Notre Dame visited College Station Saturday night for a marquee top-20 showdown against Texas A&M, and the No. 7 Irish emerged victorious 23-13 in a game that was much closer than the final score indicates.
In his first game as a member of Marcus Freeman's offense after transferring from Duke, quarterback Riley Leonard took down his former head coach Mike Elko in a solid performance. The Irish rushed 198 yards and both of the team's touchdowns in the win while its receivers pulled in 18 catches.
Texas A&M was led by sophomore Conner Weigman, who threw for 100 yards and two interceptions. Running back Le'Veon Moss gave the Aggies 70 yards on the ground on 20 carries along with one touchdown, but that was the only score the team would put in the end zone all night.
Here's everything to know about Notre Dame's dramatic win over Texas A&M, including how Jeremiyah Love's gutsy touchdown secured an Irish victory.
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How Notre Dame pulled off dramatic win over Texas A&M
With the game tied at 13 and 6:12 remaining in the fourth quarter, the Irish took over at their own 15. Leonard directed an 85-yard drive that ended with Love sprinting in from 21 yards out on the first play after the two-minute timeout.
Leonard started the drive with a run of nearly 10 yards and Love was driven back on a run before the quarterback completed back-to-back passes to get Notre Dame to midfield.
Leonard then kept it for a run of 11 yards before Love sought redemption, powering forward another 18 yards and snagging one more on the next carry to the Aggies' 21-yard line. Then, it was none other than the sophomore running back who slipped through Texas A&M's defense on the following play and powered into the end zone for a 21-yard score, giving Notre Dame the lead with just under two minutes remaining in the game.
GOTTA LOVE IT#GoIrish☘️ | @JeremiyahLove pic.twitter.com/JAZjSjbPgo
— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) September 1, 2024
Mitch Jeter nailed the extra point to make the score 20-13. The Aggies subsequently went four-and-out on the next drive, which ended with a spectacular pass breakup on fourth down by cornerback Christian Gray in his first start.
In his first career start, Christian Gray might have just sealed a Notre Dame win. pic.twitter.com/incU2j9vYw
— Jack Soble (@jacksoble56) September 1, 2024
Three plays later, the Irish cemented the win with a 46-yard field goal that gave ND its first win against a ranked SEC team since 2004.
How Riley Leonard fared against his old coach
The senior quarterback faced off against Elko for the first time since the pair left Duke and went their separate ways at the end of 2023—Leonard to Notre Dame and Elko to College Station. According to his commendable performance against the Aggies on Saturday, it's safe to say Leonard is fitting in to Freeman's offense quite well.
He was perfect on the team's game-winning drive, completing two passes and rushing for 20 yards. Leonard finished the contest with 158 passing yards and 63 yards on the ground, contributing in any way he could to help seal the win.
Heres a look at Leonard's stats from the 10-point victory.
| CMP | ATT | CMP% | YDS | AVG | TD | INT | LNG | RTG |
| 18 | 30 | 60 | 158 | 5.3 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 104.2 |
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Mike Elko loses his debut at Texas A&M
Though Elko's Aggies fought until the bitter end, the coach was unable to pull out a win in his debut as Texas A&M's head coach. The team failed to score a touchdown until the fourth quarter and put up over 100 yards fewer than Notre Dame overall despite maintaining nearly the same amount of possession.
Last year, Elko led Duke to its best record (9-4) since 2014. The last time he lost a season opener was in 2021 when the Blue Devils were upset by Charlotte 31-28.
While holding the Irish to 13 points until late in the game is certainly an achievement, Elko will need to determine how the Aggies offense will move forward after settling for just two field goals in the first three quarters.
Thankfully, the road for Elko and Texas A&M smooths out from here. The Aggies stay at home next week to take on McNeese before heading to Florida where they'll take on a Gators program that was knocked around by Miami.
Texas A&M-Notre Dame stats
Despite being nearly even on first downs and possession, it's clear Notre Dame outplayed the Aggies in the end. Here's a look at some of the team stats from Saturday's game.
| Notre Dame | Stat | Texas A&M |
| 356 | Total yards | 246 |
| 18 | First downs | 17 |
| 158 | Passing yards | 100 |
| 18-30 | Comp-Att | 12-30 |
| 0 | Interceptions thrown | 2 |
| 198 | Rushing yards | 146 |
| 34 | Rushing attempts | 38 |
| 5.8 | Yards per rush | 3.8 |
| 11-99 | Penalties-yards | 6-55 |
| 0 | Turnovers | 2 |
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