Sept. 30, 2006
Recap |
Final Stats |
Quotes |
Photo Gallery
FINAL SCORE: Notre Dame 35, Purdue 21
Notre Dame's captains for the 2006 season are senior QB Brady Quinn (offense), senior DB Tom Zbikowski and senior LB Travis Thomas (special teams). All three men were selected for the season-long honor by their teammates, with Quinn serving as the offensive captain for the second consecutive season. Zbikowski and Thomas are first-year captains, although Thomas was selected as special teams captain for last season's opener at Pittsburgh (the special teams post was chosen by the Irish coaching staff on a week-to-week basis in 2005 before returning to a preseason vote this year).
Today's attendance of 80,795 is the 188th consecutive sellout at Notre Dame Stadium. Since 1966, every Notre Dame home football game has been a sellout except one - a 1973 Thanksgiving Day game vs. Air Force. The Irish have now played in front of sellouts in 236 of their last 237 home games.
Notre Dame won the toss and elected to receive. Purdue defended the north end zone in the first half.
Notre Dame was ranked 12th in the Associated Press poll at kickoff. Purdue came into the game unranked, but was receiving votes in the AP poll.
THE NOTRE DAME WIN TODAY...
... made the Irish 4-1 for the second consecutive season.
... was the second straight over Purdue, fifth in the last seven years overall and 14th in the last 15 meetings in Notre Dame Stadium.
... improved the Irish to 51-25-2 in the all-time series with the Boilermakers.
... improved the Irish to 26-11-0 in the all-time series with Purdue in South Bend and 23-10 in Notre Dame Stadium.
... improved Weis' record to 6-3 against teams undefeated entering the game.
... improved Weis' record to 13-4 overall, 2-0 against Purdue and 5-3 against Big Ten foes.
... improved Weis' home record to 6-3.
... improved Weis' record to 7-2 in September games.
... improved Weis' record to 7-4 in afternoon games.
... improved the Irish's all-time record to 815-267-42.
... improved the Irish's all-time record at home to 293-90-5.
... improved the Irish's all-time record against the Big Ten to 216-107-15.
NOTRE DAME TEAM NOTES
The following Notre Dame players extended streaks for consecutive starts: senior QB
Brady Quinn (38), senior OT
Ryan Harris (29), senior DT
Derek Landri (29), senior SS
Tom Zbikowski (29), senior DE
Victor Abiamiri (18), senior WR
Jeff Samardzija (18), senior OL
Dan Santucci (17), senior CB
Mike Richardson (17) and junior LB Maurice Crum, Jr. (17).
With Notre Dame's touchdown on the game's opening drive against Purdue, the Irish recorded a touchdown on their opening drive of the game for the first time in 2006 and ninth time in head coach Charlie Weis' 17th career game on the sidelines.
Notre Dame recorded 14 points in the first quarter against Purdue. The Irish had totaled just 10 points in the first quarter over their first four games of 2006.
With junior RB Darius Walker's 146 rushing yards against Purdue, Notre Dame has had a running back eclipse the 100-yard barrier on 217 different occasions in its 118-year history of football.
The Notre Dame second-quarter scoring drive that lasted 5:46 was the longest Irish scoring drive of the season. The previous season-long scoring drive was 5:29 against Georgia Tech.
The Irish recorded 22 first downs in the opening half against Purdue, equaling their single-game high for the entire 2006 season (Notre Dame had 22 in the 41-17 victory over Penn State).
Notre Dame's 28 first-half points are the most for the Irish in a first half since they scored 28 against Navy on Nov. 12, 2005.
The Irish have totaled 42 first downs in the first half of the past two meetings with Purdue. Notre Dame had 22 Saturday in the opening half and 20 last season.
Purdue sophomore WR Selwyn Lymon had eight catches for 238 yards. That is the most receiving yards ever against a Notre Dame team.
Purdue junior QB Curtis Painter had 398 yards passing. That is the most passing yards against Notre Dame since USC's Matt Leinart threw for 400 yards on Nov. 27, 2004.
