Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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34 SEPT. 20, 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED GAME PREVIEW: PURDUE BY JACK SOBLE W ith a 35-point lead on Pur- due, 18 seconds remaining in the first half and a hold- ing penalty setting it up with first-and-20, Notre Dame decided to play it safe. Hand the ball to running back Jadarian Price and feel good about yourself in the locker room one week after losing to Northern Illinois. But even conservative play-calling can work if the other team can't tackle. Price ran around the Boilermakers' defensive end, burst into the open field and broke star safety Dillon Thiene- man's ankles. After that, he was gone. CBS cameras showed a furious Pur- due head coach Ryan Walters march- ing down the sideline, disgusted by his team's effort on Notre Dame's sixth touchdown of the half. It didn't get much better after the break. The Irish beat the Boilermakers 66-7 on Sept. 14, 2024. "We had a very pointed conversa- tion at halftime," Walters said that day. "Obviously, a very pointed conversation at the end of the game. We'll see how we respond. My hope is that they learn from this so it never happens again." Unfortunately for Walters, it hap- pened again. Purdue, which entered that game 1-0, lost its next 10 games to finish 1-11. The Boilermakers lost 52-6 to Wisconsin, 35-0 to Oregon, 45-0 to Ohio State and 49-10 to Penn State. If there were any questions about whether or not Walters would keep his job, they were answered Nov. 30 with a 66-0 loss to Purdue's archrival, Indiana. CBS Sports would later name Walters, who finished 5-19 in his tenure in West Lafayette, Ind., the third-worst head coaching hire of the past decade. "Jeff Brohm proved that despite Pur- due's inherent disadvantages in the Big Ten, a creative, experienced coach can BACK ON TRACK? After a disastrous two-year stretch, Purdue turns to new head coach Barry Odom to rebuild the Boilermakers Before arriving at Purdue, Odom went 19-8 at UNLV — including a 10-win season in 2024. PHOTO COURTESY PURDUE ATHLETICS