Notre Dame 20, Purdue 17
When: 3:30 PM ET, Saturday, September 8, 2012
Where: Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, Indiana
Temperature:
67°
Head Official:
John O'Neill
Attendance:
80795
By SportsDirect Inc.
No. 22 Notre Dame 20, Purdue 17: Tommy Rees came off the bench to spearhead a rally and Kyle Brindza's 27-yard field goal with seven seconds left helped the Irish to a hard-fought win over the Boilermakers.
After sitting out the opening game against Navy due to a suspension, Rees, last year’s starter, entered the game for Everett Golson and calmly led the 12-play, 55-yard drive that was capped by Brindza's field goal.
Notre Dame played with the lead almost the entire second half, before Golson’s fumble set Purdue up first-and-10 at the Irish 15-yard line with 3:24 remaining in the game and the Boilermakers trailing 17-10.
The Irish defense held the Boilermakers on the first three downs, but Purdue quarterback Caleb TerBush hit Antavian Edison with a 15-yard touchdown pass on a fourth-down play to tie the game and set up the late heroics from Rees.
Golson started the game and was 21-of-31 passing for 289 yards with one touchdown pass and another rushing touchdown.
All-American tight end Tyler Eifert led the Irish with a career-high 98 yards on four catches before sitting out the fourth quarter with an apparent but unconfirmed injury.
GAME NOTEBOOK: The win for Notre Dame was the fifth straight against Purdue in the series. … This was the 13th time in program history the Irish have played Purdue in their home opener. … The Irish are 2-0 to start a season for the first time since 2008.
Top Game Performances
Receiving
Purdue |
|
Notre Dame |
OJ Ross
| Player |
Tyler Eifert
|
5 |
Receptions |
4 |
73 |
Yards |
98 |
14.6 |
Avg Yards |
24.5 |
0 |
Touchdowns |
0 |
0 |
Long |
0 |
Team Stats Summary
|
Yards |
Scoring |
Defense |
Team |
Tot |
Rus |
Pas |
TD |
FG |
INT |
Sck |
FF |
Purdue
|
288 |
90 |
198 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
5.0 |
2 |
Notre Dame
|
381 |
57 |
324 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
4.0 |
0 |