Notre Dame Football 2024: Week 3 Review VS Purdue Boilermakers

Some key data points coming out of the Irish’s 66-7 win over the Boilermakers.

Notre Dame football put on a show in its Week 3 thumping of the Purdue Boilermakers. The final score for the game was 66-7 and although it’s still hard to describe exactly what we saw (mostly on the offensive side of things) it was pretty fun to watch. And a much needed morale boost.

So let’s dig right into the numbers, because there’s a lot going on.

Scoring Summary

The Irish completely owned the 1^st half. They tallied up 14 points in the 1^st quarter and followed that up with 28 points in the 2^nd quarter. The Boilermakers went scoreless in the 1^st half but finally found the end zone in the 3^rd quarter. Unfortunately for them, Notre Dame outscored them 10-7 in that quarter. And then they threw in another 14 points as extra sauce in the 4^th quarter to close out the matchup.

Scoring Details

We saw a lot of what we expected and hoped for from the Irish in the game’s first half.

Run. The. Ball.

In total Notre Dame had six rushing touchdowns.

The game’s second half delivered the first glimpses of what a diversified Irish offense can look like in 2024. The team recorded two passing touchdowns in the 2^nd half, along with a field goal and a late rushing touchdown in the 4^th quarter.

It was a really great day for the offense. They had long drives from a yardage perspective and also spent 35:43 on the field, compared with 24:17 for Purdue.

Offensive Benchmarks

The offense turned a corner when it comes to benchmarks. Notre Dame tallied up 578 yards of total offense, blowing way past the 2023 average per game.

It was also a much better day for the passing attack. The Irish had 216 total yards through the air, slightly below the 2023 benchmark but I’ll take anything that’s better than what we’ve had to stomach in the season’s 1^st two games. The rushing production had the biggest relative improvement. Notre Dame recorded 362 yards on the ground, compared with 123 yards during the Northern Illinois loss. Overall passing accuracy and rushing efficiency both improved significantly as well.

Rushing Details

A lot of Irish players contributed to the team’s rushing success against the Boilermakers. Nine of them logged carries, with Riley Leonard, Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price sitting at the top of the utilization list. Love had a hell of a game, with 109 yards on the ground and quarterback Leonard also put up 100 rushing yards in the 1^st half. Price made excellent use of his carries and recorded 86 rushing yards for the day. From a scoring perspective, Riley Leonard was out of this world with three rushing touchdowns. Running backs Price and Love had one rushing touchdown a piece and QB Kenny Minchey claimed one to close out the game.

Receiving Details

In the Purdue game’s preview article I remarked that Notre Dame’s tight end utilization was down significantly in 2024. Well, that definitely changed. Tight ends Mitchell Evans and Eli Raridon led the team in receptions, with three a-piece. Kevin Bauman and Cooper Flanagan each reeled in one reception while four wide receivers and one running back recorded two receptions. The yardage production varied a lot from player to player but tight ends Bauman and Flanagan pulled in the Irish’s two passing touchdowns.

Defensive Summary

Notre Dame’s defense finally got a game where they didn’t have to consistently play with their backs against the wall. Even considering that, they still posted some pretty solid stats. In total the Irish defense tallied up four sacks, five tackles for loss and four pass deflections. Sophomore defensive lineman Boubacar Traore might have had the best outing. He recorded two solo tackles, one sack, two tackles for a loss and capped it all off with a 34 yard interception return for touchdown.

Final Thoughts

I’m really glad that the Irish pulled out a win this week. As much as I had prepared myself mentally for a loss, it would’ve been impossible to write anything positive about dropping this game to Purdue.

Could the offense be described as textbook “cohesive?”

No.

But they got the job done and if you peak around at the rest of the CFB world, that’s really all that matters.

Cheer and Go Irish!!