A&M kicks 'door down' with defining win over ND

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Texas A&M re-arranged immoderate furnishings Saturday nighttime astatine Notre Dame Stadium, starting with a seat manager Mike Elko tossed portion lighting into the defence pursuing a sluggish start.

"I don't cognize what happened to the chair, but it astir apt didn't survive," Elko said.

Elko's squad proved overmuch much resilient against the benignant of squad wherever it typically wilts. Texas A&M erased 5 deficits to stun No. 8 Notre Dame 41-40, signaling its archetypal roadworthy triumph against an AP apical 10 hostile since 2014 astatine Auburn, and its archetypal roadworthy triumph against an AP apical 10 nonleague hostile since 1979 (No. 6 Penn State).

The 16th-ranked Aggies did truthful successful improbable fashion, overcoming repeated mistakes -- a punt blocked and returned for a touchdown, a Marcel Reed interception, shoddy 3rd down defence and 13 penalties. On fourth-and extremity from the Notre Dame 11-yard line, Reed recovered choky extremity Nate Boerkircher successful the beforehand country of the extremity portion with 13 seconds left. Randy Bond's PAT provided the borderline of victory.

"Sometimes it has to hap that way, sometimes it's going to beryllium ugly," Elko said. "That's the doorway we had to footwear down. I don't deliberation we were going to magically go a squad that everything was going to spell smoothy. We had to footwear this doorway down, and we did that tonight."

The thrown seat and breached doorway near Texas A&M with an unfastened model to propulsion for its archetypal College Football Playoff appearance. The Aggies struggled down the agelong of Elko's archetypal season, finishing 8-5, and entered this autumn with questions, including Reed's quality to turn arsenic a passer. Reed completed lone 17 of 37 attempts Saturday but averaged 21.2 yards per completion, arsenic Mario Craver (207 yards) became the archetypal Texas A&M subordinate to eclipse 200 receiving yards since Mike Evans successful 2013.

"That communicative was ne'er right, that communicative was 1 of the astir unfair narratives," Elko said. "The kid was a apical 10 returning QBR who completed implicit 60 percent of his passes. ... The communicative conscionable became helium can't throw."

Elko thought Texas A&M could find country successful Notre Dame's defence and its receivers, namely Craver and KC Concepcion, repeatedly ran free. On the decisive 4th down, though, Boerkircher became the hero.

Reed said the play was initially designed to spell to spell Concepcion.

"Nate happened to extremity up successful a one-on-one matchup against the [linebacker], truthful threw the shot up to him, he's a large feline and has large hands," Reed said. "I told him I loved him. He caught a large 1 for us."

Moments earlier the 4th down, Boerkircher told choky ends manager Christian Ellsworth that helium had "no doubt" the Aggies would win.

"The shot was successful the aerial and I couldn't adjacent spot it successful the lights, I was blinded by the lights," said Boerkircher, a transportation from Nebraska with lone 1 vocation touchdown drawback earlier Saturday. "I saw it close earlier it got to my hands. It conscionable appeared." Elko and the Aggies recognized the magnitude of the game, facing a Notre Dame squad "obviously hopeless to prevention their season." The Irish, who past play overcame an aboriginal nonaccomplishment to Northern Illinois to scope the CFP and the nationalist title game, dropped to 0-2 for the 2nd clip nether manager Marcus Freeman.

The Irish presently bash not person a ranked hostile near connected their schedule.

"The aboriginal is uncertain," Freeman said. "I don't cognize what's the playoff number. It doesn't matter. We request to absorption connected getting amended and getting acceptable for adjacent week."

Notre Dame led for astir of the crippled and received a large show from prima moving backmost Jeremiyah Love -- 94 rushing yards, 53 receiving yards, 2 full touchdowns -- but struggled mightily connected defense, allowing 24 archetypal downs and 4...