No. 18 Notre Dame cruised to a 66-7 victory over Purdue to rebound after a crushing loss to Northern Illinois in Week 2. The Fighting Irish scored 42 unanswered points in the first half and never looked back, even pulling quarterback Riley Leonard after the half.
Leonard and running back Jeremiyah Love combined for more than 200 yards and four touchdowns on the ground as the Fighting Irish ground Purdue’s defensive front to a pulp. Three players finished with at least 80 yards rushing and a touchdown as the Fighting Irish posted 364 yards rushing in a dominant performance. Leonard was the first Notre Dame quarterback with 100 yards rushing and three rushing touchdowns since Brandon Wimbush in 2017.
The trenches on the other side weren’t much better for the Boilermakers as Purdue surrendered four sacks to Notre Dame’s front and barely averaged 1.0 yards per carry. Quarterback Hudson Card posted only 124 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions. More than 50 yards came on one broken play to set up the touchdown.
The dominant win was much needed for Notre Dame after becoming the first top-five team to lose to a MAC opponent in history. The 59-point victory shatters the previous biggest margin of victory in the series, set in 1992. This was the seventh straight victory for Notre Dame against Purdue.
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