Notre Dame vs. Texas A&M Same Game Parlay Picks, Odds & Predictions

Notre Dame vs. Texas A&M Same Game Parlay Picks, Odds & Predictions Recap

We went on to cash both legs of the Week 1 college football betting clash between the #7 Notre Dame Fighting Irish and #20 Texas A&M Aggies. The game ultimately proved to be a defensive slobberknocker right from the jump with both defenses making it darn near close to impossible to put any substantial points on the board. The game was tied 6-6 deep into the third quarter when Jadarian Price broke the game open with a 47-yard touchdown jaunt pushing the Irish out to a 13-6 lead. The Aggies answered immediately after however to tie it up at 13 a few minutes into the fourth quarter on a penalty aided drive that sent Kyle Field into a frenzy. The teams would then play to a stalemate over the next eight minutes, but just like I predicted in the initial breakdown, Notre Dame came up with the late-game drive to put the game away. 

Jeremiyah Love capped off a huge night with a 21-yard touchdown scamper with fewer than two minutes remaining, and then the Irish defense stopped A&M on fourth down allowing the visitors to tack on a field goal to come away with the 23-13 outright win and cover and cash on the +130 moneyline at Caesars Sportsbook. The 36 combined points never seriously threatened the 46.5-point total which ended up closing a point higher making for an easy win on the under.

Notre Dame proved to be the better of the two teams in many respects. It outgained Texas A&M 356-246, won the turnover battle 2:0, averaged a healthy 5.8 yards per carry against an Aggies run defense that will only get better, thwarted each of A&M’s fourth down tries, and converted all three field goal tries in hostile territory thanks to the steady leg of Mitch Jeter. Riley Leonard completed 18 of 30 passes for 158 yards without a touchdown or interception thrown to play to a 74.0 QB rating per PFF. The Irish running game proved to be the saving grace in what could arguably prove to be the team’s toughest test on the regular season docket. Mike Elko has got some work ahead of him to mold the Aggies into his vision after it combined for less than 250 yards and only converted 4 of 13 third down tries. The under is now 3-0 on the NCAAF odds in the program’s three meetings since the turn of the century with 32.3 points scored on average.

Notre Dame vs. Texas A&M Same Game Parlay Picks, Odds & Predictions

An enormous non-conference tilt filled with College Football Playoff ramifications is set to go down in College Station on Saturday night when Marcus Freeman leads the No. 7 ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish into Kyle Field to lock horns with Mike Elko and the No. 20 ranked Texas A&M Aggies. You have to go back to the turn of the century to find the last time these football programs squared off against one another with the Irish logging the one-sided 24-10 win as 3-point favorites in 2000 and A&M returning the favor the following season after scoring the one-sided 24-3 triumph as field goal favorites in front of the 12^th Man. Fast forward 20+ years and I expect a similar type of game to play out with each team breaking in new faces and coaches in an attempt to keep their CFP hat in the ring one game into the college football betting season.

A&M initially hit the board 1-point favorites to defeat the Irish with the Over/Under set at 49. Though Notre Dame enters this tilt the higher ranked team, it’s the Aggies that’ve received most of the attention on the NCAAF odds from the CFB betting market. By way of taking in 54% of the bets and nearly 60% of the money, Caesars Sportsbook has bumped Texas A&M up to 3-point favorites. The under has also been bombarded with a ton of action and handle forcing a three point market correction down to 46 where the O/U currently resides at the time of this breakdown.

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Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs. Texas A&M Aggies CFB Same Game Parlay:

It’s been nothing but sunshine and rainbows for the Golden Domers since Freeman took over the reins from Brian Kelly at the tail end of the 2021 season. Though the team fell 37-35 to Oklahoma State in the Fiesta Bowl in his coaching debut, he’s coached the program to 9-4 and 10-3 campaigns and added a pair of bowl wins to his resume over the last two seasons. Because of it, expectations are through the roof entering the 2024-25 CFB betting season with the Irish owners of a 10.5-game win total and pegged -160 chalk at Caesars to punch a ticket into the expanded CFP regardless of the team only returning eight starters from last year’s squad. To have any shot of coming through for the boosters and rabid fan base, this season opener must be won with tough games against Louisville, Georgia Tech, Florida State, and USC remaining on the docket.

While Riley Leonard is getting most of the pub with it possible he can become the next big name quarterback to actually make an impact in South Bend, it’s Al Golden’s defense that’s got me bullish on the Irish heading into this matchup. While questionable in the back end, the front seven is likely to once again be a beast after limiting offenses to less than 120 yards on the ground (#28) and fewer than 16 points (#7) per game. The unit got a taste of an Elko coached offense last season and limited the then Leonard-led Blue Devils to 323 yards and 14 total points. There’s familiarity there, and I personally don’t believe A&M QB Conner Weigman is cut from the same cloth as the Irish’s new QB1.

I have to admit, I’ve got an over 8.5-wins ticket in my back pocket on the Aggies. That being said, I counted the season opener as a loss yet was still confident A&M would find a way to win nine games. Just take a look at the schedule—if you haven’t already—and you’ll understand why. Every single one of its tough games comes in the comforts of Kyle Field; just like this one. However, I think it takes time for the Aggies to fully understand the genius that’s running the show in College Station right now. Jimbo was nothing but a mouthpiece. It was all about his assistant coaches and ability to recruit. One only has to look at the job Elko just pulled off in Durham to know he’s twice the coach as the one the University will be paying out for years to come.

This is likely to be a tough watch right from the jump, with both retooled offenses struggling to put points on the board against the strength of both sides. However, I expect Leonard and the Notre Dame offense to pull through with a late scoring drive, putting just enough points on the board to secure a huge road win in College Station. Forget about taking the points—the Irish win this game outright, or they can pound sand!

• NOTRE DAME FIGHTING IRISH +130
• UNDER 46.5

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