Notre Dame Dominates Purdue for First Victory—What We Learned

Don't take this the wrong way, but Jadarian Price is the best running back on this Notre Dame team. That's not a knock on Jeremiyah Love. Love is the best weapon this team has had in quite some time, but in terms of being a traditional running back, Price is a star. His plays may not provide the highlight reel runs like Love, but he's a load to bring down and scores seemingly every five or so times he touches the ball. Price's respect on a national level is nowhere near high enough.

Yeah, About That Defense

It's not just that Notre Dame's defense struggles, but through three games now, what do they consistently do well? Pressure from the defensive line got better as the game went on, but part of that also has to do with Purdue being in more obvious passing downs thanks to the game score.

The defensive line needs to get more pressure, but the secondary needs to cover for more than a half-second at times, too. Whatever the opposite of complementary football is, is what the Notre Dame defense is currently experiencing.

The Chris Ash Experiment

How did it get so bad, so fast? At no time was Notre Dame's fall defensively from a season ago than just before halftime, right after Jadarian Price had the 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. With exactly one minute left, Purdue was able to move the ball down the field with ease and connect for a late-half touchdown to pull the game within 35-23 at the time.

As I write this I honestly don't know if things can work under Ash. When have you seen so much confusion from seemingly an entire coaching staff as you did after Purdue's score before halftime? I don't want to sit and call for a man's job, but unless this defense turns things around quickly, Notre Dame is going to be on the outside looking in for the CFP.

CJ Carr Deserves Praise

You saw Saturday what a complimentary offense can look like. Notre Dame attacks downfield, establishes the run, and then attacks downfield some more. CJ Carr isn't anywhere near a finished product yet, but showed Saturday why there's so much excitement about his future in South Bend.

Carr finished his night by completing 10 of 12 pass attempts for 219 yards and two touchdowns despite throwing his third interception of the year as well.

Notre Dame Big Picture Look

Notre Dame did what it had to do in getting its first win of the season. It wasn't overly pretty as the defense still has major issues, but the Irish got the bounce-back they needed and now need to start rolling.

Next week's game will be played at Arkansas and perhaps the environment will be a little less intense after the Razorbacks dropped their second game of the year on Saturday.

For Notre Dame, it's easy to wonder about playoff chances and overthink where it may fall in the new rankings Sunday, but until that defense gets cleaned up, it's not going to be enough to win 10-straight games.