It may have not been in as convincing fashion as 2024’s game against Purdue, but Notre Dame handled business — much to the thanks of Jadarian Price’s four touchdowns — to earn a much needed bounce-back win against the Boilermakers Saturday, 56-30.
Purdue isn’t the same team that the Irish pummeled by over 50 points last September either. The Boilermakers are led by new head coach Barry Odom, and have 82 new players on their roster.
Despite the new look, and play style, the Boilermakers provided the perfect chance to get a much needed win.
Notre Dame — while still having glaring issues on defense — took advantage of its opportunities, totaling 538 yards of offense to defeat Purdue and earn its first win of the season.
Heading into Saturday’s game, the noise surrounding defensive coordinator Chris Ash and his defense was at deafening volume, and their opening drive showed some signs of improvement, even if it didn’t put together a complete performance in all four quarters.
The Boilermakers were able to total 379 yards of offense, 303 coming through the air, against the still shaky Notre Dame defense.
The Irish defense was able to force a quick three and out to get off the field and give the ball to CJ Carr and what has so far proved to be an explosive offense.
Carr and the offense were on the field even less than the defense. The quarterback took advantage of a one-on-one matchup and fired a deep ball to Malachi Fields, connecting for a 66-yard touchdown strike.
Notre Dame’s defense didn’t carry over its early success into the second drive, especially through the air. Quarterback Ryan Browne gained over 50 yards passing, mostly thanks to a 31-yard completion to Nitro Tuggle.
Down in the redzone the Boilermakers pulled from their bag of tricks as Devin Mockobee took a handoff, waited, and threw to Browne on a swing route. The quarterback took in the catch for a 14-yard touchdown reception.
While Carr did his thing in the first drive, the second belonged to Jeremiyah Love. The junior carried the ball eight times for 39 yards, capping the drive off with a one-yard touchdown.
Purdue wasn’t done pulling rabbits out of its hat either. After the Irish appeared to get off the field, forcing a fourth down, the Boilermakers ran a fake punt as Jack McCallister fell forward to move the chains.
Notre Dame was eventually able to get off the field as Mark Zackery — replacing an injured Leonard Moore — nicely recovered to force an incompletion in the endzone. Spencer Porath knocked in a 46-yard field goal to tighten the score, 14-10.
The Irish offense carried over the momentum from their 40-point performance a week ago into Saturday as Carr and the offense were once again driving on the team’s third drive. Love flashed on the ground, picking up another 30 yards. Up to this point Jadarian Price hadn’t carried the ball once. He only needed one to find the endzone as the running back galloped for a 21-yard score.
Ash’s defense flashed for one of the first times on Purdue’s next drive as Christian Gray capitalized on a tip drill to intercept Browne’s pass. The pick marked the Irish’s second turnover of the season.
With a short field, Price continued the backfield’s dominant afternoon, gashing the defense for 36 more yards and his second consecutive touchdown to put Notre Dame up 28-10. The Irish controlled the first half on the ground, as Love and Price combined for 138 yards on the ground through four drives.
Browne bounced back nicely from his interception, completing three passes for 44 yards, setting up another Paroath field goal.
With the Irish offense pitching a perfect game to this point, Carr flashed some of that rookie inexperience with less than two minutes left in the half. The quarterback didn’t sense the pressure coming off his blindside, and Myles Slasher — who flew by Anthonie Knapp — blasted Carr for a strip sack.
Following the fumble, a lightning delay sent both teams to the locker room for a make shift, lengthy, halftime break. When the teams returned to the field, the plan was to play the final 1:31 of the half and go right into the second half.
After a lengthy 1 hour and 54 minute delay, both teams returned to continue Saturday’s game. The Irish defense used the break to their advantage as on third down it finally generated some pressure and Donovan Hinish and Gabe Rubio got home for the sack. Porath knocked in his third field goal to cut the lead to 28-16.
Not that he needed it but the break also did a whole lot of good for Price — this time on special teams. The running back bounced off a tackler and took back Purdue’s kickoff 100 yards for his third touchdown and a 35-16 Notre Dame lead.
Notre Dame’s defensive issues seemingly weren’t solved in the 114 minute break. It also only took Browne and Purdue 60 seconds to drive 75 yards through the air. Browne completed five passes and completed the drive by once again targeting Zackery and hitting Tuggle in the back of the endzone for the score.
Well no matter how bad things are looking on the defensive side of the ball — Love covers up a lot of those holes. The junior gashed up the field, beating a pack of defenders to the endzone for a 46-yard score — his second of the day.
While the running game was the star of Saturday’s game — Carr was still showing why he has a very bright future in South Bend. On the Irish’s ensuing drive, Carr hit Jordan Faison in stride for a 48-yard bomb and Carr’s second of the game.
Ash’s defense showed some more signs of improvement throughout the third quarter — not without some help though. Purdue appeared to have an easy third down conversion but Jesse Watson dropped an easy pass from Browne. On their next drive, Ash dialed up pressure on third down and Bryce Young got home for the sack to force another Boilermaker punt.
Price added in one more touchdown for good luck on Notre Dame’s next drive to give the Irish 56 points and enough of a cushion to insert the Irish backups.
Notre Dame will look to make it two in a row when they travel to take on Arkansas on Sept. 27. Kickoff slated for 12:00 p.m on ESPN.
