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Paul Finebaum likes Notre Dame’s College Football Playoff odds after ‘impressive’ Texas A&M win
By Sean Labar
Published:
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish opened the 2024 season with a massive road test as underdogs against Texas A&M in College Station on Saturday night — but with a new QB and an impressive defensive effort — pulled off the upset over the Aggies 23-13.
Longtime ESPN college football analyst Paul Finebaum joined the Matt Barrie Show on Sunday and wasn’t hesitant about giving the Irish the ultimate compliment after the Week 1 victory.
“On September 1, Notre Dame is the first team in the College Football Playoff,” Finebaum said. “I don’t think we need to waste anymore time figuring out their path, I mean that was their biggest game probably all year.
“And quite frankly it was a significant win because their schedule gets more comfortable. I’m impressed with Marcus Freeman, he manages this team extremely well, especially on the defensive side, they made big stops.”
It’s easy to see why Finebaum is so high on the Irish after their Week 1 upset over a solid SEC team in one of the most hostile road environments in college football.
While the Notre Dame offense struggled at times against Mike Elko’s trademark stifling defense, the Irish was able to find its groove in the second half which resulted in two scoring drives that sealed the game.
But like Finebaum noted, it was the Irish defense that won Saturday’s game. Notre Dame held Texas A&M to 246 total yards of offense, but even more notably, gave up just 100 yards passing against veteran QB Connor Weigman.
Notre Dame forced two interceptions and only allowed 4 of the Aggies 13 third-down attempts. The only two remaining major tests on Notre Dame’s schedule come late in the season against No. 10 Florida State at home and the season finale on the road against No. 23 USC.
Notre Dame will face Northern Illinois at home in Week 2.
Sean Labar is an SEC football contributor for Saturday Down South.
