What they’re saying about Notre Dame’s dominating 66-7 victory over Purdue
It’s been a wild ride for Notre Dame to start the 2024 season, going from a thrilling win against Texas A&M to start the season, to losing a stunner against NIU to blowing out in-state rival Purdue 66-7 on the road.
In this article, we’ll take a look around at what the media is saying about the Fighting Irish’s triumph against the Boilermakers, including Blue & Gold’s Mike Singer and Tim Hyde giving their instant reaction to the game in a YouTube live show. You can watch the replay of the show in the video player above.
And now for what they’re saying….
Tyler Horka, Blue & Gold: How Notre Dame bought back credibility it cannot squander again in win at Purdue
Fool us once, shame on you. Fool us twice, shame on us. Notre Dame wants it no other way than for the shame to be fully on itself. Just that once. The Fighting Irish don’t want to fool anyone again.
Not this season, anyway, if they can help it.
The foolery, of course, is tied to Notre Dame’s 16-14 home loss to Northern Illinois in Week 2. Head coach Marcus Freeman’s team did as much as it could to rid the nasty taste left in its mouth by that result with one that couldn’t be any more opposite — a 66-7 pounding of Purdue.
“It wasn’t that we made more mistakes last week than we made this week,” Freeman said. “It’s the sense of urgency to correct them, the mindset, and ultimately, got to go do it on the game day like we did today.”
If we’ve learned anything about these Fighting Irish in the first fourth of the season, though, it’s that we cannot trust them to be on top of their game to that degree every week. They left College Station on top of the college football world after a Week 1 win over then-No. 20 Texas A&M only to be the subject of the college football world’s biggest and most hysterical joke for the Week 2 loss at NIU.
That brings us to Week 3 and the widest margin of defeat ever delivered to the Boilermakers in the history of their formerly passable program. Nobody’s ever beat ‘em worse than Freeman’s guys, a group once again thinking the only team that can take it down is the one in the mirror.
“We are who we are,” Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard said. “We’re a great football team. When we prepare normally and don’t listen to anything external, that’s just who we are as a football team.”
Jack Soble, Blue & Gold: Five thoughts—A working theory about Notre Dame football
We’ve seen two different Notre Dame teams in the first three weeks of this season.
There’s the one that outlasted Texas A&M on the road through superior conditioning, execution and resolve. That version made another appearance Saturday when it floored the gas pedal at opening kickoff and didn’t let up until the clock hit zero in a 66-7 win against a Purdue team it should dominate every time.
And then, there’s the one that lost the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball and made critical mistakes in all three phases in a 16-14 home loss to Northern Illinois.
My working theory is the version that showed up in Weeks 1 and 3 is the real Fighting Irish. This is a team, like we thought before the season, with the talent and experience to make the College Football Playoff and do some damage when it gets there.
Those Irish simply lost their minds in Week 2 when they thought they could stroll into Notre Dame Stadium and come out with a win by virtue of showing up. If you listen to them, they believe they learned their lesson.
“Shoot, if your opponent is projected to be not better than you, that should give you more motivation to just dominate even more,” sophomore running back Jeremiyah Love said.
However, based on Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman’s history, another letdown is always possible. It’s difficult to trust the Jekyll side of the Irish to show up every week.
Freeman’s comments after the game didn’t inspire confidence that he can keep the Hyde side locked away forever.
“I don’t know if it’s something I can see,” Freeman said. “If I saw it the week before, I would have done something about it. I think it’s a choice we all have to make as individuals. It’s my job to make sure we have a culture that doesn’t accept anything less.”
Click here for for more thoughts from Soble.
Jesse Simonton, On3: College Football Rankings—Projecting AP Poll Top 25 after Week 3
17. Notre Dame (Last week: 18)
The Irish rebounded from last weekend’s inexplicable loss to Northern Illinois by pounding Purdue 66-7 in West Lafayette. Quarterback Riley Leonard answered some critics by rushing for over 100 yards with three touchdowns. Notre Dame’s offense jumped out to a 42-0 halftime lead en route to the Boilermakers’ worst loss in school history.
The Irish ran all over Purdue (362 yards with six touchdowns), averaging over 8.1 yards per carry. They had five runs go over 20 yards, with 11 explosive runs in total.
ONE NUGGET TO KNOW: Leonard was 11 of 16 passing for 112 yards, but the Duke transfer has still not thrown for a touchdown this season. Backup Steve Angeli did end the team’s streak with two passing scores in the second half.
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman
Opening statement from postgame press conference:
“Obviously, proud of the way our guys played, prepared, the mindset, the mentality — in terms of preparing for a good opponent. Obviously, the ability to run the ball on offense, two takeaways on defense. Defense played lights out. It was good to be a part of.
“I’m most proud of the way they came out of the locker room in the second half—the ability, as we told him last week, to handle success. I think (in) the second half, we outscored them 24-7, which is huge. After being up 42 to nothing (at halftime), to be able to come out, and no matter who’s in the game, to be able to perform the way we performed was really good.
“So, (I’m) proud of the guys — enjoy this victory. As I told them, ‘It’s hard to win, as we saw last week, it’s hard to win. And so enjoy it, and then get back to work Sunday and Monday and ready for our next opponent.’”
Everything Freeman said in his postgame press conference
Highlights
Social media reaction
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