Purdue vs. Notre Dame: Score and Twitter Reaction

It was by no means easy, and it usually never is, but the Shillelagh Trophy will remain with the No. 11 Notre Dame Fighting Irish for the foreseeable future after the team outlasted the Purdue Boilermakers 30-14 Saturday night.

The final iteration of one of the sport's great rivalries—one week removed from the final Notre Dame-Michigan showdown, a 31-0 win for the Fighting Irish—developed into a quarterback duel from the opening gun that never ceased.

Notre Dame signal-caller Everett Golson continued his stellar play, which has him quietly in the Heisman hunt. By night's end, he went for 259 yards and a pair of scores through the air, while leading the Fighting Irish in rushing with 14 carries for another 56 yards and a score.

Notre Dame captured the victory on Twitter:

Boilermakers sophomore signal-caller Danny Etling made it tough on Golson, though, as he finished the day with a respectable 234 yards and two touchdowns, although an interception late all but sealed the contest.

Those who have experience with the 68-year feud, especially in recent years, understand that Purdue's futility and Notre Dame's success mean little when the two sides step on the field. Of course, this includes Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly, who touched on the subject before Saturday's game.

"If you watch the film and turn it on you really see two different teams," Kelly said, per UND.com. "It's just an in-state rival. Just throw out all of what happened before, and they just played very, very well with a great deal of enthusiasm and emotion, and we're going to have to meet and exceed that."

Considering an eventual 1-10 squad gave the Fighting Irish all it could handle last year and the year before that saw the Boilermakers almost ruin an undefeated season, Kelly hit the nail on the head. 

Michael Conroy/Associated Press

At first, it appeared the Fighting Irish were set to kill off the trend, as the offense went six plays and scored a touchdown on the first drive of the game as wideout William Fuller—who finished with six catches for 51 yards and a score—reeled in the Golson pass.

Purdue proved game, though, reaffirming that this one would be close.

Etling started with a 7-of-7 mark (Golson started 9-of-9) and led his team 61 yards down the field to tie the game at seven apiece on their second drive.

Yahoo.com's Pat Forde offered a broad perspective shortly after:

After a field goal by Kyle Brindza, Etling once again proved up to the task and hit DeAngelo Yancey for a 19-yard touchdown connection.

Again, the Shillelagh Trophy tends to do this to the Boilermakers. WTHR.com's Bob Kravitz put it best:

To Etling's credit, his first half even came after an illegal hit from Max Redfield, who was promptly ejected for targeting.

The unexpected quarterback showdown only intensified right before the half, as Golson continued to do it all on his own, rushing for a 15-yard score to enter the locker room at the half up 17-14. For those keeping count, that made it 10 touchdowns to zero turnovers on the season for him, prompting a justifiable note from Bleacher Report's Adam Kramer:

The undercover Heisman contender saw his stellar play bleed into the second half, where he found Corey Robinson—who went on to lead the team in receiving by night's end with three receptions for 52 yards and a touchdown—for a score in the third frame to make it 24-14.

It was a disparity from which Purdue would not be able to recover, as Etling was the first to blink in the quarterback duel due to a fourth-quarter interception with eight minutes and change left in the game. In garbage time with the game already decided, he added a second interception to skew his stat line.

For Golson, the Heisman hype is all too real as he has come back at a quicker rate than anyone could have imagined. ESPN 1480's Greg Smith hints that, should his great play continue, voters will have a difficult time ignoring him in favor of other big names:

To paint in more broad strokes, Notre Dame continues to roll through one of the nation's toughest schedules.

The same cannot be said for the Big Ten, which once again has its legitimacy in serious jeopardy. Purdue's second-half ineffectiveness en route to the loss brings an alarming stat to life, as ESPN.com's Brian Bennett records:

Looking forward, Purdue returns home next week to take on Southern Illinois out of the Missouri Valley Football Conference, a contest that should help Darrell Hazell's side to get back on track before conference play begins in earnest.

Notre Dame gets a week to recuperate and then has to do its best the week after to avoid a letdown against a currently undefeated Syracuse team at home knowing full well a high-profile clash with Stanford comes after that, not to mention a trip to Florida State two weeks later.

Suffice it to say, the Fighting Irish's playoff mettle was tested fully once again Saturday, but the worst is yet to come. Given Golson's superb play, the Fighting Irish can advance with confidence.

Statistics and info courtesy of ESPN unless otherwise specified.