SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Ian Book is not the best quarterback. Phil Jurkovec is not the worst quarterback.
When remembering Saturday’s Blue-Gold Game, it was neither the day Book cemented himself as a top-flight Notre Dame quarterback nor the day Jurkovec showed himself to be an Irish bust.
Book played well; Jurkovec did not. Perhaps both markedly so, but no more than that. The starter, the one with three years under head coach Brian Kelly’s eye, went 16-of-21 passing for 220 yards and a touchdown, a stat line very reminiscent of his 2018, and one that may have been improved if not for the red-jersey constraints of an intrasquad scrimmage.