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

By Daniel Morrison

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - SEPTEMBER 13: Purdue Boilermakers mascot Purdue Pete is seen during the game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Lucas Oil Stadium on September 13, 2014 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, IN - SEPTEMBER 13: Purdue Boilermakers mascot Purdue Pete is seen during the game against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Lucas Oil Stadium on September 13, 2014 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images) /
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WEST LAFAYETTE, IN – OCTOBER 24: Members of the Purdue Boilermakers take the field before the game against the Iowa Hawkeyes at Ross-Ade Stadium on October 24, 2020 in West Lafayette, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
WEST LAFAYETTE, IN – OCTOBER 24: Members of the Purdue Boilermakers take the field before the game against the Iowa Hawkeyes at Ross-Ade Stadium on October 24, 2020 in West Lafayette, Indiana. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images) /

Notre Dame Football 2021 Opponent Preview: Purdue Boilermakers

Purdue Defense

Purdue is getting a bit of a remodel on defense, as they bring in new defensive coordinator Brad Lambert. The job is an upgrade for Lambert, who was at Marshall for the past two seasons, and was a huge part of making the Thundering Herd into one of C-USA’s top programs. He’ll inherit a defense with a ton of issues, namely a nonexistent pass rush and a penchant for letting up big plays.

Starting with that pass rush, George Karlaftis needs to step up and reach his potential. He only had two sacks in 2020, which still lead the team. He’s capable of much more, but until he proves it on the field, it’s just potential that he brings to the table.

The issue is that there is no one else with any potential at all, at least that we know about, on the defensive line. Sure, someone could surprise you, but a decent rotation of players would be more than a nice surprise from the Boilermakers.

At linebacker, Jaylan Alexander and DeMarcus Mitchell are solid already, but if one or both of them can step up and be great, they could turn the tide on the whole for the Purdue defense. Against a team like Notre Dame, who wants to run at you, this is particularly important.

In the secondary, safety Cam Allen is capable and growing better. He’s going to need to do a lot of work too, as big plays tended to rip Purdue to shreds. Cory Trice and Dedrick Mackey, starting cornerbacks who started all last season for Purdue, return. They could certainly take a step forward, but the odds are that they can be beat by the right wide receiver.

There is a lot of work to do on this side of the ball, and there is absolutely no reason to think that they’ll be particularly capable of stopping Notre Dame, especially at the line of scrimmage.

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