How did Notre Dame beat Purdue 66-7 after losing to NIU? What we learned about the Irish

By / / Sports / 5 minutes of reading


WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — No. 18 Notre Dame recovered from last week’s upset loss with an emphatic win, blowing out in-state rival Purdue 66-7 in West Lafayette on Saturday. It was the Fighting Irish’s largest win since shutting out Rutgers 62-0 in 1996.

One week after a stunning 16-14 upset at the hands of Northern Illinois, the Irish surged to a 42-0 halftime lead against the Boilermakers, dominating in all phases of the game. Both quarterback Riley Leonard and running back Jeremiyah Love rushed for 100 yards, and Notre Dame (2-1) outgained Purdue (1-1) 578 to 162.

The only downside for Notre Dame was injuries to defensive end Jordan Botelho, center Ashton Craig and right guard Billy Schrauth.

Here are some instant takeaways:

Where was this last week?

It’s a question Marcus Freeman was probably asking himself at some point during the second quarter between Boubacar Traore’s 34-yard interception return for a touchdown and Jadarian Price running for a 70-yard score virtually untouched.

An offense that couldn’t quite commit to the run against Northern Illinois had no problem against Purdue. A defense that couldn’t quite control the line of scrimmage against a MAC school didn’t allow a Big Ten opponent to run a play in Irish territory during the first half. Basically, Notre Dame looked like a program with an inside track to host a College Football Playoff game while blowing out Purdue, the exact opposite of the team that stumbled at home last week, when Leonard threw two interceptions and Mitch Jeter had two field goal attempts blocked.

Good teams are supposed to make quick work of inferior opponents. Notre Dame did that this weekend after getting burned seven days earlier.

Reducing Purdue to rubble doesn’t make up for losing to Northern Illinois, nor will it change much about Notre Dame’s cluttered path to the CFP from here. But with eight games in succession in which Notre Dame should be favored before closing the season at USC, this was at least a hint the Irish might be able to build something from here.

Of course, that demands handling success, which has been a major Irish problem under Freeman.

Leonard delivers better of the same

This wasn’t a new Leonard as much as it was an indefensible one.

Leonard was still modest in the pass game, going without a touchdown pass for the third consecutive week. But he was absolutely devastating on the ground, a cheat code when the Boilermakers managed to cover up the Irish receivers or tackle running backs Love and Price.

Despite reports of a labrum tear against Northern Illinois, there was no hesitancy to let Leonard be Leonard against the Boilermakers before he was pulled at halftime of the blowout. He finished with 11 carries for 100 yards and three touchdowns as Purdue looked helpless to stop the quarterback run. Whether it was a scramble, zone read or designed run, the Boilermakers were overpowered by all of it. Leonard didn’t even mind sticking his left shoulder in the pile, either, which he did in the first quarter on a run near the goal line. He scored on the next play.

The quarterback run game turned Notre Dame’s third-down offense into a problem for Purdue, as the Irish went 5-of-7 in the first half after going 5-of-21 combined in games against Texas A&M and Northern Illinois.

Steve Angeli threw Notre Dame’s first touchdown of the season, a 28-yarder to tight end Cooper Flanagan early in the third quarter, and followed with a second to Kevin Bauman in the fourth.

Irish defense snaps back to form

A week after being run over by Northern Illinois’ misdirection and multiple-tight end sets, Notre Dame played the defense it wanted to against Purdue’s wide-open offense. The box score came with a parental advisory for the Boilermakers offense.

Hudson Card was under duress the entire game and never got comfortable in the pocket. Late in the second quarter, Rylie Mills came loose on Card, who lost the football directly toward Traore, who ran untouched for a 34-yard score. At halftime, Notre Dame had outrushed Purdue 278-11. The Boilermakers finished the game with 162 total yards, with 52 of that coming on a broken play when Card found Kam Brown for a big gain during the third quarter.

The completion was Purdue’s first (and only) series that advanced into Notre Dame territory during the entire game.

Notre Dame went deep on defense, too, giving extensive action to freshmen Bryce Young, Kennedy Urlacher, Leonard Moore and Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa, even though the linebacker was a regular part of the rotation as is.

Purdue may have a broken offense with little shot at doing damage in the Big Ten, but Notre Dame’s defense left it wrecked on Saturday. Though the Irish still need to improve plenty on offense, the defensive performance at Ross-Ade Stadium was a reminder that Notre Dame doesn’t need pyrotechnics from Leonard to win.

(Top photo of Riley Leonard: Justin Casterline / Getty Images)





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Avatar of Christi Melton
Christi Melton is a writer from The Newspring. She writes about lifestyle, books, sports, education and technology. Her hobbies include reading and playing tennis.

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