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✦ top storylines: notre dame vs. purdue By Lou Somogyi the first game of the season, Notre Dame freshman Tim Brown lost a fumble that Purdue converted into a score, helping lead to the upset. The Boilermakers defeated Notre Dame, Ohio State and Michigan, but still ended up only 7-5. The Irish took a page from Purdue's book by winning at SEC champ LSU, at Pac-10 champ USC, and also won at Michigan State and Missouri, plus crushed Penn State (44-7), yet also finished 7-5. 1997: Purdue 28, Notre Dame 17 — Under first-year head coach Bob Davie, Notre Dame's 11-game winning streak against the Boilermakers came to an end. A week earlier, first-year head coach Joe Tiller debuted with a 36-22 loss at home to Toledo. "We clearly understand who they are as a Big Ten opponent, somebody within our state, and the natural rivalry because we've played so much," Kelly said. Spoiler Tradition Few college football teams since the end of World War II better embody playing up or down to the level of their competition than the Purdue Boilermakers. The 2012 season was another manifestation of that approach when Purdue's two most impressive games were against the only two programs in the Football Bowl Subdivision that finished the regular season with a 12-0 record. Yet the Boilermakers finished only 6-7, leading to the firing of head coach Danny Hope. Last Sept. 8, the Boilermakers had Notre Dame on the ropes before a late drive directed by quarterback Tommy Rees ended with a 27-yard field goal by kicker Kyle Brindza with seven seconds left for a 20‑17 victory. Then on Oct. 21, Purdue led 22‑14 at Ohio State, and the Buckeyes had to travel 61 yards with 47 seconds left — plus add a two-point conversion — just to get the game into overtime. OSU scored the touchdown and two-pointer with three seconds left (this too was directed by a backup quarterback) before prevailing 29‑22 in overtime. That is why Purdue is sometimes better known as the "Spoilermakers," although the Big Ten squad couldn't quite spoil the perfect regular-season marks last season of the Fighting Irish and Buckeyes (it did upset OSU in both 2009 and 2011). In 2009 alone, Purdue defeated Ohio State and later Michigan on the road, and barely lost to Oregon (38-36) and Notre Dame (24-21) on a last-second fourthdown pass from Jimmy Clausen to tight end Kyle Rudolph. Yet the Boilermakers still finished only 5-7, including home losses to Northern Illinois and Northwestern, plus a defeat at Minnesota. Similar to Boston College or Pitt, you can generally expect Purdue to play one Purdue always seem to play Notre Dame tough and last year was no exception, when the Irish needed a lastsecond field goal to escape with a 20-17 victory. photo by bill panzica of its two or three strongest games of the year against Notre Dame. "This is an in-state rival that plays very well against us," Fighting Irish head coach Brian Kelly said. "We just need to look at last year's game." Even 20 years ago in 1993 — when Purdue had its worst record ever (1-10) when playing at least eight games and Notre Dame (11-1) would finish No. 2 — Notre Dame led only 7-0 with four minutes left, thanks to a fumble return. Here are Purdue's five greatest "where did that come from?" upsets of the Irish. 1974: Purdue 31, Notre Dame 20 — Defending national champ Notre Dame was a four-touchdown favorite at home against a 0-1-1 Purdue team that had just tied Miami (Ohio). The Boilermakers took a stunning 24-0 lead in the first quarter. The next week they would lose to Duke and finish 4-6-1. Notre Dame went on to win the Orange Bowl against 11-0 Alabama. 1954: Purdue 27, Notre Dame 14 — This was the lone defeat of Notre Dame's 9-1 season in head coach Terry Brennan's debut season with the Irish, and it came at home in the second week after winning against No. 4 Texas (21-0). Purdue finished 5-3-1 with quarterback Len Dawson. 1950: Purdue 28, Notre Dame 14 — A 39game unbeaten streak by Notre Dame came to an end with this home loss, but it was a major rebuilding year under head coach Frank Leahy that ended with a 4-4-1 mark. Still, Purdue finished only 2-7 that season. 1984: Purdue 23, Notre Dame 21 — A year earlier the Fighting Irish crushed the Boilermakers 52-6, the most points scored by an opponent in Ross-Ade Stadium. The next year on the opening kickoff in ✦ Page 7 The Turnover Tale Nothing better defined Notre Dame's turnaround from 8-5 in 2011 to 12-1 in 2012 than slicing its turnovers from 29 two years ago to 15 last year (only the seventh time it had 15 or fewer turnovers in a season). Meanwhile, Purdue was 2-6 in 2012 when it did not have more takeaways than its opponent. This included the 20-17 loss at Notre Dame when it had two turnovers compared to one by the Fighting Irish — a fumble by quarterback Everett Golson that set up the tying touchdown at 17-17 with 2:12 left. That led to the insertion of Tommy Rees for the game-winning 65yard march in which he converted a couple of crucial third downs. When Purdue had more takeaways last year — it was 4-1 with the lone loss coming in the aforementioned overtime to Ohio State in which the Boilermakers seemingly had the game in hand.