Texas A&M Stuns Notre Dame 41-40 on Late Touchdown

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Sept. 13, 2025 Notre Dame Stadium witnessed one of the wildest finishes in recent memory Saturday night, as No. 16 Texas A&M scored a touchdown with 13 seconds remaining to stun the Fighting Irish 41-40, dropping Notre Dame to 0-2 on the season.

The Irish led for much of the second half after erasing a 14-point deficit, but their defense couldn't hold in crunch time as the Aggies drove down the field in the final minutes to steal the win.

A Back-and-Forth Shootout

The two offenses traded blows all night. Notre Dame jumped out to a 14-7 first-quarter lead behind a blocked-punt touchdown and a CJ Carr touchdown run, but Texas A&M answered with three straight touchdowns to take a 28-24 lead into the third quarter.

Notre Dame surged back in front, 34-31, on a Jadarian Price touchdown run and a Ricardo Bond field goal answer, before Noah Burnette's 39-yard field goal put the Irish up 34-31. Texas A&M tied it again with a field goal, but Jeremiyah Love's 12-yard touchdown run gave Notre Dame a 40-34 lead with less than three minutes to play. A failed two-point conversion loomed large: Texas A&M drove the length of the field and connected on a touchdown pass with 13 seconds left, then converted the extra point to win it, 41-40.

Carr finished 20-of-32 passing for 293 yards and a touchdown, adding three rushing touchdowns as Notre Dame racked up 429 total yards. But it wasn't enough to overcome a Texas A&M offense that piled up 488 yards of its own, including an 86-yard touchdown strike from Marcel Reed to Mario Craver in the first quarter.

Freeman: "It's Not Good Enough"

Head coach Marcus Freeman didn't mince words in his postgame press conference, placing the blame for Notre Dame's 0-2 start squarely on his coaching staff and defense.

"It's not good enough," Freeman said. "Not good enough in the run and pass, not good enough getting pressure on the quarterback. We had some unexpected injuries but it doesn't matter. You're on the field, we've got to put you in position to make plays."

Freeman broke down the fatal sequence in the second half that allowed Texas A&M back into the game.

"We didn't convert the fourth-and-one offensively," Freeman explained. "They got the ball, I think at the minus 49, and ended up getting a field goal. But then the last three — that series and the two series after that — you give up another field goal, and then [a] TD at the end of the game. So it's a lot of work. It's not good enough."

Freeman took ownership rather than pointing fingers at individual players, a message he had delivered to his team all season regardless of results.

"You can say this guy didn't have his eyes where they needed to be," Freeman said. "Well, you can say it's the player's fault, or you can say, 'OK, were there times in practice that maybe your player didn't have his eyes in the right spot, and the outcome might have been different, but we tolerated it?' If a guy had a mental error on a play, he went the wrong way — you can make yourself feel better and say, 'Well, that's his fault, we did it right one time in practice.' Or you can say, 'Did we do it enough until we couldn't get it wrong?'"

What's Next

Notre Dame moved to 0-2 for the first time under Freeman, with the Fighting Irish's College Football Playoff hopes suddenly in serious jeopardy after two heartbreaking losses by a combined four points. Notre Dame hosted Purdue the following week looking to find its first win of the season.

Box Score

Texas A&M 41, Notre Dame 40 — Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, Ind.

SCORING BY QUARTER 1 2 3 4 F Texas A&M 7 21 3 10 — 41 Notre Dame 14 10 7 9 — 40

SCORING PLAYS Q1 13:14 — Blocked punt recovered by T. Johnson, TOUCHDOWN (ND 6-0) Q1 13:06 — N. Burnette PAT good (ND 7-0) Q1 9:47 — M. Reed 86-yd TD pass to M. Craver (ND 7-6) Q1 9:33 — R. Bond PAT good (ND 7-7) Q1 6:32 — J. Price 7-yd TD run (ND 13-7) Q1 6:30 — N. Burnette PAT good (ND 14-7) Q2 14:56 — N. Burnette 22-yd FG (ND 17-7) Q2 12:27 — L. Moss 1-yd TD run (ND 17-13) Q2 12:23 — R. Bond PAT good (ND 17-14) Q2 9:51 — C. Carr 36-yd TD pass to J. Love (ND 23-14) Q2 9:43 — N. Burnette PAT good (ND 24-14) Q2 5:37 — L. Moss 2-yd TD run (ND 24-20) Q2 5:32 — R. Bond PAT good (ND 24-21) Q2 1:14 — L. Moss 1-yd TD run (ND 24-27) Q2 1:11 — R. Bond PAT good (ND 24-28) Q3 8:23 — J. Price 17-yd TD run (ND 31-28) Q3 8:17 — N. Burnette PAT good (ND 31-28) Q3 0:49 — R. Bond 43-yd FG (ND 31-31) Q4 14:06 — N. Burnette 39-yd FG (ND 34-31) Q4 9:11 — R. Bond 45-yd FG (ND 34-34) Q4 2:59 — J. Love 12-yd TD run (ND 40-34) Q4 2:55 — Two-point attempt fails (ND 40-34) Q4 0:19 — M. Reed 11-yd TD pass to N. Boerkircher (ND 40-40) Q4 0:13 — R. Bond PAT good (ND 40-41, Final)

TEAM STATS Texas A&M Notre Dame Total Yards 488 429 Passing Yards 360 293 Rushing Yards 128 136 First Downs 24 23 Penalties-Yards 13-86 5-31 Turnovers 1 1 Time of Possession 26:53 33:07

PASSING Marcel Reed (TXAM) — 17/37, 360 yds, 2 TD, 1 INT CJ Carr (ND) — 20/32, 293 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT

RUSHING Texas A&M — 32 att, 128 yds, 4.0 avg, 3 TD, long 14 Notre Dame — 39 att, 136 yds, 3.5 avg, 3 TD, long 24

RECEIVING Texas A&M — 17 rec (37 targets), 360 yds, 2 TD, long 86 Notre Dame — 20 rec (32 targets), 293 yds, 1 TD, long 43

KICKING Ricardo Bond (TXAM) — 2/3 FG, long 45 Noah Burnette (ND) — 2/2 FG, long 39

DEFENSE Texas A&M Notre Dame Total Tackles 69 54 Sacks 2.0 0.0 Interceptions 1 1 Forced Fumbles 0 0 QB Hits 2 0