Notre Dame, Ind. - Notre Dame scored touchdowns on its first four offensive possessions and its running back duo of Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price put on a show to help the Irish to a weather delayed 56-30 win over interstate rival Purdue.
The Fighting Irish (1-2) earned their first win of the season as Love and Price combined for six total touchdowns in the tenth consecutive win over the Boilermakers (2-2). Love ran for a career best 157 yards and two scores on 19 carries while Price added 74 yards and three TD runs on nine carries with a kickoff return for a score as well.
Redshirt freshman quarterback CJ Carr was 10 for 12 for 223 yards and two touchdown passes while leading the Irish to the first victory of his young career. Jordan Faison was his main beneficiary with five receptions and 105 yards in his second career game above the century mark. The Irish scored on seven of eight possessions Carr was in the game.
Notre Dame’s defense, which allowed an average of 34.0 points in the first two games of the season, was deficient through most of the first half while allowing 286 total yards and 23 points, tightened the reigns in the second half. Purdue finished with 379 total yards
All it took was one play, 66 yards and :09 seconds for the Irish to find the end zone for the first time when Carr fired a deep post to Malachi Fields for the game’s first score. Fields had his man beaten deep and made an over the shoulder catch in stride for the 7-0 lead after the Irish offense had forced a quick 3-and-out against Purdue’s offense to open the game.
Purdue answered the bell by scoring a touchdown in just six plays of its own with some trickery. Quarterback Ryan Browne handed off to Devin Mockobee, who ran toward the line of scrimmage and then fired a pass back to a wide-open Browne in the flat. He scored untouched to make it 7-7. The play was set up by a diving 31-yard catch by Nitro Tuggle to give the Boilers 1st and goal at the 9.
Price’s 42-yard kickoff return gave the Irish the ball at their own 44 to start their next drive, which ended with a one-yard Love touchdown run. Love carried the ball eight times for 39 yards on the drive to put ND back up 14-7.
Boilermaker punter Jack McCallister ran for 10 yards on a fake punt on 4th and 5on what initially looked to be a short Purdue drive. The Boilermakers settled for a Spencer Porath 48-yard field goal to make it 14-10 Irish early in the second quarter.
Love did the bulk of the work on Notre Dame’s next drive, but Price finished it off with a 21-yard touchdown run. Love tallied 39 yards on six carries, including a total of 29 yards on his last three totes, before Price’s third touchdown of the year.
The Irish defense made arguably its biggest play of the season when Christian Gray intercepted a pass that was deflected by freshman linebacker Madden Faraimo. Notre Dame took over at the Boiler 36. Price carried five straight times and scored from nine yards out to cover the 36 yards to make it 28-10.
Purdue covered 60 yards on 12 plays before settling for a 26-yard field goal on its next drive. They only had to convert two 3rd downs during the possession.
Notre Dame’s drive lasted just one play when Purdue DB Myles Slusher flew by Irish left tackle Anthonie Knapp and stripped the ball from Carr, giving the Boilermakers the ball at the Irish 19.
The game was halted by weather after Purdue’s first play with 1:31 to play in the first half. The Boilermakers faced 2nd and 10 at the 19 when the game resumed nearly two hours later at 7:00 pm Eastern Time. Donovan Hinish and Gabe Rubio converged on Browne for Notre Dame’s first sack of the game on 3rd and 6. Porath’s third field goal of the day made it 28-16 Irish with 1:13 left in the half.
Price raced 100 yards to return the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown just :13 seconds later. The veteran broke a pair of tackles deep in his own territory and then outran Purdue’s pursuit the rest of the way.
The Boilermakers got the ball back with just a minute to play in the half but raced 75 yards downfield in six plays and just :53 seconds against Notre Dame’s porous defense. Browne hit Tuggle with a 24-yard touchdown pass to make it a 35-23 game. Browne connected on two passes of 13 yards and another for 19 yards earlier in the drive.
Love topped the century mark for the first time this season when he zigged and zagged his way out of the backfield before finding the sideline for a 46-yard TD run. The Irish back left Boilermakers flailing at air with two moves to elude their tackling efforts. It marked his first 100-yard game since last year’s CFP-opening win over Indiana.
After forcing a punt on Purdue’s first second half possession, it took just three plays for the Irish to score again. Carr hit Faison on the left sideline for a 48-yard strike as Faison ran to the end zone for his first 100-yard receiving game since the 2023 Sun Bowl.
Price scored his fourth touchdown of the day from a yard out to cap an eight-play, 70-yard drive. He had just nine carries with three touchdown runs from scrimmage to go with his kickoff return at that point. His fourth score of the day gave the Fighting Irish a 56-23 lead.
After the Irish defense forced its third punt in as many third quarter possessions by Purdue, Kenny Minchey made his first appearance of the season. The junior quarterback’s only action last year was at Purdue. Minchey completed his first three passes for 40 yards before a missed 31-yard field goal attempt by Erik Schmidt. Minchey completed 7 of 8 passes for 58 yards.
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