PURDUNE

Purdue scored a touchdown on a 10-yard Curtis Painter-to-Dustin Keller pass on its opening possession. Then it didn't. The Irish got a reprieve when the Highballs were flagged for an illegal shift. Purdue settled for a field goal.

Then again, the Irish had originally stopped the Carbombs fifty yards back, on a nice 3rd-and-short tackle behind the line of scrimmage. But Kerry Neal, who is no relation to my good buddy Kelly Neal, who is now better known as ESPN field reporter Kelly Naqi, jumped offside, negating the stop.

So here comes Notre Dame's first offensive drive.

And, for those of you who wonder who plays on ND's kickoff and kickoff receiving teams, I've done the legwork for you:

Kickoff Unit (Left to Right)

Terrail Lambert
Sergio Brown
Junior Jabbie
Steve Quinn
Mike Ragone
Brandon Walker (K)
Nikolas Rodriguez
Travis Thomas
David Bruton
Kyle McCarthy
Ambrose Wooden

Kickoff Coverage Team

Front Line:

McCarthy
Duval Kamara
Thomas
Brandon Erickson (or Leonard Gordon)...both wear 24
Ragone

Second Line:

Luke Schmidt
Will Yeatman

Third Line:

Robert Hughes
Asaph Schwapp

Back Line:

Junior Jabbie
Armando Allen

No idea where they're hiding Golden Tate.

Also, Eric "I'm Not Ralph" Maust is punting for the Irish this afternoon.

Up in the pressbox, watching Purdue rip off consecutive 20-yard gains (the first on a pass, the second on a run), we're discussing which stage of Dr. Elizabeth Kubler-Ross's five stages of terminal illness we're at. You know: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance. A colleague said he's at the "Acceptance" point whereas I countered that I'd already passed that and come all the way back around to "Denial".

Curtis Painter has more time to throw than Rex Grossman had to prove himself in Chicago. Which is a lot.

The fun thing about being playing defense for Notre Dame? You do see a lot of playing time.

The Irish need some big-ass linemen (the politically incorrect Domer in me would wonder when they'll hold tryouts at St. Mary's)

10-0, Purdue, on Kory Sheets' one-yard drive.