By Mike Beas
Tribune columnist
— Notre Dame and Purdue have exchanged lowered shoulders and verbal venom on the football field 81 times since 1896. In spite of that, there is a historical magnitude attached to this latest meeting Saturday afternoon in South Bend.
Not only is Sept. 4 the earliest the two programs have ever met (nudging past Sept. 6 back in 1980 and Sept. 7, 2002), it looks to be the only time the Irish and Boilermakers have opened the season against one another.
ND-Purdue traditionally has a third- or fourth-game feel to it, so this 82nd get-together qualifies as landmark regardless of the final score. That and the fact the Irish are breaking in a new head coach for the fourth time in 14 years.
The anticipation over Brian Kelly is logical given the number of rabbits he pulled from hats in three seasons in Cincinnati. Kelly’s portly predecessor, Charlie Weis, stepped on the same red carpet with Irish fans until they realized Weis, while a terrific offensive mind, would be fielding a paper mache defense more often than not.
Prior to that, Bob Davie was going to wake up the echos, but after five uninspiring years on the Notre Dame campus he woke up jobless. Then Ty Willingham entered the pressure-cooker for a three-season spin until being spit out when he failed to make administrators and influential alums forget Frank Leahy and Ara Parseghian.
Notre Dame’s way of thinking is as follows: This next guy, oh, he’s the one. The coach who is going to return the program to juggernaut status and collect BCS bowl bids like they were baseball cards. In the case of Kelly, I firmly believe the South Benders finally knocked it out of the park.
And if ever a Notre Dame coach was set up to flourish in Season 1, it’s the 48-year-old Kelly.
Let’s begin with the Notre Dame schedule, which is softer than a Nerf Ball family reunion. There isn’t one team among the 12 the Irish can’t beat, and the back half of season sets up nicely with home games against Pitt, Western Michigan, Tulsa, Utah and Army.
WMU? Tulsa? Wait … sorry, for a minute there I thought I picked up the sound of Knute Rockne doing a 360 in his grave. No many how many position questions Kelly is pondering at the moment, his Irish should wind up victorious in no fewer than nine games, a number that in all likelihood would land them in a Jan. 1 bowl game.
Kelly is the right guy at the right time. He’s young, charming, Catholic, good with the media, a fabulous recruiter and, most of all, a winner.
Now all he has to do is beat Purdue. And then Michigan. And Michigan State. And Stanford … and 10 years from now be regarded as one of the top three coaches in college football. No pressure whatsoever.
BIG TEN PICKS
The crystal ball has been pulled from the attic and dusted off regarding this season’s Big Ten programs. And, yes, I will be keeping score in order to update and post my season record no matter how humiliating:
Indiana 42, Towson 20; Ohio State 30, Marshall 16; Middle Tennessee 23, Minnesota 22 (all Thursday night); Notre Dame 27, Purdue 19; Michigan 23, UConn 21; Iowa 28, Eastern Illinois 9; Michigan State 37, Western Michigan 17; Penn State 25 Youngstown State 7; Missouri 35, Illinois 32.
Season record: No losses.
• Mike Beas is a freelance writer/columnist and Kokomo native who resides in Carmel. He may be reached by e-mail at mtbeas62@yahoo.com.
