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GoldanDBlack express • volume 25, express 3 • 9 BY BRIAN NEUBERT BNeubert@GoldandBlack.com P urdue's had a funny way of mak- ing these sorts of games really difficult for Notre Dame. The Boilermakers will come into Saturday night's meeting with the Irish in Indianapolis' Lucas Oil Sta- dium as a four-touchdown under- dog, coming off a brutal home loss to a MAC team while Notre Dame comes off a statement-making two- game swing in which it was nothing short of dominant against Rice and even more so against Michigan. But this is not a new position for Purdue, frequently a heavy 'dog in these formerly annual meetings with its rival to the north; this will be the last meeting between these teams until 2020. While the Boilermakers haven't beaten the Fighting Irish since 2007, they have defied the odds several times in making them sweat pro - fusely, whether it was a 24-21 loss in 2009; a closer-than-the-score 23- 12 setback in 2010; or last season's 31-24 defeat, the best game Purdue played all of last season. Irish coach Brian Kelly told me- dia this week that what his team saw first-hand in Ross-Ade Stadium last September was "a different team" from what it had seen on film from the games that preceded it. "It's just an in-state rival," Kelly told reporters. "Just throw out all of what happened before, and they just played very, very well with a great deal of enthusiasm and emo- tion, and we're going to have to meet and exceed that." Purdue will need all the en- thusiasm and emotion — and whatever else it can come up with — to match the formidable-thus- far Irish, if Notre Dame's first two games and the Boilermakers' last outing are any indication. The Irish crushed Michigan in ev- ery sense of the term in South Bend last weekend, winning 31-0, a flag on a last-second pick-six denying them a final margin of 37-0. This came on the heels of a 48-17 win over Rice. Two things above all else have driven Notre Dame to a No. 11 rank- ing heading into their neutral-site "Shamrock Series" game against the Boilermakers: The play of quarter- back Everett Golson and the instant success of a brand-new defense. After a year spent in academic exile, Golson has been surgical in his play to this point, whether it was the three touchdowns he ran for against Rice or the three he threw for against the Wolverines. Golson has yet to throw an interception through 56 attempts so far; Notre Dame as a whole has been turn- over-free through two games. Purdue will want to disrupt Gol- son by any means necessary. Easier said than done for a Boilermaker team that's struggled to generate pressure up front and will face maybe its biggest chal- lenge of the season in that sense this weekend. Golson is not necessarily a run- ner by design, but he's very mobile, capable of avoiding whatever pass rush an opponent can generate. "You'd better stay in cover- age," Purdue coach Darrell Hazell said, "because he makes a lot of things happen by holding onto the football." Purdue will ask a retooled sec- ondary — it adds suspended re- turning starter Taylor Richards back into its mix at safety, where corner Frankie Williams started the first two games — to do just that. And it'll ask its defensive front to rise to the occasion to disrupt a passing game that's humming. Notre Dame's success through the air is a stark contrast to the is- sues Purdue's trying to remedy. Whoever plays quarterback for the Boilermakers will be the target of first-year Irish coordinator Brian VanGorder's new-look defense. Gone is Notre Dame's 3-4 looks of the past, replaced by a 4-3 heavy with complex and diverse blitz packages brought by Van- Gorder, a former NFL defensive co- ordinator with the Atlanta Falcons and most recently the New York Jets' linebackers coach. Against Michigan, Notre Dame blitzed its way to three sacks and Game 3 Opponent Preview: Notre Dame 7:30 p.m. ET • Lucas Oil Stadium (Indianapolis) • TV: NBC Purdue will be decided underdog against irish in indy Irish Illustrated Everett Golson has returned to the field for Notre Dame this season performing at a higher level than he left it, prior to sitting out the 2013 season.