By Paul Gotham
With their leading rusher and receiver on the bench and a hobbled quarterback shuffling in and out of the game, the Notre Dame Fightin’ Irish made good on fourth down for a road win. Something they hadn’t done against a Big Ten foe since the first year of the Charlie Weis tenure.
Jimmy Clausen found Kyle Rudolph in the end zone, and the Irish upended a pesky Purdue squad, 24-21. The touchdown came at the end of 12-play drive. Clausen completed six of nine passes as ND marched 72 yards in 3:17.
Minutes earlier, Joey Elliott found Jaycen Taylor open in the middle (a common theme for Purdue), and the Boliermakers took their first lead in the second half. After the extra point, Purdue led 21-17.
Clausen took over from there. Hobbled with a sore toe on his plant foot, Clausen and Notre Dame took possession on their own 28. The junior signal caller completed passes to Golden Tate, Robert Hughes, and Kyle Rudolph, and ND had first down on the Boilermaker 32. Completions to Robby Parris and Tate gave the Irish first and goal on the Purdue 4-yard line.
The drive almost stalled there. A pass over the middle fell incomplete. Purdue stuffed a draw. On third down, Clausen tried to find Tate in the corner of the end zone. Again, the pass fell incomplete. Those plays served the purpose of setting up the drama as Clausen, out of the shotgun, avoided pressure and found his trusty tight end, Rudolph, for the score.
Dayne Crist came off the bench and sparked the ND offense. With Clausen injured, the coaching staff opted to insert the sophomore early to get him some touches. Crist responded with a 16 yard rush on his first play from scrimmage. ND completed the drive with a touchdown and a 10-7 lead in the second quarter. ND ran the ball eight times for 73 yards on the drive. Tate and Robert Hughes carrying much of the load.
With Armando Allen sitting on the bench, Hughes came back to life. The junior rushed the ball four times for 36 yards on the drive. In all, Hughes led the Irish with 68 yards on 15 carries. Hughes entered the game 20 yards on seven carries. Hughes gained 294 yards on 53 carries as a freshman and 382 yards as a sophomore.
Tate, a former tailback, scampered for 55 yards on 9 carries. He also made five receptions for 57 yards. With Michael Floyd out for the season, Tate received more attention from the defense. Floyd has 13 catches for 358 yards and five touchdowns.
Allen leads all Irish rushers with 326 yards on 59 carries. The junior sat with an injured right ankle.
While the Irish offense adapted to win the game, the defense will keep this ND squad from championship aspirations.
ND offered little resistance as the Boilermakers mounted two touchdown-scoring drives in the fourth quarter. Missed tackles and blown coverage were too common as Purdue took the lead late.
Darrin Walls thwarted what could have been another touchdown drive with a spectacular interception on the Irish 22. Replays showed the pass was under thrown. Elliott missed a pair of passes earlier in the game which would have gone for long gains. Couple those mistakes with 13 penalties for 103 yards, and the Irish should be thankful to leave West Lafayette with a win.
Notre Dame’s last road victory over Big Ten came September, 23rd 2006 when the Irish downed Michigan State, 40-37.
Good recap, Casey. I was able to catch the second half at a sports bar in Minneapolis. Quite a relief they got a win, BUT disheartening that it came down to one play at the end against a shaky team like Purdue. Yes, the Irish are hobbled by a few injuries, but it really shouldn’t matter given their talent advantage. Again, mostly boils down to coaching and prep, in my opinion. The Washington game next weekend should be interesting.
Thanks for taking the pen!
I saw that as a “players win”. Charlie continues to coach to lose. Clausen decided he wouldn’t lose. At least Unweis got him back on the field to engineer that drive. And how about PurDumb. What’s with that time out giving ND an extra play – which the Irish needed. In his first year, Lou Holtz figured out in the off season that he had to get the ball in Tim Brown’s hands a lot more than just on the long pass. Result; Heisman. Lou took it up a notch with the Rocket, but that Heisman never materialized, quite the injustice. Unweis in the meantime has taken almost 3 years to figure out that Golden Tate is a play maker, not just a great receiver. If Charlie was only half the genius he thinks he is, we’d be contenders.