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Ian Book Joins The 'Michigan Defense Made Me Look Bad' Club
Though he has not been one of the nation's best passers this season - he ranks 45th nationally in passer rating at 146.33 - Notre Dame senior Ian Book has been fairly steady in his career, avoiding the really poor performances that can get a signal-caller replaced. That is, until he faced Michigan.
Last Saturday, the Wolverines made Book look bad. No, that's not doing the Maize and Blue justice. They made it look like he belonged on the JV team.
Book had a career-low passer rating of 69.73, 14 points below is previous worst outing of 83.65 in a 2018 playoff semifinal loss to Clemson.
Book's 2.9 yards per attempt were also a career low (the median of top 100 QBs in college football in 2019 is 7.8 yards per attempt), as was his completion percentage of 32.0. To say it's a night the El Dorado Hills, Calif., native would like to forget is an understatement.
Take solace young man, you are not the first opposing signal-caller embarrassed by the Michigan defense, and you will not be the last.
Formerly of Wisconsin (now at Florida State), Alex Hornibrook had the two worst passing days of his career against the Wolverines, efficiency ratings of 54.77 in 2016 and 73.50 in 2018. His career rating is 140.7.
Likewise, Trace McSorley's passer rating of 76.71 at Michigan in 2018 is the worst game of his illustrious career with Penn State (2015-18), falling almost 70 points below his career average of 144.5.
No one, though, has had it as bad as Nebraska's Adrian Martinez, who must have been thrilled the Maize and Blue were not on the Cornhuskers' schedule this season (unfortunately for him, Ohio State was). Martinez has posted a career passer rating of 139.9 but in a loss at U-M in 2018, he finished his afternoon at 45.66.
On that September day, Michigan held Martinez to 1.5 yards per attempt (in 2018, the college football median was 7.6), 22 total passing yards and a completion percentage of 46.7.
So rest a little easier Ian as you prepare for Virginia Tech this Saturday. It simply cannot be as difficult of a game as the one you just played.
| Quarterback | Team | Year | Passer Rating | Career Rating | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Alex Hornibrook | Wisconsin | 2016 | 54.8 | 140.7 | -85.9 |
CJ Beathard | Iowa | 2016 | 78.1 | 129.8 | -51.7 |
JT Barrett | Ohio State | 2016 | 73.2 | 152.3 | -79.1 |
Trace McSorley | Penn State | 2016 | 101.7 | 144.5 | -42.8 |
Brian Lewerke | Michigan State | 2017 | 100.9 | 119.4 | -18.5 |
Trace McSorley | Penn State | 2018 | 76.7 | 144.5 | -67.8 |
Brian Lewerke | Michigan State | 2018 | 42.2 | 119.4 | -77.2 |
Adrian Martinez | Nebraska | 2018 | 45.7 | 139.9 | -94.2 |
Nate Stanley | Iowa | 2019 | 92.5 | 134.6 | -42.1 |
Ian Book | Notre Dame | 2019 | 69.7 | 147.0 | -77.3 |
