There was pretty much nothing to take from today’s 52-0 Notre Dame win over Bowling Green except that it was great to see ND, for the second time this season, take care of a totally overmatched opponent. It says a lot about the team’s focus level.

For the record, I have no problem with playing New Mexico or Bowling Green, but man, those are not two teams that Notre Dame should be playing in the same season. The Falcons may well be the worst team ND has ever played, non-NCAA-death-penalty division. The majority of the game pretty much looked like a Blue-Gold scrimmage.

That said, here are a couple of things to note from this one.

Ian Book looked great

This is the Ian Book ND fans have been waiting to see. He was decisive, accurate, and willing to take a risk. (He had one throw to a double-covered Cole Kmet in the end zone that may not have been the smartest, but it was aggressive and, because Kmet has magnetic hands, very unlikely to be intercepted. I liked it, even though it didn’t work.) It probably helped that he was going against a Brian VanGorder secondary and had all week to throw. (Like I said, there’s very little to actually take from this game.)

If Book can take that kind of mindset into the rest of the season, though, Notre Dame can be a much better team than it has shown to date. That would be excellent, my friends.

Tony Jones continues to run hard

Tony Jones Jr. had a fantastic second half last week against Virginia and he took that into today’s contest. He only had seven carries, but broke free for several huge gains and turned those seven attempts into a second consecutive 100-yard game.

Some more great news came during the telecast when Mike Tirico said Jafar Armstrong now had a chance to return from injury against USC. Between the seeming re-emergence of the ND running game behind Jones and the pending return of Jafar (I didn’t even mean to do that but I’m leaving it in), the Irish appear in good shape on both sides.

Nice to go against BVG for once

Ian Book threw a wide-open touchdown to Javon McKinley on a play where Bowling Green rushed three. Phil Jurkovec threw a prayer into coverage that somehow turned into a wide-open pass because a Falcon had his head turned the wrong way.

Man, it’s nice going against Brian VanGorder defenses. Now I know how Louisville, Northwestern and Duke felt.

Brian Kelly wisely did not run up the score. If I had been coaching this team, I’d have tried to drop 80 or more on VanGorder just to prove a point. The jamoke probably cost the Irish a playoff berth in 2015 and tossed gasoline on the fire of 2016. But I suppose it’s not the Falcons’ players’ fault they’ve been saddled with him as defensive coordinator.

I’m just glad ND got to face him. No fan base deserved it more.

Shutout

The ND defense stonewalled Bowling Green. In a fun twist of fate, because the Irish earned the shutout (thanks for blocking that field goal, Julian Okwara!), BVG is no longer the architect of the most recent Notre Dame shutout. Plus, it gives us a chance to bring up that shutout, the 37-0 (#RememberThe6) win over Michigan in 2014.

USC next week

After this glorified open week, the Irish return to relevant action next week when the Trojans come to town. When that one is over, we should have a good idea of ND’s chances of running the table the rest of the way.

(Photo credit: Indianapolis Star)