"A gutsy win!" — FULL REACTION to Notre Dame's HUGE 23-13 victory vs. Texas A&M

to steal a line from ESPN's Scott Van Pelt Jack it is midnight past midnight on the east coast and I am not tired yet I actually might be a little bit tired I am also a little bit tired I might be a lot of bit tired but we we power through it and nobody in blue and gold in this Stadium tonight is tired right now I can assure you that because this is the site Kyle Field College Station Texas of Notre Dame's 23-13 season opening victory over the Texas A&M agies Jack they needed it they got it in the fourth quarter the game was hanging in the balance Jeremiah Love said I'm going to go win this football game and that was really only one of the plays in which Notre Dame said we're going to go win this football game yeah Jeremiah Love said that Riley Leonard said that Bo Collins said that Jaden greous said that with that uh third down conversion at the beginning of the final drive the offensive line said that and the offensive line which struggled like we knew they would everyone knew they would struggle in this game Anthony nap struggled Sam Pendleton struggled but you know what Sam Pendleton had a fantastic block on on jarian price excuse me's touchdown run in the third quarter Anthony knp Held his own that final drive a lot of players tonight did not play perfect but they but Notre Dame has not win without them the best way to describe this win just gutty that was a gutty gutsy win and what did we talk about what did everybody talk about going into this game it was going to be ugly I joked on one of our hey haa videos if Notre Dame can win this thing 3 to2 they would take that 2 to zero like the the ugliest score then you can imagine 23 to 13 All Things Considered ended up being like you take that and run with it you are flying back to Southbend happy if you're Notre Dame because of the the people that you said stepped up and made plays in the end we have to shout out the the Notre Dame defense I mean that's where it starts with this team a Don Schuler first career interception Xavier wats is that his eighth career interception I don't think he had any before last season he had seven last season so the turnovers were huge Jack the Notre Dame offense for as much as it struggled like you said there were some times where Riley Leonard was a sit and duck and the the pressure got to him no sacks allowed huge statistic no turnovers huge statistic they didn't make the big mistake Jack we're going to spend a minute talking about the Notre Dame defense absolutely warranted but first we got to go back to that eight-play 85 yard drive that really sealed the game for Notre Dame I know Mitch Jeter ends up actually sealing the game with the 46 yard his second 46 yard make of the game by the way he was good from 46 46 I believe somewhere in around 30 yards 35 yards somewhere something like that he was perfect in his Notre Dame debut but that drive Jack 13 to13 game everything is hanging in the balance you talked about the Jaden great house first down uh Bo Collins making a play Riley Leonard just keeping things alive and then ultimately right after the two-minute warning Jeremiah Love says hey I'm going to take this thing into the end zone that was third down was it not I mean at that point you you might have to kick a field goal if you're Notre Dame but going up a touchdown you could feel the Notre Dame fans who were sitting in this end zone here saying oh my gosh I think that's it it ended up being it yeah it ended up being it they were just a lot of big plays on that drive Ry Leonard figured out like Bo Collins got one-on-one coverage you can trust him to get the ball and that that is what he did this was a Notre Dame offense that really didn't have its best weapon Mitchell Evans or it's most probably most reliable weapon Mitchell Evans for most of the game they really only played him on third downs but they they just found a way they they found a way we can talk about all the stats we want I rard I think it was 5.3 yards per attemp that's obviously not good it it doesn't matter like it we we really we honestly we could care less about about the stats from this game all that matters that is they got out with the win like I said if they would have won this thing two to nothing they would have taken it but this this ends up being for what I was saying all week would have been Marcus Freeman's biggest road Victory maybe biggest victory since he's been at Notre Dame our own Kyle Kelly captured that encapsulated it with the video go check out his social media I don't think I've ever seen Marcus Freeman that fired up and and the coolest part is he was locked in he was engaged he had a conversation with Mike Den Brock where they told each other before that 8pl 85 5 yard Drive hey this is it this is what we envisioned this is how we go win a football game and they actually did it I've been waiting for Marcus Freeman le football team to do that on the road like the Clemson game uh Louisville was was tied 1313 at one point just like this game was tied 1313 they went out and won this football game yeah a lot of they proved Marcus rean proved a lot of people wrong tonight including me including us we both picked A&M to win we we thought this was a tossup we thought it would be a a slugfest it was it was a slugfest for probably really the whole game it it was nothing was easy for this offense they just they they had more guts than than A&M it is a Monumental Road win and the the team knew it like you talked about Marcus Freeman being happy like I have never seen like throughout last year I did not see Notre Dame like that elated and and relieved a little bit like watching Howard cross walk around at the end of at the end of the game he's like staring up at the heavens he's flailing his arms everywhere he looked exhausted he looked like I never seen a human being happier than Howard cross looked after that game Riley Leonard we we caught him hugging Gino guli afterwards like got it done when it mattered most this was cathartic this was they needed a win this program needed a win like this so so badly and and they got it and the season can the season is in a great spot right now exactly and the other side of the coin was it would have been pure dejection just the worst Vibes that you can imagine but just like that you FP it you you do what you have to do you're going home to South Bend happy campers the Notre Dame defense is a big reason why you're going home to Notre Dame happy campers you mentioned Howard cross he had one of the better sacks that we're going to see all season probably where he just wiggled his way through the middle of the defensive line or the offensive line and you knew okay that guy's going to get a sack on this play and he and he finished the job Don Schuler with his uh first interception of his career Xavier Watts gets his eighth interception of his career just the plays that that side of the ball made it never really really felt maybe there was a minute when it was 13 to13 where you felt oh man A&M has the momentum it's the fourth quarter the home team's going to go and do what Notre Dame did and go on a game-winning drive this Notre Dame defense wouldn't let it happen yeah and we we talk about the offense being gutty like we got to give some credit to the defense like a couple drives in that game including the one that tied at 13 the defensive defensive line in particular got its butt kicked up front they were getting push back two three yards off off the ball A&M was getting whatever they wanted in the Run game they just kept coming back onto the field and shutting them down the pass defense as we knew it would be was phenomenal Benjamin Morrison Christian Gray made Christian Gray made the game saving play uh game really game game clinching play on that fourth down at the end of the game in his I believe his first career start Howard cross was great Riley Mills made some some run stopping plays the linebackers I thought were good Don Schuler and Xavier Watts made made got those interceptions I mean it it was just a complete team effort and I I think I I if I were not Dame I'd be proud of this one did you mention Benjamin Morrison going out of the game yeah back into went out of the game came back into the game yeah that's the guts that's that's the gutty nature of this football team that what they displayed here tonight and it was enough to like you said I want to go back to your larger point of propelling Notre Dame into what this season could be we don't quite frankly we don't know what Notre Dame is going to be we don't know what Texas A&M is going to be but when you've only played one football game Jack you want to win that one football game you want to be the one and0 team leaving this game not the 0 and-one team leaving this game and you could get a sense in the press conference from both Marcus Freeman and Riley Leonard sigh of relief they know there's a lot more coming for this team uh there's going to be a lot more adversity as well but when you're able to attack that having overcome this like Marcus Freeman said it he knew it was going to be a fourth quarter foot or fourth quarter footb game the team that punched more had more fight in the fourth quarter was going to win that was his team on the road in front of 107,000 fans who didn't want that to be the case impressive very very impressive yeah and just Elation from the N Dame fans dejection from the Texas A&M fans like they silenced this crowd at the end it was I you know a lot of lot of surrender cob bring lot lot of lot of Yell Leaders looking looking pretty depressed it was a it was a bit of a shocking scene uh being on the field to the at end of that game it was a shocking scene so let's let's kind of wrap this up by saying that this is a 60-minute football game and I remember going at at halftime I put out a tweet how are you feeling Notre Dame fans The Vibes weren't great they weren't good so how do you kind of compartmentalize what that first half was what maybe that means for Notre Dame's offense moving forward I know it's not going to look like that against Northern Illinois or Purdue or Miami of Ohio how do you compartmentalize that Jack because there were large stretches this game where you're thinking oh no is is this Notre Dame offense the offensive line Riley Leonard even at some points is this bad is this bad on that side of the ball how how do you kind of weigh that R Leonard missed some throws there were some miscommunications we either Leonard or jerem my I love messed up which should have been a touchdown in uh after the Scher pick in the first half right there yeah right there I for most of the run plays this game Jeremiah 11 jarian price had nothing B bottled up just this A&M defensive line I think we can agree was as advertised I Nick scorton Shamar Shamar Turner Shamar Stewart were are hulking monsters that that made some plays in this game but like we talked about it for a while Mike denrock talked about it like this is the worst that the offense will be this season all they need to do is get past this game now they have they they obviously can't take a breath they they can't sit sit sit back and say we're going to beat Illinois cuz then that's what they did against Marshall and you know what happened then but they have a a period of a few weeks I think three games before Louisville that they should win and they have time to get this offense right by by the next by the next big big challenge they have they have time for this offense to get better and they have a lot more breathing room and a lot more Majin because they escaped kle Jas with a win you mentioned Texas A&M's defense specifically the defensive line Marcus Freeman said that's the best defensive line that we're going to face all season this young Notre Dame offensive line technically by the stats sheat Jack zero sacks allowed I want to I want to mention that Riley Leonard is a big part of that did he did he talk a little bit he admitted that in the postgame press conference a little bit too early sometimes absolutely a running quarterback is always going to have that tendency but at the end of the day Riley Leonard got himself out of the out of situations he got the ball out of his hands cuz he took some Pops in this game it wasn't zero hits he took some hits he got the ball out he moved when he needed to but then at the end of the day Jack I also think that this Notre Dame offensive line against the best defensive line that it's going to face all season held up just enough for Notre Dame to do what it needed to do to get a victory yeah the the best defensive line it's going to face all season it was the worst it's going to be all season because now all of a sudden 11 career starts in a week 16 career starts how about that it's math for you folks how about that math I was told there would be none of it but there's just a little little counting tonight I no I mean it it was that was another part of the guts like they Anthony nap got undressed a few times by Nick scorton by Shamar Stewart again as as we knew he would we uh nothing about this offensive performance is panic worthy because we've said for months that that we knew it would be something like this if you were surprised by by the offensive performance you probably weren't paying attention all off season now that they've gotten past A&M it's just up from here shout out to Tim Hyde he said for months first team to 20 wins yep first team to 21 this football game so I I agreee with you 100% offense will get better and it and it was good enough tonight and that's all you needed tonight defense was great was Elite we thought that was going to be the case it was that's going to stay that way Notre Dame is going to have a great defense all season long I I I can rest assured I think it's going to be that way we we know that that's what that side of the ball is so when you put those two things together the offense going to get better the defense going to stay where it's at and they they completely styed this team tonight I think I think we do need to mention this though the penalties if not for penalties Texas A&M probably never scores a touchdown in this game so clean that up again it's you're playing on the road in one of the hardest environments so defense is great clean up the penalties clean up the offense like Riley Leonard said this is a playoff football team if everything goes that way yeah uh final thought Al Golden's genius I don't think there was a single third down where Conor wigman wasn't on their duress you saw you saw a lot of that from Mike Elko he had the offensive line perplexed with some blit Blick packages but Al golden the the true genius of Al golden that first drive A&M has largely marched down the field it's third and I think three uh he FS pressure from the outside Jaden Osberry comes up the middle like stra straight down the gut they don't block him he forces an Aaron throw field goal that's the genius of Al golden he he gets he gets the effect of seven rushers with five or four and that was a big difference tonight my last my final thought is in our hey Ora if you had a drink every time I said the word answer you probably was would have still been hung over for this game but that's what it was Jack that they kept answering Al golden answered that first drive Notre Dame kept answering on the scoreboard eventually got ahead stayed ahead the Irish are one and0 heading into their home opener against Northern Illinois we will both be there we will have a video like this after that game home opener in Southbend Indiana after 100,000 people screaming in their ears this Notre Dame team is going to be happy to be at home we're going to be happy to bring you that coverage so go back to this YouTube channel throughout the week we will have coverage leading into that game and then like I said after the game so that's Jack soble I'm Tyler haa and we will see you guys next week