he would return to the same role for the fightin' irish in 2012. on september 8, 2012, notre dame placekicker, nick tausch, would suffer an injury during a game against purdue. brindza would come in to replace tausch but would miss his first career attempt. after missing his first field goal, brindza then redeemed himself connecting on a 30-yard field goal and a 27-yard field goal with 7 seconds left. the 27-yard field goal sealed the 20–17 victory over the purdue boilermakers.