No. 24 Notre Dame runs the dang ball, defeats Purdue 56-30

Jeremiyah Love put his hands up as Jadarian Price crossed the goal line for his fourth touchdown on Saturday afternoon against Purdue. His pearly-white grin was visible from the press box.

Love did most of the work on that third-quarter drive, at which point he was jumping over and spinning past Boilermaker defenders just because he could. The two combined for 373 all-purpose yards and 6 touchdowns in Week 4, making a fairly airtight case to be the best backfield tandem in college football.

Notre Dame Stadium received three doses of lightning on Saturday afternoon. One came in the form of a weather delay lasting 1:54. The others were Love and Price, whom Purdue’s defense couldn’t stop whatsoever. Every time the Boilermakers looked like they would make the weather-extended matchup a game — scoring 23 first-half points in another alarming performance for the Irish defense — Love and Price wouldn’t let them.

No. 24 Notre Dame (1-2) beat Purdue (2-2) 56-30, improving to 1-2 and picking up its first win since the Orange Bowl on Jan. 9. Much like last week’s 41-40 loss to Texas A&M, Mike Denbrock’s offense was the star of the show.

“Funny little behind-the-scenes thing,” Price said. “So me and Jeremiyah together, we scored four [touchdowns] last week, and we’re like, ‘Okay, we gotta top it this week. We gotta score six.’ And he did that.”

The Fighting Irish kicked into high gear on their first offensive play, catching the Boilermakers by surprise.

With Purdue loading up to stop the run, redshirt freshman quarterback CJ Carr ran play action and saw redshirt senior wide receiver Malachi Fields running a deep post with a step on his defender. Carr made a perfect throw, leading Fields vertically and away from his man while dropping it in the bucket. Fields took it the rest of the way for a 66-yard touchdown, dazzling the Notre Dame Stadium crowd with a backflip for an exclamation point.

From there, the ground game took over. Love had the first 14 carries, finishing with 19 for 157 yards and a touchdown. Price reached the end zone for a 21-yard touchdown on his first attempt. He would score three more times before the day was done, including a 100-yard kickoff return for six.

“That guy, that individual, could have the ball or be on the field every single play,” Freeman said about Price. “But what does he do? He says, ‘Coach, you want J-Love in there, put him in there. But when I get my opportunity, I’m gonna make the most of it. If we have a team of unselfish individuals like that, and they continue to commit and be selfless and sacrifice, we’ll be pretty special.”

Junior wide receiver Jordan Faison provided the exclamation point with a 48-yard touchdown in the third quarter, catching Purdue lacking on an out-and-up. Carr, whose services were rarely required but much appreciated, checked into the route at the line of scrimmage after noticing the Boilermakers were sitting on the quick out.

In his first career start, Carr finished with 10 completions for 223 yards on just 12 pass attempts.

However, Notre Dame’s defense — led by embattled coordinator Chris Ash — showed many of the same flaws that plagued the Irish against Miami and Texas A&M. The pass rush failed to get home until after the weather delay, even when it blitzed. With junior cornerback Leonard Moore and redshirt senior nickel back DeVonta Smith (both ankle) out, the secondary was extremely leaky. Frustration was visible again.

Purdue quarterback Ryan Browne went 17-of-26 for 224 passing yards and a touchdown in the first half alone, and running back Devin Mockobee added 14 yards and a score on a trick play.

“It wasn’t perfect,” Freeman said. “You guys saw it. I saw it. There is work to do. There are things we gotta continue to try to get fixed.”

The Irish face another prolific offense but porous defense in Week 5, when they travel to Arkansas. In an interview with NBC’s Zora Stephenson during the weather delay, an exasperated-looking Freeman acknowledged that his own defense has to figure it out if Notre Dame hopes to start a winning streak.

“We can’t keep saying, ‘We shoulda,'” Freeman told Stephenson. “We gotta start doing it. And it’s everybody. It’s every play.”