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While this season may not have ended as we all hoped, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team still had a tremendous amount of success this season. From the beginning of the season just five short months ago until now, head coach Marcus Freeman and the Fighting Irish established themselves as serious national championship contenders moving forward. But let’s go back to Aug. 31, 2024, the start of the highly anticipated season.

Week 1 of the 2024-25 college football season had finally arrived, and anticipation of the new 12-team playoff era was arguably higher than any other year. The No. 7 Notre Dame Fighting Irish faced off against the No. 20 Texas A&M University Aggies in the Saturday night primetime game, capping off the weekend. With the expanded playoff came lofty expectations of the Irish making significant strides in their quest for a championship. The matchup could have been the biggest game of the regular season for the Irish. Victory meant the Irish would be favored in every other game moving forward.

By game day, excitement was palpable, especially with the traditional watch party on South Quad for the first away game. With students’ lofted beds and chairs flooding the scene, we were all ready.

It was a slow start offensively, as two field goals by each team was all the offenses produced in the first half. Tensions were high amongst the crowd, especially with no touchdowns push-ups forstudents to relieve their stress. Finally, with about seven minutes to go in the third quarter, sophomore Jadarian Price broke loose with an electric 47-yard rushing touchdown to give Notre Dame a 13-6 lead. The touchdown push-ups had arrived!

With a narrow lead, the Aggies looked to slow any Irish momentum. And that’s exactly what they did, tying the game with a 10-play, 45-yard touchdown drive in just under four minutes. With 11 minutes remaining, the game was all tied up at 13, with both teams playing great defense. The anxiety level was evident, as the crowd was relatively quiet, focused in on every play.

And then ... just like he proceeded to do all season long when the team needed him most, sophomore running back Jeremiyah Love exploded for a game-clinching 21-yard rushing touchdown to seal the win! After a field goal shortly thereafter, the final score was 23-13 Notre Dame.

The Fighting Irish finished that game with 198 yards rushing led by 91 from Love, and quarterback Riley Leonard finished with 158 passing and 63 rushing yards. This game revealed much of the talent Notre Dame fans would watch over the course of the year. Love showed us all that he was the most talented offensive player on the team, Leonard showed us his true passion for the game and the defense certainly lived up to the hype. Senior Xavier Watts, whose seven interceptions tied for most in the nation last year, forced another one against Texas A&M. 

After this game, Irish fans certainly held a common belief that the team would cruise into the postseason. Reflecting back on this game, we all knew the importance of beating the Aggies, but after what would happen the following week at the home opener, the grit and perseverance of the Irish to go down to Kyle Field and come back with the win was critical to their postseason success.