Notre Dame kept rolling Saturday in West Lafayette, and the final score said plenty: a 49-10 win over rebuilding Purdue at Ross-Ade Stadium pushed the Irish to 4-0 and stretched their winning streak to 14 straight games.
That run is now Notre Dame’s longest since a 17-game stretch in 1992-93 under Lou Holtz. Marcus Freeman’s 2024 team had opened that 13-game heater with a 66-7 win at the same venue, and the Irish also matched the 13-game mark set by Brian Kelly’s 2017-18 team.
Here’s how the Irish looked in the blowout.
The offense earned a B+ after getting contributions from a few different places. Aneyas Williams, who had lost his starting job to Nolan James Jr., answered with a 22-yard touchdown run and 53 rushing yards by halftime. Micah Gilbert kept the big plays coming for a second straight week, scoring Notre Dame’s first touchdown on a 27-yard post and then helping set up another score with a 56-yard gain on a shallow cross.
CJ Carr also had a notable blemish, throwing his first interception since a pick-6 against Pittsburgh last November. That ended a streak of 133 pass attempts without a pick.
The defense landed at an A, and it was the kind of performance that squeezed the life out of the game early. Notre Dame was down to its third-team safety with freshman Joey O’Brien, yet still piled up four first-half sacks to put quarterback Ryan Browne and Purdue under heavy pressure. Drayk Bowen scooped up a fumble created by Bryce Young’s second sack and took it 15 yards for a touchdown.
The Irish have now held opponents scoreless on the opening series in nine straight games. Even later in games, the trend has been ugly for opposing offenses: Notre Dame has allowed only two field goals over its past 15 games on the first defensive series of the second half.
Special teams checked in at A-. Freshman Rodney Dunham came up big by stopping a Purdue fake punt just 1 yard short of the line to gain while the game was still scoreless. Purdue transfer Spencer Porath handled a PAT-heavy workload in his return to campus, and Jordan Faison added a 17-yard punt return.
Coaching earned an A, with Notre Dame making sure the game never had a chance to become interesting. The Irish converted a fourth-and-1 from their own 24 with a 14-0 lead when Carr kept it for 2 yards, and nine plays later they were back in the end zone. Against the 128th-ranked scoring defense in FBS play, Notre Dame never gave Purdue much of a foothold.
Overall, the Irish received an A- after completing their early-season Big Ten triple crown with convincing wins over Wisconsin, Michigan State and Purdue. Next up is the ACC opener at North Carolina, and so far Notre Dame has handled business in a big way.
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Rileys explanation for keeping Stephens on the sideline after the ejection, and his claim that he did not see the celebrations, only added to the noise around USCs loss and the way it was handled. Notre Dame, meanwhile, kept its focus on the field and on a stretch of good news that extended beyond its own roster, with Purdue coach Barry Odom also weighing in after the Irish game. [Read more 🡒]
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Notre Dame Got The Early Break Purdue Couldnt Recover From
Barry Odom had plenty to sort through after Purdues 49-10 loss to Notre Dame, but the Boilermakers defense drew the sharpest criticism. The first-year head coach pointed to several calls he believed hurt his team early, and the Irish took advantage as the game quickly slipped out of hand. Purdue also put itself in a difficult spot with a fake punt attempt that came close to working before turning into another swing moment for Notre Dame.
For a team trying to steady itself against FBS competition, the concern is less about one bad night than the trend it now sits in. Purdue has lost three straight games to FBS opponents, and the margins have grown each time, which only adds to the pressure to clean up the defense and avoid giving away momentum so early. [Read more 🡒]