On Notre Dame’s first possession of the third quarter Saturday at Purdue, cyber-crowd favorite Steve Angeli made his season debut at quarterback for the Irish.
Not because starter Riley Leonard’s leash was short. But because in his third game in a Notre Dame uniform Leonard and his teammates had been THAT dominant.
For his part in 18th-ranked ND’s highest-scoring output in the 88-game history of the series with its in-state rival, 66-x7 the senior and Duke transfer hit triple digits in rushing yards and passing yards in a one-sided first half that had the Irish (2-1) in front 42-0 when Irish coach Marcus Freeman called it a day for Leonard.
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Eventually, third-stringer Kenny Minchey saw his first game snaps of the season at QB as well, making his season debut with 7:15 left in the game after a Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa interception for the Irish. He would score on a five-yard run 89 seconds later.
And fourth-stringer CJ Carr made his college debut at QB with 2:14 left.
But playing with reportedly a left-shoulder injury that led to speculation about Leonard’s availability Saturday at Ross-Ade Stadium, Leonard earned the Inside ND Sports game ball for the offense.
His final numbers were 11 rushes for 100 yards and three touchdowns, and 11 completions in 16 attempts for 112 yards and zero interceptions, Leonard’s 127.6 pass-efficiency rating is his season high.
There were plenty of other noteworthy offensive performances, including Rocco Spindler stepping in for an injured Billy Schrauth at right guard in the first half and Pat Coogan filling in admirably for injured center Ashton Craig.
Sophomore Jeremiyah Love ran for a career-high 109 yards on 10 carries and a TD. Grad senior tight end Kevin Bauman, in his first game since Sept. 17, 2022 against Cal, saw his first game action and scored on an eight-yard pass from Angeli. Bauman was coming off ACL tears in back-to-back seasons.
Jordan Botelho, Defensive End
Notre Dame played a lot of bodies, so many that there was a lot of parity in the defensive stats. Grad senior Jordan Botelho helped set the tone before leaving the game on a cart after suffering an injury midway through the second quarter. He gets the Inside ND Sports game ball on defense.
The Irish players came off the sideline as he was loaded in the cart and showed him some love. Botelho had three tackles, with a sack, before suffering the injury.
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