For Pete's Sake - Her Loyal Sons

Hope everyone enjoyed last weekend’s commemoration of 9/11. We’ll commemorate the same number of nationwide COVID-19 deaths in just the last 72 hours with a sold-out Notre Dame Sta–

</is shocked by electric dog collar>

WITHOUT FURTHER ADO HERE’S YOUR PURDUE ANALYSIS

An undefeated record, if I’m reading my notes correctly, is about as well as we could expect this team to be after two games. However, some significant questions linger. The offense, with its preseason questions, has been shaky in none of the ways we feared. Line injuries have devastated the run game and Jack Coen’s pass protection, which has given rise (if you can believe this) *some* in the fanbase preferring the backup QB over the starter. Crazy, I know.

However, Purdue’s offensive statistical output is what really should inspire you to wear brown britches this Saturday afternoon. Marcus Freeman’s havoc defense has yielded far too many points thus far, and Jeff Brohm’s offense will present plenty of opportunities to capitalize if defensive miscues continue.

But y’all wanted normalcy in 2021, and anxiety-inducing football is what’s in store. Another Squeaker in South Bend, and if you want a preview, look no further than tonight’s HLS NCAA14 sim — which is reliably just as zany as the real thing.

What to Watch: North Carolina (1-1) vs Virginia (2-0), Sat 7:30PM ET, ACC Network

If the Irish survive into Saturday evening at 3-0, you’ll want to catch this game before we embark upon the midseason scheduling gauntlet. If ND falls to Purdue, well this could be some doomsday foreshadowing for you.

Virginia Tech (2-0) at West Virginia (Sat 12:00PM ET, Fox Sports 1)
Cincinnati (2-0) at Indiana (Sat 12:00PM ET, ESPN)
Southern Cal (1-1) at Washington State (Sat 3:30PM ET, Fox)
Georgia Tech (0-1) at Clemson (Sat 3:30PM ET, ABC)
Stanford (1-1) at Vanderbilt (Sat 8:00PM ET, ESPNU)

Past Opponents

Florida State (0-2) at Wake Forest (Sat 3:30PM ET, ESPN)
Toledo (1-1) vs Colorado State (Sat 4:00PM ET, ESPNU)

Schedule Strength

Last week, Notre Dame opponents went 8-4. On the year, teams on the schedule are 14-10 with an average schedule strength of 90.

RANK	TEAM	RECORD	CHANGE
8	Stanford	1-1	↑ 14
29	Wisconsin	1-1	↓ 13
42	Southern Cal	1-1	↑ 39
44	Notre Dame	2-0	↑ 9
63	Navy	0-2	↓ 4
65	Virginia Tech	2-0	↓ 10
66	North Carolina	1-1	↓ 40
99	Florida State	0-2	↓ 60
131	Toledo	1-1	↑ 77
146	Georgia Tech	1-1	↓ 63
158	Purdue	2-0	↓ 65
159	Cincinnati	2-0	↓ 44
190	Virginia	2-0	↑ 13