Following Jimbo Fisher’s record breaking $77.5 million contract buyout, and a 7-6 season
in 2023, Texas A&M hired then Duke head coach Mike Elko to take over the Aggies operations. Elko had been Notre Dame’s DC in 2017 before becoming DC for the Aggies under Fisher from 2018-2021, a position that eventually earned him Duke’s top job. The hire was a much-desired reunion for Elko and the Aggies, and he wasted no time building his staff, bringing in new coordinators Jay Bateman from the Gators, and Collin Klein from Kansas State.
Photo via Texas A&M Athletics
There’s been a lot of discourse in previewing this game about Texas A&M’s “rebuild” with Elko, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Elko inherited an Aggies team that returned 72% of their overall production, good for 18th in ESPN’s Returning Talent Index, along with the 7th most talented roster of 2024 according to 247Sports’s Team Talent Composite. Both of these scores trump Notre Dame’s no. 10 ranking on the Talent Composite, and their 60% returning talent score. The question for the Aggies isn't “do they have enough talent?” but “can they harness that talent and turn it into the success they've been looking for?”
Texas A&M Statistics
Notre Dame’s main weakness in this game is something typically known as one of their strengths - the offensive line. The left side of Notre Dame’s front five, Joe Alt and Blake Fisher, left via the NFL Draft, and center Zeke Correll made his exit through the transfer portal. The moves were tough but survivable, until the unit lost Charles Jagusah. After Joe Alt opted out of Notre Dame’s bowl game last year, Jagusah earned his first start and helped the Irish plow ahead for 236 yards on the ground. Combined with a solid offseason, it was enough to earn him the starting job for the 2024 regular season, until he went down shortly after in preseason camp with a torn right pectoralis. With Jagusah out for the season, the remaining offensive linemen have a combined 6 starts between them. The Aggies will be gunning for Notre Dame’s young and thin left side through Purdue transfer and 2023 BIG10 sack leader Nic Scourton, who will be a threat from the beginning.
There’s a narrative surrounding Notre Dame that claims they’re unable to compete at a high level with the likes of SEC schools, primarily due to the infamous 2012 National Championship loss to Alabama. But over the last 10 years, the Irish are 4-3 against the likes of Alabama, LSU, Georgia, Vanderbilt, and South Carolina, with 6 of those matchups being
decided by a single score. Interestingly, the Irish have only traveled to an SEC campus once over the last 10 years (2019 @ UGA) and the 2024 trip to Kyle Field will be the second. As silly as it sounds, Texas A&M’s infamous 12th man may be the biggest intangible of this matchup. The fans at Kyle Field are notoriously intense, consistently ranking in the top-5 toughest places to play in the country and consistently reaching decibel recordings of over 125db. For context, anything over 110db is considered unsafe for human hearing, and all 110,000 A&M fans will be going nuts for Elko’s night game - home field debut. As if the stage for this clash couldn’t get any bigger, ESPN’s College Gameday will be live in College Station to add just that much more hype.
The Aggies backfield was a 3-man split in 2023, with near-even touches going to Amari Daniels, Le’Veon Moss, and Rueben Owens. Such was the plan for 2024, until Owens suffered a lower-leg injury in early August, sidelining him for the year. Thankfully, A&M’s other two backs both accounted for more yards and scores than Owens, and will likely be able to produce enough offense in his absence. Outside of Owens’ injury, the rest of A&M’s squad is starting the season healthy, including 3rd year QB Conner Weigman, who started 4 games in 2023 before a foot injury sidelined him for the rest of the year.
Elko coached new Notre Dame QB Riley Leonard during their two years at Duke, and the pair know one another quite well. While this could be a potential leg up for either side, Elko’s depth of knowledge and defensive prowess gives him the advantage in our book, as he knows exactly what to do to contain his former dual-threat QB. The Irish will need to establish a solid run game early to make getting Leonard into a passing rhythm easier, all in hopes of avoiding a reliance on his legs too early, making him a target. If they can do that, the Irish can use his mobility to keep A&M honest and really begin to open things up. The biggest knock on Leonard thus far has been his consistency, so the bottom line is, which Riley Leonard does Notre Dame get in week 1?
As of right now, the Aggies are 3-point favorites, and Vegas has the O/U at 46, so scoring will likely be moderate, but it’ll likely come down to the wire and stay competitive until
the end, regardless of who wins. It'll be a defensive struggle, and likely lower on scoring action, but the defensive approach to play will allow openings for game-changing broken plays, or huge momentum-shifting chunk plays. The numbers show that Notre Dame can hang with the likes of A&M, but the unknown truly comes down to the venue, and whether or not it'll be too much for Freeman and all his new pieces.
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