IN THE TRENCHES ANDREW OWENS
O
nce again, Notre Dame left the
field against Purdue wanting
more.
For the third consecutive year, the
Irish struggled to put away the Boiler-
makers despite Purdue's futility — this
season, look no further than the pre-
vious week's 38-17 blowout defeat at
home to Central Michigan.
After Notre Dame pitched the first
shutout any program had achieved
against Michigan in 30 years, Irish fol-
lowers hoped for — and expected —
them to cruise to an easy win the fol-
lowing week against Purdue at Lucas
Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
That didn't happen.
While the Irish eventually won 30-14,
winning was not as easy as the score
may indicate. Notre Dame trailed for
the first time this season when Purdue
scored to take a 14-10 lead with three
minutes left in the first half.
Short-term ease might not have rep-
resented the long-term benefit for a
young Irish team still finding itself.
"Absolutely," replied head coach
Brian Kelly when asked whether early
adversity can be a positive. "You know
you're going to face it. At some time,
it's going to present itself to you. So it's
a matter of how are your teammates
going to respond and how are your
players going to respond.
"I thought [against Purdue] they re-
sponded very well. You know you're
The Irish Persevere
Despite Adversity
Head coach Brian Kelly believes the early dose of adversity his young team faced against Purdue could
benefit it later in the season.
PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA
