The Notre Dame versus Texas A&M matchup is a football game that hasn’t gotten nearly the attention it deserves this week. The Fighting Irish and Aggie squads both sit inside the top-20 ranked teams nationally, yet Notre Dame fans still seem a bit down over the opening season loss to the Miami Hurricanes. 

While it was a deflating loss, head coach Marcus Freeman still has the Irish in a solid spot to make another playoff run. That early loss, however, has decreased the team’s margin for error. Two losses would make things a bit difficult to make the playoff field down the road, so having a nice performance in Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday night is important. 

Like every football team, there are going to be some great parts, some ugly, and even more uncertainty after one game. Most people had one vision of this Fighting Irish team entering the 2025 college football season, but the on-field product down in Hard Rock Stadium didn’t quite match expectations. More film is needed to fully understand their identity. 

While it might read somewhat like a prediction, there are some parts of this Notre Dame team that I feel confident about, and others that are a much bigger mystery. Here’s what we can make of this team. We will hopefully learn more this weekend. 

The outstanding 

For the first time in a very long time, I believe that Notre Dame has as many talented athletes as just about anyone in college football. For those programs that have more, it isn’t at an extreme volume comparatively. When you think about that game against the Hurricanes, they were able to get back into the game despite neither the offensive or defensive lines playing well. 

Why do you ask?

It’s because the Irish were the faster team, which is saying something against a program like Miami. When they are asked to be aggressive, this Notre Dame secondary will be able to match up athletically against anyone. Leonard Moore and Christian Gray is an extremely gifted cornerback duo, as is the rest of the secondary. 

You also have some legitimate playmakers on offense, including superstar running back Jeremiyah Love. When you throw in fellow running back Jadarian Price, as well as wide receivers Malachi Fields, Jaden Greathouse, and Jordan Faison, and tight end Eli Raridon, there are plenty of options for quarterback CJ Carr. This is a fast team, whether outsiders want to admit it or not. 

The ugly 

Who would have thought that in the year 2025 that we would be having a conversation around uncertainty on the offensive line? That’s exactly where we are following the game against Miami. This isn’t just an Anthonie Knapp at left tackle conversation. Starting right tackle Aamil Wagner also struggled mightily, as did the right guard duo of Guerby Lambert and Sullivan Absher. 

The Irish team appears set to roll out the same offensive line and hope it gets a ton better. Perhaps Coach Freeman and Joe Rudolph are right, or maybe that offensive line continues to struggle. Will there be an answer if the latter prevails? 

It is uncertain what to believe about that offensive front right now, but it certainly didn’t inject confidence into the fanbase during that first game. It was ugly. 

The uncertain 

It may not be fair, but new defensive coordinator Chris Ash was extremely underwhelming in his first game, and there will be questions until Notre Dame demonstrates some sort of answers. Some will point to the early portion of Al Golden’s tenure with the Irish, and the fact that some parts of the fan base also wanted him out. That perspective is certainly fair, and we will need a larger sample size to really know what Coach Ash brings to the table. 

We have heard all offseason that Coach Ash wasn’t running his defense, but the Notre Dame defense. The latter had been built off of aggressiveness and playing a ton of man coverage. “Passive” was a word that never would have been used to describe that unit, but that’s how it looked in game one. It will be curious to see if there is an evolution to that identity on Saturday night.

College Football

The Texas A&M Aggies have an advantage that Notre Dame football will need to find an answer to heading into the home opener 

There is a defensive adjustment that the Notre Dame Fighting Irish should consider against the Texas A&M Aggies offense

Ryan Roberts