Notre Dame is coming into this game off of a 10-3 season last year, but they have a lot of new players on the team this season so this is going to be a very different team. They lost their starting quarterback Sam Hartman to the NFL so they will be breaking in a new starter this season, but they also lost their leading rusher Audric Estime who was one of the better running backs in the country last year and was most of their ground presence on offense. Even their leading receiver last season, Chris Tyree, has moved on to Virginia so this offense has a lot of new pieces in it. They are going up against a Texas A&M team that was 7-6 last season and did not live up to expectations, but now they have a new head coach in Mike Elko who did wonders at Duke last season and he also has a lot of talent to work with here. Max Johnson has moved on to UNC but they are returning Conner Weigman as the starting quarterback, and he was good in his 4 games last season. He only played in 4 games but completed 68.9% of his passes, throwing for 979 yards with 8 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. They are also returning their 2 leading rushers from last season as well as some of the receiving talent. Texas A&M had a top 40 defense last season but they have a lot of talent on that defense and Elko will be able to do what Fisher could not as Elko actually had a better defense at Duke last season, ranking in the top 20 with 19 points allowed per game, and now he has more talent on this team. Texas A&M has a lot of hope for this season with their new head coach and after years of squandering good talent with Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M will not take their foot off the gas here as they need to impress in this home opener. Texas A&M has a very good defense that can match Notre Dame here and they have the pieces on offense to do some damage under Elko. They also have a bit of an advantage since Riley Leonard is the new starter for Notre Dame and he was Duke's starter last season so Elko will know how to defend him well here. Texas A&M will cover the spread in this game.