Changes are coming, you can Book it

Published 7:00 pm Wednesday, January 3, 2018

ORLANDO, Fla. — So that’s how it works, huh?

Nice move, Notre Dame.

But what a luxury.

Don’t like what you’re getting from your quarterback? Feel like you need a shot in the arm? Or just a change?

Shoot, just bring another one in.

What a concept.

Apparently it’s as easy as sending disagreeable soup back at the deli.

Next man up applies to quarterbacks too?

Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly didn’t like what Brandon Wimbush was doing with the Irish offense, or at least he figured out that LSU defensive coordinator Dave Aranda had figured him out, and Wimbush and the running game wasn’t going to do much to annoy the Tigers in the Citrus Bowl.

That’s a big-time crisis, you’d think, the realization that the guy who has been a big key to your offense isn’t going to win the game and might get decapitated before the afternoon is out.

So Kelly summoned seldom-used Ian Book from the bench and beat LSU 21-17.

It looked as easy as a post-Christmas trip to the mall to exchange the ugly socks Aunt Sue got you for something more stylish.

But that’s nuts. Who knew it was possible?

LSU has spent most this decade scouring the country for the elusive quarterback answer and keeps coming up with Anthony Jennings and Brandon Harris.

In fact, it was considered a huge upgrade when Danny Etling landed in the Tigers’ lap via transfer and turned out to be sort of SEC-worthy.

Not to suggest Etling was the Tigers’ problem Monday. Etling was fine. Has been most of the season.

In fact, one of the key tenants of the accord Ed Orgeron and (now lame-duck) offensive coordinator Matt Canada came to after the Troy disaster was turning over the offense to Etling and putting the infatuation with freshman Myles Brennan on hold until next year.

Etling made a lot of plays Monday, particularly on third down, many under duress.

LSU’s problems in the first half — when the Tigers dominated their way to a 3-0 deficit — were inherent to an offense that has struggled in the red zone all season.

But what if Etling hadn’t been playing well? LSU would have been stuck with him.

Kelly was in dire straights. No problem. He just called back over his shoulder and yelled for Book to get in there.

Book is a far better passer than Wimbush, but he can’t really run the run-pass options that had been the staple of the Irish attack. He is, however, a pesky little devil as a scrambler.

Crazy. So it’s possible to snap your fingers and make your offensive frustrations go away with a mere quarterback change.

It won the game for the Irish — and cost LSU an embarrassment it will have to live with at least until September.

When Book entered the game it meant that Aranda, the defensive wunderkind, had basically wasted a whole month down in the lab coming up with another devious game plan to stifle a bowl opponent.

Aranda’s defense, which had given up only 11 fourth-quarter points over its last seven games, gave up 15 to the Irish over the last 8 minutes of the game as LSU blew a 14-6 lead.

It appeared the Tigers grew weary chasing Book all over the lot, even if in the end it took a miraculous catch-and-run by Miles Boykin for the 55-yard winning pass by Book.

Stuff happens.

But LSU lost the game in the first half with more hijinks close to the goal line, which wasn’t a new development under what apparently will be a one-year experiment with Matt Canada’s unorthodox offense.

Mostly it sputtered and spewed oil in the red zone.

When your comical field goal attempts have as much chance of wounding three innocent bystanders as netting three points, that’s a problem.

Notre Dame solved its woes with a mere quarterback change.

Orgeron, by all accounts, will be a little more drastic. He’ll change coordinators, divorcing LSU from Canada’s ever-shifting alignments built around those jet sweeps.

Nothing is official, but Orgeron had umpteen chances here to deny the reports of Canada’s demise, so let’s call it a done deal. 

Maybe he brings back tight ends coach Steve Ensminger again to run more of a true pro-style attack, as he did last year when Orgeron was the interim head coach. 

It wouldn’t be a sexy hire to excite the fan base, but Ensminger did a laudable job.

Maybe he has somebody else in mind — he hired Canada without really knowing him.

But whoever it is, it better work.

It may be the key hire of the fledgling Orgeron administration.

That Cajun honeymoon, which came at a home-state discount, is just about over.

One thing’s for sure: from this point forward, Orgeron will be judged by his wins and losses, not his love of red beans and rice.