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Notre Dame vs. Purdue: What to Know For Fighting Irish's Week 3 2024 Game

How will the Irish respond after some early-season adversity in South Bend?

By Benjamin Bullard

Oh, how luck can change for Notre Dame early in this still-young 2024 college football season. After falling at home in a heartbreaking 16-14 slugfest broadcast wide on NBC and Peacock, the Fighting Irish are looking to bounce back in Week 3 as they hit the road to face a perennial cross-state foe.

The Big Ten Boilermakers of Purdue University will play host to Notre Dame as the Irish — previously ranked the nation’s AP No. 5 team before last weekend’s loss — travel down to West Lafayette, Indiana as the visiting team this Saturday. QB Riley Leonard and head coach Marcus Freeman will be looking to put the Irish back on rails for hopeful playoff contention… though the Boilermakers, fresh off a season-opening blowout over Indiana State, may have some well-laid obstacles waiting along the tracks.

RELATED: Everything to Know About Notre Dame’s 2024 Football Schedule

Head coach Marcus Freeman and team take the field

What time does Notre Dame vs. Purdue kick off?

Notre Dame takes the field against Purdue on Saturday, Sept. 14 for an afternoon kickoff, with game time set to begin at 3:30 p.m. ET.

Where will the Notre Dame vs. Purdue game be played?

The Irish head to Purdue’s Ross-Ade Stadium for their first 2024 meeting against a Big Ten opponent. The Boilermakers will have home field advantage as Purdue rides the momentum from its season-opening win, a 49-0 blast past outmatched Missouri Valley Conference foe Indiana State.

RELATED: How Notre Dame Became a National Football Brand: It Dates Back to the 1920s

What to expect when Purdue hosts Notre Dame in Week 3

If there’s one constant to the start of every college football season, it’s that no highly-ranked team — for better or worse — ever seems to meet the experts’ expectations. Heading into the season’s third week, that’s especially true of Notre Dame, which surged to a hard-fought Week 1 win deep in unfriendly SEC territory. The Irish outlasted Texas A&M by a 23-13 margin to start the season at the Aggies’ Kyle Field, a spot not exactly renowned for being hospitable to visiting teams.

Buoyed by that fast start, Notre Dame seemed poised to sail through a less-daunting Week 2 matchup against the Northern Illinois Huskies. The Irish had their home opener spoiled, though, as the Huskies kept pace through a four-quarter defensive battle, eventually prevailing in a seismic 16-14 upset over the nation’s No. 5 team — all in front of a crowd of stunned South Bend fans.

Purdue, meanwhile, enters the weekend as a mild underdog against Notre Dame, despite going full-throttle in their steam-powered win over Indiana State to start the season. Under second-year head coach Ryan Walters, Purdue QB Hudson Card looked almost flawless in that game, even as the Boilermaker defense showed signs that it might have the locomotion to keep pace with Riley’s short and medium-distance Notre Dame passing attack.

Looking beyond Week 3, Notre Dame has a stacked slate of high-profile matchups; games that look even more intriguing now that the Irish have an early home loss that’ll add an extra layer of playoff-minded anticipation to every weekend.

Better still, every Notre Dame home game this season will air exclusively on NBC and Peacock, alongside a super-sized schedule of Big Ten college football action that even includes select Peacock exclusives (like this weekend’s Apple Cup face-off between perennial rivals Washington vs. Washington State).

Peep the full 2024 Notre Dame football schedule here — and to lock in all the college football action while the season’s still early, you can subscribe to Peacock right here!

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