Notre Dame vs. Purdue: Fourth Quarter Analysis

Geoffrey Clark has tapped out, so I’ll be taking us home on the quarter analysis. I’m going to do it a bit differently, just going to take you through my thought’s drive by dive. So here we go.

Finally a little bit of Chris Tyree as Jack Coan finds him on the left sideline for a nice 19-yard gain. Tommy Rees tries to say with the “hot hand” and Tyree gains just 5-yards on his next two carries. Coan finds Avery Davis on 3rd and 5 for 11-yards and a first down. They’ve had a great connection today, unfortunately the only one for the Irish offense. Coan takes a sack on second down, then after a timeout and bad throw to no one on 3rd down. Two trips to the redzone and no touchdowns but Jonathan Doerer barely makes a 30-yard field goal to extend the lead to 20-13. The Irish need to be better inside the 20, field goals don’t win you games.

Special teams has been solid today, the Irish stop the Purdue kick returner Marcellus Mooreat the 20-yard line. It’s been a bad go for the Boilers in the second half on special teams. Time for the defense to step up, the defensive line needs to get pressure on Jack Plummer. Now. Back-to-back incompletions bring up third down and the line gives me what I asked for. Isaiah Foskey and Myron Tagovailoa-Amosa sack Plummer on 3rd down. Massive series for the Irish then you add on a bad punt and great field position for the Irish on Purdue’s 39-yard line.

Need a score here, not a field goal, but to find the endzone. Coan goes deep to Braden Lenzy for the jugular, and it bounces off Lenzy’s hands. The Irish needed that, then on second down Coan is sacked. The Lenzy drop is looming larger now. Coan gets a few yards back on a check down to Williams that sets up a 4th and 9. I hate the punt there but Doerer barely made the last kick and it’s a once score game late. Kyle Hamilton with a huge play grabbing the ball at the 1-yard line after a great Jay Bramblett punt.

Odd move for Purdue as they bring in another quarterback Aiden O’Connell for his first snaps of the game. I don’t know about this move by Jeff Brohm on the 1-yard line. The gamble pays off as O’Connell finds Mershawn Rice for a 27-yard gain. Why Brohm did’t make this change earlier confuses me. Cam Hart makes a great play on the ball, setting up a 3rd and 5. O’Connell tests Hart against David Bell and it’s an incomplete pass. Very well could have seen a pass interference call there. Kyren Williams once again shows why he’s back returning punts, another good one for 23-yards sets up the next Irish drive almost at midfield. Great field position, and it’s clear the Irish are winning the special teams portion of the game.

So, Williams just took over. A fantastic 51-yard run where it looked like he was bottled up, broke a few tackles and was off to paydirt. Huge play as it gives the Irish some breathing room. Massive.

This drive could end the game here and after two incomplete passes it looked like it. O’Connell finds Bell on 3rd down for the first, but Hamilton hits him hard and he’s down. The game has stopped and a somber mood has entered this game. Head and neck injuries are scary, you hate to see this and hopefully Bell is fine. Tough to watch these kind of injuries. They review the play and call it incomplete, tough to get your mind back onto the game after that. Fourth-and-eight and O’Connell slowly scrambles and barely get the 8-yards. Finds Jackson Anthrop to move the chains again, why didn’t Purdue make this change earlier? Thank you Jeff Brohm. Purdue keeps driving and not giving up. Hat’s off to them for not folding late in this one but Hamilton comes up in the clutch once again, picking off O’Connell in the end zone. That should be game.

Kyren Williams and Kyle Hamilton stepped up when the Irish needed them to. The two best players on the team did what they do, make plays. Williams didn’t quite make it over the 100-yard mark for the first time this year, but he had over 130-yards from scrimmage along with two scores. Hamilton had the game-sealing pick, a few tackles for loss and an overall dominant game again. They’re both so damn impressive. Solid win for the Irish today, 1-0 every week so far.