Ian Book Impressive as Gold Beats Blue in 2019 Notre Dame Spring Game

The 90th annual Blue-Gold game on Saturday offered Ian Book and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish a chance to put a disappointing Cotton Bowl showing behind them and move on to the 2019 season.

Notre Dame ran the table in the regular season last year en route to capturing its first College Football Playoff berth. However, a 30-3 thrashing in the semifinals at the hands of eventual champion Clemson put an end to a promising season for Brian Kelly and Co.

There are still nearly five months until the regular season kicks off, but the spring game gave Fighting Irish players a chance to show the coaching staff and fans what they could do.

Book put together a solid season in his first year as starter, completing 68.2 percent of his passes for 2,628 yards, 19 touchdowns and seven interceptions as a junior in 2018. On Saturday, he looked as sharp as the signal-caller who led the Fighting Irish to a 12-0 regular season last year.

The senior led the Blue squad right down the field on the opening drive, capping it off with a touchdown pass to Michael Young:

The second drive was just as efficient, though Book put his mobility on display this time around:

He wasn't done, though. The 6'0", 208-pound quarterback put his arm on display with a deep ball to receiver Chase Claypool in the first half.

He finished the day having gone 16 of 21 on his pass attempts for 220 yards and two total touchdowns.

Earlier this week, offensive coordinator Chip Long let it be known he had lofty expectations for his senior signal-caller.

"I expected a lot from Ian this spring," Long said, per the Associated Press' John Fineran. "I told him, 'Hey, challenge it. Challenge the offense. Test your arm.' Ian has been challenging himself with all of his throws. There hasn't been a fear to turn it loose. You’ve got to push yourself to do that if you want to be considered an elite quarterback."

So far, so good.

Long previously downplayed any notion of a quarterback competition by saying, "One's on advanced calculus, the other one is still getting past algebra right now," in reference to Book and Phil Jurkovec. And Saturday did nothing to change that.

Jurkovec showed some flashes at times during the day, completing 14 of 20 passes for 122 yards in the first half while splitting time with the first and second units. However, he was also subject to 11 "sacks" on the day, according to Mike Berardino of the Indianapolis Star.

Also of note, Claypool hauled in four catches for 92 yards in the first half, while running back Jahmir Smith found the end zone twice. Running back Jafar Armstrong also had himself an impressive performance, piling up 156 total yards and a score.

While the defense was not allowed to actually sack the quarterbacks, it was a promising showing for the Notre Dame pass rush:

In the end, the Gold prevailed, 58-45.

With the spring game in the books, Notre Dame fans will start the countdown to Sept. 2, when the Fighting Irish will hit the road for a showdown with the Louisville Cardinals.

Per Vegas Insider, the Fighting Irish own 33-1 national title odds, which is tied for the eighth-best preseason line in the nation.