-caller and did not see the field his rookie year. 

He made a 2017 start against North Carolina in place of an injured Brandon Wimbush, but that was a temporary move. His arrival party started on New Year’s Day in 2018, when Book came on in relief and led the Irish to a 21-17 Citrus Bowl victory over LSU.

The stakes weren’t huge, but the memory is cemented in the heads of Irish fans everywhere. Book showed he could be clutch, and he’d get his full-time shot the following September.

Book took over the starting job for good at Wake Forest on Sept. 22, 2018. The initial results were near-perfect. The record was actually perfect. Book became the first FBS quarterback to win his first five starts of the year with a completion percentage better than 70 percent in each game since Russell Wilson did it in 2011 for Wisconsin.

The then-junior led the Irish to a perfect regular season for the second time under head coach Brian Kelly and earned a berth in the 2018 College Football Playoff. Notre Dame was ultimately routed by Clemson in a 30-3 loss.

Book remained the full-time starter in 2019 and 2020, and he never lost a game at home as a starter. The Irish went 11-2 in 2019 and posted another perfect regular season in 2020, going 10-0 and beating No. 1 Clemson on Nov. 5. He was a captain in both seasons, and his name could be found on several national award lists in December 2020. Book finished ninth in the Heisman voting that season and took Notre Dame to a Rose Bowl, one of the CFP semifinal games that season. They lost 31-14 to the eventual national champions, Alabama.

In total, Book walked away from Notre Dame with those 30 wins, two appearances in the College Football Playoff, 8,948 passing yards, 1,517 rushing yards and 89 total touchdowns. He was drafted in the fourth round of the 2021 NFL Draft by the New Orleans Saints.