Five bold predictions for Texas A&M football vs. Notre Dame: Aggies will stymy Irish

Five bold predictions for Texas A&M football vs. Notre Dame: Aggies notch three-plus sacks

Have I mentioned how young Notre Dame’s offensive line is? No? Well, they’re bringing in a very young offensive line.

The fact is this: the Irish will have an offensive line made up of guys with a total of six collegiate starts under their belt. I get that Anthonie Knapp is a high-level recruit, but inexperience—especially at offensive line—is a really big deal. It is especially so when you are facing off against a defensive line like this one.

Honestly, in my mind, the biggest question as regards this prediction is how elusive Leonard can be once the pass rush beats the offensive line. If he is consistently escaping the pocket, then three-plus sacks goes out the window quickly. However, if the Ags keep rush lane integrity, it’s going to be tough sledding for him.

On that note, I suppose Elko could approach this a little bit differently, given the QB he’s dealing with. If the Aggies, rather than trying to get free rushers into the backfield down in and down out, choose to simply squeeze the pocket to keep Leonard from scrambling, that could also end up affecting the sack numbers. That very well may be the strategy he goes with.

In any case, this is the biggest mismatch in the game, in my book. That’s why I’m shooting for this lofty number—even if it doesn’t show up exactly like this on the stat sheet, though, I think the pass rush is still a significant factor.