Notre Dame’s defense dominated the line of scrimmage and took away Purdue’s best weapons on the way to a 27-13 home victory on Saturday. Kyren Williams scored early on a 39-yard reception and late on a gritty 51-yard run to ice the game. Avery Davis chipped in with a 66-yard scoring reception. He finished with five catches on the day to lead the team. Quarterback Jack Coan was somewhat inconsistent from the pocket. He and the Irish missed several big play opportunities, including a drop in the end zone by a wide open Braden Lenzy. Coan finished 15 of 30 for 223 yards.

The Irish started slowly with a negative yardage opening series before Purdue scored on a field goal by Mitchell Fineran for a 3-0 lead. The game turned into a defensive battle with the hosts in poor field position. Kyle Hamilton provided the spark Notre Dame needed late in the first quarter when he stuff the Boilermakers on a fourth down run. The Irish faced a fourth down of their own moments later. Coan drilled a short slant over the middle to Williams, who blew past the Purdue secondary for a 7-3 lead.

Consecutive pass interference penalties fueled Notre Dame on its next possession, resulting in a short field goal by Jonathan Doerer for a 10-3 advantage. The senior kicker missed a chance to extend the lead moments later with an ugly miss from 45 yards. As the defense continued to force punts from the Boilers, Coan tried and failed once again to get the offense to click. Three straight poor throws to open receivers ended the final Irish drive of the half.

Purdue came out of the locker room with renewed energy. Their opening drive stalled in the red zone, but another Fineran field goal cut the deficit to 10-6. Notre Dame quickly responded with Coan’s best pass of the day, a long strike that Davis caught in stride for a touchdown. The Irish now led by 17-6 with ten minutes remaining in the third quarter.

Purdue’s attack got the Boilers offense going on the next series. King Doerue ripped off a 31-yard run before quarterback Jack Plummer hit David Bell inside the Irish five yard line. Plummer found Milton Wright a few plays later in the corner of the end zone for a score. The Boilers were well within striking distance as Notre Dame’s lead shrunk to 17-13.

The game remained tight into the final period before a nice catch by Davis set up a another field goal by Doerer to make it 20-13. The Irish defense regained its footing and upped the pressure on a beleaguered Plummer. When Hamilton down an Irish punt at the Purdue one yard line, Coach Jeff Brohm responded by inserting backup signal-caller Aidan O’Connell into the game.

Meanwhile, Coan missed a chance to ice the game when Lenzy appeared to lose a perfect pass in the sun as it fell into and out of his hands. When the defense got the ball back, Notre Dame turned to Williams and he delivered. After returning a punt to his own 49 yard line, he broke numerous tackles on the next play from scrimmage for a 51-yard score.

Trailing 27-13, O’Connell tried to rally the visitors. He guided them downfield but lost Bell on a clean, hard hit by Hamilton in the process. Bell was carted off the field. Still O’Connell kept the Boilers moving to the red zone until disaster struck. A would-be touchdown pass bounced off the hands of tight end Payne Durham and into Hamilton’s in the end zone. The Irish managed to cover the last 2:32 after that play essentially ended Purdue’s hopes.

It was hardly an artistic win, however. The improvement on defense continues and provides hope that the offense will break out sooner rather than later. Marcus Freeman’s crew held the Boilers to 57 rushing yards, recorded three sacks, eight quarterback hurries and a pair of interceptions. On the other side of the ball, Notre Dame did not turn the ball over and finished with 120 yards on the ground. I asked for 125 in my pregame article, but it was close enough.

Despite the win, it’s still fair to criticize the Irish offensive line. They turned in another poor performance with four sacks and seven tackles for loss allowed. A couple of them were little better than turnstiles in pass protection as Coan felt heat all afternoon. The rushing yards by Williams and Chris Tyree were mostly of their own making, although there was good effort downfield on the scoring run by Williams.

Let’s take a look at the answers to the pregame questions. for further analysis:

Will the Irish pass rush (ten sacks in two games) continue to dominate? Absolutely. This gave the offense time to find the few plays it needed to win.

Can Notre Dame find an effective offensive line combination? No, but the left to right lineup of Baker, Correll, Patterson, Madden and Lugg may be the best we’re going to see this year. I know, it’s a very scary thought and we’re still several weeks away from Halloween.

Who will win the marquee matchup between Austin and Trice? Trice didn’t play due to injury, but backup Jamari Brown shut down Austin, who had an uncharacteristically poor performance.

Will special teams have an impact on the outcome? Yes, but where do I start? The Irish had two punt returns, but one was called back on a penalty. Doerer made two short field goals but missed a longer one by about 20 miles. Hamilton downed a Jay Bramblett punt on the Purdue one yard line, but Bramblett punted poorly in the early going.

Purdue was nearly as inconsistent. They caught another punt inside their own five instead of letting it go into the end zone. The Boilers used two punters because starter Jack Ansell lost the job midway through the game.

Which Irish quarterback will have the most success? Coan had more positive plays because Tyler Buchner did not see much action. The freshman did contribute a 20-yard run in the second quarter, but Coan replaced him in almost every passing situation.

Will Notre Dame’s consecutive non-sellout streak continue? The stands were mostly full, but many of them fell asleep in the boring, sloppy first half.

How many times will Drew Brees slip and refer to Purdue as “We”? Have you canceled your Peacock subscription yet? Once that I recall, at the outset of the third quarter. Brees noticed the Irish cornerbacks were playing soft coverage and said, “We’ll take that all day” when the Boilers completed a couple of consecutive passes.

The game felt like a good win for the defense and a disappointment for the offense in that at least two more touchdowns should have been scored. It was good to see the excellent performances by Davis. Williams and Hamilton have become constants, while the rest of the defense played hard. Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa and NaNa Osafo-Mensah had highlight moments to snuff out Purdue drives. Michael Mayer was clocked early after reaching for an errant Coan pass and was not a factor the rest of the way. The Boilers went after Irish cornerback Cam Hart all day, but Hart battled back after a couple of ugly pass interference penalties.

Time has run out on the exhibition portion of the season as prime time kicks in next week. The next five opponents have bye weeks before playing the Irish and could win any or all of those games unless the offensive line can right the ship. Barring that, Coan cannot be a consistent passer, Williams and Tyree will continue to take a pounding and Buchner will not be able to work any miracles. That will put too much pressure on a very good defense to be perfect.