No. 7 Notre Dame’s offense came up big in the second half for a 23-13 win over No. 20 Texas A&M.
RB Jeremiyah Love scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 21-yard run on the first play inside the two-minute warning to cap an eight-play drive that went 85 yards in 4:29.
A&M had a chance to tie or take the lead with 1:54 to go, but Notre Dame DB Christian Gray jumped the route on a fourth-down pass to force an incompletion as Texas A&M failed to get a first down. Notre Dame then tacked on three points with 30 seconds to go to officially put the game out of reach.
After the two teams traded a couple of field goals each in the first half, Notre Dame scored the first touchdown of the game in the third quarter when Jeremiah Price broke a 47-yard TD run down the sideline.
A&M tied the game again in the fourth quarter’s opening minutes when Le’Veon Moss scored a one-yard TD on the 10th play of a 65-yard drive. The teams traded punts after Moss’ TD before Notre Dame went on its game-winning drive.
Notre Dame’s run game won out
QB Riley Leonard was much more effective on the ground than he was through the air in his first game in a Notre Dame uniform.
The Fighting Irish ran 34 times for 198 yards on Saturday night as Leonard had 12 carries for 63 yards. Love led the team with 14 carries for 91 yards, and Price had just 44 yards on eight carries despite the 47-yard TD run.
Leonard was 18-of-30 passing for 158 yards as Notre Dame struggled to find much through the air. He rushed twice for 18 yards on the game-winning drive and also hit Beaux Collins for a clutch 20-yard completion before Love scored the go-ahead TD.
