Notre Dame Football: 3 takeaways from much-needed win vs. Purdue

Through two games, Notre Dame football had been rather disappointing. The Irish blew an 18-point fourth-quarter lead to Florida State but held on to win in overtime. We’ve since seen how bad the Seminoles are as they’re about to drop to 0-3 on the season with follow-up losses to Jacksonville State and Wake Forest.

Notre Dame went on to beat Toledo at home in Week 2 and luckily not many fans got to see it as it was streamed on Peacock. It was an ugly game that concluded with a three-point advantage for the Irish. Not great.

On Saturday afternoon, many believed Purdue was going to march into South Bend and pick off the vulnerable Irish. But Notre Dame held on after a slow start and beat the Boilermakers by 14 ahead of one of their toughest stretches on the schedule in recent memory.

What’d we learn from this much-needed win before a tough stretch?

3. Avery Davis looks like he could be that No. 1 receiver

For a couple of years now, Notre Dame has been looking for that go-to target. The Irish have been lucky enough to find Michael Mayer at the tight end position and he’s one of the best in the country but he had a rather pedestrian afternoon against Purdue, catching just one pass for five yards.

Then people expected a healthy Braden Lenzy to be that go-to guy, but he, too, was pedestrian against the Boilermakers, catching three passes for 21 yards. He also dropped a pass in the end zone in the fourth quarter which would have been a beautiful long touchdown pass by Jack Coan.

Coan connected plenty with senior wideout Avery Davis who looked like he could be that No. 1 target for Coan as he led the way with five receptions for 120 yards and a touchdown.

If Davis can build on this performance, Mayer bounces back, and Lenzy gets better, we could see a lethal passing attack in South Bend.