Nov. 26, 2001
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The Date and Time: Saturday, Dec. 1, 2001, at 4:35 p.m. EST.
The Site: Ross-Ade Stadium (67,332/Prescription Athletic Turf) in West Lafayette, Ind.
The Tickets: They’re all sold with this being the 137th sellout in the last 160 games involving Notre Dame. Notre Dame received an allotment of 5,000 tickets.
The TV Plans: ABC Sports telecast with Sean McDonough (play-by-play), Ed Cunningham (analysis), Leslie Gudel (sideline). The game will be a split national telecast with the Oregon-Oregon State game scheduled for the same time slot.
The Radio Plans: For the 34th consecutive season, all Notre Dame football games are broadcast nationally on radio by Westwood One with Tony Roberts (play-by-play), former Irish running back Allen Pinkett (game analysis) and Paul Hornung (pregame/halftime analysis). The Westwood One Network includes more than 200 stations. A live broadcast from the Notre Dame student radio station, WVFI, is available through the Notre Dame athletic department web site at www.und.com. All Notre Dame football games are heard on WNDV-AM and -FM in South Bend and are also carried live in the Chicago market on ESPN Radio 1000.
Real-Time Stats: Live in-game statistics are available for the Purdue game, via the Notre Dame (www.und.com) and Boilermakers athletic website (www.purduesports.com).
Websites: Notre Dame (www.und.com), Purdue (www.purduesports.com).
THE HEAD COACH
Fifth-year Irish head coach Bob Davie owns a 34-25 (.576) career record at Notre Dame. Davie was one of three finalists for the 2000 Football News Coach of the Year Award and was one of 10 finalists for the 1998 Walter Camp Foundation/Street and Smith’s Coach of the Year Award. The 2001 season marks Davie’s eighth year at Notre Dame overall, after serving as defensive coordinator and inside linebacker coach from 1994-96. He coached nine seasons at Texas A&M (’85-’93), two at Tulane (’83-’84), four at Pittsburgh (’77,’80-’82) and two at Arizona (’78-’79), spending both years at Tulane as defensive coordinator and the last five at Texas A&M in that role. The University announced on Dec. 5, 2000, that Davie signed a five-year contract to continue coaching the Irish through the 2005 season.
NOTRE DAME-PURDUE SERIES NOTES
- Saturday’s game marks the 73rd meeting between the Irish and Boilers. Notre Dame leads the series 47-23-2 with a 22-12-2 record at Purdue and a 17-10 mark at Ross-Ade Stadium.
- Notre Dame has won 13 of the last 15 games between the two schools, although the teams have split their last four encounters going back to 1997 (the first year at the helm for both Irish head coach Bob Davie and Purdue head coach Joe Tiller).
- Notre Dame and Purdue have played every season since 1946, with this season marking the 56th consecutive season the teams have met. It matches the USC rivalry as Notre Dame’s second longest current continuous series behind Navy which started in 1927.
- The Irish have 47 series wins over the Boilers, the second most against any opponent – 65 against Navy remains the highest.
IF NOTRE DAME WINS …
- The Irish will earn their first victory at Purdue since a 35-28 win on Sept. 9, 1995.
- Notre Dame will log its first win at a Big Ten stadium since its victory at Purdue in 1995.
- The Irish will improve to 206-100-15 against the Big Ten, extending their record for the most victories against one conference.
- The Irish will record their 48th series win over Purdue, the second most victories against one opponent behind their 65 wins over Navy.
- Notre Dame will claim back-to-back wins over the Boilers for the first time since it put together a series-record 11-game winning streak from 1986 to 1996.
IF PURDUE WINS …
- The Boilers will notch their third consecutive victory over Notre Dame at Ross-Ade Stadium, marking their longest home success string over the Irish since winning four consecutive games in West Lafayette (1961, ’63, ’65, ’67).
- Purdue will earn its 24th series win over Notre Dame, the second most by an Irish opponent after USC’s 26 victories.
