Purdue Boilermakers vs Notre Dame Fighting Irish Preview

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish, who were embarrassed in the final years of the Charlie Weis era, now begin the Brian Kelly era against Purdue.

At the most storied program in major college football, 8-4 seasons are generally unacceptable, so it was easy to understand why Charlie Weis – despite leading Notre Dame to two straight BCS bowls – was out of a job after five seasons in South Bend. A 3-9 campaign embarrassed the program in 2007, and six losses apiece in both 2008 and 2009 did not give athletic director Jack Swarbrick the results he needed to keep his big-talking coach on the job. This forced the Irish to look for a new head coach, and the consensus opinion in the college football community is that Swarbrick hit a home run with an Irish-American.

Kelly took over Central Michigan in 2004 and created a conference champion from a program that had won more than three games once in the previous four years. He led the Chippewas to a Mid-American Conference crown in his third season. At the end of 2006, Kelly took over at Cincinnati. In three seasons with the Bearcats, he won two consecutive Big East titles. His overall record in 19 years as a head coach is 171-57-2, for a winning percentage of 74.7%. He brings this impressive track record to Notre Dame. Now the natives in Indiana will see what he can do in college football’s most pressure-packed position.

How will the underdog from the Big Ten try to keep up with the team cheered on by Touchdown Jesus? It’s always hard for Purdue to beat its in-state nemesis. The Boilermakers have generally been on the short end of the stick against the Irish over the course of their rivalry. Notre Dame has won four of the last five meetings in this series, a testament to generally superior athleticism and strength. Purdue has to find a way to hit big plays and – in the first year of a new Irish offense – coax turnovers from the Notre Dame attack. The Boilermakers can’t win an incremental football game with long, steady touchdown marches. They need to load the stat sheet with huge plays and accumulate enough points to minimize a thin rushing defense. If this is a power game played in the trenches, Purdue has no shot.

Because Purdue’s defense is weak, the Irish need to assert themselves up front. In three of the last four years, Purdue has ranked last in rushing defense among Big Ten teams, allowing an average of 172 yards. Purdue allowed four teams to rush for more than 200 yards in 2009. Northern Illinois ran for 280 yards. If Notre Dame can run well, it will win. Period.

Yet, season openers have often been known to feature a lot of rust, some jitters, and generally awkward play from young people who are not given a paycheck to perform in front of a massive throng. The brains of 19-year-old men have been known to spin sideways on a stage like this, so it's not as though Notre Dame has a guaranteed win in its hands. The Irish have to go out and do the job in the first game of Brian Kelly's reign. The truly important question is this: Does Purdue have the mettle and moxie to ruin the script inside Notre Dame Stadium, one of college football's foremost cathedrals?

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