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College Football
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Notre Dame 20, Purdue 17
When: 3:30 PM ET, Saturday, September 8, 2012
Where: Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, Indiana
Temperature: 67°
Head Official: John O'Neill
Attendance: 80795

No. 22 Notre Dame 20, Purdue 17: Tommy Rees came off the bench to spearhead a rally and Kyle Brindza's 27-yard field goal with seven seconds left helped the Irish to a hard-fought win over the Boilermakers.

After sitting out the opening game against Navy due to a suspension, Rees, last year’s starter, entered the game for Everett Golson and calmly led the 12-play, 55-yard drive that was capped by Brindza's field goal.

Notre Dame played with the lead almost the entire second half, before Golson’s fumble set Purdue up first-and-10 at the Irish 15-yard line with 3:24 remaining in the game and the Boilermakers trailing 17-10.

The Irish defense held the Boilermakers on the first three downs, but Purdue quarterback Caleb TerBush hit Antavian Edison with a 15-yard touchdown pass on a fourth-down play to tie the game and set up the late heroics from Rees.

Golson started the game and was 21-of-31 passing for 289 yards with one touchdown pass and another rushing touchdown.

All-American tight end Tyler Eifert led the Irish with a career-high 98 yards on four catches before sitting out the fourth quarter with an apparent but unconfirmed injury.

GAME NOTEBOOK: The win for Notre Dame was the fifth straight against Purdue in the series. … This was the 13th time in program history the Irish have played Purdue in their home opener. … The Irish are 2-0 to start a season for the first time since 2008.
Top Game Performances
Rushing
Purdue   Notre Dame
Akeem Shavers Player Theo Riddick
12 Attempts 15
37 Yards 53
3.1 Avg Yards 3.5
0 Touchdowns 0
0 Long 0
Receiving
Purdue   Notre Dame
OJ Ross Player Tyler Eifert
5 Receptions 4
73 Yards 98
14.6 Avg Yards 24.5
0 Touchdowns 0
0 Long 0
Team Stats Summary
 
  Yards Scoring Defense
Team Tot Rus Pas TD FG INT Sck FF
Purdue 288 90 198 2 1 0 5.0 2
Notre Dame 381 57 324 2 2 2 4.0 0