As an ex coach these are the things that bug me. Obviously on 3rd and short I want to pick it up at a high rate, but I also don't want a lot of 3rd and shorts.
We all know Book struggled but here is another example of a really poor decision that went unnoticed by most.
In this photo you can see a nice alley for Book. He has a blocker on the outside and has the angle on the inside man. The first down marker is right at the 25.
Instead of cutting up and diving to the 25 or 26 without being touched he decides he needs to bail out of bounds a yard short to avoid a possible hit. Problem is, Claypools man gets off the block and hits Book before he gets out of bounds.
Book fumbles and ND proceeds to lose another yard.
What should have been a first down ends up in a 3rd and short ND doesn't get.
I understand QB's protecting themselves, but at the college level you have to sell out a little more than what he showed. He did this again later in the second half.