NOTRE DAME-PURDUE SERIES HISTORY
- Notre Dame leads the all-time series (47-23-2), including 25-10 at home, 22-12-2 in all games at Purdue and 17-10 at Ross-Ade Stadium (Purdue also won the neutral-site 1984 game at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis).
- The Irish have won 13 of the last 15 games in the series, outscoring Purdue 529-230 in those games (just 164-135 over the past five seasons).
- Notre Dame and Purdue met for the first time in 1896, a 28-22 win for the Boilermakers at Notre Dame. The teams played seven times from 1899-1907 before a 11-year break (the longest break in the history of the series). The teams resumed play in 1918 and met every year until 1923 before a 10- year break in the series. The teams then met in 1933, ’34 and ’39 and the series has been continuous since 1946, tying with the USC rivalry for Notre Dame’s second-longest continuous series (Notre Dame and Navy have played every year since 1927).
- Notre Dame has experienced nearly equal success versus Purdue at home (25-10) and on the road (22-12-2).
- The winner of the Notre Dame-Purdue series receives the Shillelagh trophy, donated by the late Joe McLaughlin (a merchant seaman and Notre Dame fan who brought the club from Ireland).
- The 2001 game marks the first since 1985 and ’86 that neither team is ranked.
NOTRE DAME-PURDUE CONNECTIONS
- Purdue defensive ends coach Gary Emanuel coached with Irish offensive coordinator Kevin Rogers at Syracuse from 1991-93.
- Notre Dame senior CB Clifford Jefferson and Purdue junior SS Ralph Turner played in the same secondary at Dallas Carter High School, while Notre Dame senior PK David Miller and freshman DL Jeff Thompson played at Penn High School in Granger, Ind., with Purdue sophomore WR Jim Guidos.
- Notre Dame head athletic trainer Jim Russ – now in his 16th season at Notre Dame – served as an assistant athletic trainer at Purdue, from 1977-82 (when Purdue went 2-4 versus the Irish).
- Notre Dame director of golf George Thomas is a 1950 Purdue graduate and was a member of the Boilermaker golf team that finished second at the 1950 NCAA Championship.
- Third-year Notre Dame assistant athletic trainer Doug Boersma is a 1997 Purdue graduate and worked with the Boiler football team as an undergraduate.
THE UPSETS
- The series has produced 46 previous games in which at least one team was ranked in the AP poll, but the higher-ranked team is just 28-18 in those games.
- Purdue has been the beneficiary in 15 of the series’ 18 upsets of the higher-ranked teams, including four times in which the Boilers knocked off the top-rated Irish: 1950 (28-14) and 1954 (27-14) at Notre Dame Stadium, and 1965 (25-21) and 1967 (28-21) at Ross-Ade Stadium. Purdue was unranked in 1950, No.19 in ’54, No.6 in ’65 and No.10 in ’67.
- Unranked Purdue teams also have beaten ranked Irish teams in 1956, ’59, ’60, ’74 (31-20, when ND was No.2), ’81, ’84 and ’97 while lower-ranked Purdue teams also have beaten higher-ranked ND teams in ’58, ’69, ’79 and ’99.
- Lower-ranked Notre Dame teams have upset a higher-ranked Purdue squad three times including last season at Notre Dame Stadium when Notre Dame’s Nicholas Setta connected on a 39-yard field goal with no time remaining to give the 23rd-ranked Irish a 23-21 victory over the 13th-ranked Boilers. Other Irish upsets include at Ross-Ade Stadium in 1952, when the unranked Irish knocked off No.9 Purdue (26-14), and at Notre Dame Stadium in 1980, when the No.11 Irish topped the ninth-ranked Boilers (31-10).
COMMONPLACE
- Purdue is tied with USC as the second-most common opponent in Irish football history (both play Notre Dame for the 73rd time this season), trailing one other ’01 foe: Navy (75th meeting in ’01).
- Notre Dame faces its five most common opponents this season (Navy, Purdue, USC, Michigan State and Pittsburgh).
- The Irish have played 130 different teams in their 112 years of varsity football.