SOUTH BEND — This one felt like it would never end, felt like these teams would play right on past midnight and push toward sunrise and keep making big plays and scoring different ways.
And then in a snap, it was over. One final play; one final stop. An entertaining evening for so many, excruciating for many others had come to a close.
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Texas A&M 41, Notre Dame 40.
One year after the most wins (14) in the most games (17) in program history, No. 8 Notre Dame made some more history on Saturday against No. 17 Texas A&M.
A missed extra point — a bad snap after a Jeremiyah Love touchdown had given Notre Dame a 40-34 lead with 2:53 left and a big Texas A&M answer/drive, fourth-and-11 with 19 seconds left — decided this one.
This Notre Dame team became the first in program history to start a season with two straight losses to two ranked teams. That’s a part of history you don’t want on your ledger. It’s on the ledger. Forever.
Coming off a 12-day break between games, Notre Dame seemed over-ready for this one even before the opening kick. The Irish were rather feisty when both teams found themselves facemask to facemask while leaving the field after pre-game warmups.
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That was at 7:30 p.m. The Irish had to have that same fight for the next four hours.
Defense remained a massive issue for Notre Dame, as in, not being able to play it anywhere near well enough for extended stretches. A&M quarterback Marcel Reed found ways to make plays. His wide receivers found too much open space to run on crossing routes, deep middle routes and deep balls.
Were the Aggies that quick, or were the Irish that slow?
A combination of both, something that had to be cleaned up after Texas A&M racked up a staggering 328 yards in two quarters. If the Irish had any chance of sidestepping an 0-2 hole to start a season for the second time under coach Marcus Freeman and the second time since 2022.
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This one was drifting that way at halftime. You could feel it. So could all the fans in maroon around the upper sections of the stadium. There were a lot of A&M fans in there. Loud A&M fans.
Crank up the AC/DC to start the fourth quarter to drown out all that Gig’em stuff.
Freeman carried the same look late in the first half as he did in those losses to Ohio State and Marshall: part frustration, part bewildered, part confusion. That was before redshirt freshman quarterback CJ Carr seemingly resigned himself to call timeout on Notre Dame’s final play of the half — on fourth down — when he walked away from his spot in the shotgun and clapped his hands as he headed toward the Irish sideline.
Apparently, center Ashton Craig took the clap as the sign to snap the ball, which he did. To nobody. Jeremiyah Love fell on it. Weird.
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It was fitting that Saturday was the first game ever in the historic stadium that alcohol could be purchased in the concourse (Beer…here!) The first nine minutes and change of this one played out as if this one had already been overserved.
Somebody get this game a cab. Send it home, already. It was that drunk.
It got wild quickly. It got wacky quickly. It had everything. Like what? How about an Irish jailbreak punt block that reserve defensive end Loghan Thomas deflected, that safety Luke Talich batted ahead and that cornerback Tae Johnson scooped up and scored less than two minutes in.
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This one was just getting started. Inside of that early window of plays made, we also saw a flea flicker and 47-yard pass to tight end Eli Raridon, Love taking a pair of Wildcat snaps and an 86-yard touchdown catch and run from Aggies wideout Mario Craver.
Leonard Moore capped the craziness with his first interception. Moore would later leave for a handful of plays with a right leg/knee/ankle issue, which would prove costly against that speed.
All of it, all that first half that saw Notre Dame go from 10 up to four down within a 4:22 window, was enough to drive Irish fans up into the concourse and the adult beverage line at halftime, even at $12.99 a pop.
“Enjoy the second half, everybody,” Notre Dame band public address announcer Jon Thompson implored the crowd at halftime.
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That would be difficult to do for anyone Irish.
Follow South Bend Tribune and NDInsider columnist Tom Noie on X (formerly Twitter): @tnoieNDI. Contact Noie at tnoie@sbtinfo.com
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Notre Dame vs Texas A&M score today: Stats, reaction, history, analysis
