Notre Dame vs Texas A&M - Josh Pate's Preview & Prediction

what a week one game in College station Notre Dame at Texas A&M hat tip Notre Dame and anyone who has the stones to schedule big time every every game's out of conference for them but you get what I mean Big Time opponents in week one and to go on the road and do it hat tip Notre Dame all right now how's Notre Dame gon to find a way to win this game you're not going to see many folks picking Notre Dame they're a two and a half Point dog and yet it feels like the Clemson Georgia game in terms of looking at you know up picks to win this thing Notre Dame paper popper of a stat here maybe six of their last seven games versus the SEC decided by one score A&M 0 and four in one score games last year A&M six- one at home last year 0 and four on the road make of all that what you will Texas A&M's defensive front against Notre Dam's offensive line by 10 miles is the matchup everyone will talk about most coming into this one should the Notre Dame offensive line get ready to hear this stat all week six combined starts on this offensive line they are plugging a true freshman in in all likelihood at left tackle against Nick scorton um and Kyle Field just just to add insult to injury you get 110,000 and you get one of the best Edge rushers in the game and uh you you were in high school four months ago so let's have fun with that the rotation opposite of Nick scorton of just former four and five star Talent all over the place people have lost their minds if they think Mike Elco is having to rebuild or start over at A&M Shamar Stewart is still here DJ Hicks is still here shmar Turner Gabriel Brown L dendi these are all former five-star guys who will start or play significant minutes for Texas A&M Saturday night against guys who were going to be baptized in the white briest hot of fires imaginable this sport offers doesn't mean they can't win though just means it's going to be really tough there Riley Leonard is the quarterback at Notre Dame now and Riley Leonard was the quarterback at Duke last year his head coach was Mike Elco who is now the head coach at Texas A&M who does that favor I'm going to leave that up to you I will tell you this is the fifth week one quarterback Notre Dame has had in the last five years so not a lot of consistency in that front there are plays to be made against this A&M secondary there are probably plays to be made Chris Mitchell is a transfer receiver they got from FIU thousand yard guy last year do you have time do you are can that offensive line give him any time it won't consistently be there but in a game lowc scoring you see the total here at FanDuel it's 46 and a half in a game that figures to be this low scoring you know as well as I do what these games look like it looks very plotting and very slow and and three and out three and out three and out and then all of a sudden someone someone hits a slot receiver and he shakes one tackle and gets loose down the sideline boom he's inside the five first and goal gain of 46 and and the game just turned and the p i mean that the quarterback was one for his last eight for 12 yards but it doesn't matter because that one play Just sprung him got him down in the Red Zone they attack on seven that's the difference in a game that ends 23 to 20 that's the way this game probably plays out so I don't expect a consistent barrage in the passing attack can they hit a few of them and in the process can they avoid turning the ball over Connor wigman's season man quarterback there for Texas A&M it's Connor wigman's season and it's Connor wigman's season they're taking sort of a running back by committee approach it feels like at Texas A&M this Notre Dame defensive line and that linebacker core well I'll tell you the secondary as well I I trust them look they can clamp down on Texas A&M as well don't think they can't I I I keep I've heard some people break this game down and just talk about how many insurmountable edges A&M has these are not insurmountable edges you got one that's a big one but look Notre Dame could throw the Crowbar in A&M's offensive bicycle spokes as well so don't think it's impossible to go to the half here W with a nine to six kind of game that's very possible offensive line play last year at A&M was bad in pass Pro so if you got all that fixed and they're well on their way to doing it cuz they hired the right guys but if you've got all that fixed that's wonderful you're going to have to prove to me that you did that over the course of one spring and summer and fall lengthy drives like I said very unlikely two or three explosive plays I think decide this uh great offensive coordinator match up here Colin Klein Elco went and hired Colin Klein and you notice they went and got a few tight ends out of the transfer portal really good at using those guys and then you got Mike Dem who was last seen winning a Heisman with Jaden Daniels and he's up at Notre Dame now Colin let's take a look at what the model thinks we see FanDuel right now hasm minus two and a half the model has it little tighter than that gotm minus one now I know I just made the case for Notre Dame I didn't make a good enough case I think A&M's going to win the game I think they're going to cover I went on CBS Sports HQ earlier this week and I said I think the winner of this game will make the playoff winner of this game may make the playoff guys so if I got Texas A&M winning it and I'm looking at the odds to win the whole thing right now and A&M is kind of sort of up there I'm just saying we're going to learn a lot about A&M come Saturday and I think a lot of people are going to realize the cupboard wasn't nearly as bare as it felt a little shot of CEO a little shot of organization and a shot of newness may have been just what the Dr order at Texas A&M Cooper pegna put out the 247 sports team Talent composite the other day A&M sth seventh most talented roster in the country not a long way off not a long way off at all he immediately upgraded it at Duke immediately because if you've got some of the right ingredients in the kitchen and you've just had a no nothing in there and they hadn't made a good meal sometimes the okay that that threw Jimbo into the bus a little bit too much but if you bring a better Chef in sometimes he can make you a little bit better meal without having to go to the store that's about as M all as I can get on it [Music]