If Notre Dame had faced Purdue just a year ago, the jokes would have written themselves, just as they did when Bowling Green visited South Bend back in 2019. Alas, Bob Diaco’s 2020 Boilermakers defense performed poorly enough to earn him a December dismissal and thus perhaps force the Irish to face a now-improved defense.
2020 REVIEW
Purdue’s 2-4 during the pandemic fit into a longer trend, winning exactly a third of their last 24 games. While those 24 were not spread across two seasons for the obvious *2020* reasons, two years worth of games finishing 8-16 does not bode well for anyone, and the defensive coordinator being shown the door at the end of that stretch is often just a nod toward a larger inevitability a year later.