10 Observations Notre Dame-Purdue

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Here’s what has us talking after Purdue’s 56-30 loss at Notre Dame on Saturday.

1 – Purdue needed a good start, and to jump on an 0-2 Notre Dame team filled with doubt. Didn’t happen. After Purdue opened the game with a three-and-out, Notre Dame heaved a 66-yard TD pass on its first play. It was a portend of things to come.

“We can’t open up the game and give up a 66 yard touchdown,” said Odom. “We can’t give up a kickoff return for a touchdown. The explosive game, the explosive plays, we’re not going to be good enough to overcome those things. So, we got to get it fixed. And it starts directly at the guy looking back at myself in the mirror.”

2 – It was this simple: Purdue could not stop Notre Dame, which had 535 yards of offense. The only thing that stopped the Irish offense on this night was Mother Nature. The Boiler D had no answer all day and night. Three-man front, four-man front. Didn’t matter. Guys were out of position, took bad angles, sloppy tackling … a long day. The D has a lot to figure out. Notre Dame didn’t punt all night. One bright spot: Purdue got its first takeaway of 2025, which is nice.

“Defensively, we didn’t play to the standard we need to, and we didn’t tackle well, we weren’t very good on the line of scrimmage,” said Odom.

3 – Talk about adversity. … How is Purdue going to respond to this loss? And it will have two weeks to think about it as it is off next week.

4 – Four games into the Barry Odom era, and do we really know how good this team is? Purdue beat two over-matched lesser foes and lost handily to two very solid foes. More shall be revealed in October, a make-or-break month with games vs. peer programs like Minnesota, Northwestern and Rutgers.

“We’ve got a bye week that I think happens at a perfect time for our team,” said Odom. “We’ll get bonus practices on Illinois, and then we’re into a seven week stretch of conference play, and we’ll get our team there. So, there’s a number of things to build on. There’s obviously a number of things to correct.”

5 – Purdue reached deep into its playbook to stay in the game early. In the first quarter, we saw Devin Mockobee hit Ryan Browne with a 14-yard TD pass. Then, we saw a drive extended by a fake punt, with Jack McCallister scooting 10 yards. Fun stuff.

6 – With Purdue struggling to run aside from mad, improvised scrambles, the offense was forced to pass, pass, pass. Browne found a groove and was able to move the team. It helped that the line did a much better job in pass protection. Browne’s passing is what kept Purdue in this game. Purdue may have something in No. 15. The receivers? Not their best day, as drops were an issue. Browne was 21-of-34 for 303 yards with three TDs and two picks.

“I was proud of a number of things that we did on offense tonight,” said Odom. “I thought it continued to give us opportunities to stay in the game, and there was some extra effort and toughness plays that showed up that will certainly build on.”

7 – Stop me if you’ve heard this before: Purdue’s game was delayed 1:54 by severe weather, making a long day even longer for the Boilermakers. With 1:31 left in the first half and Notre Dame leading, 28-13, lightning flashed. That forced the stadium to be cleared. This, a week after Purdue’s game vs. USC was delayed three hours by severe weather.

8 – Running the ball was a big issue. Aside from some Browne scrambles, Purdue got little to nothing done on the ground–especially between the tackles. The o-line just could not get a push vs. the Irish front. Honestly, the line’s ability to run block has been a concern all season–and it came into full bloom today. Purdue had 76 yards rushing (2.7 ypc).

9 – One sorta bright spot on a dreary day: special teams. We saw a successful fake punt, and we saw K Spencer Porath drill a career-long 48-yard field. He went three-of-three on the day. Alas, special teams played a role in this loss, allowing a 100-yard kickoff return

10 – Purdue wasn’t gonna stop Notre Dame RB Jeremyiah Love but it needed to slow him down, nor his sidekick Jadarian Price. It didn’t happen. Lov3 had 157 yards rushing and 74 for Price. The Irish trampled the Boilermakers all day, not really needing to pass to move up and down the field with ease. ND had 254 yards rushing.