Notre Dame vs. Quarterback U.

Mention Purdue to most college football fans, and the first thought that comes into their head is: Quarterbacks.

Saturday, the Irish will meet a Purdue team with a somewhat revolving door of current signal-callers. Anticipated starter Rob Henry is out for the season with an injury, Robert Marve is coming off nearly a year layoff, and Caleb TerBush has not yet been tested by quality oppositon.

None of that fits the profile of what's been expected of PU quarterbacks over the years.

Last fall, the university trademarked its "Cradle of Quarterbacks" slogan, and selected the 12 greatest Boilermaker QBs of all time.

grieseThey included three who went on to become Super Bowl champions – Len Dawson, Bob Griese and Drew Brees – as well as other All-Americans including Bob DeMoss, Gary Danielson, Mike Phipps, Kyle Orton and Curtis Painter.

All 12, of course, played multiple games against Notre Dame in the series that is renewed for the 83rd time Saturday night at Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette. It’s the 66th consecutive season the in-state rivals have met, with the series becoming annual in 1946 after being played 17 times between 1896 and 1939.

Notre Dame’s 11-0 domination from 1986-96 stands as the longest win streak in the rivalry. Since then, the Irish have gone 9-5 against the Boilers, with a 6-1 mark at Notre Dame Stadium and only 3-4 at Ross-Ade.

The four losses in that stretch have come against Brees (28-17 in 1997 and 28-23 in 1999), Orton (23-10 in 2003) and Painter (33-19 in 2007).

The Irish have an all-time mark of 26-14-2 at West Lafayette, but just 14-12 in the past 26 meetings, starting in 1959. The toughest stretch for the Irish was 1963-65-67-69, when four trips to Purdue resulted in four losses, twice when ND carried a national No. 1 ranking into the game.

In 1965, Griese led the No. 6 Boilers to a 25-21 triumph over the top-ranked Irish. Two years later, it was Phipps at the controls at Purdue knocked ND out of the top spot with in a 28-21 thriller.

In fact, Notre Dame never did beat Phipps. In 1968, he guided Purdue to the No. 1 ranking and they downed the No. 2 Irish 37-22 at Notre Dame Stadium. The following year, the Boilers continued their mastery of ND with a 28-14 win at Ross-Ade.

Before the modern era, there was a period of more than 50 years that Notre Dame did not suffer a single loss at Purdue. The Irish were 12-0 in games there between 1906 and 1957.

This will be the fourth Notre Dame-Purdue night game; all three were Irish victories at Ross-Ade. On Dec. 1, 2001, in a game postponed from the week of the 9/11 attacks, the Irish prevailed 24-18. In 2005, Brady Quinn led a 49-28 victory, and in 2009, ND rallied with a late score for a 24-21 triumph.

 

 

 

 

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2011 Irish
Schedule & Results

Sept. 3 S. FLORIDA L, 20-23
Sept. 10 @Michigan L, 31-35
Sept. 17 MICH. ST. W, 31-13
Sept. 24 @Pittsburgh W, 15-12
Oct. 1 @Purdue W, 38-10
Oct. 8 AIR FORCE W, 59-33
Oct. 15 -- --
Oct. 22 USC L, 17-31
Oct. 29 NAVY W, 56-14
Nov. 5 @Wake Forest W, 24-17
Nov. 12 Maryland (FedEx) W, 45-21
Nov. 19 BOSTON C. W, 16-14
Nov. 26 @Stanford L, 14-28
Dec. 29 Florida St. (Champs Sports Bowl) L, 14-18

 

(All times Eastern)


2010 Irish
Schedule & Results

Sept. 4 Purdue W, 23-12
Sept. 11 Michigan L, 24-28
Sept. 18 @MSU L, 31-34
Sept. 25 Stanford L, 14-37
Oct. 2 @BC W, 31-13
Oct. 9 Pittsburgh W, 23-17
Oct. 16 W.Mich. W, 44-20
Oct. 23 Navy
(M'lands)
L, 17-35
Oct. 30 Tulsa L, 27-28
Nov. 13 Utah W, 28-3
Nov. 20 Army (NYC) W, 27-3
Nov. 27 at USC W, 20-16
Dec. 31 Miami (Sun Bowl) W, 33-17

(All times Eastern)

 


 

Schedule of Events
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