SOUTH BEND, Indiana – The University of Notre Dame football team (0-2) fell in a back-and-forth battle during the 2025 home opener to No. 16/17 Texas A&M (3-0) in front of a sold-out crowd at Notre Dame Stadium.
The Irish held a 17-7 lead in the second quarter, Texas A&M surged to a 28-24 lead at the break and the teams traded scores and field goals throughout the game’s final 30 minutes. A missed point-after-touchdown late in the game allowed the Aggies to drive to a game-winning touchdown with 13 seconds remaining.
Jeremiyah Love paced the Notre Dame offense with 94 yards rushing while adding 53 receiving yards and two touchdowns (one receiving, one rushing). Mario Craver led Texas A&M with seven receptions for 207 yards with an 86-yard touchdown reception.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Texas A&M’s first drive was immediately affected by a holding call on its first play which eventually led to a fourth and eight on the Aggie 37-yard line. Sophomore defensive end Loghan Thomas came up the middle clean on the punt rush, smothered the kick and it was picked up by freshman safety Tae Johnson at the 20-yard line and returned for a touchdown.
Johnson followed up with an open field tackle on third down to end A&M’s next offensive drive. The Irish earned one first down with a Jeremiyah Love 12-yard run on the first play, but Love was stopped on third and one to force a punt. James Rendell buried Texas A&M at the five-yard line. The Aggies shrugged off the field position, however and scored in two plays, breaking a tackle in the open field and scoring on an 86-yard pass.
Notre Dame answered the score with a drive of its own. Texas A&M helped the Irish with an obvious late hit out of bounds to move the ball to the Aggie 48-yard line. After running a reverse earlier in the drive, the Irish called a double reverse this time with Jordan Faison and Love touching the ball before CJ Carr ending up with the pigskin and finding a wide open Eli Raridon for 43 yards to the five-yard line.
Two plays later, Jadarian Price found a clean hole on a counter, with Raridon throwing the key block, for a seven-yard touchdown run.
The Irish defense quickly got the ball back for the offense. A&M looked down the left sidelines for a big play, but Leonard Moore was in blanket coverage of the receiver. The sophomore cornerback turned his head at the perfect time and made an easy interception at the A&M 42-yard line.
Notre Dame moved into scoring position on a 24-yard run by Price on third and nine bursting through a huge hole on the right side of the line opened by offensive tackle Aamil Wagner and guard Guerby Lambert.
The drive stalled in the red zone when a slant pass on third down intended for Malachi Fields was expertly defended by the Aggie cornerback. Noah Burnett converted a 22-yard field goal and the Irish owned a 17-7 lead.
The back-and-forth contest continued as Texas A&M answered quickly in four plays. The biggest a 45-yard pass to the one-yard line.
It was Notre Dame’s turn to score and they accomplished their goal on the legs and through the hands of Jeremiyah Love. The junior running back accounted for 63 of 75 yards on a touchdown drive with the last play a spectacular one-hand catch of a bullet pass from CJ Carr for a 36-yard touchdown. The Irish had a 10-point lead again with 9:43 left in the first half.
Notre Dame’s momentum did not last long. The Aggies drove right back down the field to score in nine plays on a 75-yard drive.
Looking to answer yet again, this time the Irish turned the ball over. Carr scrambled left out of the pocket and looked back to his right, overthrowing Price with Texas A&M intercepting the pass at the Notre Dame 47-yard line. It took Texas A&M just seven plays to take their first lead of the game at 28-24 with a two-yard touchdown run.
The Irish received the second half kick and earned one first down before James Rendell came in for a punt to flip the field. A perfect coffin-corner kick bounced out at the one-yard line. Texas A&M quickly went three and out and the punt was returned by Jordan Faison 19 yards to the Aggie 29.
Senior wide receiver Will Pauling kept the Irish drive alive with a key third down catch leading into Price’s second touchdown run of the game. The Texas native took an outside hand off, disregarded an open-field tackle attempt by an A&M defender and scampered 17 yards to put the Irish back into the lead 31-28.
Notre Dame’s defense got the Irish the ball back but the offensive drive would end at midfield. The Aggies stopped Love on a fourth-and-one attempt just over the 50-yard line. A&M would then scrape out a 25-yard drive and tie the game with a 43-yard field goal.
The lead changed hands yet again on the next possession. Price kickstarted the drive with a 31-yard kick return. Jaden Greathouse then grabbed a Carr pass for 34 yards on the first play to the Aggie 31. Price tacked on another 12 yards on a run, but the drive fizzled out again and Burnette came on to convert a 39-yard field goal and the Irish had a 34-31 lead one minute into the fourth quarter.
This was a game that was not going to let any lead by either team last long and the pattern continued as Texas A&M drove down the field to tie the game yet again with a 45-yard field goal.
The Irish needed a clutch drive to take another lead and delivered. Carr found Raridon for 13 yards to start the drive and Fields on third and seven to get into scoring position. Love then took over, powering for six yards on third and four, six more yards a few plays later on fourth and one then capping the drive with a 12-yard burst.
That momentum shot ended quickly, however when the point after touchdown snap was dropped and the Irish could not get the kick off. The lead was just at six points and Texas A&M had to drive for the game-winning score.
A 34-yard completion put Texas A&M across midfield and a third and eight quarterback scramble for nine yards gave the Aggies a first down at the Irish 14-yard line. The Irish defense tied to hold, facing seven plays after that fist down within the Irish 20-yard line. A defensive holding on 3rd and 16 gave the Aggie life and they scored on another third down play, this one from 11 yards out. A&M converted the PAT with 11 seconds remaining to claim the win.