Mike Elko details how challenging Notre Dame secondary is

In the second year of the home-and-home series, No. 16 Texas A&M travels to South Bend for a clash with No. 8 Notre Dame this Saturday night. The Irish knocked off the Aggies 23-13 last year in College Station to open the season and eventually rolled to the College Football Playoff National Championship Game.

Through the opening two weeks of the 2025 college football season, this game certainly holds massive implications for this year’s College Football Playoff. Texas A&M has opened the season with two dominant wins over UTSA (42-24) and Utah State (44-22), while Notre Dame dropped its season opener to Miami 27-24 and had last weekend off.

Texas A&M‘s passing game has been instrumental in its early season success, as quarterback Marcel Reed has completed 41/62 passes for 509 yards, seven touchdowns and no interceptions. He also leads the team in rushing with 105 yards and one touchdown on the ground.

Reed did not play in last season’s loss to Notre Dame, as former quarterback Connor Weigman opened the season at A&M’s starter. In that loss, Weigman passed for just 100 yards and threw two interceptions. Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko commented on Notre Dame‘s talented secondary during Monday’s press conference.

Elko applauds Notre Dame’s secondary

“It’s one of the most talented groups in the country for sure,” Elko said. “Leonard Moore is a kid that we were very familiar with. We tried really hard to get him at Duke but he ended up choosing Notre Dame.”

“Obviously, he had a very, very good true freshman year for them last year and Christian Gray is the kid on the other side who we played against last year. He’s another really, really talented corner, so they play a lot of man coverage and they play it really, really well. They just have really talented players there.”

In its season opener against Miami, the Notre Dame secondary allowed Hurricane quarterback Carson Beck to throw for 205 yards and two touchdowns. They did not force an interception, but they did record 23 tackles (led by Jalen Stroman‘s nine) and two pass deflections (both by Christian Gray).

Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman will need a strong showing from his secondary to slow down the Aggie offense, which is averaging 43 points and 476.5 yards per game through two weeks. Kick-off for Saturday’s top-20 meeting is scheduled for 7:30 PM ET on NBC/Peacock.