Instant Reaction: Texas A&M football falls in low-scoring battle to elite ND defense

Texas A&M football falls to top-10 Notre Dame at home after new-look offense disappoints

We’ve been saying for quite some time tha this would be the best defense this Texas A&M football team sees all year. I think that was borne out tonight, but there were plenty of projections that didn’t come to pass.

Namely, the offensive improvement that we all anticipated to see out of this unit, now coached by Collin Klein rather than Jimbo Fisher, didn’t really manifest. Of course, this is maybe the best pass defense in the nation, but the performance when the Aggies had the ball still left a lot to be desired.

It was Conner Weigman who chiefly fell short here, in all honesty. The third-year signal caller, who came in with only eight games under his belt, didn’t really look like the guy we had seen in admittedly limited time in previous years—well, excepting Auburn in 2022.

A shot near the end of the game captured Weigman losing his lunch as he walked back to the sideline. It’s well possible that he was simply ill for the duration of this game, and that’s why his passes were so off the mark.

But that’s the kind of thing you need to work through. And the Aggies almost did—for most of the game, the Ags were leading or right on the cusp. It wasn’t until late that the Irish finally took a two-score lead.

We saw a defense that was no doubt improved over last year’s, yes. But the offense is what the chief issue was for most of last year, and though this was indeed an elite defense, there wasn’t much to sink your teeth into as an Aggie fan. First game jitters, a new system, all the rest could be said, but the fact remains that this was a game that the Ags needed to kick off the Elko era in a big way.

They’re not out of things. The season isn’t over. This was an elite, well-coached opponent. But it’s concerning to note that some of the same issues that seemed to plague this team over the last two years were cropping up throughout this key contest. When it comes down to it, the production wasn’t quite there.

The Ags will have an opportunity to bounce back next week against McNeese before a road trip to Florida in week three. After the performance that the Gators put up today, A&M had better enter week 3 at 2-1.