COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Jeremiyah Love broke a tie with a 21-yard touchdown run with 1 minute, 54 seconds left, and No. 7 Notre Dame beat No. 20 Texas A&M 23-13 on Saturday night in the opener for both teams.
Love burst through the line and shed two would-be tacklers before waltzing into the end zone to give the Fighting Irish the lead.
The Aggies had a chance to tie it, but Christian Gray jumped the route to knock down Conner Weigman’s fourth-down pass to give Notre Dame the ball back.
The Fighting Irish added Mitch Jeter’s 46-yard field goal with 30 seconds left.
Riley Leonard had a strong performance in his Notre Dame debut after transferring from Duke. He threw for 158 yards and added 63 yards rushing.
“It wasn’t pretty,” Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said. “The defense played lights out, (forced) turnovers. And our offense didn’t turn the ball over. Yes, there’s a lot of things we need to work on but man they did a great job at least trying to move the chains and… they didn’t make a detrimental mistake.”
Elko’s debut
Saturday was the debut for Texas A&M coach Mike Elko after he was hired from Duke this offseason following Jimbo Fisher’s firing late last season. Elko was looking to take the Aggies to the next level after last season’s disappointing 7-6 season but instead finds his team in an early 0-1 hole.
“I told the locker room for us to get this program over the hump, we have to put ourselves in the position to play the game the way we need to, and we didn’t do that tonight,” he said.
Running wild
Notre Dame had 198 yards rushing, led by 91 from Love. The game was tied at 6 with about seven minutes left in the third quarter when Jadarian Price escaped a tackle at the line, darted down the left side of the field and simply outran everyone for at 47-yard touchdown that put the Fighting Irish on top.
Linebacker Taurean York said improving the run defense will be a priority for the Aggies.
“Them running for 198 yards, that’s no bueno,” he said. “It starts with me, so it will be fixed.”
That’s sick
Television cameras caught Weigman vomiting as he returned to the sideline after a drive in the second half. Elko said he wasn’t ill and it wasn’t a big deal.
“In the heat of the moment just got a little sick,” he said. “Puke and rally.”
Key takeaway
Notre Dame: The defense — especially the secondary — was as good as advertised. Xavier Watts, whose seven interceptions were tied for most in the nation last year, got another one against the Aggies, and Adon Shuler added a second. Notre Dame held Texas A&M to 246 yards.
Texas A&M: Weigman will have to get better before SEC play begins after the A&M offense struggled to move the ball for most of the night. The Aggies’ only touchdown came on a 1-yard run by Le’Veon Moss with about 12 minutes left. Weigman managed just 100 yards passing with the two turnovers in his return after missing most of last season with a foot injury.
Up next
Notre Dame: Hosts Northern Illinois on Saturday.
Texas A&M: Hosts McNeese State on Saturday.