Purdue is 1-0! They’re now officially five wins away from a Bowl game. Next in their path is the Fighting Irish from up north of West Lafayette. Coming off of a Bye Week after beating Indiana State, Purdue will look to continue their success against in-state rivals. It’s Purdue vs. Notre Dame for an exciting Week 3 college football matchup. Yet before breaking down the upcoming game, let’s look back at the history of these two teams.
Purdue vs. Notre Dame Matchup History
This in-state rivalry dates back to November of 1896; a game played in South Bend where Purdue won 28-22. Since then, Purdue vs. Notre Dame has been a must-watch game for fans of both teams.
Over the 128-year history of these two teams, they have faced off 87 times with Notre Dame leading the way 59 to 26 with two ties. Currently, Purdue is on an eight-game losing streak with the most recent game being a 27-13 loss. These two teams played every year from 1946-2014. Since then, this will be only the second meeting of these two schools.
Key Players for Purdue
Hudson Card
The game against Indiana State was one that featured Card and the many passing options along with all four running backs on the roster. This week, Card will also be a player to watch. Card completed 96 percent of his passes in Week 1, with his only incompletion coming from a deep pass down field where the wide receiver barely missed it.
Going into this game, Card will be facing higher amounts of pressure and tighter windows in which to throw the ball. Notre Dame has a really solid defensive secondary highlighted by cornerback Benjamin Morrison. Morrison will likely be covering Purdue’s top WR, so Card will need to focus on spreading the ball around and targeting whoever is not covered by Morrison.
The Receivers
In Week 1, 12 players for the Boilermakers caught passes, with eight having 20+ yards receiving and four catching TDs. This week, Purdue will need that same kind of excellence from the pass catchers. Purdue will need multiple players to make big plays and not get tunnel focused on two or three guys.
With some many quality options like Max Klare, Jahmal Edrine, freshman Shamar Rigby, Jaron Tibbs, and RB Devin Mockabee, there is plenty of options for Hudson Card to target.
Will Heldt
Will Heldt is looking like he will be the next to join Purdue’s Den of Defensive Ends. Non-Purdue fans may not know of this term, but Purdue fans know this well.
The Den of D-Ends is full of players like Rosevelt Colvin, Leo Sugar, and Lamar Lundy. Since 2007, Purdue has had three DE’s get drafted in the first round of the NFL draft. The most recent members of this group is two-time Super Bowl winner George Karlaftis of the Kansas City Chiefs.
In Week 1, Heldt was a demon in his 2.5 quarters of playing time. He managed to have six solo tackles, three tackles for loss, and two sacks!
After watching how poor the Fighting Irish’s offensive line has played these past two weeks, Heldt may be able to put up similar stats this week. He has been a menace against opposing OL for his entire collegiate career (only 13 games)! That’s right, Heldt is just a true sophmore. The Irish need to be on the lookout for No. 15 on defense.
Dillon Thieneman
Dillon Thieneman may be the best safety in college football. What other safety plays with as much drive and ambition as Thieneman? Which other safeties can say that, as a true Freshman, they played the featured role in a single-high defensive scheme? Name any other safety that lined up an average of 15 yards off the line of scrimmage and still was rated higher against the run than the pass by PFF?
Thieneman did all of this last season while also recording 106 tackles, two pass deflections, and six interceptions! In one half of the Week 1 game, Thieneman picked up where he left off and applied pressure in the passing game.
Still not impressed? PFF’s Dalton Wesserman said that Thieneman was the third-highest rated freshman safety in PFF’s history. The two ahead of him were Derwin James and Jordan Whitehead. These two have grown into dominate NFL safeties who have multiple Pro-Bowls, an All-Pro, and a Super Bowl win between them. Wasserman said on the PFF College Football Show, “He’s better than 80 percent of NFL Safeties right now. I guarantee it.”
Key Players for Notre Dame
The Offensive Line
Notre Dame’s offensive line has struggled. In just two games, they have allowed QB Riley Leonard to be sacked three times already. On top of that, Leonard is being forced to scramble more than he did at Duke.
In his three years at Duke, Leonard averaged 8.5 rushing attempts per game for 5.3 yards per attempt. So far, he’s rushing 11.5 times per game for 3.4 yards per attempts. That’s not a great plan for any team. They should not be allowing so much pressure on their QB.
Benjamin Morrison
In the past two seasons, Morrison has recorded 30+ tackles per season and nine total interceptions. He is already being talked about as a first round draft pick in April. Morrison is the real deal.
In just two games this season, he already has seven tackles and a pass deflection. He will be covering the top WR for the Boilers and will likely give Hudson Card a headache.
Purdue’s Route to Victory
If the Boilermakers are going to win, they need to score fast and play well on defense.
Notre Dame has been playing well when they establish the run and can grind out a victory. However, when the Fighting Irish were forced into a shootout against Northern Illinois, they struggled. Should the Boilermakers force the Fighting Irish to play from behind, Purdue will be able to use Notre Dame’s strategy against them.
On defense, Purdue will need to apply pressure on Notre Dame’s OL. They need to force Riley Leonard to either scramble, take the sack, or make a bad pass. If Purdue can apply that kind of pressure, Will Heldt should be able to have a career highlight game.
If that’s the case, Leonard may get frantic and start throwing the ball into coverage. That will lead to Purdue’s revamped secondary getting multiple interceptions. Purdue fans are already believing Dillon Thieneman will finish the night with two or more interceptions.
If Purdue can apply pressure by scoring early and forcing a shoot out while also pressing Notre Dame’s OL, Purdue may walk away with a Spoilermakers victory and send Notre Dame home with an 1-2 record.
Hunter Greene
Hunter started writing for The League Winners in the summer of 2021. Hunter has been playing fantasy football for about a decade, starting in middle school. Now he’s a professional landscaper and avid Colts and Purdue fan.