No. 8 Notre Dame can't survive defensive regression, falls to No. 16 Texas A&M, 41-40

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Not even Notre Dame Stadium’s new alcohol-friendly sales policy could positively skew the eye test when it came to Chris Ash’s defensive reboot in game 2 of his so-far wobbly regime as Irish defensive coordinator.

Nor the near-escape route the Irish offense eventually provided No. 8 Notre Dame to try to keep its College Football Playoff aspirations in the realm of the real, rather than surreal.

All that melted away with another defensive breakdown with 11 seconds left on a fourth-down TD pass from Texas A&M QB Marcel Reed to tight end Theo Melin Ohrstrom and Randy Bond’s accompanying extra point in a 41-40 victory for No. 16 Texas A&M (3-0).

Notre Dame is 0-2 in losing in a post-bye week game for the first time in six tries in the Marcus Freeman Era.

Irish running back Jeremiyah Love, on his 23rd carry, provided what had appeared to be the winning margin with 2:53 left on a 12-yard run. Tyler Buchner bobbled the snap on the extra point and wasn’t able to concoct a Plan B with his arm as the Irish lead stayed at 40-34.

Texas A&M’s Terry Bussey returned the ensuing kickoff for a TD, but it was called back for holding. Still, the Aggies were able to get all the way down to the Irish 10-yard line. They had four shots at the end zone in the closing seconds, and from the 11 Reed cashed in for the victory.

The 6-foot-1, 185-pound redshirt sophomore was just 17-of-37 in his accuracy, after coming into the game at 66%. But he had timely and explosive completions and finished with 360 yards and 2 TDs with 1 interception.

Mississippi State transfer Mario Craver had 207 receiving yards for the Aggies on seven catches.

Notre Dame redshirt freshman QB CJ Carr’s second career start, with 293 passing yards, largely got lost in the defensive backslide. He was 20-for-32 with 1 TD — to Love — and an interception and actually had a pass-efficiency rating roughly three points higher (143.5) than Reed.

Before and even during the final offensive volleys, most alarming was how a team that finished No. 1 nationally in pass-efficiency defense each of the past two seasons got gashed so convincingly in the pass game in stretches for the second straight week.

And with a bye week to take a deep dive on the fixes for the flaws that playing a top 10 team on the road, Miami, exposed for Freeman and his defensive staff.

And the tests in the passing game aren’t relenting any time soon, Heading into this weekend’s games, seven Irish opposing QBs ranked in the top 25 nationally in pass efficiency, and eight of the 12 ranked in the top 25 in total offense.

Reed was on both lists, and looked every bit the part in both areas against Ash’s defense, which gave up more total yards in the first half (328) than in the entirety of 10 of ND’s 16 games in 2024.

When it came to the passing game, Reed’s 258 passing yards were more than all but three opposing QBs threw for in entire games against ND on their way to a national title game appearance and a 14-2 overall record.

Notre Dame at least had some offensive counterpunches in the second half after trailing 28-24 at the half.

A sell-out crowd of 77,622, that included former Irish coach Lou Holtz and a big chunk of his 1988 national champs’ roster, looked on as Notre Dame found some potent answers on offense at least.

Texan Jadarian Price’s second TD run of the game, a 17-yarder midway through the third quarter, put the Irish out in front 31-28. And then after the Aggies tied it on a 43-yard field goal, ND’s Noah Burnette untied it with a 39-yard field goal 59 seconds into the fourth quarter.

A 45-yard field goal by Bond retied the game, 34-34, on a drive in which Irish safety Adon Shuler was ejected for targeting. The junior will miss the first half of next Saturday’s home matchup with Purdue as well.

The Irish host the Boilermakers (2-1) at 3:30 p.m. EDT next Saturday. Texas A&M, meanwhile, rolls into its first bye week before facing an SEC gauntlet of Auburn, Mississippi State, Florida, Arkansas, LSU, Missouri and South Carolina over its next seven games.