Rebound time

 Notre Dame heads to West Lafayette to play an ancient foe this afternoon, and, I don't know, maybe I'm crazy, but I think Notre Dame somehow will pull out the W over the always dangerous Purdue Boilermakers.

Bold statement, I know, considering the Irish own a narrow 59-26-1 lead in the 88-meeting series, and haven't lost to the Boilermakers in 16 years. But every decade or so Purdue jumps up and beats them, and that's nothing to sneeze a-

Sorry. Not even I can be snide forever.

Truth is, this game has always been more of a rivalry for Purdue than for Notre Dame, and that's coming from a guy whose mom was a Purdue grad and who grew up listening to Bob Griese and Leroy Keyes on Saturday afternoons. And, sure, the Boilers almost always lost to Notre Dame, but as a Purdue kid, it was the times they didn't lose to Notre Dame I most remember.

Like Keyes and them whipping Hanratty and Seymour and them in 1967. Like a backup quarterback named Mike Terrizzi going up to South Bend as a four-touchdown underdog in '74 and beating the Irish a year after Notre Dame won the national title. Like Billy Dicken, defensive back turned quarterback, going up to South Bend in '97 and beating the Irish in Joe Tiller's first year at Purdue. Like the years Purdue ended Notre Dame win streaks of 39 games (1950) and 13 games (1954).

Today will not be one of those days, it says here. And Purdue will have Northern Illinois to blame.

That's because Northern, a MAC school paid $1.4 million to come to Notre Dame lose, refused to cooperate last weekend. In a stunning upset, the Huskies beat the flatter-than-roadkill Irish 16-14 on a field goal with 30 seconds to play. Touchdown Jesus covered his eyes and Fair Catch Corby said "Ah, to hell with it, Imma let the ball roll dead at the 1-yard line."

This was not good news for the Boilermakers, who were off last week after laminating Indiana State 49-0 in their opener.

It's not good news because Marcus Freeman's teams have a pattern, and the pattern says they rebound robustly after losing games they shouldn't oughta lose.

 In Freeman's first season, 2022, they lost at home to Marshall, then beat Cal, North Carolina and No.  16 BYU. Last year, they gave one away to Ohio State, then beat No. 17 Duke on the road the next week. 

Then they lost to Louisville. Then they beat the dog out of No. 10 USC, 48-20. Then they won four of their last five games by a combined score of 199-45, including a 40-8 hammering of poor Oregon State in the Sun Bowl.

Precedent being what it is, therefore, the Irish should beat Purdue today. By 10, the oddsmakers say, although don't be surprised if it's closer than that. Or more lopsided.

After all, it's Purdue-Notre Dame. You never know.

OK. So most of the time you do. But whatever.