All five of Notre Dame’s opponents in the 2006 season have entered the game with the Irish undefeated and Saturday (Sept.30) will be no different as the Purdue University Boilermakers bring their 4-0 record into South Bend for a 2:43 p.m. (EDT) start time at Notre Dame Stadium.
Notre Dame comes into the game following one of its greatest comebacks in a storied football history. The Irish rallied from a 16-point, fourth quarter deficit for a 40-37 victory over Michigan State. Meanwhile, Purdue improved to 4-0 with a 27-21 victory over Minnesota in West Lafayette last Saturday.
Notre Dame and the Boilermakers will meet for the 78th time Saturday. The Irish lead the all-time series, 50-25-2. Notre Dame and Purdue have played each of the past 61 years. The series has been continuous since 1946, tying the USC rivalry for Notre Dame's second-longest continuous series (Notre Dame and Navy have played every year since 1927). The Irish are 25-11-0 all-time against the Boliermakers in South Bend, including victories in 13 of the last 14 meetings.
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Notre Dame overcame a 16-point fourth quarter deficit Saturday night, (Sept.23) the largest fourth quarter deficit the Irish have overcome since the 1979 Cotton Bowl (Jan 1, 1979) when Notre Dame trailed Houston, 34-12, with just under eight minutes to go in the game and came back to win, 35-34.
The victory was head coach Charlie Weis' seventh consecutive road win to open his career — the longest streak to open a Notre Dame coach's career since Frank Leahy began his Irish coaching tenure in 1943 with a 10-game road unbeaten streak.
The Purdue football team, under 10th year head coach Joe Tiller, are 4-0 overall and 1-0 in the Big Ten Conference with wins over Indiana State 60-35, Miami (Ohio) 38-31, Ball State 38-28 and Minnesota 27-21. Purdue posted a 5-6 overall record in 2005 and a 3-5 mark in the Big Ten, good for eighth place. The Boilermakers won their first two games and climbed to No.11 in the AP national rankings, then lost six straight before bouncing back to win their last three. The
The Boilermakers used a balanced offensive attack and had big plays on defense to win their Big Ten opener 27-21 over Minnesota at Purdue’s Ross-Ade Stadium on Sept 23. Quarterback Curtis Painter completed 18-of-27 passes for 243 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. He was on target on 14 of his last 17 attempts. Dustin Keller had career-high six receptions for 119 yards while Dorien Bryant caught six balls for 59 yards and a touchdown. Jaycen Taylor hauled in an 18-yard pass for what proved to be the game-winning touchdown with 10:52 remaining. Taylor also rushed for 90yards on 11 carries for 8.2 yards per carry average. including a 14-yard touchdown jaunt. Kory sheets added 76 yards on 14 carries.
Anthony Spencer anchored the defensive effort with career-high 10 tackles including nine solos.
Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis know his team will have to be ready to play the Boilermakers. “ Once again, we face a team that's on a little bit of a roll.” Weis said. “Purdue has won seven games in a row going back to last year. For the fifth consecutive week, we play against a team that hasn't lost a game. Seems like every week we obviously have another team that's undefeated, and this is no different. They're sitting here at 4-0. They've also beat us two out of the last three times we played them.
Purdue isn’t getting much love from the odds makers being installed as a 14-point road underdog. The game will be televised nationally by NBC.
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