Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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24 SEPT. 20, 2025 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED TURNING POINT With all the late-game flip-flops and deadlocks, the concept of a turning point in No. 8 Notre Dame's 41-40 home loss to 16th-ranked Texas A&M got a bit buried in the deluge of late-game drama. But the Aggies were overwhelming on offense in the second quarter, when they scored on each of their three full possessions to surge to a 28-24 lead at halftime. And they almost were able to cash in the final six seconds of the half on a bonus field goal after the Irish turned the ball over on downs on their own 46. Texas A&M punted on two of its first four posses- sions, all in the opening quarter, and Marcel Reed got picked off by Irish sophomore cornerback Leonard Moore on a third. But Reed started picking apart Irish coordinator Chris Ash's defense with regularity in quarter No. 2, with A&M amassing 212 of its 488 total yards in the quarter and with Reed completing 7 of 9 passes and leading the Aggies to two third-down conversions in two tries. Aggies running back Le'Veon Moss scored all three second-quarter touchdowns and threw up in the A&M injury tent. STATS OF THE GAME If Notre Dame could stop the hemorrhaging on de- fense, the Irish offense and special teams are show- ing encouraging signs of growth that could make them a dangerous team later this season. If … The Irish got on the board first via a blocked punt by sophomore defensive end Loghan Thomas, returned 20 yards for a touchdown by safety Tae Johnson. That marked the 11th blocked punt by Notre Dame's special teams since the start of the 2020 season. WHERE'S THE HEAT? According to Amazon.com, there are just five cop- ies left of Ash's 15-year-old instructional DVD — Ag- gressive 4-3 Defense: Shutting Down the Passing Game — available for $39.99. Based on Ash's first two games as Notre Dame's defensive coordinator, there probably will be five copies left for quite a while. One of the reasons Notre Dame has struggled so much against opposing wide receivers in its first two games is that the Irish have exerted very little pressure on quarterbacks Carson Beck of Miami and Marcel Reed of Texas A&M. Just 1 sack of Beck Aug. 31 and 0 on Reed on Sept. 13. Even aggression in the run game is lacking, with just 2 tackles for loss in each of the first two games. The last time the Irish registered fewer was during the 2016 season. Ash did use some different combinations, play- ing former vyper tag-teamers Boubacar Traore and Jordan Botelho together with some regularity as bookends of the D-line. And Jared Dawson and Gabe Rubio earned starts on the interior after rotating in as subs against Miami. But the bottom line remained the same. THREE OBSERVATIONS BY ERIC HANSEN QB CJ CARR This might be one of the best 0-2 starts to a career for a college quarterback ever? The redshirt freshman was one of the main reasons Notre Dame had a chance to beat Miami and he was one of the main reasons Notre Dame had a chance to beat Texas A&M. Carr completed 20 of 32 throws for 293 yards with 1 touchdown and 1 inter- ception. Was the pick a costly one? Yeah. The Aggies turned it into a field goal. In a one-point game, that's a lot. But Carr did a lot in the game otherwise. He's going to be a good one. Already is. RB JEREMIYAH LOVE The junior was sensational against the Aggies, logging 23 carries for 94 yards and 1 touchdown on the ground. He added 4 catches for 53 yards and a phenom- enal one-handed catch-and-run touchdown grab. That was all with Texas A&M clearly keying in on Notre Dame's best offensive player. The Aggies clearly didn't want to let Love beat them, and he almost did any- way. He scored Notre Dame's go-ahead touchdown with 2:53 remaining in the game. He's going to be every bit as advertised the rest of this season. Not doing much versus Miami in the season opener should stand out as an anomaly by the end of it. RB JADARIAN PRICE The redshirt junior was the most efficient runner in the game, going for 68 yards on 12 carries for an average of 5.7 yards per carry. He also converted two of those dozen rushing attempts into touchdowns, one from 7 yards out and another from 17 yards away from the goal line. They were both beauties. He often gets overshadowed by Love, which is understandable, but Price de- serves his due time and again. It was another quintessential showing for him. All he does when he gets the football in his hands is make positive plays. Period. GAME BALLS BY TYLER HORKA Redshirt junior running back and Texas native Jadarian Price had 12 carries for 68 yards and 2 touchdowns against Texas A&M. PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER