Three Things We Saw In Notre Dame’s Win Over Purdue

Another year, another vengeful slaughter of the poor Purdue Boilermakers in the aftermath of a painful loss for Notre Dame (in this case, two losses). It says more about the state of Purdue football than Notre Dame, but it is still amusing as someone who grew up with this being an often competitive annual matchup to see it effectively become a built-in get-right game, an opportunity for the Irish to pour out their wrath on the Boilers in lieu of last week’s opponent (granted, that was likely not the plan when they were placed in the slot after Northern Illinois in 2024). Anyway, let’s bring back a classic bit of postgame analysis:

This game wasn’t quite as dominant for the Irish as last year’s, as the defense continued to show some serious vulnerabilities and fell victim to some early trickery by an upset-minded Boiler squad desperate to stay in the game. Still, it never really felt like this game was in jeopardy thanks to the dominance of the Irish offense. Let’s get into what went right, and what’s still concerning ahead of an intriguing matchup on the road in Arkansas next week.

The Punishers

If the goal of this game was to punish Purdue for the temerity of taking the field in the wake of Notre Dame’s two opening losses, then the roles of chief punisher fell to the Irish running backs and offensive line. Lining up against a considerably lighter opposing front than it had in the previous two games, Notre Dame’s front five brutalized their counterparts in white and cleared the way snap after snap for Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price, who did whatever they wanted all afternoon en route to a 76.3% rush efficiency rate, until the backups took over in the fourth quarter.

How good was the Irish running game yesterday? CJ Carr’s 223 yards and 2 touchdowns came on only 12 pass attempts because Notre Dame had so little need to throw the ball. Indeed, the only question mark from this game was which of Notre Dame’s running backs looked better. Price had four touchdowns, including a 100-yard kick return in which a tackler bounced off him like a bullet off Superman; Love racked up 157 yards, punctuated by a touchdown run in which he seemingly went out of his way to humiliate every member of Purdue’s back seven individually. Yes, the opponent was overmatched, but it was important for this clearly talented offense to get the reps it needed to gel, and hopefully the success they saw Saturday will keep building as the season goes on.

Marginal Improvements

We’ll talk about some of the defensive issues that persisted into this game shortly, but I do want to note some areas that improved. Notre Dame’s run defense was outstanding yesterday, racking up 14 run stuffs and limited the Boilers to just 76 yards. That is directly attributable to improved play from the interior defensive line, a frequent target of criticism in Notre Dame’s first two games. Notre Dame’s tackling looked considerably better, and although they were still frequently lacking pressure on Ryan Browne (again, more in a second) they did sack him twice and get 5 tackles for loss. Christian Gray, another frequent target of criticism in 2025, showed improved focus and awareness on a key interception in the first half.

It is also worth noting the considerable improvement the Irish defense showed in the third quarter, which saw the return of Adon Shuler from his (bogus) suspension for a targeting penalty. The veteran presence of Shuler seemed to make an impact on Notre Dame’s young secondary (both Leonard Moore and Devonta Smith were on the sidelines injured) as the Irish defense bore down and limited Browne to only 16 yards for the remainder of the game. One hopes that Moore and Smith were being held out to return against a more dynamic passing offense next week, as that could bring the secondary a little closer to the standard we have been used to seeing in recent years.

Jack Bauer is Disappointed

Alright, let’s be downers and talk about the issues with Notre Dame’s pass defense. Much ink will no doubt be spilled about the general performance of the Irish secondary in the first half, but I want to focus on a narrower issue which has plagued the Irish throughout their first three games – an utter inability to perform in ticking-clock scenarios, hence the title of this subsection.

In each of Notre Dame’s two losses, it surrendered seemingly effortless touchdown drives in the closing minutes of each half, and yesterday that trend continued. Up 35-16 after Price’s kick return touchdown, which looked like a knockout blow with one minute remaining in the second quarter, Chris Ash’s defense surrendered a 6-play, 75-yard drive in 53 seconds that rejuvenated a flagging Boilers team. While it doesn’t tell the full story and there were lots of other problems at other points in the game, it was this series more than any other that made it clear that the confusion of the players operating in Ash’s system (in this case aggravated by an inexperienced secondary) and poor situational play-calling make this defense extremely vulnerable to hurry-up offenses, especially given the lack of havoc up front. Those of you who are having Brian VanGorder flashbacks, I assure you you are not alone.

Beyond the particular vulnerability this moment showed, I think it’s also a significant point because had the Irish gotten a stop, they would have not only held the Boilers to 7 fewer points, but also 70-some fewer yards through the air. I think we’d all be feeling a heck of a lot better about this game and the defense in general had they given up 180 yards to Ryan Browne instead of 250, and 16 points in meaningful minutes rather than 23.

Again, there are mitigating factors for Ash’s performance here given the absence of veteran defenders in the secondary, all of whom will hopefully be back next in Fayetteville. But Notre Dame fans are still more than justified in expecting significant adjustments, whether it’s a change in play-calling duties or an adjustment in tactics, as right now it appears that any team that can sling the ball decently through the air will be able to hang with this team.

That’s all for this week, folks – hopefully next we’ll be breaking down three more observations from a W.