Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1539449
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM SEPT. 20, 2025 25 0 Sacks for the Notre Dame defense. The for- mula for winning on that side of the ball, which the Irish came woefully short of doing, was to get pressure on Texas A&M quarterback Marcel Reed. Too often, he had plenty of time to survey the field. And too often, he found open receivers running free. 1st Win for Texas A&M against a ranked opponent on the road since a 41-38 tri- umph over No. 3 Auburn on Nov. 8, 2014. The Aggies had lost 13 straight games against ranked foes away from the friendly confines of College Station, Texas. Furthermore, it was Texas A&M's first road win against a top-10 nonconference opponent since a 27-14 triumph at No. 6 Penn State on Sept. 22, 1979. 2 Times Notre Dame has started with an 0-2 record in the Marcus Freeman era. Freeman is the first Fighting Irish coach to ever have an 0-2 mark twice in his tenure. The Irish also began the 2022 season winless in their first two games after losing on the road at Ohio State and at home to Marshall. Freeman's team eventually went 9-4 in that season. 7 Teams in college football history have opened a season 0-2 despite being ranked in the top 10 for both games: Kentucky in 1951, TCU in 1952, Texas in 1967, Ohio State in 1986, Notre Dame in 2022, Florida State in 2024 and Notre Dame again in 2025. In 2022, the No. 5 Fighting Irish lost 21-10 at No. 2 Ohio State, dropped to No. 8 Associated Press poll and then lost to Marshall 26-21 at Notre Dame Stadium. In 2025, No. 6 Notre Dame fell 27-24 at No. 10 Miami, dropped to No. 8 in the AP poll and then were beaten 41-40 by No. 16 Texas A&M at Notre Dame Stadium. 7 Total tackles for Notre Dame redshirt soph- omore safety Adon Shuler before he was ejected for targeting early in the fourth quarter. Even with missing nearly 14 minutes of the game, Shuler still led the Fighting Irish in stops. 8% Chance for the Fighting Irish to make the College Football Playoff per ESPN's Allstate Playoff Predictor following their 0-2 start. Notre Dame had a 56 percent chance to make the CFP entering the game against Texas A&M. 10 Stuffed runs for Notre Dame, meaning the total number of rushing plays that were stopped at or behind the line of scrimmage. That constituted 26 percent of all of the Irish's rush- ing attempts. For reference, Texas A&M was only stuffed four times. That made up 13 percent of the Aggies' running plays. 11 Punts blocked by Notre Dame since the 2020 season, with sophomore defensive end Loghan Thomas notching the latest one less than two minutes into the game versus Texas A&M. 13 Big plays for the Notre Dame offense, which is defined as a rushing play of 10- plus yards and a passing play of 15-plus yards. That was actually more than Texas A&M had. The Aggies, who definitely used long gains to their advantage in a winning cause, had 12. 207 Receiving yards for Texas A&M wide receiver Mario Craver. He got there on just 7 catches, one of which was an 86-yard touch- down by way of poor tackling from multiple Notre Dame defensive backs. He also had a 34-yarder on the Aggies' game-winning touchdown drive. It was the first 200-yard receiving game for an Aggie pass catcher since current Tampa Bay Buc- caneers standout Mike Evans had 11 receptions for 287 yards and 4 touchdowns in a 45-41 loss to No. 24 Auburn on Oct. 19, 2013. +260 Passing yards for Texas A&M versus Notre Dame, compared to what they did in last year's 23-13 loss to the Irish in College Station, Texas. A year ago, then-Aggies quarterback Connor Weigman connected on just 12 of 30 passes for 100 yards with 0 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. This year, redshirt sophomore Marcel Reed was just 17-of-37 passing but racked up 360 yards — an average of 21.2 yards per completion — with 2 scores and 1 pick. BY THE NUMBERS BY TYLER HORKA 293 Passing yards for redshirt freshman quarterback CJ CARR in his first-ever start at Notre Dame Stadium, a career high and the most in a starting debut at home since sophomore Terry Hanratty threw for 304 yards and 3 touchdowns in a 26-16 win over Purdue on Sept. 24, 1966. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER