The Shillelagh Trophy is a trophy exchanged between Notre Dame and Purdue, being held by the winner of the game. The two in-state rivals first played each other in 1896 and the game has occurred annually from 1946 to 2014.[2] The trophy, first presented in 1957, is a Shillelagh (club) donated by Joe McLaughlin, a merchant seaman and a Fighting Irish supporter who brought it from Ireland.[3] As you can see Purdue is a long-time rivalry that has fallen off due to the $$ needs of big-time football these days. The needs of both ND and Purdue changed and so we have what we have, a rivalry that has been shoved aside for the other needs of both programs. Irish currently on a 7 game win streak vs Purdue, last game was in 2014. Last win by Purdue in South Bend was in Tyrone Willingham's last season in 2004 and their last win in West Lafayette was in 2007 during Charlie Weis regrettable 3rd season that was such a disaster and really was the beginning of the end for him. There will be a 4-game home/home stretch in 2024-28 though. A lot of big games in this series by both teams. The one I remember the most was the 1966 coming out game by Terry Hanratty and Jim Seymour. After that game they were on the cover of Time Magazine and nick named the Baby Bombers. A name that would be politically incorrect these days. The next year Leroy Keyes single handedly destroyed the Irish on his way to an AA campaign, a Soph QB named Mike Phipps also started his own campaign to torment the Irish, he would not lose a game to ND in his 3 year career at Purdue. For whatever the reason though Purdue football suffered a decline and the Irish ran off a 22-5 record in the years between 1970 and 1996. I expect this year's Purdue game to be very close as the Irish as we've discussed are a team in disarray, with problems on the OL and the defense. I think we can see that Jack Coan when given half a chance is a very solid Qb and we have some good skill players in Kevin Austin and Mike Mayer to compliment him. But he's not mobile like Ian Book so he's taken a lot of sacks so far. Purdue has an AA DE who is no doubt licking his chops to get at the Irish OL. Will the Irish Offensive Staff figure out away to protect Jack Coan, will they figure out a way to get the running game going, how will they use Tyler Buchner vs the Boilermakers? All will be critical if the Irish are to win. How will the defense stem the tide of playing well 9 out of 10 downs and that 10th down be a big play. We still have, on paper more talent than Purdue, but that's on paper. We should win at home, but Purdue is not going to hand it to us. I hope we are up to the task. Irish fans are in early season form for the hate Kelly, Quinn, Tom Rees, and even the "coach in waiting" Marcus Freeman. I can't imagine the anger that will erupt if we lose to Purdue. They know where Brian Kelly lives, it's not far from the Stadium. Pitch Forks, Tar, Feathers...if we lose.
That's always been the case going back to when I was in school a hundred years ago, but it's never been about talent. It's been about grit and determination. Whoever has the strongest desire to win usually prevails. I never, never take Purdue for granted.
Kelly on Purdue's offense On Purdue’s offense: ”He's (Jack Plummer) so accurate, right? In terms of he can make it a long day because of his precision and throwing is really good. If you try to get too aggressive, he can put the ball over your head. He's got really good receivers, and it's not just (David) Bell, he's got two good tight ends. It's a really good offense. We're going to have to do some things in coverage, we can't just line up and play man all day. “We're going to have to do some other things to disrupt him, and we've got to get a pass rush. Any time you face a really good quarterback, I think the narrative stays the same. Give him some multiple looks in the back end and throw off his timing. I don't know that that's ever changed in my 31 years. How do you disrupt a good quarterback? Well, we've got to do the same against this kid.”
Kelly's awkward reply to a IMHO a dumb question. On concern with only 62,000 fans showing up last Saturday: “Yeah, so, I mean how much do I really have to worry about getting fans in? Would I like 76,000 or whatever capacity is? Yes, but we're living in a time where there's electronic tickets, there's COVID, did people see it as a marquee matchup? I don't know. “I have so many problems that I have to deal with on a day-to-day basis, I've got to hope that our marketing people and everybody else takes care of that. You know I don't want to be in here when we play other teams and there's more fans in the stands than our fans. That's when I'll really be concerned. But you know, you bring up a valid point. I just don't have time to really concern myself with it. Look, we've won 35 of our last 40 games. If that's not good enough … I don't know what else to do.”