NOTRE DAME PLAYER NOTES
Freshman WR Darrin Walls
on the game's opening kickoff, returned his first career kickoff 28 yards. Walls is the first player other than sophomore WR David Grimes or freshman WR George West to return a kick this season.
Senior QB Brady Quinn
completed a pass in his 41st consecutive game, now just two games shy of Ron Powlus' (1994-97) school record of 43 straight games with a completion.
his second-quarter touchdown pass was the 70th touchdown pass of his career.
surpassed 9,500 career yards passing following his first-quarter, 10-yard completion to senior WR Rhema McKnight. The pass also gave him 1,300 for his Notre Dame career. Quinn also went over 1,500 career plays with the Irish.
his five-yard completion to junior RB Darius Walker was the 750th completion of his Notre Dame career.
with his 316 passing yards on the day, he has totaled 1,485 yards passing against Purdue in his career.
Junior RB Darius Walker
moved past Emil Sitko (1946-49) for 10th on the all-time rushing list following his 13-yard carry in the game's opening drive.
recorded his second rushing touchdown this season, 18th career rushing touchdown and 20th touchdown overall.
his 13-yard, second-quarter rush moved him past Tony Brooks (1987-91) for ninth on the Notre Dame all-time rushing list.
moved past Randy Kinder (1993-96) for eighth on the Irish all-time rushing list following his six-yard dash in the second quarter.
eclipsed the 100-yard mark following a five-yard carry in the second quarter. The 100-yard rushing effort was his first of 2006 and 10th of his career.
converted nine of Notre Dame's 22 first downs in the opening half.
with his 54 yards receiving in the first half, he passed Bob Scarpitto (1958-60) for sixth on the all-time receiving yards list by a running back. He also passed Marc Edwards (1993-96), Ricky Watters (1987-90), Mark Green (1985-88) and John Lattner (1951-53) en route.
eclipsed his previous season-high for carries in a game with 31 (matching the second-most of his career) Saturday.
passed Jerome Bettis (1990-92) for 10th on the all-time total offense yards list.
moved ahead of George Gipp (1917-20) on his five-yard rush midway through the third quarter.
his 219 all-purpose yards (146 rushing, 73 receiving) marked the second time in his career that he has eclipsed 200 all-purpose yards in a game. The first time was against Stanford on November 26, 2005, when he gained 241 yards (186 rushing, 55 receiving).
Freshman WR George West
recorded his first career rush and first career touchdown on his 11-yard scoring scamper to give Notre Dame a 7-0 first- quarter lead.
Freshman K Ryan Burkhart
made his Notre Dame debut with a kickoff following the Irish's first quarter touchdown.
Senior TE John Carlson
on his third reception of the game he moved past Pete Chryplewicz (1996) and Ken MacAfee (1975) for eighth on the single-season Irish receiving yards-list by a tight end.
Senior WR Chase Anastasio
recorded his first reception of the season on a 15-yard catch in the second quarter.
Senior WR Jeff Samardzija
recorded his first career rushing touchdown on his first rush of the 2006 season. The touchdown was his fifth overall this season and 20th of his career.
had four receptions for 46 yards on Saturday.
Senior WR Rhema McKnight
his third-quarter touchdown was his second touchdown catch of the game and sixth of the season. He now has 13 for his career passing, Tim Brown (1984-87) and Bobby Brown (1996-99) for seventh on the Irish all-time receiving touchdown list.
had career-high 10 catches for 135 in his career, which places him fourth on the all-time Notre Dame career receptions list. He passed Ken MacAfee (1974-77), Derrick Mayes (1992-95) and Maurice Stovall (2002-05).
moved into eighth on the all-time receiving yard list with 1,803 career yards receiving, passing Malcolm Johnson (1995-98) and Ken MacAfee (1974-77).
Senior DE Victor Abiamiri
his tackle for loss to end the third quarter gave him 30.5 for his career which moved him past Jim Stock (1972-74) for ninth on the all-time Notre Dame career list.
