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UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 2, 2019

Ian Book

South Bend, Indiana

Notre Dame - 21, Virginia Tech - 20

Q. Was that a planned run when you ran it in there at the end or did you see something and change the play?
IAN BOOK: No, it was a designed quarterback run on that play. So it worked out perfectly.

Q. Just what's your week been like leading up to the game? What's your week of practice been like? What's the mood around you been like?
IAN BOOK: This week was about our team. It was just about having that strong love for each other and just going out there having fun and playing for each other. There was a lot that goes on. There's a lot that's said about Notre Dame and whatever that may be and all that stuff doesn't matter. And our team did a really good job tonight of just being resilient and just focusing on ourselves and getting a win. A win is a win and we're extremely proud about winning tonight and that's what matters.

Q. Taking the field in those last three minutes, I think this was 3:32 when you got the ball back. What was said in the huddle? I don't think anybody in there was probably expecting a 18-play drive to get to the end zone?
IAN BOOK: Right. That's a lot of time. We practice that every week. We do two-minute drill and we got another minute and 10 seconds. So a lot of, just do what we do. We were able to go, move the ball a lot and we had some mistakes in the red zone, so we knew we could go down there and do it and really put up points on this drive. So it was really just to trust in each other, keep doing what we were doing and I thought O-line did a great job, receivers did unbelievable and I thought the play calling was awesome too.

Q. You mentioned the O-line, you basically had a whole new right side today. How did those two do?
IAN BOOK: Extremely proud of both of them. Just being able to, Coach Kelly's been saying it since the day I got here, the next-man-in mentality. And extremely proud of Trevor and Josh Lugg to just be able to step in and do that. And we got more games to come, I'm proud of those guys, and I know they will do the job.

Q. On the drive, before the game-winning drive, you had a long-sustained drive, but it ended with the missed field goal, I guess. What was the mood on the sideline coming off the field there after you guys weren't able to get points?
IAN BOOK: That's what I'm probably most proud about is just being able to go on the sideline and after missing a field goal and still having time but knowing and believing that we can go out there and do it. So I didn't see any disbelief in anybody. I knew the offense was fired up ready to go and I knew the defense was doing a great job tonight, we were going to get another opportunity and we did.

Q. How about Chase Claypool today? Does he just amaze you every day? It's pretty incredible how he makes incredible catches every time you throw it to him.
IAN BOOK: He's awesome. He works hard every day and he's a leader on our offense, makes my job a lot easier, so I can't thank him enough.

Q. Where does the confidence come from going in that last drive after things haven't gone right? Last week and this week, you had two interceptions and a third that was called back for roughing the passer. Where do you get that confidence to eliminate all that stuff in the past and move forward and make a game-winning touchdown?
IAN BOOK: I'm just an extremely confident person, but I also just truly believe in everyone on the offense, on my whole entire team. I knew we could do it. Last week was last week. We forgot about that. We moved on. I'm just confident in all the guys. We work so hard every day and we're playing for each other and that's when you can make some pretty awesome things happen.

Q. What was the plan on that third down if you don't score, get tackled inbounds, did you have the option to throw the ball away to stop the clock, because you didn't have any timeouts left and it would have been fourth down?
IAN BOOK: No, probably not good to throw it away and get a man down field call. So it was a designed run, blocking was awesome, I was able to kind of like stem it inside and I knew could I get around the edge. So we were going to get another play after that.

Q. Did you have another play called if you didn't score?
IAN BOOK: Yeah, we were ready to run one.

Q. What are you feeling right now? Is it more relief or is it exhilaration? You seem pretty calm.
IAN BOOK: Yeah, I'm pretty calm. I'm extremely excited and I'm just happy for the team. And this week was about us, I can't really stress that enough. Coach Kelly did a great job of kind of displaying that message. It's about us. There's a lot that's said about Notre Dame and Notre Dame's in the spotlight and when you lose some things, you hear it and it's not the best and none of that matters. So I was just focused on the team. Extremely confident in the guys on offense. And we just played for each other and that's, since I've been here that's the main thing about Notre Dame I've noticed. We all love each other and play so hard for each other.

Q. It took y'all 60 minutes but what was the feeling like you when you finally crossed the goal line?
IAN BOOK: There's no better feeling. Talk about it all the time as a quarterback group. There's no better feeling than after a game, after a win. So you dream about nights like this and you, this is why you play college football and this is why you come to Notre Dame.

Q. One of the big focuses this week was physicality and getting back to that. Do you feel like you guys sort of rediscovered that edge tonight? And what were the indicators that made you feel like you did, if you felt that way?
IAN BOOK: Yeah, it was a physical game tonight. Hats off to Virginia Tech, too, for playing extremely physical. And I thought we did a good job at that and something we'll continue to work on. But, yeah, we talked about it. Coach Kelly talked about that message. It's going to be a physical game, it's going to be a war, that's what he kept saying. And I couldn't agree more but I'm happy with the guys and the way they fought.

Q. As the game's unfolding, where are you getting confidence, all right, we're answering the call here?
IAN BOOK: Kind of just like what I've been saying earlier, just there's no point of, if the game's not over, it's not over, so there's no point in really not having confidence for that. And we work on it every single day in practice. Our defense gives us a great look, so I was extremely confident the whole O-line was everyone was talking and that's what you need on a team so we were resilient tonight.

Q. I understand pointing to the team and it's all about the team, but you are human as well and I'm sure you have to hear some of the negativity surrounding you and the team and the performance. Is there some degree or level of vindication tonight?
IAN BOOK: What do you mean? What do you mean by that exactly? Because, yeah, I mean you come to Notre Dame and play quarterback you're going to -- they're going to love you when you win and they're going to hate you when you lose. That's part of growing up, part of nature, but again, it's really, I only care about the guys on the team, that's it. It's about blocking the noise and playing for each other.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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