The Purdue game was always special to me when I was a student. The first game ND played when I was a freshman was at Purdue. They beat us and put a damper on the whole campus (remember this was the year after that magical 1964 season.) The following year was the debut of my classmates Hanratty and Seymour. (Jim recently died.) Besides that potent passing attack that we unleashed, the play that sticks in my mind was one late in the game with Purdue trailing by less that a TD and driving. Griese drops back to pass and he's blindsided by Alan Page. Griese and the ball are separated, ND recovers and goes on to win over a highly ranked talented Purdue team. (Leroy Keys was a 2 way All-American threat.) Strange how Phipps owned us and we went 2-1 vs Drew Breese.
Jack Coan on Purdue. "They've always been a super talented team," Coan stated. "I know whenever we played them at Wisconsin, they played us tough. We had some very close games. "We're expecting the same thing - a super competitive and talented team. I played a bunch of those guys two years ago. I recognize a bunch of the same guys, so they're very experienced and it will be a tough challenge for us."
This game is one of those games that is a must win for the Irish, Purdue is an old rival for starters. But also at this point in time they are perceived as an inferior program to the Irish fans. Irish fans in general are an unhappy bunch with the close wins vs FSU and Toledo. This game was marked down at the beginning of the season as a win, but right now nobody has any confidence and there is a lot of anger with Kelly as usual, Jeff Quinn, Marcus Freeman, and Tom Rees. A loss here and it's going to send message boards in to a weeklong rant on Kelly and coaching staff and Jack Swarbrick.
Ah, the nice thing about being the Purdue's of the world...the ND's, Alabama's, and Ohio State's all have to worry about the big upset. We just gotta try and go out and pull one off. And please don't take that as a prediction.
I like that they are working on expanding the what Buchner is able to do when he's on the field. When DCoord have film, they can then prepare. They have film on what he did vs Toledo, Purdue will be ready for that, so he needs more options so it's not predictable. 7 of 11 ON THE QUARTERBACK SITUATION HEADING INTO PURDUE "All three of them are getting reps. Jack still continues to be the starter, so he's getting the bulk of the reps, but I think I said this after the game, we'll continue to grow the package for Tyler, as it relates to what his skill set is. So, that continues to grow. Drew needs to get those reps to keep him sharp. It's a management of those three and we feel very comfortable with it. We don't feel like we're shorting anybody in one particular area."
Purdue lost their top RB in the UConn game. They have a great WR in David Bell and the Purdue QB is really accurate and mobile. 9 of 11 ON PURDUE QUARTERBACK JACK PLUMMER "He's extremely accurate. I think that's probably the most challenging part. He's extremely accurate. He knows where to go with the football. He's got two outstanding weapons. Look, at the end of the day, he keeps plays alive and he doesn't take sacks. He gets rid of the football. I think more than anything, you have a pro style quarterback that doesn't make big mistakes. He doesn't turn the ball over. He doesn't take negative plays and and he's extremely accurate. So that in itself is probably the biggest strengths that he brings and it is probably why he's the starter."
Notre Dame Football has a new "Art Director" ...I'll bet Rockne never had one of these guys on staff!! But in these days of social media domination of many of the avenues of communication, I guess it's important to have somebody on staff who makes all of those things pop when posted! Bo Savage Hired as Notre Dame Football Art Director
Seems petty. Won't fit through visiting team tunnel and ND won't let them use the main tunnel. Perhaps would be better to worry about the football game rather than a damn musical instrument.
I have no idea what team is going to show up in ND Stadium tomorrow. Talk of more OL rotating in the game, trying to find a combination that works. Carmody might play or not, might see a lot of Tosh Baker. Just don't know. I feel better that the defense will play better and cause Purdue problems, than I do that our OL will be good and open holes for the RB's and give Jack Coan time to throw. I don't know what to expect from Buchner when he gets in the game. As Lou would say, I fear the University of Purdue.