COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Jeremiyah Love broke a tie with a 21-yard touchdown run with 1:54 left and No. 7 Notre Dame beat No. 20 Texas A&M 23-13 on Saturday night in the opener for both teams.
Love burst through the line and shed two would-be tacklers before waltzing into the end zone to give the Fighting Irish the lead.
The Aggies had a chance to tie it, but Christian Gray jumped the route to knock down Conner Weigman’s pass on fourth down to give Notre Dame the ball back.
The Fighting Irish added Mitch Jeter's 46-yard field goal with 30 seconds left.
Riley Leonard had a strong performance in his Notre Dame debut after transferring from Duke. He threw for 158 yards and added 63 yards rushing.
Notre Dame: The defense — especially the secondary — was as good as advertised. Xavier Watts, whose seven interceptions tied for most in the nation last year, got another one against the Aggies and Adon Shuler added a second one. Notre Dame held Texas A&M to 246 yards.
Texas A&M: Weigman will have to get better before SEC play begins after the A&M offense struggled to move the ball for most of the night against Notre Dame’s staunch defense. Their only touchdown came on a 1-yard run by Le'Veon Moss with about 12 minutes left. Weigman managed just 100 yards passing with the two turnovers in his return after missing most of last season with a foot injury.