Notre Dame’s best chance to pull off an upset Saturday night rests on the shoulders on their starting quarterback Ian Book.

Book, is 6-foot, and 212-pounds of pure athlete. He is known best as a dual-threat quarterback, and the Bulldogs’ defense will be focused on him.

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart mentioned that an attentive pass rush and containment will be important to shut down Book.

“As far as Ian Book, he’s very talented,” Smart said. “The guy is fast, explosive. He’s a dual-threat guy that doesn’t have to be a dual-threat guy. He is exactly what is hard to prepare for because when a play breaks down, a lot of times you think as a coach or defensive coach you got it right, you finally got it right, and then all of a sudden he gets a 10-yard gain on a play that you got it right on.”

When interviewed, senior defensive back J.R. Reed didn’t give Notre Dame any credit. As far as Reed is worried, they are just another opponent in his eyes.

“Ian Book, he’s a great quarterback, it really shows up on film that he loves extending plays, he can run the ball really well,” Reed said. “He reminds me a lot of Johnny Manziel. We’re going to have to watch out for him to be able to contain him.”

Notre Dame’s best chance to pull off an upset Saturday night rests on the shoulders on their starting quarterback Ian Book.

Book is 6-foot and 212-pounds pure athlete. He is known best as a dual-threat quarterback, and the Bulldogs’ defense will be focused on him.

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart mentioned that an attentive pass rush and containment will be important to shut down Book.

“As far as Ian Book, he’s very talented,” Smart said. “The guy is fast, explosive. He’s a dual-threat guy that doesn’t have to be a dual-threat guy. He is exactly what is hard to prepare for because when a play breaks down, a lot of times you think as a coach or defensive coach you got it right, you finally got it right, and then all of a sudden he gets a 10-yard gain on a play that you got it right on.”

When interviewed, senior defensive back J.R. Reed didn’t give Notre Dame any credit. As far as Reed is worried, they are just another opponent in his eyes.

“Ian Book, he’s a great quarterback, it really shows up on film that he loves extending plays, he can run the ball really well,” Reed said. “He reminds me a lot of Johnny Manziel. We’re going to have to watch out for him to be able to contain him.”

It seems like Smart will have to plan just like he did in 2017 for former Fighting Irish quarterback Brandon Wimbush. Wimbush, like Book, was a dual-threat player, but the Bulldogs’ defense held him to just 1-yard rushing on 16 attempts in 2017. In that game, Georgia also forced three fumbles and recovered two of them.

Smart knows that Book can cause trouble, and plans on basing part of the game plan around stopping him.

“He has a lot of explosive plays where he scrambles to throw, and scrambles to run; he’s not a guy that just does one, he does both, and it’s frustrating,” Smart said. “You have to be really patient because you want to get him as a rusher, and then when you don’t get him, you get frustrated, and it goes from being a lost yardage play to being second-and-5.“

Reed knows that the defense will have to stop Book’s scrambling, and knows the game plan.

“We’ve got to be able to contain him, prevent him from extending the plays and making big plays,” Reed said. “Personally, if I was playing Madden, I might spy him.”