Old National Presents: The 3-2-1—More from ND game

It was another long day in more ways than one for Purdue, as it fell for the second time in as many weeks as a heavy underdog, losing at Notre Dame 56-30.

Below, GoldandBlack.com’s immediate post-game analysis …

PURDUE DEFENSE JUST OVERMATCHED

The entire game, Purdue just had to do its best to manage the reality that it was helpless to stop the Notre Dame offense, which hit a 66-yard touchdown throw on its first snap, then roasted the Boilermakers on the ground thereafter to the tune of 535 yards, 254 rushing yards and five rushing scores. So confident were the Irish in their run game that they repeatedly handed the ball off on third-and-medium situations and converted. Notre Dame never punted.

It was a brutal tackling day for Purdue, which had a lot to do with Notre Dame, and the line of scrimmage was no contest, but none of these issues were necessarily surprises.

Purdue is going to need big plays on defense in games like this. It got one, but not nearly enough to move Notre Dame off anything it wanted to do.

The Boilermakers need to get pressure on the quarterback, but to do that, you have to stop the run enough to make the opponent pass. Otherwise, ND had the luxury of ultimate balance.

PURDUE HANGS IN THERE AGAIN, FOR A WHILE AT LEAST

Notre Dame, liike USC last week, is much better than Purdue, especially at the line of scrimmage, but Purdue did a nice job keeping in a game that could have gotten really ugly really fast.

Purdue allowed a one-play TD drive to open the game, then saw a turnover turned into another seven points. Both moments could have led to an obliteration, as happened last season, especially considering that the Boilermakers couldn’t handle Notre Dame’s running game and its over-loaded fronts.

The offense, however, produced. Not just putting points on the boards, but moving the sticks one way or another to keep possession of the football.

The defense struggled, but did make its biggest play of the season by forcing a late-first-half turnover that led to points, albeit after another extended weather delay.

People misconstrue the term “complementary football” as meaning a team is good at everything. That’s not the spirit of it.

On Saturday, Purdue’s offense helped its defense by keeping it off the field and the defense helped the offense by setting up that score. That’s complementary football.

Purdue lost this game, but it did again represent itself well in a game no one could realistically expected it to win.

For a half at least.

Once the rain delay hit and a flag was inexplicably picked up on a kickoff return touchdown for Notre Dame, the game really got ugly.

Purdue did hang in for a while, but it was not without toxic traits. It missed two many tackles, dropped two really important passes (one of them a touchdown) and was riddled with offensive penalties early in the game.

PURDUE BESTED AT THE LINE OF THE SCRIMMAGE AGAIN

Again, there’s a reason USC and Notre Dame are college football royalty and the Purdues of the world are always pushing a boulder uphill trying to even the playing field. The gulf is very often most notable on the line of scrimmage.

It was Saturday, as Notre Dame not only had superior personnel, but also a game plan geared around over-loading up-front and punishing Purdue with the run. Purdue had no answer. Three-man fronts, four-man front, five-man fronts, it might not have mattered all that much. Overloading against the run would have left Purdue begging for trouble in the passing game, as was made clear at the very beginning, when Purdue was seemingly expecting run and got hit with 66-yard over-the-top touchdown.

Purdue didn’t get a ton of rush aside from the turnover it forced, but part of that was the protection resources ND had in place while aligning to run the football.

But in this area of the game, it was same as it ever was between Purdue and Notre Dame.