Aug 31 | Texas A&M

[forkbeard3777]

I think many of you are overvaluing A&M, a program with a losing tradition.

Offensively, they’ll struggle with dual threat Leonard. The stable of backs will get their carries and will wear down the A&M defense and defensive line.

Defensively, Golden’s defense will suffocate them. Ben Morrison, Watts and the rest of the secondary will shut down their passing game, making them one dimensional. Notre Dame has a enough depth in the front 7 to limit the running game.

Irish by 10.

ND 27
A&M 17

 

[NDdomer2]

Anyone concerened about this game i'm laughing. We should have beaten Ohio State last year who has far better weapons on offense than A&M, better OL and Ohio States defense is better. Not to mention we had parker as the OC

but we didnt

 

[benneboy]

Anyone underestimating A&M hasn't watched Weigman play. He's likely the best quarterback we'll face all year and it could be by a large margin. I do think we have a better team, but QB and O-line play is such a question mark I don't see how anyone could be confident in how this goes one way or another. It's also week 1 and games tend to be much more chaotic/random in first week games.

 

[PutuporShutup]

Anyone underestimating A&M hasn't watched Weigman play. He's likely the best quarterback we'll face all year and it could be by a large margin. I do think we have a better team, but QB and O-line play is such a question mark I don't see how anyone could be confident in how this goes one way or another. It's also week 1 and games tend to be much more chaotic/random in first week games.

Agree weigman will probably be best qb we play in regular season, but we also don’t play many if any very good qbs this year.

I’m confident in nd this year because they’ve made so many right moves with Denbrock, Leonard and all the other portal players, plus year 3 of freeman and golden… if we don’t look like a top team in the 31st I’ll be extremely disappointed, and as I’ve said, lose most of it not all my remaining belief in freeman.


It’s absolutely going to be a tough game, but that doesn’t mean we can’t still look like the better overall team and should win

Week one good games are typically low scoring first halves as teams feel the opponent and themselves out, then the better team typically takes over second half.

 

[NDFAN2008]

but we didnt

Point is A&M isn't even close to as talented as Ohio State and I think ND all around is a better team minus OL

 

[NDFAN2008]

Watched some highlights of Weigman he is quick at getting the ball out Golden needs to design some stuff causing havoc.

 

[GrangerIrish24]

Point is A&M isn't even close to as talented as Ohio State and I think ND all around is a better team minus OL

but a bad o-line can make a great offense look pedestrian

 

[IRISHDODGER]

Watched some highlights of Weigman he is quick at getting the ball out Golden needs to design some stuff causing havoc.

He was a 5-star out of HS. Has been impressive considering his age when he was healthy. I’d rather catch him in game one than game 12

 

[arrowryan]

Anyone underestimating A&M hasn't watched Weigman play. He's likely the best quarterback we'll face all year and it could be by a large margin. I do think we have a better team, but QB and O-line play is such a question mark I don't see how anyone could be confident in how this goes one way or another. It's also week 1 and games tend to be much more chaotic/random in first week games.

Saying Leonard is a question mark, but saying Weigman is probably the best QB we’ll play by a wide margin (who has played 4 games), seems like a contradiction.

 

[SoIll]

Saying Leonard is a question mark, but saying Weigman is probably the best QB we’ll play by a wide margin (who has played 4 games), seems like a contradiction.

I think you're underestimating Weigman

 

[arrowryan]

I think you're underestimating Weigman

He absolutely could be the best QB that they face. But idk how Leonard is a question mark but Weigman isn’t.

 

[NDohio]

Saying Leonard is a question mark, but saying Weigman is probably the best QB we’ll play by a wide margin (who has played 4 games), seems like a contradiction.

Agreed. Weigman may be a great QB that has a top level season. It wouldn't surprise me. However, RL could do the same. Leonard has actually shown more at this point of their careers. Question marks for both is fair.

 

[benneboy]

He absolutely could be the best QB that they face. But idk how Leonard is a question mark but Weigman isn’t.

Leonard has had some accuracy issues throughout his career. If those are fixed I have no concerns.
I'm not even saying Weigman is better than Leonard. I'm saying Leonard needs to improve in areas. It sounds like he has but we don't know that 100%.
Weigman doesn't need to improve from what I saw from him last year. Granted mostly inferior competition but he was dialed in most every game.

 

[dublinirish]

 

[NDQuebec]

He was a 5-star out of HS. Has been impressive considering his age when he was healthy. I’d rather catch him in game one than game 12

I understand your point about catching Weigman in game one. However, I think it would have been better for ND to play TA&M later in the season. The Oline will have had time to gel and Riley will have had time to develop chemistry with his receivers and Denbrock will have had time to tinker with what works and what doesn't.

 

[ndfanatic78]

Line has moved to 3. Concerning.

No it’s not. It has nothing to do with who will win the game or not. It has to do with getting bets even on both sides of the line.

 

[EvilleIrish]

No it’s not. It has nothing to do with who will win the game or not. It has to do with getting bets even on both sides of the line.

I'm fully aware of how line movements work....but I think people are seriously glossing over the fact that Vegas sees us as a dog.

 

[GrangerIrish24]

I'm fully aware of how line movements work....but I think people are seriously glossing over the fact that Vegas sees us as a dog.

No one is glossing over. No one knows what to make of either team. First game of the season, Vegas will give the home team the nod.

