Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/380743
TURNING POINT With Notre Dame leading 24-14, Purdue put together one of its better drives in the second half and faced third-and-five at Notre Dame's 34. Purdue sophomore quarterback Danny Etling stayed in the pocket, waited for speedster DeAngelo Yancy on a short crossing route — and then hurriedly threw behind him for an incomplete pass. Had he been able to get the ball to the open Yancy, it would have been a huge gain, possibly even a touch- down. Then on fourth-and-five, 6-5, 258-pound tight end Gabe Holmes mishandled a pass that would have picked up a first down and contin- ued Purdue's march. From there on, the field position advantage flipped to Notre Dame's favor for the rest of the night. It was a huge missed opportunity for the Boil- ermakers to regain the momentum and keep the Fighting Irish on edge. STAT OF THE GAME Notre Dame's defense, despite huge attrition in the secondary, lim- ited the Boilermakers to 121 yards on 38 plays and zero points in the second half. Purdue was effective offensively in the first half with some downhill running that opened up productive play-action passes, and it found itself trailing only 17-14 at halftime while amassing 169 yards on 28 plays (6.0 yards per snap). In the second half the Boilermakers managed only 3.18 yards per play. Already without injured captain Austin Collinsworth at strong safety, Notre Dame also lost two free safe- ties when sophomore Max Redfield was ejected for targeting early in the second quarter and shortly thereafter junior backup Nicky Baratti suffered a shoulder injury that sidelined him. In the second half, the Irish also lost sophomore cornerback Cole Luke to an injury. HALFTIME MOMENTUM In all three games this season, Notre Dame went into the halftime locker room on a high note after a late touchdown to end the first 30 minutes. It scored on a 53-yard pass from Everett Golson to C.J. Prosise with five seconds left until halftime to take a 28-10 lead against Rice. The next week versus Michigan, a 24-yard scoring toss from Golson to sopho- more receiver Will Fuller with 34 sec- onds left made it 21-0 at halftime, an- other three-possession cushion. Against Purdue, Notre Dame fell behind for the first time this season with three minutes remaining un- til halftime, but Golson scrambled out of trouble for a 15-yard touch- down with only 13 seconds left to give the Irish a 17-14 halftime edge. Few things can uplift a football team more than a touchdown right before the half in a competitive game. THREE OBSERVATIONS BY LOU SOMOGYI