Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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20 SEPT. 7, 2024 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY JACK SOBLE AND TYLER HORKA F ew humans have looked happier than graduate student defen- sive tackle Howard Cross III as the clock ticked down on Notre Dame's Week 1 win over Texas A&M. Cross skipped around the line of scrimmage. He banged his chest with his eyes aimed squarely toward the heavens. He let out a "Ha-ha!" of pure, unadulterated relief. No. 56 and his teammates put their body and soul on the line throughout the 90-degree and hellishly humid Saturday night at Kyle Field Aug. 31 in College Station, Texas. Now, they were reaping the reward. When the scoreboard read 0:00, the Notre Dame bench raced onto the field. Players, coaches and staffers grinned, screamed and hugged each other on the way to the still 100 percent full visit- ing fan and family section, who chanted "S-E-C!" during the game's final sec- onds and continued cheering well past the horn. After the alma mater, senior quarter- back Riley Leonard embraced quarter- backs coach Gino Guidugli. With all the energy he had left, Leonard yelled, "Got it done when it counted, baby!" Leonard was right. On a night when nothing was easy, the Irish got it done. Notre Dame beat Texas A&M 23-13 in a hard-fought, gutsy win, starting head coach Marcus Freeman's third season 1-0. "Man, that was a huge victory for our football program over a really, really good football team," Freeman said. "We always say execution fuels emotion, and when you have success like that, you're emotional." Leonard felt that more than most, having struggled through most of his Notre Dame debut. The Duke transfer finished 18-of-30 passing for 158 yards, averaging 5.3 yards per attempt. The offensive line, with its six career starts, took its fair share of losses against Texas A&M's dominant defensive front. But when Notre Dame got the ball at its own 15-yard line with 6:23 to go in a game tied at 13, Leonard and the Irish offense showed their resolve. The dual-threat quarterback totaled 49 yards with his arm and his legs during that eight-play, 85-yard drive, guiding the Irish into Aggie territory. On the first snap after the two-minute warning, sophomore running back Jeremiyah Love did the rest. Love squeezed himself through a tiny hole created by sophomore tight end Cooper Flanagan, and from there he ex- ploded into the secondary. He found the end zone from 21 yards out, giving Notre Dame a 20-13 lead. "Everybody had all the confidence in the world that we were going to be able to score," Leonard said. "It was just a mat- ter of when. And finally, by the fourth quarter, we kind of got things going. And that last drive meant a lot to us." The Irish got a stop on the ensuing Texas A&M possession, with sophomore cornerback Christian Gray breaking up Aggie redshirt sophomore quarterback Connor Weigman's fourth-down pass in his first career start. South Carolina graduate transfer kicker Mitch Jeter made his third field goal of the night four plays later, sealing the game. "It's rewarding," Freeman said. "A lot of work went into this first game, from a lot of different people." Those people included strength coach Loren Landow, team dietician Alexa Ap- pelman, athletic trainer Rob Hunt and sports science maestro John Wagle, who had Notre Dame in peak physical shape to prevail in the fourth quarter in Col- lege Station. The Irish outscored the Aggies 17-7 in the second half, and that was no accident. "You say it's gonna be a fourth-quar- ter game, it's gonna come down to the very last minute," Freeman said. "It's never fun when it goes that way, but I'm proud of how we finished." Notre Dame returns home for Week 2, with Northern Illinois on the docket for 3:30 p.m. ET Sept. 7 in South Bend. The stat sheet that day will say many things, but the only one that matters is 1-0. FIRST QUARTER NOTRE DAME 3, TEXAS A&M 3 Top moment: Mitch Jeter made his first career Notre Dame field goal from 46 yards out to tie the game at 3-3 just past halfway through the first frame. Feature performer: Notre Dame only used tailback Jadarian Price and Jeremiyah Love for one carry apiece in the first quarter. Subsequently, a lot was on quarterback Riley Leonard's shoul- ders. He was 4-of-7 passing for 25 yards through the air and he rushed twice for 12 yards. He was targeted on a 9-yard run, and the call stood, resulting in an ejection for the A&M player who hit him, defensive back Dalton Brooks. Stats: Texas A&M outgained Notre Dame 89-35 in total yards and averaged 4.5 yards per play to the Irish's 3.2. The Aggies also held the ball for 9:32 and doubled the Irish up in first downs, 6 to 3. Items: The Irish were offsides twice on Texas A&M's opening drive, which ended in a 34-yard field goal … Sopho- more Christian Gray was also flagged for pass interference later in the quarter, setting a bad tone for the Irish, who ul- timately committed 11 penalties for 99 yards in the game. SECOND QUARTER NOTRE DAME 6, TEXAS A&M 6 Top moment: Sophomore safety Adon Shuler, making his first career start, came away with his first career interception to set the Irish offense up on the Aggies' 29-yard line. Notre Dame only mustered a field goal from there, though, to tie the game at 6-6. Feature performers: On the same series, graduate student safety Rod Heard II shot through the line of scrim- mage for a 2-yard tackle for loss and graduate student defensive tackle How- ard Cross III had an 11-yard sack. Stats: Notre Dame outgained Texas A&M 104-38 in total yards and aver- GOLDEN GUTS Notre Dame wins gritty, hard-fought game over Texas A&M, 23-13 Sophomore running back Jeremiyah Love put the Fighting Irish up for good with his 21-yard touch- down run with 1:54 remaining in the game. He finished with 14 carries for 91 yards. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER