Notre Dame vs. Texas A&M Preview & Prediction | The Mike Elko Era Begins in College Station v. Irish

[Music] Notre Dame at Texas A&M Texas A&M a three-point favorite at home that number a little not not alarming but like I I'd expected all summer that Notre Dame would be tied or maybe have the be a favorite in this game they have lost a few players to injury along the offensive line ryy Leonard certainly Mike Elco the coach at Texas S&M very familiar with Riley Leonard we have talked about this game Stephen all summer long as being a deciding factor for Notre Dame by the way they will play Florida State later and if Notre Dame loses this game and Florida state has a loss that game's an elimination game potentially later Texas A&M could set itself up for a very quick return to prominence if they were to win this game at home I think the matchup favors them in a big way along the line of scrimmage how do you see this playing out for Texas A&M and Notre Dame in College Station I hate to make everything about the playoff before we get started but it does feel like there is some playoff implications here because of you know Notre Dame's preseason top 10 you've got A&M who could be kind of a sleeper this year so um there a lot of like new pieces that I think I'm interested to see like I'm interested to see uh Riley Leonard and Mike de Brock how does that duo work together the familiarity that they have with A&M because you know di Brocks played A&M when he was the LSU offensive coordinator you got Riley Leonard who knows Mike elko's defense very well so a lot of familiarity in kind of a way between these two teams but I think just the the individual kind of matchups in this game the biggest I think mismatch on paper is going to be that A&M defensive line against the Notre Dame offensive line I mean Notre Dame could start a true freshman and a red shirt freshman on the left side of the offensive line and you're going against a top 10 defensive front for Texas A&M so um defenses for both sides I think Notre Dame's defense Rock Solid one of the best in the country I think A&M can get there as well how do the two quarterbacks perform you've got two I think Connor wigman's going to have a breakout year we know um Bry Leonard's been solid to so this one to me is how fast can Notre Dame's offensive line kind of get up to the up to speed to match up against that A&M front and then you also have all of this transition for A&M at home that advantage in the trenches um I think I like A&M to to win this game I I do too and I I think it's interesting also it doesn't it like what it tells us about these teams is different if Texas A&M loses a close game in this situation no one's going to really say anything they're going to say oh man look how much they progress they've made in one offseason you know they played a top 10 team very well that certainly it was at home they probably maybe they should have won but they lost no one says anything about A&M if they lose a close game if a if Notre Dame loses this game close there's a lot of conversation about Marcus Freeman and that is a different that's a he's just got a different situation when you're in year three with a playoff caliber team and by the way we should have mentioned Xavier Watts earlier like he's a guy that is one of those Heisman caliber guys that we should absolutely talk about um they've got a lot of great defensive pieces I expect a very very physical lows scoring game I I do think that the The Trenches for Elco and the defensive front is going to play a huge role but I I really do think it's the other side that's more interesting which is Connor wigman and Colin Klein calling plays I want to see like what is Colin Klein's Evolution into into the SEC in the Texas A&M that's not meant to be disrespectful to Kansas State but you can run the offense that Colin Klein ran as a quarterback at Kansas State and win and they're going to do that with a bunch of great running backs and Avery Johnson at Kansas State I don't think you can do that and try to beat Alabama Georgia and Texas every every year in the secc how much does he evolve his offense to a quarterback to allow for down the- field throws pre- snap Mo like I trust him to design a great running game I want to see what it looks like I I like him a lot I just want to see what it looks like from a balance standpoint I think it's going to be interesting with Connor wigman a talent that he's you know an extraordinary Talent under Center if he's healthy I definitely don't think you want wigman running 100 plus times this year for Texas A&M and they of course they already lost Ruben Owens for the season due to injury but you mentioned that Notre Dame defense and I think it's going to be a good Chen obviously a huge challenge for A&M because I've got you know I I graded out about four players as potential all Americans this season for the defense I mean there's just not a ton of glaring concerns here I think on the other side of the ball like it's not just Riley Leonard but Notre Dame also brought in some upgrades to the portal at receiver I mean Chris Mitchell Bo Collins um Jaden Harrison that was a weakness you know they need some more depth they need some more playmaking ability now they've got a good quarterback they've arguably got a better scheme than they did last year uh so it's there's so to have a matchup of this caliber and big big kudos to both for it being on campus and not a neutral site Amen brother and you've got all these new pieces at a high you know kind of top 20 Showdown there's a lot a ton of intrigue on Saturday night in College Station and here's the thing if Riley Leonard is healthy he totally bullied Clemson last year I mean just bu the if fully hethy he might be running his a little B with some freshman players on theive line but he is capable of escaping and making things happen and if he stays healthy and is out there all the whole time he he's no joke y'all like yeah he's not afraid to run your ass over he does not care and he's gonna have fun doing it and so he's a really fun player to watch and I hope he's healthy the whole year you know is it enough to win this game I think absolutely he's good enough too and I think Notre Dame well coached enough I think Den Brock's going to do a good enough job on offense uh but I'll take A&M as well so I'm sure that A&M fans hate that we both pick the Aggies so so there you go