Joel Klatt picks Notre Dame to win outright vs. Texas A&M

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish travel to College Station to take on the Texas A&M Aggies to open the 2024 season. It’s a game that college football analyst Joel Klatt expects the Irish to win outright in, regardless of the spread.

In a recent episode of The Joel Klatt Show, he broke down this key non-conference game and shared why he’s confident that Notre Dame can open the season with a road victory.

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“Man the storylines are fantastic,” Joel Klatt said. “Marcus Freeman goes out and he gets another transfer at quarterback. Second year in a row that he’s done that. This one is from Duke, Riley Leonard. Riley Leonard’s former head coach, what did he do, oh, he took the job at Texas A&M. So, they will be facing each other as Mike Elko is gonna be looking across the field at his former quarterback.”

Notre Dame is coming into this game as a 2.5-point underdog. The over-under, meanwhile, is low, with a point total of 46.5 points. That implies that Las Vegas expects a low-scoring battle.

For his part, Joel Klatt can see why there’s room to be concerned with Notre Dame, particularly due to the team’s injuries entering the season. He also sees a lot to be excited about at Texas A&M this season.

“In Elko’s first game, the environment is gonna be on fire. That’s going to be very difficult for Notre Dame. There’s no doubt. Notre Dame gets Mitchell Evans back. He tore his ACL last year. He’s gonna be back. A huge piece of this game could be Notre Dame’s ability to protect the passer. Remember, they lost their starting left tackle in preseason camp…Nic Scourton led the Big Ten with 10 sacks. He comes from Purdue. Now he’s an Aggie. Will they be able to block him? That’s going to be a huge point in this game,” Klatt said.

“A&M starts as a favorite, even though they’re ranked 20th and Notre Dame is ranked seventh. They’re a 2.5-point favorite. Both of these teams have new offensive coordinators. You’ve got Collin Klein on one side. He’s going to Texas A&M…he’s going to be tasked with getting [Conner] Weigman right and I think that he can. They did lose Rueben Owens for the year with an injury in camp. That’s their running back and that’s a bummer.”

Despite those concerns surrounding Notre Dame, Klatt loves the Irish defense. That’s the strength for Marcus Freeman as a coach and it’s been the strength of the teams he’s coached at Notre Dame. That shouldn’t change in 2024 with most people expecting the Irish to be strong on that side of the ball.

“Notre Dame’s defense is phenomenal. I think it could be one of the best defenses in college football. Xavier Watts, Benjamin Morrison, Howard Cross. They’re gonna need to lean on those guys in this game while their offense tries to find their footing, which they probably will need to find their footing, in particular early,” Klatt said.

“First games of the year, they’re always sloppy offensively, and then you’re gonna throw onto that what will be an insane environment. It’s a great stadium. It’s a great fanbase that’s gonna be on fire for the change and the feeling that they’ve got going on at Texas A&M. That’s why A&M is favored by 2.5 points. However, I think Notre Dame’s defense is going to be outstanding. I think that they are going to stop, largely, Texas A&M.

With the College Football Playoff expanding to 12 teams, the highest seed Notre Dame can earn is fifth. That makes this game incredibly important for the Irish to reach their goal not just of making the CFP but being a highly seeded team in it.

“I do not think Texas A&M scores over 10 points in this game. I’m going 24-9, Notre Dame. They win on the road and because they win and they win emphatically, I think we immediately start talking, man, is Notre Dame gonna go undefeated and are they a shoo-in for the fifth seed in the College Football Playoff. I think we could be talking about that come Monday.”

Notre Dame and Texas A&M will settle the game on the field when they kickoff at 7:30 p.m. EST.