Notre Dame vs Texas A&M | College Football Predictions, Picks and Best Bets

[Music] the biggest game of the weekend the game that could have the most playoff implications in week one and my apologies for talking cfp right now but what a matchup right new head coach Mike OKO and the Texas A&M figh Aggies they welcome in Marcus Freeman and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to College Station we got a lot of fighting going on here kickoff slated for 7:30 p.m. eastern Time on ABC this spread bounced around a lot over the summer we have now settled in Texas A&M is a three-point home favorite Notre Dame on the money line plus 134 which by the way you want to take Notre Dame it's minus 115 so a little bit of juice there um but yeah Notre Dame money line if you want to take them out right plus 134 and the total at bet us is sitting at 46 A5 that means the implied score is around 25 to 22 on this game and this one's a fun helmet game so we're going to talk helmets on this one the golden domes against the agie maroon uh what is your favorite Parker can you pick against the Notre Dame helmet that feels like picking against apple pie in America in baseball on the fourth of July right that's that's true that's true KY what about you let's take Notre Dame with the golden dome there that's y'all know I'm a traditionalist I'm GNA side with Notre Dame as well I'm going to side as well A&M fans don't get upset about this it's just Notre Dame Under Freeman Notre Dame six and three against the spread on the road that is not too shabby A&M at home they are only five and five against the spread in their last 10 but they are 4-2 against the number in their last six as a home favorite still Trends they're not quite strong enough for me on this one Kyle storylines my brother Elco and you know his former Duke quarterback Riley Leonard you got Elco being the DC at Notre Dame before becoming A&M's DC Colin Klein turned down the chance to be Notre Dame's offensive coordinator Once Upon a Time and and now he's the Texas A&M offensive coordinator uh tell me what you're reading into this one yeah um this is a really tough game to bet I'm going to say that right off the Jump there are so many changes for both teams um I want to get out here and say you know this is amazing play take this on a bunch of games and I know people like to make bets uh I think I did just take three in a row so uh I'm not GNA have a bet on this game uh scor's about to eat in a big way against this offensive line for sure uh Notre Dame's running attack definitely got worse in the offseason the passing attack got a lot better uh Notre Dame's defensive line very good I do trust Notre Dame's secondary to be good again Elco a massive coaching upgrade how quick does it work I really want to see that before I try to bet on that I feel like it's kind of guess workor so it feels like one of those games where um I I want to sit back and watch this game and learn a lot for the future rather than bet on this one I will say I lean to the under um someone in the chat asked um I had 45 for the total here and I I guess I would still take the under if I had to bet it but this one's already moved down so slightly into the under I have no idea what to do with the side what do you guys think here it got under 47 and I was no longer interested in the in the under on this one um but my numbers right around yours I've got 44.7 for a total uh and my totals are not great so I don't know what that necessarily means but Parker is this game as simple as Notre Dame you know they're starting five underclassman on the offensive line and then you know scon and the defensive tackle Shamar Turner that they're just going to Feast is that how easy this is I yeah I think it's super easy to go look look at this Texas A&M defensive line and look at this Notre Dame offensive line audre G is not there Riley Leonard is has struggled with some health in the off season um but I want to hit you with a not so fast my friend because uh Texas A&M has some turnover on the offensive line and if you guys want to get weird for a second uh Notre Dame has two guys in the interior one of them being Howard cross who you know we're at the top of the nation and pressures created from the interior defensive line cross can play at multiple positions uh I think this is probably one of the most fascinating trench battles that we're going to get all season because of the turnover initially Notre Dame didn't go to the transfer portal for an upper class lineman they've recruited their guys they've developed it like they like these guys and so I'm interested to see what they can put out there I do think that line play on both sides of the ball for offense will on both offenses will will struggle a little bit so that actually you know certainly speaks towards towards the idea of of an under there I I like Texas a I'm in the spot I've said that I'm on them uh Wegman does have a little bit of experience they're they're going to be a little more talented and I do think that Notre Dame's position on the offensive line is much worse that being said you know Notre Dame was you know third an opponent adjusted EPA per play last year uh against the past I think they'll give Wegman uh some serious issues and create some pressure to say all right kid you've got some good numbers and limited in in limited time against Bad competition but these These are the big boys what's nice for both of these teams is that um they don't have to win this game to have the season that they want to have it's a little weird in the in the 12 team playoff here but uh I I'm not going to have a play here even though I I do agree with you guys about plays on the under um I I really am watching this for what are the lines going to look like and just how disruptive are these two defensive lines I think both offenses are going to be in hell all game that's that's what I want to see right this fantastic Al golden Notre Dame defense I want to see what he can do to Connor wigman because I don't know how much I trust the A&M offensive line as you mentioned with three new starters two of them are transfers coming in on the other side I mean this A&M team doesn't look like the one that Den Brock the the Notre Dame offensive coordinator doesn't look like the one that he faced when he was at LSU the last couple years like Notre Dame lost their starting left tackle Charles jagas saww and and that's when the spread really started moving uh A&M lost the running back Ruben Owens but I mean they got dudes back there already my number on this liked Notre Dame by one and a half I'd likely lean that way anyway I mean way smarter people than me are are siding with the Aggies so I'm I'm staying away from it I do kind of like the under but not strong enough for an official play so you know if you're questioning we kind of like an underplay and I personally at 3 I kind of like Notre Dame here but I'm I ain't getting in front of that freight train I'll tell you that so no no locks on this one [Music] [Music]