Notre Dame-Purdue Preview, Analysis, & Prediction

Will Notre Dame’s offense still be able to produce after losing Michael Floyd for the season?

What!? Purdue lost to Northern Illinois!? Are they really that bad?

These are some very good questions, questions that need to be answered and that will be answered — at least in part — this coming Saturday.

Notre Dame at Purdue

• Purdue-Notre Dame date: Saturday, September 26th
• Purdue-Notre Dame time: 8:00 ET
• Purdue-Notre Dame TV: ESPN
• Purdue-Notre Dame Point Spread: Notre Dame -8.5

Notre Dame took a heavy blow after learning that their #1 receiver, Michael Floyd, will miss the rest of the season due to a broken left collarbone. Floyd was near the top in the nation, averaging 160 yards per game, before getting injured. This now means Golden Tate will get double covered every game for the rest of the season.

Jimmy Clausen, who might not even start on Saturday due to turf toe, will have to look for Duval Kamara, Robby Parris, or some other receiver to step it up and make some catches.

Otherwise the Irish’s offense is in for a long day.

As for the Irish’s defense, it has been terrible the last two weeks. If they play on Saturday like they have played the last two weeks, there will be trouble for Notre Dame and head coach Charlie Weis. The offense won’t be as productive because of the loss of Floyd, and because of Clausen’s injured toe. Clausen wants to play Saturday and Weis beleives he will, but even if Clausen does play, he will have to adjust his ball delivery. Clausen has stated that the toe hurts, and that he had to make an adjustment.

All that could mean bad news for the BCS hopeful Irish. They desperately need the defense to play a good game because the offense won’t be as good as in previous weeks.

One thing for the Irish to be positive about is that their opponent lost to Northern Illinois last weekend.

Surprising as it might seem, Purdue did lose to Northern Illinois 28-21. Purdue, a semi-mediocre team, looked like a D-II team last Saturday. Purdue isn’t a great team by any means, but no one expected them to lose that game either. Their passing game was non-existent, throwing for only 188 yards. They did rush for a little over 120 yards with 2 TDs, but that will hardly cover up the fact that Purdue just isn’t that good of a team this year.

Don’t expect a Purdue upset Saturday night. Even though the Irish are without Floyd, and Heisman hopeful Clausen is injured with turf toe, Notre Dame will be able to move the ball down the field and easily beat the Boilermakers on their home turf.

Tags: Jimmy Clausen, Michael Floyd, ncaa, notre dame fighting irish, notre dame-purdue, point spread, Purdue Boilermakers, rivalry, tv schedule

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