WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Following the first road game of the year, Purdue Football returns home to close out its non-conference slate with a rivalry matchup. The Boilermakers host No. 3 Notre Dame in a battle for the Shillelagh Trophy. Kickoff from Ross-Ade Stadium is set for 2 p.m. ET on Peacock.
QUICK HITS
- Purdue and Notre Dame are meeting for the 90th time in a series that started in 1896 with a 28-22 Boilermaker victory. The two programs have battled for the Shillelagh since 1957.
- Raheem Mostert (2011-14), who spent 11 years in the NFL and led the league in rushing touchdowns (18) in 2023, will serve as the Purdue Honorary Captain for Saturday’s matchup.
- The Boilermakers are averaging a Big Ten-best 366.7 passing yards per game, which ranks third in the country.
- Ryan Browne is the only quarterback in the Big Ten to average more than 300 yards passing, throwing for a whopping 341.3 yards per game to rank second nationally.
- Purdue is the only team in the Big Ten to have two players ranked in the conference’s Top 10 in receiving yards. Asaad Waseem ranks fifth (321 yards), while Xavier Townsend ranks eighth (267 yards).
- Fame Ijeboi’s six rushing touchdowns rank third in the nation. He joined Kory Sheets as the only Boilermakers since 1995 with at least six rushing touchdowns through the first three games of a season.
- Last week at UCLA, the Purdue offense scored on its first play from scrimmage as Browne found Townsend for a 75-yard touchdown pass. It marked the first time the Purdue offense had scored on the opening play of the game since Nov. 14, 2015, against Northwestern when David Blough hit Dominique Young on a 68-yard touchdown.
- Jacobo Echeverria Lozano leads the Big Ten and ranks third in the country with 2.3 made field goals per game. The freshman kicker is 7-for-8 on the year.
- The Boilermakers have punted just five times, the fewest this century through the first three games of a season.
BATTLE FOR THE SHILLELAGH TROPHY
- One of the most played matchups in Purdue Football history, Saturday's Shillelagh Trophy Game will be the 90th all-time meeting between the Boilermakers and Notre Dame.
- The rivalry series dates back to 1896, when Purdue beat the Irish in their first meeting, 28-22, in South Bend.
- Purdue has only played four opponents more times than the Fighting Irish: Indiana (127), Illinois (101), Iowa (94) and Wisconsin (91).
- Purdue and Notre Dame have played for the Shillelagh since 1957. It was donated by Joe McLaughlin, a merchant seaman and a Fighting Irish fan who brought the club from Ireland.
- Purdue claimed three out of five games from Notre Dame from 2003-07, taking ownership of the Shillelagh Trophy in 2003, 2004 and 2007.
SUCCESS VS. RANKED OPPONENTS
- Purdue has beaten seven ranked teams since 2018 despite being the underdog in each one of those games.
- Three of those wins were against Top 3 teams, while Purdue handed five of those ranked teams their first loss of the season.
- The victories during the 2021 campaign (No. 2 Iowa, No. 3 Michigan State) gave Purdue multiple wins over Top 5 teams in one season for the first time since 1960 (No. 3 Ohio State, No. 1 Minnesota).
- Five of the seven wins have been by double digits, the biggest being a 29-point victory over No. 2 Ohio State in 2018
HONORARY CAPTAIN
- Raheem Mostert, who played running back and wide receiver for the Boilermakers from 2011-14, will serve as Purdue Football’s Honorary Captain for Saturday’s game against Notre Dame.
- Mostert played for six different teams during his 11-year NFL career, spending most of his time with the San Francisco 49ers (2016-21).
- During the 2023 season, Mostert led the league with 18 rushing touchdowns, totaling 1,012 yards for the Miami Dolphins.
B1G PASSING LEADER
- Through the first three games of the season, Ryan Browne leads the Big Ten in passing yards per game (341.3), ranking second nationally and the only B1G quarterback to average more than 300 yards per game.
- Browne’s average completions (24.7) rank 12th in the country, and his 73.3 completion percentage sits 13th nationally.
- Browne is one of 25 QBs over the last 10 years to throw for more than 1,000 yards and have one or fewer interceptions over the first three games. The only other Big Ten quarterback to achieve that feat was former Boilermaker QB Aidan O’Connell.
