Notre Dame at Texas A&M Betting Pick For 8/31/2024

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish will face the Texas A&M Aggies at Kyle Field on August 31, 2024, at 7:30 pm ET. DraftKings Sportsbook has the Notre Dame Fighting Irish as 3.0 point underdogs. Currently, 41% of spread bets are on Notre Dame, while 59% are on Texas A&M. The opening total of 46.5 has seen 25% of bets on the under and 75% on the over. This matchup is sure to be an exciting one as both of these ranked teams look to secure a season-opening victory.

Riley Leonard Begins Notre Dame QB Tenure

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish won 10 games last season but the year was still somewhat disappointing given what their losses looked like. They were shut down by Ohio State and Clemson and lost to Louisville as well, in a year where the Irish will feel like they could have done more. This season will begin with a tough test on the road against Texas A&M, a game in which the Fighting Irish will debut a new starting quarterback in Riley Leonard.

Leonard was expected to have a big year at Duke last season, but his year was cut short due to injury, as he was forced out of action by the end of October. Here, Leonard is back on the field for a team that is expected to be better than the Duke teams that he was a part of over the last three years. But his return to the field coming in one of the toughest places to play in all of college football could prove problematic for the new Notre Dame starter.

Texas A&M Ushers In Mike Elko Era

Jimbo Fisher is no longer the head coach of the Texas A&M Aggies, as Mike Elko has taken over as the head man in College Station. Elko comes from a relatively successful tenure at Duke, which creates a fun storyline for his first game as the head coach at Texas A&M. In this game, Elko coaches his new team against a Notre Dame team who will be starting Elko's quarterback from last season at Duke in Leonard.

It will be very interesting to see if Texas A&M gets the upper hand against Leonard and Notre Dame based on Elko's familiarity with Leonard. Nobody knows what Leonard does well and does not do well as intimately as Elko after time coaching him at Duke. Texas A&M will try to use that knowledge to their advantage, but there is no guarantee that leads to the result they want on the field.

Notre Dame vs Texas A&M Best Bet

Our best bet is for Texas A&M to win and cover the spread as a field goal favorite against Notre Dame. Look for the A&M defense to get the better of Leonard and the Irish offense, even if there are some growing pains for the Aggies offensively along the way. This should be the best game of the night slate in Week 1 on Saturday and A&M should come out on top by just enough to cover as a favorite.

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