COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Jeremiyah Love broke a tie with a 21-yard touchdown run with 1:54 left and No. 7 Notre Dame beat No. 20 Texas A&M 23-13 on Saturday night in the opener for both teams.
Love burst through the line and shed two would-be tacklers before waltzing into the end zone to give the Fighting Irish the lead.
The Aggies had a chance to tie it, but Christian Gray jumped the route to knock down Conner Weigman's pass on fourth down to give Notre Dame the ball back.
The Fighting Irish added Mitch Jeter's 46-yard field goal with 30 seconds left.
Riley Leonard had a strong performance in his Notre Dame debut after transferring from Duke. He threw for 158 yards and added 63 yards rushing.
''It wasn't pretty,'' Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman said. ''The defense played lights out, (forced) turnovers. And our offense didn't turn the ball over. Yes, there's a lot of things we need to work on but man they did a great job at least trying to move the chains and… they didn't make a detrimental mistake.''
Elko's Debut
Saturday was the debut for Texas A&M coach Mike Elko after he was hired from Duke this offseason following Jimbo Fisher's firing late last season. Elko was looking to take the Aggies to the next level after last season's disappointing 7-6 season, but instead finds his team in an early 0-1 hole.