Boilers Spank Irish, 41-16 Boilers Spank Irish, 41-16

COVER STORY: NO. 15 PURDUE 41, NOTRE DAME 16
Boilers Snap Streak
In South Bend Shootout
Orton-Led Offense Easily Dismantle Irish
BY KEITH THOMAS
KThomas@GoldandBlack.com
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — For the first
time in recent memory, misfortune was
misplaced for the Boilermakers in Notre
Dame Stadium.
After all, this sort of thing doesn’t
usually happen for Purdue — it usually
happens against Purdue.
But the bad Boilermaker karma
finally switched teams in South Bend.
And the No. 15 Boilermakers came
out swinging, slugging a 30-year old
streak right in the mouth with a dominating
41-16 win over Notre Dame Oct. 2.
The Boilers played so well, in fact,
that they just might have knocked the
mustache right off of defensive coordinator
Brock Spack’s face.
The trademark hair below Spack’s
nose was missing following the game,
just as were questions about whether
Purdue would ever win “up there.”
For Spack, who hasn’t had a naked
upper lip since 1999, going fuzz-free was
a simple choice for a man who was taking
part in his 18th Purdue-Notre Dame
rivalry game — especially since it was a
motivating factor for senior co-captain
Antwaun Rogers and the Boilermaker
defense.
So the defense brought their focus,
and some razors.
“Antwaun asked, ‘Victory for the
‘stache?’ I said, ‘Absolutely,” the former
Purdue linebacker said. “That was it. A
deal’s a deal — you can’t welsh. They all
brought their clippers with them; they
were prepared.”
If fact, Spack the win over the Irish
was certainly worth the wait, he was
willing to trade a victory for being in
trouble at home.
“My wife’s going to hate me, but
that’s the way it goes,” Spack said.
And everything went the way of the
Boilermakers (4-0 overall, 1-0 in the Big
Ten) against the Irish on this crisp
autumn afternoon.
“They were playing us real tough there for
a while, and then we just took it right down
the field and put it right in their face and said,
‘We came to play today.’”
— Purdue quarterback Kyle Orton
Following a game that had Purdue
fans waiting for the traditional meltdown
that never came, Coach Joe Tiller
was relatively relaxed.
“Surprisingly enough, I am pretty
calm considering the magnitude of this
victory. If it had been a nail biter, it
would have been a much different feeling.
I am extremely happy that we won,
and I am sure we will celebrate a little
more when we get home tonight.”
But it wasn’t clear that it was going
to be a Boilermaker blowout in the early
going.
In fact, shortly after Purdue received
the opening kickoff, the Boilers and Irish
traded paint on nearly identical drives —
marching down the field for 60-plus
yards in just over four minutes resulting
in a field goal for each. At that point, it
looked like it was going to be another
closely fought football game in the shadows
of the Golden Dome.
But with just more than six minutes
remaining in the opening quarter, the
Tom Campbell
Senior receiver Taylor Stubblefield finished
the scoring for the day on this 12yard
touchdown with 0:45 left in the
third quarter. Purdue’s 41 points at Notre
Dame was the highest point total by a
Purdue team against the Irish since a 51-
19 win in 1960.
first indication that the big plays traditionally
tagged as Luck of the Irish in
South Bend would belong to the
Boilermakers on this day.
With the score tied at three in the
early going, Purdue sophomore kick
returner Jerome Brooks fielded an Irish
kick on the doorstep of the Boilermaker
end zone. One hundred yards, a nifty
spin move and a couple of key blocks
later, Brooks dove into an eerily quiet
end zone, putting the Boilermakers on
top, and they wouldn’t look back.
Senior quarterback Kyle Orton said
that key play was a turning point that let
Purdue know that it had a good chance
to win the game for obvious reasons.
Continued on page 6
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