Many optimistic Notre Dame students view Saturday's game against the Purdue Boilermakers as a chance for the Irish to prove their doubters wrong after last week's disappointing 23-7 loss to Michigan State.
In their last game, Purdue pulled off a 32-25 comeback victory over Central Michigan.
"I'm excited," sophomore Emily Murphy said. "I feel like this is a chance to redeem ourselves."
West Lafayette, Ind., home of Purdue's campus, is only a short distance from Notre Dame. A large number of Boiler fans are expected to be present on campus this weekend, which will add to the charged atmosphere before and during the game, which kicks off at 3:30 p.m.
"The two schools are only two and a half hours apart, which definitely feeds into the rivalry," junior Justin Bartkus, said.
Because of the short drive, many Purdue students are expected to make the trip to South Bend as well.
"A lot of my friends are coming up for the game," Purdue sophomore Peter Agostino said. Agostino will also be in attendance on Saturday.
The game is especially meaningful to Notre Dame students with ties to Purdue.
"I have friends at Purdue, so I'll have fun gloating if we win," freshman Shelly Birch said.
Some students are more excited for other aspects of a football weekend.
"I'll definitely be tailgating before the game," junior Anthony Logan said.
Although they say that Notre Dame has had consistently good defensive play this year, some students are worried about the offense.
"Purdue's quarterbacking and offense are solid, but I like our defense," Jason Miller said "We just need to put more points on the board."
Elizabeth Young, a sophomore, said that turnovers are the major issue.
"We need to stop giving the ball away so much," Young said.
Bartkus said that the game will be close.
"The game's basically a toss up," he said. "Purdue might be slightly better, but Notre Dame has the home field advantage. It should definitely be a great game."
Junior Adjoa Andoh also said that Saturday's match-up will be a close one, but predicted that a desire to rebound from last week's loss will give the Irish an edge.
"I think that it's definitely going to be a fight to the end," Andoh said. "But with the team being back home and wanting to prove themselves again, they will pull it out in the fourth quarter."
Junior Sara Seidler is looking forward to the pep rally and the game, and said that it will be a factor in the excitement level on campus this weekend.
"Hopefully the pep rally will make the team and the students forget about last week and get fired up for tomorrow," Seidler said. "We have a good chance to win if everyone is pumped up and cheering a lot on Saturday."
Today's pep rally will be held in the Joyce Center at 6 p.m.
