Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1411895
30 SEPT. 25, 2021 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED plague the Notre Dame offense this sea- son despite its ability to strike quickly. Coan couldn't connect with Austin all day. He overshot him in the right corner of the end zone. Then the left corner. Then the right sideline. Austin was open numerous times. Coan just couldn't put the ball on him. Coan said he might have rushed a few throws because he did not want to take sacks with Notre Dame's offensive line being as much of a question mark as it has proven to be early in the season. Coan has been sacked 10 times in the last two weeks and 14 total times through the first three games of the year. "I think my timing was off on some passes," Coan said. "I definitely need to be a lot more accurate." And when he delivered an accurate throw to Austin for the first time, the latter let him down. Coan lofted a pass into one-on-one coverage on third and 10 with Notre Dame leading 17-13 midway through the third quarter. Austin had a clear size advantage on Purdue defensive back Ja- mari Brown, and he made the most of it by high pointing the ball and bringing it to his body on his way down to the turf. When Austin's backside hit the ground, so did the ball. It squirted out of his hands, off his hip and onto the play- ing surface. Instead of a first down deep in Purdue territory, Notre Dame punted. The Irish had chances to build a siz- able lead. Misfires like that prevented them from doing so. Head coach Brian Kelly did not sound worried, though. "The inability to catch a couple balls here and there is something that is wholly correctable, right?" Kelly said. "You know, if we felt like we were deficit in our ability to find a running game or get guys open, then I'd probably be here going, 'This is going to be a rough one, guys.' I feel pretty good. "We just have to be executing at a little bit better level, and we got great teaching opportunities now this week." About that running game. Had Williams not broken free for a 51-yard touchdown and had fresh- man quarterback Tyler Buchner not NOTRE DAME VS. PURDUE QUARTER-BY-QUARTER COMPARISON Notre Dame 1st Qtr. 2nd Qtr. 3rd Qtr. 4th Qtr. 1st Half 2nd Half Total Time of Possession 4:56 8:38 4:33 7:54 13:34 12:27 26:01 Third-Down Conversions 0-3 2-7 1-2 1-4 2-10 2-6 4-16 Fourth-Down Conversions 0-0 1-1 0-0 0-0 1-1 0-0 1-1 Average Field Position ND-23 ND-36 ND-31 ND-36 ND-29 ND-34 ND-31 Purdue 1st Qtr. 2nd Qtr. 3rd Qtr. 4th Qtr. 1st Half 2nd Half Final Time of Possession 10:04 6:22 10:27 7:06 16:26 17:33 33:59 Third-Down Conversions 3-5 1-4 0-2 0-4 4-9 0-6 4-15 Fourth-Down Conversions 0-1 0-0 0-0 1-1 0-1 1-1 1-2 Average Field Position PUR-45 PUR-23 PUR-21 PUR-22 PUR-32 PUR-22 PUR-27 PLAY CHART (NO. OF PLAYS) Yards ND PUR Nega ve 8 6 0-5 42 46 6-9 6 17 10-19 4 6 20-29 2 2 30-39 1 2 40-49 0 0 50 or more 2 0 RED ZONE EFFICIENCY (INSIDE 20-YARD LINE) No Poss. TD FG Score Notre Dame 2 0 2 0 Purdue 4 1 2 1 BIG PLAYS (25 YARDS OR MORE) Notre Dame • 4-3 PUR39 Coan pass complete to Williams for a 39-yard touchdown • 3-7 ND38 Coan pass complete to Davis for a 62-yard touchdown • 1-10 ND49 Williams 51-yard rush for a touchdown Purdue • 2-2 PUR33 Doerue rush for 31 yards gain to the ND36 • 1-10 ND36 Plummer pass complete to Bell for 32 yards to the ND4 • 2-10 PUR1 O'Connell pass complete to Anthrop for 27 yards to the PUR28 Senior wide receiver Kevin Austin Jr. was targeted eight times by Irish passers against the Boilermakers, but fin- ished the game without a catch. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER MISCELLANEOUS NOTES • Notre Dame extended its home winning streak to 26 games, the longest of its modern era and two short of the all-time school record set from 1942-50. Only Clemson, at 29 games, a has a longer active streak. • The 13 points scored against Notre Dame by Purdue were the fewest in a game for it since Oct. 26, 2019, when it scored only six against Illinois. • Head coach Brian Kelly awarded the game ball to graduate student defensive lineman Kurt Hinish, who finished the game with three tackles. • Senior safety DJ Brown notched his first career interception in the fourth quarter. He also compiled a personal-best seven tackles. • Junior defensive end Nana Osafo-Mensah posted the first sack of his career, when he took down wide receiver Milton Wright for a seven-yard loss on a trick play in the second quarter. • Graduate student linebacker Isaiah Pryor (eight) and graduate student defensive end Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa (five) both achieved new career highs in tackles.