Purdue Preview

Looking at Purdue’s body of work so far this season, Saturday night’s game should not even be close.  The Irish should use this as a bounce back game to build some confidence after their loss to Michigan and a tune-up for the rest of the season. Both teams are 1-1 after two games, but these two teams are in very different worlds.

The Boilermakers win was a six point victory over a FCS Indiana State team by the score of 20-14 (an Indiana State team who lost to Indiana the week before 73-35).  Their loss was a 42 – 7 shellacking by the Cincinnati Bearcats.

Offensively, Purdue is, well, pretty awful.  27 points in two games (20 against a lowly FCS team and a running game averaging 2.9 yards per carry).  Purdue’s passing game has a total of 311 yards

With all that being said, this is still an in-state rivalry game with the Shillelagh Trophy at stake.  Purdue and Notre Dame first faced off in 1896 and have played every year since 1946.  Notre Dame has the series lead 56-26-2.

Don’t expect this game to be nearly as close as last year’s 20-17 contest.  New head coach Darrell Hazell (from Kent State) has a long road ahead of him in West Lafayette and this Saturday’s game against Notre Dame is not going to make this trip down that road any easier.  The Boilermakers will be up for this game and should be pretty fired up to prove their worth as former 3-star recruits going up against future NFL Pros.

As for the Irish, there are a lot of things to look for on Saturday.  Obviously, Notre Dame needs to have a strong showing on both sides of the ball and get back on the winning track.  The coaching staff could take this opportunity to rest the likes of T.J. Jones who is a bit banged up with a shoulder injury.  He could play, but there is no need to further aggravate his shoulder against the team they should defeat handily, especially with receivers like Brown, Robinson, Onwualu, and Smith needing to prove their potential.

Once a comfortable lead is established (and admittedly I am not sure what that is), this is a great chance for Kelly and his staff to work in the second and third teams.  At running back we have what we know (at least to some extent) – in Atkinson, Carlisle and McDaniel - and what we hope we have - in Bryant, Folston and Mahone.  Let’s see what we hope is what we’ll get.

Others players who should get some work in while they can (before they have to) include back-up quarterback Andrew Hendrix and offensive lineman Steve Elmer.