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Notre Dame looks to make it a perfect September on Saturday afternoon as it travels to Purdue
Sep 19, 2026; South Bend, Indiana, USA; Notre Dame Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman points to the crowd after beating the Michigan State Spartans half at Notre Dame Stadium. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
For the third time in four weeks, Notre Dame plays a Big Ten foe this weekend.
A trip to West Lafayette is on the docket as the Fighting Irish look for their first perfect September under the direction of head coach Marcus Freeman.
Awaiting them is a 1-2 Purdue squad that still has huge problems on defense, but who has had an improved offense early in 2026.
Notre Dame is a massive favorite, one of roughly four touchdowns. Do the Irish cover that massive spread?
Jared Shlensky (3-0)
Purdue hasn’t beaten an FBS team in over a year and even though the Boilermakers are better than they were last season, they’re no match for the Irish. Notre Dame’s offense is still a work in progress but I like CJ Carr to go off this week against a Purdue defense that allowed 52 points and 645 yards of total offense last week against UCLA. I’m not so sure the Fighting Irish put up 52 like the Bruins did last week, but I like ND to score at least 40. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Boilersmakers get a couple of garbage time scores late in the fourth quarter to make this game look closer than it really was, but no matter what the final score says, I like the Irish by at least three scores.
Notre Dame 41, Purdue 17
John Kennedy (3-0)
If ever there was a perfect opportunity for the Irish to gain confidence in the run game, this is it. The Boilers allowed 369 yards rushing to UCLA last week, and I expect the Irish to look much better in this area in this contest. Purdue’s third-ranked passing attack will be a bit of a challenge to defend at times, but Notre Dame’s defense is too athletic and will make too many plays for Purdue to sustain enough touchdown drives to stay with the Irish. The ground game makes progress, Carr connects on a couple deep balls, and the defense bends but doesn’t break in the red zone and collects two more turnovers.
Notre Dame 52 Purdue 16
Jeff Feyerer (3-0)
This will likely be the defense’s biggest test to date, which isn’t saying much. Purdue was moving the ball on the Irish last season before the offense overwhelmed them and we have yet to see a truly knockout performance through three games from Notre Dame. We saw a mobile QB on opening night against Wisconsin, an option offense against Rice and a grind-it out, hang in the game style from Pat Fitzgerald and the Spartans.
But a game where Ryan Browne thinks he can wing it to his two new transfer portal receivers Asaad Waseem and Xavier Townsend almost seems to play right into Notre Dame’s hands. A team that gets greedy and thinks they can throw on this secondary and pass rush? I’ll take the test. I think the Irish gets the pass game going early, Purdue tries to hang with their scoring and the stable of Irish backs put it away late.
Notre Dame 48 Purdue 13
Pete Fiutak (3-0)
Notre Dame is about to face someone who can throw. That’s not to say the Irish can’t handle Ryan Browne and the Purdue passing game that’s currently No. 1 in the Big Ten, but this bunch will keep bombing.
I’d like to see the Irish running game be a little better from the start, but it’ll do what it did against Wisconsin - and what UCLA did to Purdue last week. Pound, keep pounding, and take over the game late.
The Irish will give up early points, and be fantastic late.
Notre Dame 44, Purdue 16
Nick Shepkowski (3-0)
Notre Dame started to find something again in its run game late last week and gets to face a worse defensive front this weekend. The running game starts to come together as big plays define Notre Dame on offense. On D, I am legit curious what Purdue is able to do, as it moved the ball for most the night at UCLA last week.
Notre Dame 45, Purdue 17
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Published 3 minutes ago
Managing Editor for Notre Dame On SI. Started covering Chicago sports teams for WSCR the Score, and over the years worked with CBS Radio, Audacy, NBC Sports, and FOX Sports as a contributor before running the Notre Dame wire site for USA TODAY.
