Two schools with cultures of traditions will do battle at Kyle Field Saturday, both looking for answers and a decisive victory in a conquest for national respect.
Texas A&M will host the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at 2:30 p.m., marking the first time the Irish have visited Kyle Field in the team’s 114 years of football.
“It will be a real challenge for us,” said A&M football head coach R.C. Slocum. “We will have to play much better in all the areas than we have played this year to win this ball game.”
If the Aggies come away with the victory, another first will occur on Saturday. With the Irish losing their first two contests to open the season, another loss will mark the first time in Notre Dame history that the team has gone 0-3.
“Things haven’t gone their way these first couple of ball games,” Slocum said. “I see enough ability there that they are not going to be a bad team.”
Notre Dame travels to College Station after a 27-10 loss to Nebraska and a 17-10 loss to Michigan State Saturday. After the loss to the Spartans, the Irish dropped out of the Associated Press top 25.
“We are still going to have to go out and play well,” said junior quarterback Mark Farris. “They are still going to be by far the best team we have played this year. It is going to take our best effort to win the game.”
The Aggies come into the game with a 3-0 record, with victories over McNeese State, Wyoming and Oklahoma State. A&M opened the 2000 season at Notre Dame, but came up short, losing 24-10 to the Irish.
“We played Notre Dame last year and we know what they are capable of,” said junior linebacker Brian Gamble. “We have a bad taste in our mouth from last year.”
Junior quarterback Mark Farris will look to get back on track against the Irish this week, after passing for an uncharacteristic 92 yards against Oklahoma State. Farris posted a career-high 341 passing yards against Wyoming, and tallied 254 against McNeese State.
Against Wyoming, the Aggie defense struggled, but rebounded with a solid performance against Oklahoma State to make up for a slow day by the Aggie offense.
“We have to get together and have that perfect game,” Gamble said. “With the way that things have been going the past few weeks, we are on our way to do that.”
“They are a great team,” said senior linebacker Christian Rodriguez. “It does kind of upset me that they are 0-2, but they are Notre Dame and they are the best 0-2 team. I am excited to see what they will bring to the table.”
The Irish could use all the luck they can muster this weekend, with a sophomore quarterback making his first start and a record-breaking crowd at Kyle Field looking to rattle the young signal caller and give Notre Dame their first experience at Kyle Field.
Carlyle Holiday will make the start for the Irish at quarterback, replacing sophomore Matt LoVecchio, who has been in charge of the struggling Notre Dame offense. Holiday was heavily recruited by the Aggies coming out of San Antonio Roosevelt High School.
“Carlyle is a very talented athlete,” Slocum said. “I thought that coming out of high school, he was the best quarteback in Texas.”
The Irish have mounted just two scoring drives this season, one amassing four yards and another racking up six – unimpressive scoring drives to say the least.
“I don’t want that message conveyed that that is just a simple solution of changing quarterbacks,” said Notre Dame football head coach Bob Davie. “The reality is that we are not scoring enough points.”