There is always a lot of uncertainty going into the first game of the season for every team. Who will step up to replace the players who have moved on? How will the team react to a setback? How do you get players to have a one-week-at-a-time mentality when everyone around them is thinking about and planning for a postseason run?
Notre Dame’s Saturday night matchup against Texas A&M is already ESPN’s game of the week, and the entire College Football world will be watching. Here’s what the Irish have to do in order to come back to South Bend with a victory.
No. 1: Make a big defensive play early
There’s going to be 100,000 people inside Kyle Field on Saturday night, most of them Aggies fans. Nothing shuts up a home stadium faster than a turnover on the first drive of the game. Texas A&M had a mediocre performance last year, going 7-6 overall and 0-5 against ranked opponents. Currently ranked No. 20, the Aggies have hopes of upsetting the much higher-ranked Irish and taking the college football world by storm.
They are going to be feeding off the energy of the crowd all night, and if Notre Dame can force them to play catch-up all night, all those fans who have been tailgating all day are going to decide that bed sounds pretty darn appealing.
One of Notre Dame’s biggest strengths is its duo of All-Americans on defense: graduate safety Xavier Watts and junior cornerback Benjamin Morrison. This will be Texas A&M quarterback Conner Weigman’s first game back since breaking a bone in his foot last year on Sept. 23 against Auburn. The redshirt sophomore put up some impressive stats before the injury, but it will be interesting to see how mobile (and willing to run) he is after. The game plan for Texas A&M has to include letting Weigman get comfortable as early as possible, which means not throwing toward Watts or Morrison, each very likely to make the Aggies pay.
This is a big opportunity for another member of the defense to step up and make Weigman uncomfortable in his first game back.
No. 2: Give Riley Leonard time to make good decisions
Despite the high expectations that come for the whole team with a No. 7 national ranking, all eyes will be on senior quarterback Riley Leonard on Saturday night. Known for his highly accurate ball placement and high football IQ, the Duke transfer carries the hopes of Notre Dame fans on his shoulders.
The quarterback was one of the most coveted players in the transfer portal last year. Still, despite all of the strengths he brings to the Notre Dame offense, one of the main knocks on him is his performance under pressure.
The offensive line looks a bit different this year — Joe Alt is off to Los Angeles with the Chargers, literally and metaphorically leaving big shoes to fill. Giving Leonard time to throw is paramount to building his confidence and chemistry with the receivers. This is not going to be a deep ball kind of game, so this shouldn’t be too much of an issue. But the Irish will likely try it at least once or twice, and building Leonard’s trust in his O-line will pay dividends later in the season.
Adding an element of excitement to this is the fact that Texas A&M’s new coach, Mike Elko, was Riley Leonard’s old coach at Duke. No one knows Leonard’s strengths and weaknesses better than him, and it will be interesting to see how he utilizes this throughout the game.
No. 3: Handle delays and weather well
South Bend is not the only place that has been having difficult weather recently. Thunderstorms are possible Saturday night in College Station, and as we all remember from last year’s NC State game, that could mean delays. Notre Dame handled the NC State delay that started right before halftime well, scoring six touchdowns after the two-hour delay.
The 86% humidity could also pose a problem for all players. Expect more muscle cramps than normal as players spend more time outside in the uncomfortable Texas weather.
