Marcus Freeman details what he wants to see from Notre Dame in season opener at Texas A&M

Notre Dame Fighting Irish head football coach Marcus Freeman joined the SportsCenter crew Thursday afternoon to discuss the program as they prepare for the 2024 season. During the interview, Freeman opened up about Notre Dame’s season opener.

The Fighting Irish are no strangers to playing in huge matchups throughout the course of a college football season or to start it. This year is no different, as Freeman and the Fighting Irish will travel south to College Station to take on the SEC’s Texas A&M Aggies. During the conversation, the Notre Dame head coach explains what he wants to see out of his team in their huge season opener against the Aggies.

“Well, I think you’re going to get a lot of questions answered in fall camp,” said Freeman. “The ability to go against an opponent, a great opponent that I’m sure Coach Elko will have that program ready to roll, that’s the ultimate test of any competitor. So, I want to see us be able to execute for four quarters. That’s head coach speak; we all want to see that. But how can we handle it? There will be some adversity, it will be a loud environment, and a well coached team. I’m excited to bring this group down there and see what we can do.”

Another storyline in Notre Dame’s season opener against Texas A&M is it will be a reunion of sorts for the fighting Irish’s new starting quarterback Riley Leonard and the Aggies’ head coach Mike Elko. Together, Elko and Riley helped rejuvenate the Duke football program, leading them to back-to-back winning seasons complemented by bowl game victories to end the year. However, it is worth noting that in the Blue Devils’ final game of the 2023 season, the Birmingham Bowl against Troy, neither the head coach nor the starting quarterback was a part of the 17-10 victory.

Notre Dame’s season opener against Texas A&M is one of four games projected to be significant in shaping this year’s College Football Playoff field. Freeman and the Irish will host both ACC programs that played for the conference crown in 2023 this year. Notre Dame will host the Louisville Cardinals in late September and the Florida State Seminoles in early November. After that, Freeman and the fighting Irish travel across the country to the West Coast to take on one of the program’s most bitter rivals, USC, to close out the 2024 campaign.

This matchup against Texas A&M could very well end up being a litmus test to show Freeman where exactly his program stacks up. Should Notre Dame fall to Texas A&M in College Station, it could very well impact their chances at being one of the 12 teams in this year’s College Football Playoff. And that is why the Fighting Irish head coach wants to see four quarters of complete play from his program on August 31.