Notre Dame Crushes Purdue: Instant Takeaways

And just like that, Notre Dame's September portion of the schedule is over, and 4-0 has been accomplished.

Saturday's rivalry renewal at Purdue was a manhandling, as the Fighting Irish jumped out to a 35-0 halftime lead before cruising to a 49-10 victory.

Not many people were expecting Saturday's game to be comptetitive, but I don't think everyone thought it would be over quite as quickly as it wound up being, either.

Instant takeaways from Notre Dame's 49-10 win over Purdue.

Notre Dame Shows Off Dominant Defense

Purdue might not be a good team but it had what was supposed to be an improved offense coming into Saturday. It was averaging 39 points per game, a significant improvement over the past couple of years.

However, Notre Dame's defense kept Purdue entirely in check all afternoon. The Boilermakers had no semblance of a run game, averaging just 1.3 yards per carry and having a long run of just 10 yards all day.

Bryce Young & Drayk Bowen = Certified Playmakers#GoIrish☘️

📺: Peacock pic.twitter.com/Dn1qyh7kyQ
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) September 26, 2026

Notre Dame's defensive front was the best of many strong units Saturday, forcing pressure all day long. The Fighting Irish put together six sacks, two of which came from Bryce Young as his season remains off to an impressive start.

Not that the defense had many questions entering Saturday, but it exited only looking better.

Notre Dame Run Game Better, But Still Nothing Special

Notre Dame's struggles in the run game have been well documented so far this season, with explosive runs simply not yet occurring.

That finally changed Saturday as Aneyas Williams broke off a 22-yard dash for a touchdown, and Notre Dame ran for 177 yards on the day.

That's the good news.

The bad news is that Notre Dame averaged just four yards per carry outside of that attempt until freshman Jonaz Walton broke off a 44-yard run in mop-up time.

A week after his breakout performance, Nolan James, Jr. was held to just 28 yards on seven carries - all against a Purdue team that allowed 369 rushing yards at UCLA last week.

It was a blowout victory, but the rushing game remains very much a work in progress.

Joey O'Brien is Notre Dame's Next Star Defensive Back

Due to an injury to Luke Talich, freshman safety Joey O'Brien was inserted into the starting lineup for the first time this season and he delivered right away.

O'Brien showed great signs in filling holes in run defense and finished the day with five tackles and was given credit for half of a sack.

Injuries aren't what you want, especially early in the year, but O'Brien getting the run he did today will have him in a more likely spot to contribute in bigger games when the schedule gets more difficult.

CJ Carr Shows Out in Blowout

Micah gets us on the board 👏#GoIrish☘️ | @Gilbert316Micah

📺: Peacock pic.twitter.com/0YD5cweBiR
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) September 26, 2026

Notre Dame's passing game again attacked downfield, with CJ Carr leading the action. The Notre Dame quarterback threw for 237 yards and three touchdowns, while rushing for another.

Micah Gilbert, Jordan Faison, Jaden Greathouse, Cooper Flanagan, and Jerome Bettis, Jr. all had receptions of more than 25 yards today as the downfield attack was on.

Notre Dame Escapes September Unscathed

September hasn't been Marcus Freeman's best friend at Notre Dame, with six of his 12 losses as head coach coming in August or September.

It wasn't against the best competition, but it dominated the entire month: Notre Dame went 4-0 and outscored its foes 169-33.

The running game still needs work, and it's slowly progressing, but signs are pointing in the right direction as this Notre Dame squad is every bit the national championship contender it entered the season being hyped as.

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