Positional battle matchups between Texas A&M and Notre Dame this Saturday

It's game day eve for Aggie nation and it's our first massive game of the 2025 campaign — heading up to South Bend, Indiana, for a showdown with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. These two teams are built very similarly to one another, so let's dive into the position battles we'll see on the field and try to predict who has the upper hand heading into things.

Texas A&M's run game versus Notre Dame's run defense

Both trench battles are going to be pivotal in deciding this game, so it's only fair to start with A&M's ability to run the football on Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish have a deep rotation of athletic players on their defensive front, but not a lot of size — with just one player weighing over 300 pounds on its listed two-deep.

All five of Texas A&M's starting offensive linemen easily clear the 300-pound benchmark, as do plenty of their backups. Size doesn't win the battle alone, but it's important to note that Notre Dame really struggled against Miami's offensive line — another group of five 300-plus pounders.

If the Aggie offensive line can lean on the Notre Dame front, then there should be plenty of open lanes for both Le'Veon Moss and Rueben Owens to make things happen. The duo is one of the best in the country when they're both at their best, but they'll also have their work cut out for them against a very talented linebacker room. Jaylen Sneed and Drayk Bowen are the duo to know, combining for 11 tackles in Week 1, and lead what is a top five linebacker room in the country.

I'll give an even split between the running backs and the linebackers, but lean with the stronger offensive line and their ability to wear down an undersized Notre Dame front over the course of the game.

The edge goes to ... Texas A&M

Notre Dame's run game versus Texas A&M's run defense

Let's keep things rolling in the trenches here and flip over to the Notre Dame rush attack taking on the Texas A&M front seven — two units that received a fair amount of hype leading into this season, but have slightly underdelivered through the first few weeks of the season.

Notre Dame had a really tough time running the ball against Miami in Week 1 — just 4.1 yards per carry after averaging 5.7 all last season, and just 33 yards from its lead tailback Jeremiyah Love. And while the Aggies have certainly not been gashed by the run so far this season they have had their issues with tackling and the occasional chunk play, all while playing against lesser competition.

On paper this Notre Dame offensive line is one of the most impressive in the sport and, much like Texas A&M's, features five 300-pound athletes. The Aggies have more size on their defensive front to combat that, and I also believe the duo at linebacker with Taurean York and Scooby Williams form one of the best 10-15 tandems in the sport. A

ll that said, I'm going to slightly lean with the Fighting Irish on this one: Love is so hard to bottle up when he's at his best, and being able to supplant his time off the field with Jadarian Price is a great second option.

The edge goes to ... Notre Dame (slightly)

Texas A&M's passing game versus Notre Dame's pass defense

With things neutralized on the ground, let's head to the air. There's a chance that this Texas A&M passing attack puts the country on notice this weekend, but there's also the chance that they falter against a much higher level of competition.

Notre Dame has one of the best corner tandems in the nation in Leonard Moore and Kristian Gray, and Adun Shuler is a stud at the safety position. Marcus Freeman's group held this A&M passing attack in check last season, but that was well before the Aggies added in two legit threats on the perimeter in KC Concepcion and Mario Craver.

The two new targets have more than delivered through the first two weeks of the season: 22 catches for 381 yards and six combined scores. This is a night-and-day difference for this Aggies group, as they had just one player go over 381 yards last year...in 13 games! Now the tandem, and its quarterback, need to step up on a big stage. No offense to UTSA or Utah State, but this is a different beast of an opponent.

One thing to keep an eye out for is how these corners handle being on an island: this defense is almost exclusively man coverage, meaning Concepcion and Craver will go head-to-head with Moore and Gray and let the best athlete win. If the offensive line can buy Reed time in the pocket to take shots down the field, there should be plenty of opportunities to create explosive plays.

If I believe the Texas A&M offensive line can keep Reed upright, and I believe that the wideouts will be able to win their one-on-one matchups at even a semi-consistent rate, then I'll put my faith in the development of this still-young quarterback to squeak out enough plays to push the ball down the field and, in turn, give the Aggies another advantage here on Saturday.

The edge goes to ... Texas A&M

Notre Dame's passing game versus Texas A&M's pass defense

Last but not least, let's focus in on one of the more inexperienced groups we'll see take the field this weekend — Notre Dame's passing offense. Now that's not to say they're bad: the wideout trio of Malachi Fields, Jordan Faison and Jaden Greathouse are one of the stronger rooms in the country, and I've already spoken on how highly I think of the Fighting Irish offensive line. The lack of experience comes at the quarterback position, where CJ Carr is set to make just his second career start at the collegiate level.

Carr played surprisingly well when his team needed him to — leading a 17-0 run in the fourth quarter with a handful of key plays. He also had his fair share of missed throws, bad sacks taken and one interception.

On the other side, I still don't believe this Texas A&M secondary is getting enough credit for how talented it is. This group, of which nine players returned from last season, held opponents to a 53 percent completion rate and hauled in 16 interceptions in 2024. Will Lee is one of the best corners in this sport, and Dalton Brooks is one of the best tackling safeties you'll find.

I certainly don't believe that the Aggies will have a field day in this positional battle because I do think the Notre Dame wideouts are better than most may imagine, especially Fields, but I'll ride with a very experienced and strong A&M pass defense to make things difficult for the young quarterback and force their way into a takeaway or two.

The edge goes to ... Texas A&M