Purdue Confidence Meter: Can the Boilers Upset No. 3 Notre Dame?
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — An in-state rivalry is renewed on Saturday afternoon in West Lafayette, with Purdue hosting No. 3 Notre Dame. The Boilermakers have suffered back-to-back losses to Wake Forest and UCLA, while the Fighting Irish have started the year 3-0 and have national championship ambitions.
Purdue enters Saturday's contest as a major underdog, but is hoping to play spoiler to Notre Dame. It's been nearly two decades since the Boilers last got a win in this series, losing 10 straight games to the Irish.
Will that change this season? Can the Boilers shock the college football world with a massive upset at Ross-Ade Stadium? We've got our predictions for Saturday.
Nick Arvin, writer
Purdue faces off against a Notre Dame team with national championship aspirations, and I have to say, I'm not very confident heading into this one. The Irish have done some great things offensively this season, and it all starts with quarterback CJ Carr. He's done a great job taking care of the football and making the right throws, which is a major concern for Purdue's defense.
If the Boilers are going to compete in this game, they have to be aggressive. At this point, there's nothing to lose by going for it on 4th-and-4 from the 50 or stacking the box defensively. I think this game will be very telling when it comes to the overall morale of Purdue. The Boilermakers are massive underdogs, and they may very well lose, but I expect plenty of points to be scored along the way.
- Confidence Meter: 1/10
- Score prediction: Notre Dame 42, Purdue 21
Dustin Schutte, publisher
Over the years, we've seen Purdue pull off some unthinkable upsets. A win on Saturday over Notre Dame might be the most impressive, if the Boilermakers were able to do it. That's going to be a pretty tough task, though, because this is a Fighting Irish team that is allowing just 7.7 points per game and has one of the top quarterbacks in college football in Carr.
Purdue's offense has played well, but it hasn't faced a defense the same caliber as Notre Dame. This is going to be a major test for the Boilermakers, especially in the trenches. I do expect Purdue to put some points on the board, but I don't have much faith in the defense, especially after what we watched last week.
- Confidence meter: 1/10
- Score prediction: Notre Dame 51, Purdue 23
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Nick Arvin is a multimedia journalist who got his start covering Purdue athletics for 247Sports. He is also currently the host of the Locked On Boilermakers podcast. In addition to covering Purdue for On SI, Nick also works as a high school sports reporter for ClarksvilleNow.
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