2024-09-01 15:35:02
COLLEGE STATION — A strong performance from Texas A&M’s defense Saturday night was not enough to overcome an inept offense, as Notre Dame defeated the Aggies 23-13.
A&M’s defense, which held Notre Dame to 250 yards of offense through three quarters, could not hold the Fighting Irish back. With 2 minutes left, Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love ran the ball in from 21 yards to end an 85-yard drive that ate up 4 minutes, 29 seconds. The No. 7 ranked team on the US LBM Coaches Poll finished with 356 yards of offense overall.
Texas A&M quarterback Conner Weigman’s resulting attempt to lead the team down the field proved futile. He threw two incompletions before missing another throw on a failed fourth-and-2 attempt. Notre Dame would make its third field goal of the night to provide the final score.
TEXAS A&M TAKEAWAYS:Conner Weigman hurt the Aggies, his NFL draft stock vs. Notre Dame
“I don’t think it was anything that they did. I think it was ourselves. We beat ourselves. We weren’t consistent mentally and physically,” Texas A&M offensive lineman Trey Zuhn III said.
Through the air, Texas A&M coach Mike Elko’s defense stifled Riley Leonard, his former quarterback at Duke. Leonard finished with 158 passing yards on 18 of 30 attempts.
Weigman was worse. He threw for 100 yards on 12 of 30 attempts with two interceptions.
“We lost the turnover battle 2-0. That’s not going to lead to a lot of successful games,” Elko said.
He overthrew 6-foot-6 Noah Thomas on the first one, then hit Notre Dame safety Xavier Watts between the numbers when he jumped the route on the second. The first turnover led directly to a Fighting Irish field goal, and the second killed an offensive drive right before halftime.
None of Weigman’s 10 completions looked easy, even though the offensive line gave him time to throw. While some of it can be chalked up to a very good Notre Dame defense, his wide receivers or the scheme, Weigman simply didn’t play well enough to beat a top 10 team.
“Seemed like whether it was him missing — he had a chance to hit Noah (Thomas) on the big over route … and he kind of overshot him (Thomas) by a little bit and got the pick, or guys not getting the separation that we needed to get. Just one way or another, we just weren’t able to get it done,” Elko said. “It was really, really hard, because he was, he was not in rhythm.”
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