Notre Dame vs. Purdue – Postgame Quotes – Notre Dame Fighting Irish

Sept. 15, 2013

Purdue won the coin toss and elected to receive. Notre Dame defended the south goal to open the game.
Official kickoff was at 8:12 p.m. (ET) with a temperature of 68 degrees. The weather was partly cloudy with winds from the east at 4 mph. The game officially ended at 11:30 p.m. (ET).
The announced attendance was 61,127.

Irish Comeback

Purdue led 17-10 after three quarters of play, yet the Irish outscored the Boilermakers 21-7 in the fourth quarter en route to the victory. It marked the first time the Irish came back to win after trailing after three quarters on the road since Sept. 24, 2011, at Pittsburgh. The Irish trailed the Panthers 12-7 entering the fourth quarter before winning 15-12. Tommy Rees also was at quarterback that day for Notre Dame.
Last season, Notre Dame won three games in which it trailed entering the fourth quarter. All three games were at home … Stanford (trailed 10-3, won 20-13 OT), BYU (trailed 14-10, won 17-14) and Pittsburgh (trailed 20-6, won 29-26 4 OT)

Turnovers For Touchdowns

Notre Dame has forced two turnovers (both interceptions) this season and both have been returned for touchdowns (Stephon Tuitt vs. Michigan & Bennett Jackson vs. Purdue).
The last time Notre Dame had interceptions returned for a touchdown in consecutive games was during the 2005 season (Oct. 22 vs. BYU & Nov. 5 vs. Tennessee). Both of those came from Tom Zbikowski.

The Win Over Purdue

Moves Notre Dame to 2-1 on the season for the first time since 2009.
Improves the Irish to 22-5 over their last 27 games overall and 22-3 over their last 25 regular season contests.
Moves Notre Dame’s win streak at Purdue to three and its overall win streak against Purdue to six.
Improves the Irish to 70-38-2 (.645) all-time in night games.
Improves the all-time record for the Irish to 867-302-42 (.733).
Improves Notre Dame’s all-time road record to 285-145-23 (.655).
Improves the Irish to 57-26-2 (.682) in the all-time series with Purdue.
Improves Notre Dame to 28-14-2 (.659) on the road in the all-time series with Purdue.
Improves the all-time record for the Irish against Big Ten foes to 234-125-16 (.645).
Improves Notre Dame’s road record against Big Ten foes to 104-71-10 (.589).

First Quarter

Purdue led 7-0 at the end of the opening quarter. It was the second time this season the Irish were held scoreless for an entire quarter. Notre Dame also did not score in the fourth quarter versus Temple in the season opener.
Both teams had three drives in the first quarter. Purdue’s average starting position during the period was its own 41.7 yard line, while Notre Dame’s was its own 13.7 yard line.

First Half

Purdue led 10-3 at halftime. The three points were the fewest for the Irish in half since the BCS National Championship game when they trailed Alabama 28-0 at intermission.
After Purdue’s opening drive in which it went 75 yards on 12 plays for a touchdown, the Irish limited the Boilermakers to 72 total yards on their next 21 plays of the first half (3.4 yards per play).
Purdue had five first downs on its opening drive and the Boilermakers had four combined first downs over their next five drives of the half.

Senior quarterback Tommy Rees threw two touchdown passes (both to DaVaris Daniels). He now has seven touchdown passes this season. Tonight was his third straight multiple-touchdown game and the 13th of his career.
Rees’ 41 career touchdown passes ties him with Rick Mirer for fourth all-time at Notre Dame.
Rees’ 82-yard touchdown pass to Daniels with 12:40 remaining in the fourth quarter was the longest completion of his career. It was the ninth-longest pass completion in Notre Dame history and the longest since Kyle Rudolph’s 95-yard touchdown catch versus Michigan in 2010.
Rees had a nine-yard touchdown completion to Daniels with 14:47 left in the fourth quarter. Rees was 6-for-8 for 62 yards on that scoring drive.
Rees threw for 309 yards. He has surpassed the 300-yard passing mark in all three games this season and five times in his career.

Junior wide receiver DaVaris Daniels hauled in two touchdown passes. It was his second multiple-touchdown game of the season. He also had two touchdowns versus Temple in the season opener. Daniels now has four career touchdown receptions.
Daniels’ 82-yard touchdown catch with 12:40 left in the fourth quarter was the longest reception of his career.
Daniels had a nine-yard touchdown reception with 14:47 remaining in the fourth quarter.
He posted career-high totals in receptions (8) and yards (167).

Senior captain TJ Jones moved into the top 10 on Notre Dame’s all-time career receptions list with his third catch of the night (finished game with four catches). He currently is tied with Maurice Stovall for ninth all-time at Notre Dame with 130 career receptions.
Jones has now registered at least one reception in 30 straight games played, hauling in multiple passes in 26 of those contests dating back to the 2010 Sun Bowl on Dec. 31, 2010 against Miami (Fla.) (108 catches, 1,324 yards and eight touchdowns in that span.)

Junior linebacker Jarrett Grace had a career-high 10 tackles (a game-high total).

Senior cornerback Bennett Jackson’s interception return for a touchdown (34 yards) in the fourth quarter was his first career touchdown. It was the fifth interception of his career.

Junior running back Cam McDaniel’s one-yard touchdown run during the opening drive of the second half was his first touchdown of the season and the second of his career (Miami, Oct. 6, 2012).