 

[a mike]

if we don’t look like a top team in the 31st I’ll be extremely disappointed, and as I’ve said, lose most of it not all my remaining belief in freeman.

Anyone still giving Freeman benefit of the doubt, after a L in College Station, with last year's mishandling of the last four minutes of the OSU game, the team's "performance" on the road against Duke, Ville, and Clemson, remembering the 2022 Marshall and Stanford games, coupled with the hiring of Parker and Brown, mixed with the complete and utter lack of momentum on the recruiting trail--can only be considered a subjective, unabashed, Freeman Stan.

If he can't beat Year 1 Elko in his third year with a loaded team and top notch coordinators--we all know he's just not going to get it done here, whether willing to admit it or not.

 

[Veritate Duce Progredi]

Anyone underestimating A&M hasn't watched Weigman play. He's likely the best quarterback we'll face all year and it could be by a large margin. I do think we have a better team, but QB and O-line play is such a question mark I don't see how anyone could be confident in how this goes one way or another. It's also week 1 and games tend to be much more chaotic/random in first week games.

Who was the best QB we played last year? Caleb Wittman? Caden Williamson?

Who ever he was, he seemed to have a helluva time against ND's defense. It won't be pretty but I do believe our defense should be considered the better unit vs. TAMU's to start the season.

Weigman has the ability to do damage, no one has said otherwise (that I've seen).

 

[Veritate Duce Progredi]

Anyone still giving Freeman benefit of the doubt, after a L in College Station, with last year's mishandling of the last four minutes of the OSU game, the team's "performance" on the road against Duke, Ville, and Clemson, remembering the 2022 Marshall and Stanford games, coupled with the hiring of Parker and Brown, mixed with the complete and utter lack of momentum on the recruiting trail--can only be considered a subjective, unabashed, Freeman Stan.

If he can't beat Year 1 Elko in his third year with a loaded team and top notch coordinators--we all know he's just not going to get it done here, whether willing to admit it or not.

 

[TxAg33]

The fact that somebody is trying to say Weigman is a better athlete than Leonard is insane.

I missed that- who said it?

 

[TxAg33]

but we didnt

And we should have beaten Alabama, TN, and Ole MIss, even with our backup QB and a horrible horrible offensive line and scheme from Fisher. but we didn't. (and two of those 3 were on the road). Who knows what;s going to happen. I will give you THIS, though. A&M's home record when ESPN Gameday comes is pathetic. something like 1-7.

 

[InKellyWeTrust]

I'd rather overestimate TAMU and be pleasantly suprised than be overconfident and watch ND get bitchslapped for the 100th time in a big primtime GameDay matchup. No?

 

[TxAg33]

Do you have a source or a link? I'm not disputing the statement given the sheer number of students at the school, but I'm curious to see (hopefully) if a list has been compiled. All of my A&M friends and coworkers go to mega, "hands in the air" churches.

No. It is about 17,000 I think. LSU is probably close- I think yall have 38,000 or so total with about 40% identifying Catholic (appx 15,000)

 

[TxAg33]

I really don't know if A&M will be able to move the ball vs. Irish. I think we're pinning most our hopes on new OC Collin Klein, a healthy Weigman, and several returning starters. We also have a few on each side of the ball that were starters at other programs last year and transferred in.

One true freshman name that might be interesting to watch is Terrey Bussey. He is 5-star and the #1 rated Athlete in most recent class by all 3 services; they say he can play any skill position. last week we moved him to offense (presumably wide receiver?). I wouldn't think a true fresh in his 1st game against a Notre Dame will have an impact, but thought I'd throw his name out there in case you hear it.

This game is intriguing because I think we'll both have good defenses, and there are huge question marks on both our offenses. Still, I think we'll see a fair number of points scored (mid 20s by each). This might come down to the turnovers, as typical.

I DO think you'll see quite a few false starts due to the crowd and particularly the 12th Man (student section on East side). That is typical in big games. I put the o/u at 3 or 4, especially since you run a more pro-typical offense. The spread offenses with quick snaps seem to do a lot better as far as managing crowd noise- Mike Leach was a master at taming Kyle Field- he owned us.

 

[forkbeard3777]

No. It is about 17,000 I think. LSU is probably close- I think yall have 38,000 or so total with about 40% identifying Catholic (appx 15,000)

Gotya. Like I said, I certainly wasn’t disputing it. Certain facts and lists like that are always interesting to me.

 

[arndtjc]

Anyone still giving Freeman benefit of the doubt, after a L in College Station, with last year's mishandling of the last four minutes of the OSU game, the team's "performance" on the road against Duke, Ville, and Clemson, remembering the 2022 Marshall and Stanford games, coupled with the hiring of Parker and Brown, mixed with the complete and utter lack of momentum on the recruiting trail--can only be considered a subjective, unabashed, Freeman Stan.

If he can't beat Year 1 Elko in his third year with a loaded team and top notch coordinators--we all know he's just not going to get it done here, whether willing to admit it or not.

This dude's schtick is getting old

 

[PutuporShutup]

This dude's schtick is getting old

Not yet… the point is freeman’s shtick will only be old if he loses this game.

I think most/all of us expect nd and freeman to win.

 

[zelezo vlk]

Anybody mad at eking out the win vs Duke last year is being silly.