Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM SEPT. 26, 2026 35 GAME PREVIEW: PURDUE nior quarterback Ryan Browne threw for 329 yards with 1 touchdown, and Ijeboi rushed for 114 yards and 3 touchdowns in a losing effort. That same offense may have been able to win the game if not for some conservative play calling to end regulation. Purdue had the ball at Wake Forest's 8-yard line with a first-and- goal, three timeouts remaining and 1:03 remaining in front of its home crowd in Ross-Ade Stadium. Purdue settled for a field goal after two runs by Ijeboi and a drop-back that turned into a Browne scramble on third-and-goal. "Going back and looking at it again," Purdue offensive coordinator Josh Hen- son said, "that is the one thing I told Coach Odom: If I did it over, I would have done those couple plays over." But Odom didn't want anyone else taking the blame. "I hate that we came up short," Odom said. "Anything that didn't work out in our favor, I'll take the blame for all that. I thought our staff did a tremendous job. I thought our players played as hard as they could play. It wasn't clean. It wasn't perfect. Any of the blame, that falls squarely on the head coach's shoulders." RUNNING BACK REVELATION Purdue did its homework when it added Ijeboi, a former Minnesota run- ning back, out of the transfer portal this past season. But Ijeboi, who rushed for 441 yards and 2 touchdowns on 97 car- ries as a redshirt freshman last season, has already exceeded expectations. Henson, now in his second season as Purdue's offensive coordinator, wasn't ashamed to admit that Ijeboi has been better than he realized. "Yes, he is," Henson said. "And I re- ally liked him. What we had seen was limited. But one thing you don't know about a guy is just what his internal de- sire and drive and kind of his attitude towards playing is. "But when Fame gets the ball in his hands, his attitude is like you're not tackling me, and that's hard to measure. You can't measure that. And along with his talent, I think that type of mindset is what makes him really effective." Ijeboi rushed 38 times for 201 yards and 4 touchdowns in Purdue's first two games of the season. He's the first Pur- due running back to reach those num- bers in the first two games of the season since Ralph Bolden in 2009. The impact Ijeboi has made extends beyond his work with the ball. "Every single play," Odom said, "whether it's pass protection, carrying out his fake out of the backfield, catch- ing the ball, running the route, or car- rying the ball, he's got the heart of a champion." The 6-foot, 215-pound back em- braces the workhorse role he has as- sumed. "I want to be leaned on," Ijeboi said. "I want to be the reason that we win in games. I want people to rely on me, so I want to go out there and get my team- mates going, whatever that is, what- ever I got to do, I'm gonna do it. I really wanna win." WHAT BROWNE CAN DO The emergence of Ijeboi to start the season should give Browne more oppor- tunities to throw into favorable match- ups. Too often last season he forced throws into bad situations, which is how he ended the season with more inter- ceptions (10) than touchdowns (9). In 12 games in 2025, Browne com- pleted 58.9 percent of his passes. He started the 2026 season with a 77.5 percent completion rate through two games. "I think it all comes down to just de- cision-making and making the easy de- cisions, not needing to make a big play," Browne said in the preseason. "Just be- ing like the catalyst of the offense, just getting the ball where it's supposed to go. I don't need to throw a deep ball ev- ery time, don't need to pull the RPO ev- ery time. Just make the right decision." Browne lost his top three receiving e from last season with Michael Jack- son III and EJ Horton exhausting their eligibility and Nitro Tuggle transfer- ring to South Carolina. The Boilermak- ers brought in four wide receivers via the transfer portal this offseason. Two of those transfers were Brown's favor- ite targets in the first two games: Iowa State's Xavier Townsend (13 catches for 105 yards) and Florida Atlantic's Asaad Waseem (12 catches for 172 yards and 1 touchdown). "I think we've had some instant play- makers at those spots," Odom said. "We Facts & Figures NOTRE DAME AT PURDUE Date: Sept. 26, 2026 Site: Ross-Ade Stadium (61,441) Kickoff: 2 p.m. ET Television: Peacock Radio: This game can be heard on Notre Dame IMG affiliates. Series Facts: Notre Dame leads 61-26-2. Head coaches: Purdue — Barry Odom (3-12, 2nd season); Notre Dame — Marcus Freeman (46-12, 5th season at ND and overall). Noting Purdue: The Boilermakers punted just three times in its first two games, which was tied for second-fewest in program history since 1978 … Four Purdue players caught at least five passes against Wake Forest (Xavier Townsend, Chauncey Magwood, Asaad Was- eem and Fame Ijeboi) … Center Boaz Stanley is starting on his third offensive line in three seasons following transfers from Troy (2024) and South Carolina (2025) … Freshman kicker Jacobo Echeverria Lozano made 6 of 7 field goals through the first two games of the sea- son … Purdue last beat Notre Dame in 2007. The Irish have won 10 straight against the Boilermakers. Senior quarterback Ryan Browne threw for 329 yards and 1 touchdown in Purdue's 38-36 loss to Wake Forest in double overtime. PHOTO COURTESY PURDUE ATHLETICS