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The Big Picture

It’s four games, four wins for Notre Dame football. The Irish closed out Week 4 of college football’s 2026-27 season with a 49-10 win over the Purdue Boilermakers. 

Notre Dame kicked off the action with a 7-0 showing in the first quarter and followed that up with a 28-0 shutout in the second quarter. 

Purdue came out of the halftime break and put on a 3-0 performance in the third quarter but the Irish got back into gear and closed things out 14-7 in the fourth quarter. 

Yardage Summary

The Irish had another game with a significant offensive advantage. They were +228 in total yards gained last week against Michigan State and they were +226 this week against Purdue. Notre Dame recorded 444 yards of total offense while Purdue was only able to put up 218 yards. 

The team is averaging 304 passing yards per game through Week 4. They finished the Purdue game with 267 passing yards, the second highest total so far. Irish passers completed 16 of their 26 pass attempts for a collective 61% completion rate and average of 10.3 yards per attempt. The only blemish on the otherwise solid passing performance was CJ Carr’s first thrown interception of the season.

This was Notre Dame football’s strongest rushing performance so far through the season. The rushing group’s overall production has consistently been ticking upwards. They averaged 114 yards earned on the ground in the first two games before ticking it up to 161 yards against Michigan State in Week 3. The Irish tallied up 177 rushing yards against Purdue. The efficiency stats are also pretty notable. The team hit their median 32 rushing attempts but finally got over the roughly 3.7 yards per carry hump with 5.5 yards per carry against the Boilermakers. 

The Quarterback Stats

Two Notre Dame quarterbacks got snaps in the Purdue rout. 

• Starter CJ Carr took the bulk of the QB snaps and completed 14 of his 22 pass attempts for a 64% completion rate and 237 yards. Carr notched three touchdown passes onto his belt, bringing him to nine TD passes thrown through Week 4, having thrown at least one in every game except for Michigan State. He threw his first interception of 2026-27 in the first drive of the third quarter. 

• Freshman quarterback Noah Grubbs made his second appearance of the season and completed two of his four pass attempts for 30 yards. Grubbs biggest stat coming out of the Purdue game was his four-yard touchdown pass in the Irish’s final full drive in the fourth quarter. 

The Rushers

Notre Dame’s rushing identity continues to evolve week-to-week.

• Aneyas Williams closed out Week as RB1. The junior had 14 carries for 80 yards and an average of 5.7 yards earned per carry. He was also responsible for one of the team’s two rushing touchdowns. 

• Jonaz Walton and Nolan James Jr. had seven rushing yards a-piece. Walton claimed 61 yards and 8.7 yards per attempt while James had 28 yards and four yards per attempt. 

• CJ Carr recorded ten yards on 3 carries and nabbed the team’s second overall rushing touchdown. 

The Receivers

Notre Dame continues to spread the receiving production and touchdowns across the depth chart.

• Micah Gilbert led the receiver group for a second consecutive week. Gilbert closed out the Purdue game with two catches for 83 yards and one of the team’s four touchdowns earned through the air. He hit a season high eight receptions last week against Michigan state but is only pulling in 2-3 catches outside of that outlier performance. Overall, Gilbert is at 334 receiving yards and two touchdown receptions. 

• Jordan Faison had four catches for 66 yards during Week 4. 

• Jaden Greathouse finished the game with two catches for 33 yards.

• Junior wide receiver Matt Jeffery caught Noah Grubb’s touchdown pass late in the fourth quarter.

• Tight end Cooper Flanagan and running back Nolan James Jr. each claimed a receiving touchdown against Purdue. 

The Defensive Stats

The blowout victory came with some major defensive stats from the Irish. The team recorded six sacks, and nine tackles for loss. 

Senior linebacker Drayk Bowen walked away from the Purdue game with the team’s sole fumble recovery.

The Flow Stats

The Irish had ten full offensive drives during the game and turned six of them into points.

Closing Thoughts

Another week of solid play by the Notre Dame football is in the books. We’re not quite into the meatiest part of the 2026-27 season but the Irish have displayed success and a consistent identity after facing four opponents with varying profiles and skill sets.

CJ Carr continues to excel and we’re seeing good things from the roster’s young quarterbacks. Although there is not a solid lead running back the team’s group of rushers continues getting the collective job done. And the defense is every bit of the monster that we’ve come to expect during the Marcus Freeman era.

The week was filled with particularly bad stats takes about the Irish and I’m beyond happy from with the actual facts that I though we all had access to. But let’s prepare for those bad takes to get worse as Notre Dame heads into Chapel Hill for what will undoubtedly be a highly gossipy game against Bill Belichick’s Notre Carolina and the rest of the Power 4’s top programs continue to look shaky.

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