As Purdue and Notre Dame draw closer to Saturday's kickoff in West Lafayette, Boiler Upload caught up with InsideNDSports' Tyler James to discuss the Fighting Irish's loss to Northern Illinois last week, Riley Leonard's play thus far, who the Boilermakers need to game plan for and more.
Q: How has the loss to Northern Illinois swayed the outlook of the season, if at all?
It’s certainly changed the outlook of the season. Many of us entered the season wondering if Notre Dame would get to host a playoff game and how many games it could win in the College Football Playoff. That was only bolstered by the win at Texas A&M. Then Northern Illinois happened.
Even though a path to the playoff likely still exists if Notre Dame wins out, it seems a little foolish to be talking about that now. The Irish have an offense to resuscitate and head coach Marcus Freeman has a lot to prove after losing a home game as a significant favorite for the third time in his three seasons leading the program.
The loss to Northern Illinois was another good reminder that college football is a week-to-week sport and so much can happen from one Saturday to the next. This team will be followed by tension for weeks to come, and it can only loosen that up by winning at Purdue and following that up with more wins.
Q: Are the Irish a more motivated group coming off of the defeat?
They better be. Freeman said Monday that in retrospect he feels like the program didn’t handle success well following the win at Texas A&M. They won’t have to worry about that this week. Now we’ll see what kind of fire was lit under this team and if that’s what matters.
If Freeman can’t get his team prepared and focused heading into Saturday’s game, then it might be time to have some serious conversations about his longevity with the program. For what it’s worth, Notre Dame has done a pretty good job of responding to losses during his tenure and hasn’t lost back-to-back games since the first two of the 2022 season.
Q: Riley Leonard was inserted as starting quarterback after Sam Hartman’s departure. What were the preseason expectations for him and has he been below that mark?
Even though Leonard missed most of spring practice with an ongoing foot/ankle injury that originated last season at Duke, expectations were high for him to take command of this offense and lead a unit that wanted to be more explosive with the hiring of LSU’s Mike Denbrock as offensive coordinator. Notre Dame scored a lot of points last season, but it struggled against stronger defensive units. Now it’s struggling to score regardless of the opponent — unless Northern Illinois’ defense turns out to be really good.
Leonard has been more valuable to Notre Dame as a runner (23 carries for 105 yards and one touchdowns) than a passer (38-of-62 for 321 yards with two interceptions) to this point. It will be interesting to see how he continues to hold up after getting beat up a bit in the Northern Illinois game. But he has to be way better as a passer for Notre Dame’s offense to have a chance at real success this season.
Q:Â Aside from Leonard, what playmakers does Notre Dame have that Purdue will have to game plan for?
The running back duo of Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price are serious big-play threats, and they’ve shown that already this season. Love hurdled an NIU defender on his way to a 34-yard touchdown last week and scored the 21-yard touchdown that put ND ahead of Texas A&M late in the fourth quarter. Price ripped off a 47-yard touchdown run against A&M, but he was only given four carries against NIU.
Wide receiver Beaux Collins, a transfer from Clemson, has been ND’s most consistent wide receiver and the best at make contested catches. Tight end Mitchell Evans, who’s been used in a limited fashion as he works his way back from a Nov. 1 ACL surgery, can be a real problem for defenses, too. The Irish are also supposed to get shifty wide receiver Jordan Faison back this week after suffering an ankle injury in the Texas A&M game.
Q:Â Notre Dame consistently owns one of the better defenses in the country on an annual basis, does that still hold true in 2024?
It does, but the defense has been surprisingly weak against the run in the first two games this season. Notre Dame entered the week ranked No. 100 in rushing defense after allowing 168 rushing yards per game. So, that’s a real issue that defensive coordinator Al Golden needs to get sorted out against a Purdue team that will probably try to copy some of what has worked against the Irish so far.
Notre Dame doesn’t have the biggest defensive line and is playing a lot of young linebackers, so that hasn’t made for the best start of the season against the run. But the Irish are elite in pass defense with two of the better defensive backs in the country – cornerback Benjamin Morrison and safety Xavier Watts.
