Notre Dame Sweeps September In Boilermaker Beatdown

Notre Dame safety Brandon Logan (25) celebrates after getting a stop during a NCAA football game against Purdue at Ross-Ade Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 26, 2026, in West Lafayette. USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Notre Dame Sweeps September In Boilermaker Beatdown

Originally posted on Notre Dame Fighting Irish on SI
By John Kennedy | Last updated Sep 27, 2026 12:25 AM ET

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Notre Dame's first in-season mission has been accomplished with flying colors. For the first time in Marcus Freeman's head coaching career, his team has made it through September undefeated.

Not only are the Irish 4-0, but all of the games have been either comfortable victories or complete blowouts. Even though these wins have come against "non-elite" competition, the results indicate progress and program maturity.

The Notre Dame defense continues to dominate opponents

The Notre Dame defense has been elite so far in 2026. The Irish are allowing barely over eight points per game and are causing turnovers and havoc weekly. Chris Ash, his assistants, and players deserve a ton of credit for their performance thus far.

The Notre Dame defense is the backbone of the program and will keep the Irish in every game it plays this season.

Purdue entered this game with the third-best passing attack in America. The Notre Dame defense marched into West Lafayette and held the Boilermakers to just 90 total first-half yards, got four sacks, and scored a touchdown as the Irish entered halftime with a 35-0 lead. This is pure dominance.

That’s an in-state Irish win!#GoIrish☘️ | @Gatorade pic.twitter.com/nbwVV3fgQS
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) September 26, 2026

The Irish are using their favorable schedule perfectly

As former Irish coach Brian Kelly once stated, "winning is hard." And he wasn't wrong; it's just that it didn't work.

Notre Dame should be proud of these four victories even though they didn't come against highly ranked teams; celebrate them while, at the same time, understanding that this team still needs to improve to make a playoff run that finishes with a national title.

The Irish run game did make some progress against Purdue by stacking up 177 yards on the ground, and the passing attack under CJ Carr has found some rhythm with receivers Jordan Faison and Micah Gilbert with the tight ends joining the party as well.

Despite some gaudy statistics against non-elite competition, the Irish offense is still a work in progress and is nowhere near its full potential.

This is good or bad depending on one's perspective. The important thing is to continue to improve for two more weeks in games Notre Dame is expected to win before the first big litmus test in the trip to BYU.

Marcus Freeman's teams have a history of improving significantly as the season moves along. The issue has been the losses the program has dragged around before this improvement took place in previous years. Not this time.

The Irish are in prime playoff position with strengths and weaknesses just like every other top contender. This is a great place to be, and Irish fans should embrace it.

This article first appeared on Notre Dame Fighting Irish on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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