Know Thy Opponent: Notre Dame Fighting Irish (1-1) at Purdue Boilermakers (1-0)

This weekend, Purdue will host the team that just gave the Northern Illinois Huskies their biggest win in history.

Purdue is the next team that looks to spoil the Notre Dame Fighting Irish season. With all of the pre-season talk about Notre Dame walking into the College Football Playoff, a loss to Northern Illinois almost all but erases that idea. Purdue has the opportunity to set them back even further.

The Notre Dame defense looked solid, but could not get off the field against NIU this past weekend, as NIU held the ball for 36 minutes. Notre Dame’s offense was stuck in neutral all game long, highly touted transfer portal QB, Riley Leonard was far from what many believed he should be against the Huskies and they struggled to run the ball.

The blueprint for Purdue? Do what the Huskies did. Play keep away, get first downs, and do just enough to scrape by.

Notre Dame Fighting Irish (1-1)

Series Record: 26-59-2

Last Purdue Win: September 29th, 2007, 33 to 19

Last Notre Dame Win: September 18th, 2021, 27 to 13

Notre Dame Head Coach: Marcus Freeman

Offensive Player to Watch: It starts and stops with transfer quarterback, Riley Leonard. He was one of the most sought-after transfers this past winter after having a successful career at Duke. Leonard has struggled through two games, failing to hit open wide receivers far too often for Notre Dame Fans’ liking. The Boilers will need to get pressure on him early and often in hopes he repeats the performance that he just had against NIU.

Defensive Player to Watch: Cornerback Benjamin Morrison is widely considered a first-round draft pick in the 2025 draft. He simply will lock down one of Purdue’s wide receivers. Will it be CJ Smith if he is back in action? Or, will they have him focus on Jahmal Edrine, who is more of a physical wide receiver? Purdue will have to decide early if they will let Morrison create an island wherever he is or if they want to attack him to see what he is made of. In 2023, he led the nation in interceptions.

Game Outlook:

78* and a chance of rain in the morning before the 3:30 PM kick-off, it will be warm inside the stadium, but overall it should be a pretty inviting day in terms of weather, especially if the clouds stick around after the rain.

Way Too Early Prediction:

I just have a feeling, the Boilers pull this out and the ND slide continues, Purdue 20 Notre Dame 17