Purdue Embarrassed by #18 Notre Dame – Final Score 66-7

I have no one to blame but myself. I put way too much weight on one bad game by Notre Dame against Northern Illinois. I talked myself into this game being close. When Ryan and I talked about this game in the offseason I anticipated a blowout. Not just anticipated, but I expected it. Then, after Purdue’s dominance of an overmatched Indiana State team and the aforementioned Notre Dame loss, I somehow made myself believe that Purdue had a chance. That notion was quickly dispelled.

The Purdue defense put up little fight, especially on the ground, as Notre Dame waltzed down the field in less than three minutes for an all too easy touchdown. That drive set the tone for what Purdue fans would witness for the rest of the game. Nothing was more emblematic of the problems that Purdue had than the last two minutes and ten seconds of the first half.

With 2:10 left Notre Dame QB Riley Leonard, who still doesn’t have a touchdown pass in three games, ran 13 yards for a touchdown. The score was 28-0. Purdue was desperate to score some points and the offensive line was giving zero protection. Hudson Card threw a desperate pass which was picked off and ran in for six more points. There was 1:32 left and the score was 35-0. After another Purdue offensive possession where they could get nothing done, Notre Dame got the ball one more time. What did the Purdue defense do? They gave up a 70 yard rushing touchdown. The score was 42-0 when just 2:10 ago it was 28-0. Purdue wasn’t going to come back into this one regardless, but giving up 14 points in that amount of time was a true killer.

In the end, Notre Dame “got right” as they say and Purdue was left with far more questions than answers about their season. For example, what did they do with two weeks of preparation? Who is going to step up on the offensive line? Where will Purdue’s next win come from? Will the run defense be able to be fixed? And finally, how many days until basketball season?

Drew:

Purdue wasn’t ready to play this game. They looked surprised as soon as Notre Dame hit them in the mouth, and instead of getting mad, they assumed the fetal position.

Notre Dame looked like this was their third game. Purdue looked like they played a high school team two weeks ago.

This was a chance for Ryan Walters and Purdue to make a statement, and, uhm, I’m not sure that’s the statement they wanted to make. There will be better days for this Boilermaker team. At this point we know they’re better than Indiana State and worse than Notre Dame

I’ll reserve judgement for now.

Jed:

The frustrating thing about this performance is that Purdue had two weeks to prep for this game and was made to look incredibly bad. Yes, Purdue missed tackles and generally didn’t play well but the schemes on both sides of the ball totally missed the mark. ND ran very simple offensive concepts to get players open for each catches and opening running lanes.

This is a performance that might be cause for some responsibilities to be reassigned on both sides of the ball. The defense was constantly out of position on some basic offensive concepts while the offensive line couldn’t establish any sort of lanes for the running backs or give Card any time in the pocket.

Purdue was always going to need a great day from itself and a bad day from ND to win but this made Purdue look like they aren’t ready to compete with any one left on their schedule.

Kyle:

Simply the most embarrassing loss Purdue has ever had in the 100 years of Ross-Ade Stadium. Walters and his staff had TWO weeks to prepare and laid an absolute egg.

Ryan:

Ahh, so this is what Indiana State felt like 2 weeks ago. I don’t like when the shoe is on the other foot. Player of the game for Purdue was Keelan Crimmins but unfortunately, Iowa fans lied to us because punting was definitively not winning today.