Tommy Rees gets back on field, leads Notre Dame's late drive to beat Purdue

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Tommy Rees came off the bench to lead Notre Dame on a last-minute, winning drive yesterday as the No. 22 Irish got a 27-yard field goal from Kyle Brindza with seven seconds to go and beat Purdue, 20-17.

Rees, who was suspended for the opener last week because he was involved in a skirmish with police at a party in May, relieved starter Everett Golson late in the fourth quarter.

Purdue (1-1) had tied the game at 17-17 when Caleb TerBush threw a 15-yard TD pass to Antavian Edison with 2:12 left, the score set up by Josh Johnson's recovery of a Golson fumble. Golson was shaken up on the play and had trouble gripping the ball, so the Irish turned to Rees, who started 12 games last season.

Rees connected on key third-down passes of 10 yards to John Goodman and 21 yards to Robby Toma to get Brindza in position for the winning kick.

Golson, in his home debut, completed 21 of 31 for 289 yards with a TD and ran for another but he was sacked five times during a sloppy game that featured 16 penalties -- eight on each team. Coach Brian Kelly said Golson would start next week at Michigan State.

The Boilermakers alternated TerBush, who started after being suspended last week for violating team rules, and Robert Marve.

After Johnson recovered Golson's fumble at the Notre Dame 15, Marve was sacked and shaken up and TerBush re-entered the game and found Edison on a fourth-down pass to tie it at 17-17.-- AP