what we learned: texas A&M
A day after Notre Dame's 41 to 40 defeat to Texas A&M, the questions raised in Week 1 have their answer, and it is not a good one. This was the game that made clear Notre Dame's issue is not talent or effort. It is a defense that cannot get off the field when it matters most.
The Positives
It is difficult to find much comfort in a loss where a team blows a 40 to 34 lead with under three minutes to play, but the offensive explosion was real and should matter for the rest of the season. CJ Carr threw for 293 yards and a touchdown and added three more scores on the ground, and Notre Dame racked up 429 total yards against a Texas A&M defense that was considered one of the better units in the country entering the season. Jeremiyah Love's 12 yard touchdown run with under three minutes left should have been the game winning score, and the fact that Notre Dame's offense could manufacture that kind of response against a ranked opponent is a real sign of what this group is capable of once its execution catches up to its talent.
Up front, Guerby Lambert and Aamil Wagner had their best half of the season in the third quarter, opening consistent creases for Jadarian Price's 17 yard touchdown run and giving Carr a clean pocket on several of his best throws of the night. Individually, Christian Gray was one of the lone bright spots in Notre Dame's secondary, breaking up two throws in the red zone and playing with the kind of physicality the rest of the unit lacked for most of the evening.
The Negatives
Everything else about this game is a five alarm fire for the Notre Dame program this morning. The defense allowed 488 total yards, including a backbreaking 86 yard touchdown pass on the game's very first possession, and then, most damning of all, allowed Texas A&M to drive the length of the field and score the game winning touchdown with just 13 seconds remaining. A missed two point conversion attempt after Love's go ahead score looms enormous in hindsight, since a successful conversion would have made Texas A&M's final touchdown only good enough to tie.
Karson Hobbs was beaten badly on that opening 86 yard touchdown, biting on a double move that Marcel Reed and his receiver had clearly scouted, and he never fully recovered his confidence in coverage the rest of the night. The linebacker group did not fare much better. Jaylen Sneed and Drayk Bowen were consistently a half step slow in their run fits, allowing Texas A&M's backs to find soft spots on the game tying and game winning drives, and neither was able to disrupt the underneath passing game that Reed leaned on to move the chains on third down. Notre Dame also failed to convert a fourth and one on offense in the third quarter, a short yardage stop where the interior of the offensive line, including Sam Pendleton at center, could not get the necessary push, handing Texas A&M a short field it converted into points.
Marcus Freeman did not sugarcoat any of it afterward, telling reporters plainly that it was not good enough, not good enough in the run and pass, not good enough getting pressure on the quarterback. Two straight losses by a combined four points drop Notre Dame to 0 and 2, a start that puts the program's entire season, and any hope of a College Football Playoff berth, in serious jeopardy heading into next week's home game against Purdue.
Who Shined
CJ Carr took a significant step forward in just his second career start, and Jeremiyah Love was the best player on the field for either team, scoring what looked like the eventual game winning touchdown before the defense let the moment slip away. Christian Gray and the interior push from Lambert and Wagner were the rare individual bright spots on an otherwise difficult night.
Who Disappointed
This was a defensive collapse from top to bottom. Karson Hobbs' blown coverage on the opening touchdown set the tone for a rough night in the secondary, and Jaylen Sneed and Drayk Bowen struggled to fill run lanes on the drives that decided the game. The unit allowed 41 points and 360 passing yards to Marcel Reed, could not get consistent pressure, and, most critically, could not get a single stop in the final three minutes of the game when the season's first two wins were sitting right there for the taking. This loss, at 0 and 2, is the low point of Notre Dame's season so far, and there is no way to sugarcoat how much work lies ahead if this program wants to salvage its year.
