Notre Dame Football: Improved Purdue team will be dominated up front

The Notre Dame Football program will take on a long-time rival in 2021, as they welcome the Purdue Boilermakers to South Bend early in the season.

Notre Dame Football vs. Purdue is a rivalry game that goes back to 1896, and was consistently played from the 1940s to the start of the Brian Kelly era. That’s when the ACC deal came, and Purdue has been one of the losses of the contract, which is a shame as these two really should play every year if possible.

This means that the last time the two teams met was in 2014. That was a Shamrock Series Game, with one of Notre Dame’s best alternative uniforms. It was also a great win for the Irish, beating the Boilermakers 30-14.

Since then, a lot has changed. Notre Dame Football went from a program threatening to contend once in a while for national prominence, to a team that is almost assured a spot at the table at the end of the season. For their part, Purdue has struggled to find consistency.

In 2014, Purdue went 3-9. Their best year since then they went 7-6.

In that time, Purdue hired Jeff Brohm, who flashed potential early. Then, when Brohm’s alma mater, Louisville, had a job opening, Purdue panicked and gave Brohm a seven year, $36.8 million contract. He hasn’t earned that contract since then, which at the time made him a top-10 coach in terms of pay in all of college football. It actually has looked a lot like he just happened to sign Rondale Moore, and get lucky.

Brohm’s record at Purdue is 19-25, with a worse record in every year of his tenure. His seating is heating up and he’s going to be desperate for a marquee win, which Notre Dame would certainly count as.

The game itself will be played at Notre Dame, and is currently sit as a 2:30 pm ET kick. Notre Dame Football leads the series 56-26-2.

Now, here is everything that you need to know about Purdue.