Saturday, Sept. 13
7:30 p.m. Eastern, 4:30 p.m. Pacific
NBC, Peacock
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish face a must-win situation here in Week 3. They could afford to lose once this season, and they lost at Miami on August 31. They can’t lose here. If they do, they will have to run the table the rest of the way to make the College Football Playoff.
Notre Dame defensive line must rise to the challenge
Fighting Irish were outplayed by Miami and must bounce back against Texas A&M
Notre Dame’s defensive line is supposed to be the strength of the Fighting Irish roster in 2025. Yet, that unit got outplayed by Miami in the loss to the Hurricanes. It is up to Notre Dame’s defensive line to set the tone in this game against Texas A&M and make sure the Aggies do not develop confidence or momentum on the road.
Last year, these two teams played a low-scoring and physical slugfest, with Notre Dame winning 23-13. The Fighting Irish will want to play the same type of game one year later. Notre Dame is built to win low-scoring games. When an opponent such as Miami scores 27 against the Irish, Notre Dame is generally in trouble. The Irish do not want to play 38-35 games. They want to take an early lead, force the opponent to pass and become predictable, and dictate the flow of play. Texas A&M needs something special from its offense to avoid being shut down by Notre Dame for a second straight season.
Texas A&M Aggies-Notre Dame Fighting Irish Odds
Hear TJ Rives and Jason Powers break down this game on the 3Dog Thursday Podcast by clicking Play below:
Spread: Texas A&M +6.5 (-110), Notre Dame -6.5 (-110)
Total: 49.5 (Over -110, Under -110)
Underdog moneyline: Texas A&M +220
The Notre Dame offense played poorly in the first two and a half quarters against Miami before finally waking up in the last 20 minutes to challenge the Hurricanes. CJ Carr showed promise by rallying the Irish in the fourth quarter before a late Miami field goal dealt Notre Dame a 27-24 defeat, but now the challenge is to play a complete game. Part of the issue facing the Notre Dame coaching staff is that while Carr is inexperienced, he does need to be trusted with the offense. There is no point in trying to protect a starting quarterback. If he is the QB1, he needs to be treated as such. The coaching staff has to show confidence in its leader.
Carr was shackled in the first half of the Miami game. When the coaching staff opened up the passing game and allowed Carr to do more, he thrived. That should be the lesson for coach Marcus Freeman against Texas A&M. Notre Dame’s offense needs to evolve for the Irish to return to the College Football Playoff.
Texas A&M has not been especially impressive in its first few early-season games. The A&M offense seems unlikely to do much damage against a Notre Dame defense which did not play well against Miami and will be highly motivated to perform better in this game. This seems like a game in which A&M’s defense will need to force turnovers and make key plays which flip – and shorten – the field. If the A&M defense does not help the Aggie offense, it is hard to see A&M winning this game or even covering the spread. Notre Dame -6.5 is the lean on the spread, but the better bet is the under. Notre Dame probably won’t score 27 or more points against the A&M defense, and A&M probably won’t score 20 or more points against the Irish defense. It would not be a shock if 23-13 is the final for the second straight year.