No. 21 Notre Dame finally got into the win column with a 56-30 victory over the in-state rival Purdue Boilermakers on Saturday afternoon/evening. We say evening because a two-hour weather delay meant the game ended well after sundown.
Purdue hung around for a while, causing the Fighting Irish problems, but the Irish pulled away enough to empty the bench in the fourth quarter. Here are my five stars for the game.
5 – Jadarian Price
This is the obvious one. How can you not give a four-touchdown scorer top marks? Especially since the backup running back didn’t appear in the game until the second quarter. Of course, he found the end zone on his first carry.
He also had a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. It was Price’s night.
4 – Jeremiyah Love
Love was dominant early, and while Price finished with 9 carries for 74 yards and the three touchdowns (plus the kick return), Love shouldered the load with 157 yards on 19 carries. He had two rushing touchdowns of his own and a long of 46 yards for one of those scores.
3 – CJ Carr
Carr didn’t pass a lot — he attempted just 12 throws. But he hit on 10 of them, and two were long passing touchdowns, including a 66-yard touchdown strike to Malachi Fields on the first Notre Dame play from scrimmage.
Carr looked to be in command of the offense; he made a couple of tight-window throws, and he didn’t let his footwork give away whether the play was a run or pass.
2 – Jordan Faison
Faison appears to be developing a nice connection with Carr. He had five catches for 105 yards and a touchdown.
– Secondary/Defense
The defense looked a bit better than it did in the first two games, and Purdue does have a challenging passing game, but there’s still way too much work to do. Players still looked lost at times. The pass rush was better but not good enough. Coverages were still a mess too often. Yes, Leonard Moore was out and Adon Shuler had to sit the first half after a targeting foul last week. Yes, there were two picks. But this unit isn’t even average yet, let alone the dominant unit it was in 2024.
Given the amount of talent on the roster, this should be fixable. The fact that it isn’t by now is concerning.
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This article originally appeared on Fighting Irish Wire: Five stars from Notre Dame’s 56-30 win over Purdue
Reporting by Tim Healey, Fighting Irish Wire / Fighting Irish Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
