Notre Dame Concerns Going into the Texas A&M Game

Notre Dame's back is against the wall, already

Notre Dame finds itself in a tough situation to start the 2025 season. After the Irish's disappointing week one loss to Miami, life doesn't get any easier with another big, talented, and well-coached team heading to South Bend in the form of Texas A&M. If ever there was a must-win game, this would be it.

The Aggies will present some similar challenges to those the Hurricanes presented to Notre Dame, and the Irish didn't succeed in that test.

The question confronting Notre Dame now is, have they used the two weeks in between these games to address and correct what went wrong against Miami in time to save the season?

Let's examine some concerns that Irish fans may have entering this season-defining ballgame.

Notre Dame's offensive line must play better

Notre Dame lost the line of scrimmage battle up front against Miami offensively. How badly? The Irish offensive line has been a running meme on the internet since the game occurred due to how inept it looked late in the game.

The Irish line must play significantly better than it did against Miami for Notre Dame to win this ballgame. Period. Texas A&M may not be as dangerous up front defensively as they were last year, but they still have big, fast, strong players and are led by Mike Elko, a coach all Irish fans respect.

Was Notre Dame's offensive line issue a one-time situation, or will it be a liability all year when facing any team with real talent up front?

Miami Football — Aug 31, 2025; Miami Gardens, Florida, USA; The Miami Hurricanes react after defeating the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Hard Rock Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Notre Dame's defense didn't look like Notre Dame's defense

The defensive effort Notre Dame put forward was disturbing. It looked nothing like what we've come to expect from the Irish.

Minimal pressure applied up front, getting run on right up the middle with ease at times, soft passive intermediate pass coverage, no turnovers caused, and mistakes being made on the back end. This effort was alarmingly not up to the Irish standard.

I know Chris Ash is new on the job, and some patience is warranted before judging him, but the week one returns were worse than anyone could have imagined.

This style of defense doesn't look anything like the downhill, crashing, fast, and physical play we've come to expect. If this doesn't change against Texas A&M, Notre Dame's CFP hopes could be dashed after just two games.

Will Notre Dame find their fire at home?

We can talk all we want about Miami being a good team and having home-field advantage, but Notre Dame failed to match the moment in Miami emotionally.

It was clear from the opening kickoff that the Hurricanes were playing with more intensity and emotion than the Irish. This is immensely concerning. Why did it feel like Miami wanted to win the game more than Notre Dame?

Now that Notre Dame returns home for a night game, it'll be interesting to see if the Irish show up looking like a different team. One that is mad, frustrated, angry, and fired up. Will Notre Dame match this moment the way it needed to and didn't in week one? The season depends on it.

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