Did you know that at the turn of the 20th century Notre Dame cared more about state championships than national championships?
I had an idea to take a quick look at some memorable Irish football games at Purdue for this week’s update and my memory flashed to a Notre Dame athletics moment that actually involved all the teams on campus. All three of them.
In 2020 while stuck at home during COVID restrictions I worked on some research that turned into The Birth of Notre Dame Basketball. I won’t spoil the whole story but the key thing you need to know that connects to Purdue is that in 1901 Notre Dame had three varsity teams – track, baseball and football. Football beat Purdue and Indiana and avenged an early-season loss to the South Bend Athletic Club. The track team defeated Indiana and Purdue at a triangular meet. The baseball team swept through Wabash, Indiana, Purdue and DePauw.
So Notre Dame put together a basketball team in March and tried to defeat any other Indiana team so they could claim ‘the state championship.’ The Irish attempted to play the purported ‘best team in the state,’ Purdue, scheduling a game in Logansport but Purdue didn’t show up. Notre Dame found a sub, Logansport Commercial College, and played them to a 15-15 tie.
That is a really lengthy introduction to jump into some memorable Notre Dame football moments at Purdue. Other than the 1901 game, we will focus on games in West Lafayette.
1901
It was the third meeting between Notre Dame and Purdue and the first at Cartier Field. I really wanted to include this because the game-winning drive for the Irish is a perfect example of what Dick Corbett Head Coach Marcus Freeman treasures – an offensive and defensive-line driven program. In 1901, the offensive line drove the team down the field in 13 consecutive plays.
To be fair, they never threw the ball in 1901 but who are we to let facts get in the way of a legendary drive!
It was:
- James Doran rushed for 10 yards.
- Al Fortin for six, Harley Kirby for five and James Farragher for five more.
Louis (Red) Salmon smashed through the center for 12, then seven more through the guard.
- Doran then broke off a 20-yard run, Kirby hurdled the line for four yards and Salmon went up the middle for three.
Farragher went off tackle for six, Fortin ran the same play for five yards and Kirby, evidently the precursor to Jeremiyah Love, hurdled again through the middle for eight yards.
- Doran finished it off with the touchdown run.
1906
The first victory in West Lafayette for Notre Dame. The score was 2-0 when Purdue dropped a punt attempt in the end zone and recovered it for a safety.
You have to love The Scholastic, Notre Dame’s periodical of record in those days, saluting the Purdue fans and student body.
“One sure thing about it is that the Notre Dame-Purdue contest was of the right order. The clean playing and fighting, no less intense because of its fairness, was the right thing. Everyone in college athletics looks with condemnation on "hated " rivalry, and tries to promote just such spirit as was manifested in the big game. We like to meet Purdue in contest. They are good, clean sportsmen and gentlemen. So here's to Purdue. May we always meet in such wholesome, manly competition.”
- The Scholastic, November 10, 1906
1971
That same type of end zone punt problem cost the Boilermakers in 1971. Ross-Ade Stadium was a mud bog that day and neither offense could do much. Purdue quarterback Gary Danielson threw a 25-yard screen pass to give his team a 7-0 lead at halftime.
Late in the fourth quarter Notre Dame put together a drive but fumbled at the Purdue five-yard line. The Irish defense forced the Boilers into a punt in their own end zone, the bad snap “skidded away (from Purdue punter Scott Lougheed) like a bar of wet soap.” Irish defensive All-American Walt Patulski took Lougheed out and Fred Swendsen jumped on the loose ball for a touchdown.
Ara Parseghian went for two points and the win. The Irish had not won in West Lafayette for 10 years and a little mud wasn’t going to take this opportunity away. Pat Steenberge connected with Mike Creaney for the two-point conversion on what is still known as ‘The Genuflect Play’ because Creaney went to one knee to fake a missed block before popping up to catch the game-winning pass.
1975
Anyone who followed Notre Dame football in the mid-70s knows exactly who Luther Bradley was and when Christian Gray went 99 yards at Southern Cal in 2024 you can believe me they all quickly pointed out that in 1975 Bradley returned an interception 99 yards at Purdue.
Notre Dame won the game 17-0 and it was one of the first games that Bradley was positioned at safety after playing as a cornerback during his freshman year in 1973.
It was Bradley’s football IQ that provided the opportunity for his big play.
In the 1973 Sugar Bowl, which Notre Dame won 24-23 over Alabama to earn the national title, the Crimson Tide utilized what legendary television announcer Chris Schenkel described as a “transcontinental” pass when the Alabama quarterback tossed to the running back who then threw a touchdown pass back to the quarterback.
Purdue tried that same ‘transcontinental’ play in 1975 but Bradley was ready for it and returned it 99 yards. Two great quotes from Bradley after the game: “I was about pooped by the time I got to the end zone,” and “Purdue was my second choice of schools… my parents wanted me to go there. But I thought Notre Dame was the best place for me.”
Of course it was Luther!
2007
Why am I talking about a loss? It is the Golden Tate go-route game, that is why! One of the few highlights of a lost Notre Dame season was Tate coming out of nowhere to catch the first three passes of his career for 104 yards and a touchdown in a 33-17 loss.
If you have forgotten most of the 2007 season I don’t necessarily blame you. The big game at Purdue that week didn’t even springboard the future All-American to great things in ‘07. He finished the year with just three more catches for 27 yards.
2009
The Irish went back to West Lafayette two years later and needed some last-minute drama to pull out a victory. Tate was in the midst of his Biletnikoff Award-winning season and would finish the game with 128 all-purpose yards.
It was a gutty performance by Jimmy Clausen, who had suffered a turf-toe injury the week before against Michigan State and barely practiced before the Purdue game.
I love diving into details of games like this because it epitomizes what makes college football so entertaining. Purdue didn’t do much that year (finished 5-7) and Notre Dame saw the Charlie Weis era come to an end with four consecutive losses in November.
That day though, it all mattered.
Clausen played in the first half but struggled due to his injury while back up Dayne Crist ended up leading Notre Dame to its two scoring drives. After halftime, however, Purdue rallied and took a 21-17 lead with 3:41 remaining.
Clausen, playing in only his second possession of the second half, led Notre Dame on a 12-play, 72-yard scoring drive connecting with Tate for 12 yards, Kyle Rudolph for 22, overcoming a sack with a clutch third-down pass to Robby Parris, then hitting Tate to get to the Purdue two-yard line.
With just 25 seconds left, Clausen zipped in the game-winning touchdown pass to Rudolph.
2024
My lasting memory from the 2024 Purdue game was during Notre Dame’s 28-point second quarter when with just seconds remaining at their own 30-yard line, the Irish handed it to Jadarian Price.
Notre Dame tries to score on every play. That is the point of football. If the Irish execute perfectly and the opposing team defense doesn’t, a touchdown could occur on every play. I have to think, though, with just second left in the half and a 35-point lead, that the play call was something like ‘Let’s give it to JD and see what happens.’
He cut left, turned the corner and no Purdue player came within five yards of him as he scampered 70 yards for a touchdown. The Irish rolled up 390 total yards and 17 first downs in the first 30 minutes of that 2024 game.
What memorable moment will happen this weekend in West Lafayette? Another dominating second half over a Big Ten team? Another legendary run, catch or interception return? Or perhaps even another special teams debacle in the end zone. That is the great thing about college football, you don’t know exactly what it will be, but you know that you might never forget it happening.
The 42nd Degree is written by Alan Wasielewski.
Alan has worked on campus as a member of the athletic communications team and video production unit since his graduation from Notre Dame in 2000.
