Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said Sunday he anticipates having quarterback Ian Book available when the Irish return to practice Tuesday.
Book missed Saturday's game against Florida State because of a rib injury. Former starter Brandon Wimbush threw for 130 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions as the third-ranked Irish cruised to a 42-13 victory.
Kelly credited Wimbush for guiding Notre Dame (10-0) to a strong start. The Irish led 17-0 after one quarter. Kelly also made light of any impending "quarterback controversy" articles during his postgame news conference.
And Sunday, he made clear that Book is on the road to recovering for Saturday's game against No. 13 Syracuse at Yankee Stadium.
"Ian would be our starting quarterback," Kelly said, "and we expect, based upon the information that we've received (Sunday), that he would be ready to practice on Tuesday."
Book suffered the injury in the 31-21 victory at Northwestern on Nov. 3.
"There were stages of evaluation that he's been going through," Kelly said. "So this was just another step in that evaluation process that needed to be clicked off, if you will, through our team doctors for him to move through the protocol that has been established for him to be cleared to play."
Book has thrown for 1,824 yards with 15 touchdowns and four interceptions this season and is completing 74.5 percent of his passes. He took over as the starter in Week 4 at Wake Forest, and the Irish have scored at least 31 points in five of his six starts.
