Well, that went very differently than expected. Notre Dame absolutely had to get a win in West Lafayette, Indiana on Saturday. That was a given. While many fans expected a win, they had (realistic) visions of a close game between a mediocre Boilermaker team and a down on their luck Irish team that ultimately ended with a Notre Dame win.
I mean, Purdue has to be better than NIU, right? There was a lot of chatter before the game about at what point and under what conditions senior quarterback Riley Leonard would be pulled. That’s where we’d all be wrong, though. 42 points in the first half and honestly, I’m just as stunned as all the Purdue fans who left at halftime. The Notre Dame fan to Purdue fan ratio was pretty even to start the half.
Last week, Notre Dame had 286 yards. This week, they had 390 yards in the first half. It is hard to believe these are the same teams and even more frustrating to think what could have been if only Notre Dame had played like they cared last week. When we look back at this season, especially if we end up missing the College Football Playoff, knowing that the cause of that was simply underestimating a team and listening to the outside chatter will be heartbreaking.
Despite Notre Dame’s complete dominance of Purdue, Leonard’s throwing stats were less than impressive. While he ran for 100 yards on 11 attempts for 3 touchdowns, he only threw for 112 yards. He has also yet to score a touchdown via pass, something I’m sure the wide receivers cannot be happy about. In comparison, junior quarterback Steve Angeli, who played less than Leonard, threw for 100 yards and two touchdowns.
The Notre Dame coaching staff clearly believes in Leonard’s ability to go out and make big plays and sees him as a leader of the team. But while this game went about as well as it could have for the Irish, there were definitely moments where Leonard looked very uncomfortable when throwing the ball. He often turns his back to half the field, limiting his choices and missing wide-open receivers. He did not even see a wide-open Mitchell Evans at least twice early in the game. Leonard rarely looks to his second option if his first option is at least somewhat feasible.
Don’t get me wrong, he was impressive when he ran those touchdowns in, making defenders miss. But to make Notre Dame a real contender, opponents have to respect the pass. And with a quarterback hesitant to throw and a highly talented running back room, opponents have a clear game plan against the Irish: key in on the run.
And while we are on the subject of Notre Dame’s quarterback choices, the coaching staff needed to get sophomore Kenny Minchey or freshman CJ Carr into the game way earlier. Minchey finally replaced Angeli after Card’s second interception, but as much as we all love Angeli, there’s a strong argument for getting the younger guys as many reps as possible. Carr or Minchey are the future of this program. Carr got in the game just before the two-minute timeout, but these two probably could’ve used more than two drives total to get some in-game practice.
Overall, it was a great day to be a Notre Dame quarterback, but as much as we want all games to be like this, they won’t, and we have to be ready.
