Few Week One games have carried as much weight for a team’s season as this one did for Notre Dame. Entering the season with high expectations for a deep postseason run, the Irish needed to prove themselves. And while facing an SEC team on the road is never easy, the Irish rose to the challenge in College Station. Here are some key moments from the 23-13 victory at Texas A&M.
Penalties play role in a cagy defensive battle
Notre Dame promised to have an elite defensive unit this season. Pair that with a young and unproven offensive line going into College Station against the talented Aggie front and you have the formula for a low-scoring affair. In those kinds of games where the margins are tighter, mistakes can be far more costly. In this game, penalties on both sides made an impact.
The Irish defense struggled early on with the hard count and jumped offsides three times in the first quarter. Two of these kept A&M’s opening drive alive, turning chances at stops into Aggie points. A 15-yard penalty also set up the A&M offense to tie the game 13-13 at the start of the fourth quarter. Offensively, Notre Dame shot itself in the foot with five offensive line penalties for a total of 40 yards, contributing to multiple killed drives. However, A&M had its fair share of blunders as well, often coming at very poor times. The Aggie defense lost starting safety Dalton Brooks in the opening drive after he was ejected for targeting on a sliding Riley Leonard. On the other side of the ball, their three false starts killed three different drives. While no penalty came to define a single moment, the culmination of little mistakes on both sides hurt the execution of both teams throughout the game.
Notre Dame responds to a setback to score the first touchdown of the game
After winning the coin toss, Notre Dame elected to defer and get the ball to start the second half. This gave the Irish an opportunity for a statement drive coming out of the break with the game tied 6-6. They did the exact opposite. Early in the drive, the Irish offense faced a pivotal 4th-and-1 on their own 33-yard line. After failing to line up in time, head coach Marcus Freeman was forced to burn a valuable second-half time out to prepare the play. After converting it, they faced another fourth-and-short and were stopped short. A controversial spot was confirmed in review and the Aggies took over at midfield. A chance to set the tone turned into a nightmare momentum swing.
But the Irish defense, as it did all night, stepped up when the team needed it most. They forced a turnover on downs of their own, taking the ball right back for the offense. On the following drive, sophomore quarterback Jadarian Price broke loose for a 47-yard touchdown, giving Notre Dame a 13-6 lead.
Aggies begin the fourth quarter with an answer
Texas A&M finished the third quarter strong with a defensive three-and-out and a first down to start the following drive. The Aggies continued to ride the rushing attack all the way into the red zone with the help of a 15-yard penalty on graduate defensive lineman Howard Cross III. A defensive pass interference brought them to the two-yard line, where Le’Veon Moss eventually punched in the game-tying touchdown, capping off an impressive 10-play, 65-yard drive. The drive was a much-needed response from an Aggie offense that struggled all night to get going.
Leonard leads go-ahead drive
Senior quarterback Riley Leonard transferred from Duke to Notre Dame for moments like this one. For a chance to have the ball in his hands and go win his team the game in the fourth quarter. The defense dragged the offense along all night and forced the three-and-out that set up this drive. It was time for Leonard and the offense to deliver when the lights were brightest. And deliver they did.
Facing an early 3rd-and-5, Leonard stayed poised and connected with sophomore wide receiver Jaden Greathouse for a first down. The next play, he found graduate wideout Beaux Collins on the sideline, the transfer making an incredible contested grab before getting a foot down in bounds. The play after that, he showcased his legs on a first-down scramble, showing the presence of mind to slide in bounds and run clock at the end of it.
Sophomore running back Jeremiyah Love did the rest, rushing up the middle for 18 yards and finishing the drive on a 21-yard jaunt into the end zone to give Notre Dame a 20-13 lead with a little under two minutes remaining. A perfectly executed game-winning drive from the team’s new leader.
Jeter ices the game
Notre Dame sought out Mitch Jeter in the transfer portal. His career 92% field goal conversion rate spoke for itself, but those numbers mean nothing when staring down the 12th Man in College Station. In the Texas heat, however, the graduate kicker was as cool as ice. He nailed a 46-yarder on the opening drive and a 26-yarder later in the first quarter. The crown jewel was another 46-yarder to seal the game with 30 seconds on the clock. A&M could have held on to some hope getting the ball with a chance to tie the game. Jeter sucked that hope right out of them and let out an exhale for the whole Notre Dame team.
Offense does enough while defense dominates
An Irish win in Kyle Field always needed the defense to come up big. Al Golden’s group did that and then some. It held A&M to 246 total yards with only 100 through the air and turned over Connor Weigman twice. But beyond the impressive numbers, the Irish made plays when it mattered most, forcing a turnover on downs that turned the tide at the start of the second half, and three-and-outs before the game-winning drive and after it to help put the game to bed.
While the offense was far from explosive, it did enough to win. Having a reliable defense on the other side, all it had to do was avoid major mistakes. With no turnovers in the game, that’s exactly what it did. When it finally came time to step up, the offense put together a game-winning drive. As the young line gains experience throughout the year, the offense has nowhere to go but up, and it will have the defense to lean on as it develops. While it wasn’t pretty in the first game, it found a way to win.
