Notre Dame is heading to College Station to take on Texas A&M in one of the biggest games of the Week One college football slate. Here’s how to bet the game on DraftKings Sportsbook.
Texas A&M (-3) vs. Notre Dame, o/u 46
Texas A&M has a new head coach in town and Notre Dame has a new quarterback. Both teams are hoping to make the College Football Playoff this season and a win here would go a long way for whichever side comes out on top.
Texas A&M Team Breakdown
This offseason, the Aggies fired Jimbo Fisher and brought in Mike Elko from Duke to be their new head coach. This was one of the best hires of college football’s offseason. Elko was formerly the defensive coordinator at Texas A&M, so he has a lot of familiarity with the program and the region, and vice-versa.
Additionally, Jimbo Fisher was actively dragging this team down with his interference in how the offense was run and with his in-game decision-making. Elko is a fantastic in-game coach and brought in a great offensive coordinator, Collin Klein from Kansas State.
Conner Weigman returns as quarterback for the Aggies. He has dealt with injuries his whole career, but is supremely talented and can be one of the best quarterbacks in the country if he stays healthy. The offensive line should also be improved after firing OL Coach Steve Addazio, who did a really dreadful job the past couple of seasons.
The Aggies did great work in the transfer portal this offseason, particularly on the defensive side of the ball bringing in the likes of EDGE Nic Scourton and CB Dezz Ricks.
Notre Dame Team Breakdown
Notre Dame is hoping to finally break through and make the College Football Playoff under Marcus Freeman for the first time. Under the new format, Notre Dame has a really clear path to the 12-team playoff with their schedule this season.
To make this push, Notre Dame brought in QB Riley Leonard from Duke. That’s right, Leonard will be facing his former head coach at Duke, Mike Elko, this weekend. This is an interesting storyline that I will go deeper into later. Leonard is a really good physical runner at the quarterback position and manages the game really well. The only real question mark around his game is whether he can win a game where he has to throw the ball 25-30 times against a good defense.
The offensive line is a total rebuild for Notre Dame. They lost both tackles, Joe Alt and Blake Fisher, to the NFL draft this offseason. They also suffered a brutal blow a few weeks ago with a season-ending injury to Charles Jagusah, who was meant to replace Alt at left tackle. Notre Dame will now be going even deeper into their depth to fill that role.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Fighting Irish should be really solid. Al Golden is one of the best defensive coordinators in the country and this entire unit is loaded with talent.
Texas A&M vs. Notre Dame Picks and Predictions
The Notre Dame offensive line is a key to this game. This group is incredibly inexperienced and has a lot working against them. Kyle Field boasts one of the best home-field advantages in all of college football. This Texas A&M defensive line is also one of the best in the country and will be all over this young group for Notre Dame. This should force Riley Leonard to flush out and scramble a lot in this game.
When it comes to Leonard and his scramble game that is so effective, Mike Elko knows exactly what is coming. These two have practiced against each other hundreds of times at Duke. That gives Leonard some insight too, of course. However, I give the edge in this scenario to the coach who can scheme against the player.
The Notre Dame defense should also be really solid. Texas A&M is a bit short at the running back position after the offseason injury to Rueben Owens and the Aggies might be cautious with Conner Weigman in his first game back after a bad injury last season.
Both offenses will be conservative early on in this game and both defenses will have a lot of success. Therefore, I am going to bet a first-half under in this spot. However, I ultimately think Conner Weigman and Texas A&M will get the passing game going in the second half and with the 12th man at their back, they will get the win at home in this pivotal matchup.
Best Bets: Notre Dame/TAMU 1H u22.5, Texas A&M -3
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