'Low-scoring brawl': Notre Dame @ Texas A&M Game Preview

Notre Dame at Texas A&M Notre Dame holds a three to2 series lead with this being the third regular season match up between the two they last played each other back in 2000 and 2001 and prior to those regular season games they met a cotton bow a couple times 87 92 and 93 these two teed up there in the cotton B so should be pretty interesting Mike Elco is the new Man In Charge there in College Station went 16 to9 as the head coach at Duke he had back-to-back eight- win Seasons pretty impressive in the ACC especially when you think about just how challenging the Duke job was prior to his arrival he won 65% of his games roughly which is the best by Duke head coach since 1945 so pretty impressive what Mike Elco was able to do and now he steps in at Texas A&M to replace Jimbo fiser but here's where Jimbo Fisher excelled Jimbo was pretty dang good pretty dang good these last couple years against AP top 10 teams now you're going to sit there and say well Jimbo has a had a whole multitude of challenges when he was the head coach of Anam don't disagree with any of that but when there was an AP top 10 team standing on the other sideline he was pretty solid they won four of their last five games against AP top 10 teams now none of those games were last year but still he has been a bit of a giant killer in his last few years and M has been at least but Mike Delo now steps in he's been a giant killer as well we all remember his season opening Victory against Clemson last year let's get to the question marks about this game and what might ultimately determine it number one 10 Colin Klein that's the new offensive coordinator for Texas A&M can his game plan neutralize a hyper aggressive defense here's the thing I don't think Texas A&M can just line up and block them just gonna be honest with you I don't think they can just line up and block all right hey we'll take this guy we'll take this guy I don't think A&M with the question marks that they have along the offensive line I don't think they can just say hey yeah we got it we can hold it down we're going to win that battle in the trenches no doubt about it I don't believe that to be true the good news is Colin Klein comes from Kansas State and he he played quarterback he understands the position but he's also Super Creative offensively especially in the Run game right they ranked in the top 10 in the FBS in jet sweeps uh they ranked in the top 10 with multiple pulling offensive linemen in some cases three pulling offensive lineman they crushed it in quarterback design Run game like they did a lot of amazing things and when they got in the Red Zone they scored I mean they were second in the FBS in Red Zone efficiency under Colin Klein now on the other side defensive coordinator Al golden been super aggressive in college football in his two years this is year number three they are seventh in pressure rate 38% and they've blitzed they they've blitzed at a ridiculous rate of 39% that's ninth in the sport now Notre Dame's strength their defensive tackles off the charts good Riley Mills Howard cross game Wreckers so I would expect Colin Klein to be real creative with how he tries to attack this defense knowing the strength of the team is right up the middle let's go next to question number two Ken Notre Dame's Belle leaguered offensive line block Texas A&M's defensive front now Joe alt and Blake fiser the two tackles from last year they're off to the NFL they've had a bunch of offensive lineman drafted since the 2018 draft Notre Dame has been o lineu for the most part but they lost their two tackles they lost their Center who transferred to NC State they lost their left tackle who was likely to start this upcoming season and Charles jagas saww he tore his Peck couple weeks ago so if you look at just the offensive line man that's a huge question Mark for Notre Dame the other problem is Mike Elco has a history of creating a lot of pressure with a bunch of disguised blitzes a bunch of stunts and movement and twists and things like that and he's got some really talented pieces to attack Riley Leonard with that's the quarterback there for the Irish headline in the group is Nick scon he a transfer from Purdue led the Big 10 in Sachs last year uh really just an elite weapon off the edge I mean he almost is all the time standing up on the outside but I think they might be able to move him around and and create some opportunities for him depending on where they identify the weak link I think you'll see scorting on the move some you also have two other great players Shamar Stewart and Shamar Turner not related these guys are excellent excellent Shamar Stuart going to play a little bit more on the edges Shamar Turner going to be playing a little bit more on the inside but my goodness these guys all move around they're extremely versatile and they're extremely disruptive so Mike Elco is going to put a lot of pressure on that Notre Dame offensive line because that might be the weak link for Notre Dame's offense question number three will Texas Cam's wide receivers be able to win against a super Elite Notre Dame Secondary now if you look at how A&M operated last year they didn't take a ton of chances downfield just 10% of Connor wigman's passes were thrown 20 or more yards downfield but when they did they were pretty good he was eight of 12 on throws like that last year now he was banged up but there are some question marks at wide receiver for ANM I think they have great length but I'm still in see it to believe it mode with their speed I think they have guys like Jade Walker who's 6'4 can make the contested 50/50 catch they have a guy like Noah Thomas who's 6'6 they have moose Muhammad who's Rock Solid on the underneath and intermediate routes and then you have the guy Cyrus Allen who comes from Louisiana Tech he's a big factor in the Deep passing attack the last couple years and has 12 receptions in his career on passes that were thrown 30 plus yards downfield that's the seventh most in the FBS over the last two seasons so keep an eye on Cyrus Allen but there's a few others too that they're pretty excited about in the wide receiver court but now is their chance to show it against a group that is so good across the board Benjamin Morrison everyone talks about will Johnson at M Michigan as a top pick I don't think Benjamin Morrison's that different from will Johnson I mean he's that good he is amazing allowed just one completion of 20 plus yards last year and remember he was draped on Marvin Harrison all throughout their game against Ohio State in 2023 they lost cam Hart and DJ brown but Christian Gray had a great first year last year at corner as well when you targeted him you didn't have a lot of success and then Xavier watts is back at safety he was a preseason AP All-American coming into the season and he was amazing last year did not allow a touchdown and coverage and manufactured a lot of interceptions got his hands on the football just has a real nose for the football there in the back end so tough to tango with that Irish secondary question number four is this the year that Notre Dame's passing attack finally takes flight AS we've already kind of hit I don't think Notre Dame's going to be able to just pound it against A&M right against that front I don't see it happen like that we know that they added Riley Leonard but he's never been super accurate on the intermediates he's never been crazy accurate on the downfield the downfield accur is just flat out bad for a guy's as talented as he is it's got to be better this year now he didn't push the ball down field very much but when he did he struggled he completed just 23% of his passes they were thrown 20 plus yards down field now I think he's got decent weapons I think that group has really improved the last couple years Mitchell Evans is back at tight end he tore his ACL last year but he's back at 100% he's a game changer there at tight end Jaden great housee is back kind of moved all over the field slot inside outside Jordan fa on solid receiver in the bowl game last year 115 yards he's a lacrosse player but he's in the slot he's got some juice and they made three notable transfers wide receiver from FIU Chris Mitchell who's a big- Time deep threat Bo Collins who's solid and steady pretty productive there in 23 at Clemson and then Jaden Harrison is a transfer over from Marshall that also has great top end speed a couple Trends in this game Texas A&M 3 and0 against the spread against top 10 teams at home since 20120 that's tied for third best over that span Georgia and Kentucky are both 4 and0 I'm taking the Irish in this game if you look at A&M if I felt better about Texas A&M's receivers and if I felt better about Texas A&M's offensive line I think it'd be a much more challenging choice but I believe that with what they're going to see against a mobile quarterback and Riley Leonard I think Notre Dame wins the game in what should be a low-scoring brawl this going to be a crazy physical game a game that might be decided by one drive or another but I think it's a low-scoring really tough physical football game I like Notre Dame's defense just a bit more at all three levels but I do think that A&M's defensive line is capable of taking over the game however still rolling with the Irish as of this moment