First Glance: Notre Dame Fighting Irish

IT’S GAAAAAAAME WEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!

What You Need to Know:

Texas A&M is ranked No. 20 and playing their first game under new head coach Mike Elko
No. 7 Notre Dame begins their third season under head coach Marcus Freeman.
College Gameday will be in town

The all-time series between the Aggies and Irish is 3-2 in favor of Notre Dame, with A&M winning the most recent game (and the only one played in College Station) 24-3 in 2001.
Notre Dame has never played football in the state of Texas during the month of August and have a winning percentage of .250 when playing in the state of Texas in September.
Mike Elko was the defensive coordinator at Notre Dame in 2017
Elko’s QB at Duke, Riley Leonard, is now the starting QB at Notre Dame
Famous Notre Dame alumni include Regis Philbin, Condoleezza Rice, Hannah Storm, Phil Donahue, Jim Caviezel, George Wendt and Nicholas Sparks.

Starting lineups: Texas A&M has several positions where the starters are still unclear, particularly along the offensive line, linebacker (outside of Taurean York) and cornerback. Keep your rosters handy in order to see who trots out for the first snaps of the game.
Dominant defensive fronts: The Aggies and Irish both fancy their defensive lines to be dominant, and both enter the season with significant questions on the offensive line. It wouldn’t be surprising to see both defensive front living in the opponent’s backfield in this one.
The Klein effect: While the defense may be the strength of this A&M team, many eyes will be on the new-look offense under coordinator Collin Klein.
It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity: Some storm systems are supposed to keep high temperatures in the low 90s, but humidity may still make it pretty sweltering for everyone in attendance.

Widely scattered showers or a thunderstorm early. Then partly cloudy. High 93F, low of 77F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.