Here's my recap from my
season-opening loss to mighty Purdue.
Doesn't seem to be showing up right. But it's probably updating.
SOUTH BEND, IN -- That's not the way the Fighting Irish wanted to start the season. Purdue marched right down field on their opening drive for a touchdown and never gave up the lead again in their 35-30 win over Notre Dame on Saturday.
Notre Dame tried to respond to Purdue's strong opening drive, and we're doing well, until Dayne Crist threw an interception to Purdue's Ryan Kerrigan. The result was another Ralph Bolden 1-yard touchdown run to make the score 14-0 Boliermakers.
Notre Dame managed to get on the board before the half with a Nick Tausch 33-yard field goal to make it 14-3.
The Fighting Irish got the offense rolling in the third quarter by going to the ground game. Cierre Wood had a pair of rushing touchdowns in the third quarter as Notre Dame pulled within 21-17 heading into the 4th. But the ND defense couldn't slow down Purdue.
Gary Bush caught his second touchdown pass of the day to make it 28-17. On the ensuing drive Purdue's Logan Link picked off a Christ pass in the endzone. At that point everyone thought the game was over, but Notre Dame kept fighting.
After finally stopping Purdue and forcing them to punt, ND running back Armando Allen scored from 2 yards out with a 1:30 remaining to make the score 28-23. Notre Dame failed on the 2-point conversion. Purdue recovered the ND onside kick, but instead of taking a knee to end the game, Purdue looked to rub it in a bit to their in-state rival. Ralph bolding broke a long run into ND territory, which set up his third touchdown of the game - a 3-yard run to put Pudrue up 35-23 with .51 seconds remaining.
Purdue kicked off to Notre Dame and CB Gary Gray returned it 98 yards for a touchdown to pull the Irish within 35-30. ND's second attempt at an onside kick failed and Purdue wisely took the knee this time to preserve the win.
Boldin finished with 89 yards rushing and three touchdowns for Purdue. Notre Dame tight end Kyle Rudolph had a great game with 8 receptions for 214 yards.
Notre Dame will look to get into the win column next week against Texas A&M.