- Surpassing 300 passing yards in each of the first three contests, Browne joined Jim Everett (1985, twice), Drew Brees (1998, 1999), Kyle Orton (2004), Curtis Painter (2007), David Blough (2018) and Aidan O'Connell (2021, 2022) as the only Purdue quarterbacks to throw for 300 yards in three straight games.
- Browne now has six 300-yard passing games for his career, tied with Scott Campbell (1980-83) for eighth on the all-time charts.
HE'S YA BOY, IJEBOI
- Fame Ijeboi has made an immediate impact for Purdue, becoming one of the leaders on the offensive side of the ball.
- With 248 rushing yards and six touchdowns on the year, Ijeboi joined Kory Sheets (8 in 2006, 6 in 2008) as the only Boilermakers with six or more rushing scores through three games since 1995.
- His six rushing touchdowns rank second in the Big Ten and third nationally.
- Against Wake Forest, Ijeboi finished with 114 rushing yards on 27 carries and three touchdowns, all career highs. Ijeboi also added six receptions for 42 yards. Finding the end zone three times, he became the first Boilermaker with three rushing touchdowns in a game since D.J. Knox helped Purdue knock off No. 2 Ohio State in the famous Tyler Trent Game (Oct. 20, 2018).
- In his first game as a Boilermaker, Ijeboi racked up 87 yards and a touchdown while averaging a staggering 7.9 yards per carry to help Purdue roll past Indiana State.
ELECTRIC WIDEOUTS - Transfers Xavier Townsend and Asaad Waseem lead the way with double digits in receptions and both Boilermakers topping 250 receiving yards. Waseem paces the team with 20 catches for 321 yards, while Townsend is right behind his teammate with 19 catches for 267 yards.
- In the Big Ten opener at UCLA, Waseem and Townsend both had big nights. Townsend caught six passes for a career-high 162 yards and two scores. Waseem hauled in eight passes for a career-best 149 yards on the night.
- It marked the first time since Purdue played Northwestern at Wrigley Field in 2021 that the Boilermakers had two players with 100 yards receiving.
- Townsend became the first Boilermaker with multiple receiving scores since Deion Burks in 2023 against Fresno State. His 162 yards receiving were the most by a Boilermaker since Charlie Jones posted the same tally against Michigan in the 2022 Big Ten Championship Game.
EXPLOSIVE OFFENSE MAKING STRIDES
- A revamped offense that features just one starter from last season, quarterback Ryan Browne, Purdue has shown strong chemistry through the first three games of 2026.
- Purdue's 118 points through the first three games are the most since 2012 and ninth-best in program history, dating back to 1892.
- Through the first three games of the year, the offensive unit has 1,100 passing yards for the second-most in program history (trailing the 2019 team), and 1,466 yards of total offense to rank sixth all-time.
- Against UCLA, the offense leaned on promising portal additions Fame Ijeboi, Xavier Townsend and Asaad Waseem to construct a 95-yard scoring drive for the first time since Nov. 11, 2023 against Minnesota. Townsend capped off the drive with a 20-yard catch-and-run from the line of scrimmage.
BROWNE'S B1G NIGHT
- In the first B1G game of the season, quarterback Ryan Browne had one of his best games as a Boilermaker, shining in the Rose Bowl just like former Purdue quarterbacks Bob Griese and Drew Brees.
- He threw for a career-high 378 yards with three touchdowns, surpassing 300-yards passing for the third consecutive game. His 378 yards tied Oregon’s Dante Moore (vs. Boise State) for the most passing yards by a Big Ten quarterback this season.
- Browne finished with 21.3 yards per completion, good for the fourth-highest mark at Purdue since at least 1995.
- He became the eighth quarterback to average 20 yards or better in a game during that time span.
PUNTERS ARE PASSERS TOO
- Special teams coordinator James Shibest reached into his bag of tricks against UCLA to give Purdue a spark.
- Down 10 midway through the third, Purdue set up to punt on a 4th-and-8 from its 45-yard line. Punter Dylan Drennan threw a pass to running back Antonio Harris, who carried it to the 8-yard line, for a 47-yard pass.
- It was the first fake punt for Purdue since Jack McCallister carried the ball 10 yards for a first down at Notre Dame in 2025.
- It was the longest pass by a Boilermaker punter in the last 30 years and the first since Joe Schopper threw a 22-yard strike in the 2017 Old Oaken Bucket Game.