Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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40 PRESEASON 2024 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED GAME PREVIEW: TEXAS A&M There's that. And there's both Elko and Leonard realizing they might never have the chance to get the best of each other in an actual game ever again, too. Elko leaned into that. He said some- one will be 1-0. The other will be 0-1. One of those records is a lot easier to live with than the other. "He's going to do everything he pos- sibly can to make sure he has the upper hand on me for the rest of his life," Elko said. "It'll be a healthy competition." Healthy. Not hostile. That's an im- portant distinction. "Sorry for anybody who wants some animosity between us," Leonard said on ESPN's "College Football Live." There is a time and a place for that in all sports. Some might even say Notre Dame's trip into a stadium that seats 100,000-plus people, among them sev- eral of whom probably won't have any- thing nice to say to the student-athletes in gold helmets, yields the perfect setup for it. But that's the unique thing about this Elko versus Leonard encounter; it's born out of admiration, and that might actually lead to more powerful punches. Think Creed III when Adonis and Da- mian, childhood best friends, are pitted against each other in the ring. Or when Anakin dueled with Obi-Wan Kenobi in a lightsaber battle on Mustafar. Of course, there isn't an element of back- stabbing or treason involved with Elko versus Leonard. But this is a situation that still has the feel of a little brother wanting to beat his older brother in an athletic capacity for the first time. Or a son bettering his father. An apprentice attacking a mentor. The type of seminal moment that feels like a changing of the guard — or an opportunity for it, at least. "I have so much respect for him, his family and who he is as a young man," Elko said. "I kind of wish there would be any other quarterback on the other side for the opener." "We're both very competitive," Leon- ard added. "I know his defense really well, and he knows my tendencies. It should be a good game to watch, for sure." GETTING THE JOB DONE If this was basketball, a pair of individ- uals could certainly settle the score. But this is football, the ultimate team sport. Eleven on 11, offense versus defense, handfuls of coaches with headsets on one sideline and the same on the other. Elko can only do so much to earn his first victory as Texas A&M's head coach. Leonard can only do so much to do the same as Notre Dame's quarterback. Notre Dame head coach Marcus Free- man will have a say in the matter, as will his veteran coordinators Mike Denbrock on offense and Al Golden on defense. The latter has two preseason All-Amer- icans in defensive tackle Howard Cross III and Xavier Watts. Denbrock has one of the best tight ends in the country in Mitchell Evans. Running backs Jadar- ian Price and Jeremiyah Love are ca- pable replacements for Audric Estimé. Leonard's life will be much easier when they're running the football well and Evans and whichever of Notre Dame's 11 scholarship wide receivers are get- ting open. The Aggies counter with perhaps the best quarterback Notre Dame will see in all of the regular season in redshirt sophomore Conner Weigman. Defen- 2024 NOTRE DAME SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Time (ET) Aug. 31 at Texas A&M (ABC) 7:30 p.m. Sept. 7 Northern Illinois (NBC) 3:30 p.m. Sept. 14 at Purdue (CBS) 3:30 p.m. Sept. 21 Miami (Ohio) (NBC) 3:30 p.m. Sept. 28 Louisville (Peacock) 3:30 p.m. Oct. 12 Stanford (NBC) 3:30 p.m. Oct. 19 vs. Georgia Tech# TBA Oct. 26 vs. Navy^ (ABC/ESPN) 12 p.m. Nov. 9 Florida State (NBC) 7:30 p.m. Nov. 16 Virginia (NBC) 3:30 p.m. Nov. 23 vs. Army* (NBC) 7 p.m. Nov. 30 at USC TBA # at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta; ^ at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.; * Shamrock Series at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx, N.Y. ; Games on NBC are also televised by Peacock Pass-rusher extraordinaire Nic Scourton, who led the Big Ten in sacks with 10 while at Purdue in 2023, headlines a talented Texas A&M defense. PHOTO COURTESY TEXAS A&M 2024 TEXAS A&M SCHEDULE Date Opponent (TV) Time (ET) Aug. 31 Notre Dame (ABC) 7:30 p.m. Sept. 7 McNeese State (SECN) 12:45 p.m. Sept. 14 at Florida (ABC) 3:30 p.m. Sept. 21 Bowling Green (ESPN+/SEC) 7:30 p.m. Sept. 28 vs. Arkansas* TBA Oct. 5 Missouri (ABC/ESPN) 12 p.m. Oct. 19 at Mississippi State TBA Oct. 26 LSU TBA Nov. 2 at South Carolina TBA Nov. 16 New Mexico State (SECN) 7:45 p.m. Nov. 23 at Auburn TBA Nov. 30 Texas TBA * at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas