Head coach Marcus Freeman and the Notre Dame program are set for a very important matchup this week against the Texas A&M Aggies. Head coach Mike Elko and his Aggie team will battle the Fighting Irish on Saturday night in Notre Dame Stadium, a matchup between two top-20 teams in the country. It promises to be a very intriguing game that could go several different ways.

From the Notre Dame side, Irish fans have several storylines that they are going to keep a close eye on. Their opening season loss to the Miami Hurricanes left a lot to be desired and led to even more questions that need to be answered. Here are those storylines, what it means for this game specifically, and what every fan should be keeping a close eye on.

Jeremiyah Love and the run game 

Between the duo of Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price, they managed to rush the football just 16 times against the Miami Hurricanes in the first game. Quite frankly, no matter the circumstance, that just isn’t enough. Love is one of the very best playmakers in all of college football, and Price is no slouch either. Both of the talented runners need to get some early touches against the Aggies, and you could also see Love get some targets in the passing game. They need to get into a groove very early in this contest. 

First CJ Carr home start 

For a first start on the college level, CJ Carr did some really good things against Miami. When the offense had to open up a bit in the second half, you saw that the talented passer could create some chunk plays. It’ll be interesting to see if the Irish staff allows Carr to take an early shot or two. With some understandable adrenaline early in a first home start, it might be best for offensive coordinator Mike Denbrock to ease Carr in early. 

One thing to keep a close eye on when discussing Carr is whether the offense operates much RPO early in this game. While it is a part of Carr’s game, and should be, taking the tag off of it and just giving the football to Love might be a better idea. From there, you can run some play action to try and create some explosives off of it. Let the running game be the best friend for the 6-3, 210-pound passer. 

Notre Dame pass defense

The Irish defense under defensive coordinator Chris Ash has a very interesting matchup this weekend against Texas A&M. This is a remade Aggie passing game led by quarterback Marcel Reed. The competition hasn’t been great so far, but Reed has also shown a ton of growth in that department. It hasn’t hurt Reed to now have a couple of really talented transfer pass catchers to work with, including Kevin “KC” Concepcion (NC State) and Mario Craver (Mississippi State). With Concepcion being the short separator that wins after the catch, and Craver being more of a speedster, they are a tremendous compliment to each other.

There are a couple of ways to disrupt a passing attack, and the Irish need to have growth in both areas. It starts with creating pressure against Reed. We saw some tremendous flash plays from pass rusher Boubacar Traore, but it can’t be all on Traore. He is going to need some help. The coverage structure also needs to be better as well. Will Coach Ash play a little bit more man coverage? Will they allow Leonard Moore or Christian Gray to travel a bit due to matchups?

Only time will tell.

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Ryan Roberts