On the real opening weekend of college football’s 2024 slate, the No. 7 Notre Dame Fighting Irish travel to College Station to face off against the No. 20 Texas A&M Aggies in a premier primetime matchup
Entering his third season, Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman has perhaps the most talented roster assembled in South Bend, Indiana, in years. Transfer quarterback Riley Leonard will lead the offense while preseason All-American cornerback Benjamin Morrison spearheads the Fighting Irish defense.
Texas A&M will be under Mike Elko this season for the first time as the new head coach looks to lead the Aggies to a playoff berth. Elko’s background is defensive, and the former Texas A&M coordinator will rely on transfer Nic Sourton to lead these athletes this season.
Looking at the live odds, Texas A&M is currently a 3 point favorite, with the total set at 47 points.
With the primetime matchup looking like a potential defensive battle, which offensive stars will lead the way for the Fighting Irish matchup against the Aggies? We’ll cover that and our best bet for this game below.
Elko hired former Kansas State coordinator and legend Collin Klein to lead his offense, so expect the Aggies to run the football this season. It’s not to say that the Wildcats didn’t pass the football; quarterback Will Howard did throw for 2,643 yards in 12 games.
Yet when your team runs an average of 56 percent of the time, passing yards can be a premium to pick up for quarterbacks. Expect that to be the case for Texas A&M quarterback Conner Weigman on Saturday, especially against Notre Dame’s defense.
Take the under on Weigman's passing yards prop.
When you have Audric Estime in the backfield, it’s hard to earn significant playing time. That’s the case for sophomore running back Jeremiyah Love. Last season, Love played in all 13 contests and finished with 385 rushing yards and a score in his freshman season.
This spring, Love won the position battle with Jadarian Price for the top place on this game’s depth chart. Freeman showed last season in the bowl game these two running backs could be by committee versus starter-backup, but bettors should expect Love to earn the lion’s share of rushing yards Saturday night.
Klein produced rushers in back-to-back seasons that finished with over 1,200 rushing yards, showing how important the running game is to his game plan. That bodes well for Texas A&M junior running backs Amari Daniels and Le’Veon Moss.
Moss emerged as the winner of this position battle, taking the top of the depth chart heading into Notre Dame. Expect Moss to reward his coaching staff with a solid outing and easily cover this player prop bet Saturday night.
If you’re looking for a winner, I like Notre Dame to earn the victory as well as cover the 2.5 spread. However, this is our best bet, and these two defensive-mind coaches have schemed all offseason long for each other.
I expect teams to settle for field goals on most drives in this low-scoring affair. Expect neither team to surpass 21 points in this close game Saturday night and easily stay under the 47 total point mark.