A couple of short years ago Purdue head football coach Jeff Brohm was a rising star in the college ranks. His Boilermakers squad upset Ohio State on national television in 2018 but went on to drop 16 of their next 24 contests.
Brohm and the Boilermakers are off to a nice start in 2021 as they got by Oregon State in their opener before blowing the doors off of Connecticut last weekend. Now awaiting Purdue is a 2-0 Notre Dame squad that is yet to play to anywhere near their level of expectations.
Brohm previewed the Notre Dame football team on Monday:
“Well, Notre Dame is a veteran football team. They’ve proven they can win at a high level. They play one of the toughest schedules in the country every year against great competition. They’ve got a really good defensive front that’s big and active and athletic and shows quickness and twitch. They’ve got linebackers that play downhill and strike. They’ve got a veteran secondary.
“Offensively they’ve got a proven quarterback (Coan) who’s played well at two different spots, a really good running back (Williams) and probably an all-pro tight end (Mayer).
“They’ve got weapons. They’ve got skill. They’ve got really good players.
“They’ve had to work for the last two wins, which actually from their standpoint really is a good thing because it gives them a chance to see the few things they need to work on to get better, but they found a way to win. That’s what winning football teams do. There have been a couple other top-10 teams in the country that haven’t been able to do that the last week or two, and they have, so give credit to them for pulling out victories.
“Very talented team, and we’ve got our hands full.”
-Purdue head coach Jeff Brohm on Monday, Sept. 13, 2021
It’s an interesting twist on how Notre Dame has played through two games. To this longtime observer overall it’s been incredibly unimpressive for the Irish despite having a few flashes along the way. If they can turn that into a positive will obviously be a good thing but it doesn’t mean things are sitting well now, that’s for certain.
I would be curious to know what Brohm thinks about Purdue’s chances this Saturday versus how he may have felt about them a couple of months ago because my guess is he feels significantly better.
Purdue will be making their first trip to South Bend since September of 2012 as the once annual rivalry has been renewed with the Irish traveling to West Lafayette next season.
Related:
Notre Dame tweaks depth chart for game with 2-0 Purdue
How Notre Dame’s 2021 opponents fared in week two