The Irish improved to 4-1 for the second straight season - the first time they have had one loss or fewer after five games in consecutive seasons since the 1993-94 seasons. The loss ended a seven-game winning streak for Purdue (4-1).

The Irish offense, which had played inconsistently in its first four games, finally looked like last season's record-setting group. They opened a 28-7 lead late in the first half, when they had 19 first downs - matching the season-high they had for an entire game in a 41-17 win over Penn State. And Purdue scored 21 even though the Boilermakers fumbled away one scoring opportunity in the first half and three times failed to get points when driving into Notre Dame territory during the second half.

The Irish are into the underbelly of their agenda, with Stanford, UCLA, North Carolina and Army comprising four of the next six games, this season comes down to one game: Nov. 25 at USC.