Notre Dame finally put together the type of complete game its fans have been looking for against a power 5 opponent.

Last week’s 45-3 romp over Pittsburgh made up for the dismal performance in a 12-7 victory against Lousville a week earlier.

Racking up 45 points against a defense ranked in the Top 10 in the nation was notable for the Irish. ND also finally got the type of play it has been looking for from quarterback Ian Book.

The ND defense shut down the Pitt running game completely. That left the Panthers to try and throw the ball. But Pitt was without their starting QB Kenny Pickett and freshman Joey Yellen was “eaten up” by the Irish defense. No disrespect for Yellen, but he was thrown into a situation that he just couldn’t win. Yellen had three interceptions in the game.

Book had his best day of the unusual 2020 season, completing 16 of 30 passes for 312 yards and three touchdowns despite being sacked twice and hurried seven times. Book also rushed for 40 yards on eight carries.

Wide receiver transfer Ben Skowronek had a big day with two catches for 107 yards and two TDs. Can’t ask for a more efficient day than that. ND, for the first time this year, had Book throwing to receivers running deep routes. Prior to this, Book’s passing game consistent of short throws in the 10 to 20 yard range.

ND will need a lot more from Skowronek as the season moves on because of injuries that hit the Irish in the Pitt game. More on that later.

ND’s defense held Pitt to 44 rushing yards and 118 passing. Admittedly, the absence of Pickett really put Pitt at a disadvantage. He injured an ankle two weeks ago and has now missed two games in a row. Pitt started at 3-0, but has now lost four in a row.

Junior running back C’Bo Flemister had 48 yards on 13 carries to lead the Irish on the ground. Kyren Williams had 38 yards on 17 carries and three catches for 37 yards. He had one TD.

More game stats later.

Today ND is on the road taking on Georgia Tech. The Yellowjackets enter the game at 2-4 with wins over Florida State, 16-13; and Louisville, 46-27. The losses have been to UCF, 49-21; Syracuse, 37-20; Clemson, 73-7; and Boston College, 48-27.

ND leads the series between the schools, 27-6-1. The last ND win was in 2006, 14-10. Georgia Tech won in 2007, 33-3.

The game will be televised by ABC-TV with a 3:40 p.m. kickoff.

IRISH NOTES ... Despite its most impressive win of the short season, ND fell in the national rankings to fourth placed with Ohio State jumping ahead of the Irish at No. 3 ... here are the rest of the game stats: Freshman tight end Michael Mayer had his best day of an impressive freshman season with five catches for 73 yards and a TD. Mayer is in position to join Kyle Rudolph as the two most productive true freshmen tight ends in ND history. He leads the team with 12 catches and ranks third in receiving yards at 153 and also has two TDs. Avery Davis caught three for 44 yards and Javon McKinley, two for 50. Defensively, Nick McCloud, Bo Bauer and Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, each had an interception. Shaun Crawford had six tackles followed by Justin Ademilola and McCloud, four each. Jonathan Doerer had one field goal for 21 yards. The Irish had 434 yards of total offense ... As I mentioned earlier, ND will need Skowronek to stay healthy. Last week Kevin Austin Jr., a highly touted receiver, re-injured his left foot and had surgery on it and is lost for the remainder of the season. Wide receiver Braden Lenzy, did not have a catch in the Pitt game, but more importantly, needed assistance to leave the field in the fourth quarter after reinjuring his left hamstring. he will be out two-to-four weeks ... Book joined Brady Quinn as the only ND quarterbacks to surpass 8,000 total yards in a career. Quinn has 11,944. Book tied Tommy Rees at No. 3 all-time in school history in 300-yard passing games with seven. Book’s other career highlights include his 62 TD passes which puts him ahead of Rees as No. 2 all-time. He also jumped over Ron Powlus to No. 3 in history in career completions with 574 ... ND wide receivers had just three catches of at least 20 yards prior to the Pitt game. They had four receptions of at least 20 yards in the win over the Panthers ... ND extended its winning streak to 11 games, the longest active streak among FBS teams. The Irish are 5-0 for the fourth time under head coach Brian Kelly ... Pitt was permitted to let fans into Heinz Field for the first time this season and sold 5,451 tickets out of 5,550 available for sale ... The ACC named Book its Quarterback of the Week and left tackle Liam Eichenberg its Offensive Lineman of the Week for their performances against Pitt ... ND is favored by about 19 today in a match up against a George Tech team that has shown signs of improving. The Irish can’t afford to look ahead to next week’s primetime matchup with Clemson and must concentrate on the Yellow Jackets. In my preseason picks I have the Irish winning and moving on to the projected game between two undefeated teams next week. I think the Irish will win but Kelly and his staff must have them focused on the matter at hand, beating Georgia Tech.