Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman introduced his team to the concept of delayed gratification this week.
Sometimes, Freeman told them, you don’t get the thing you want right away. But with the right amount of patience and persistence, the prize is still attainable.
No. 8 Notre Dame (0-1) will see if the lesson pays off when it squares off against No. 16 Texas A&M (2-0) on Saturday evening in South Bend, Ind.
The Fighting Irish are looking to bounce back from a 27-24 loss against No. 10 Miami in their season opener. Notre Dame erased a 14-point deficit but fell short after the Hurricanes kicked a 47-yard field goal with 1:04 remaining.
Freeman’s focus is on preventing the loss from snowballing into something more.
“Outside of our building, you’re evaluated off one thing, and that’s wins and losses,” Freeman said. “But inside the building, we must continue to be mature enough to understand that the momentary success or failure is not what the goal is. Our goal and our focus has to be to reach our full potential.
“That takes understanding of delayed gratification.”
The idea carries weight for Texas A&M, too. The Aggies have waited for a full calendar year to try to avenge a home loss against Notre Dame.
This time, Mike Elko’s team is headed north to one of the storied venues in college football. Elko said the Aggies were ready for the challenge.
“Obviously, the schemes are similar (as last year),” Elko said. “They’re pretty well-entrenched in who they are and what they do.
“Last year, there was a lot more unknown. It was Coach (Mike) Denbrock’s first game as the (offensive coordinator). It was our first game as a staff.”
The Aggies lost 23-13 against Notre Dame last season before winning the next seven games in a row. They have started this season with back-to-back victories over UTSA and Utah State, surpassing 40 points in both contests.
Notre Dame must find a way to slow down Texas A&M quarterback Marcel Reed, who has completed 66.1 percent of his passes for 509 yards, seven touchdowns and no interceptions through two games. He also has rushed for 105 yards and a touchdown.
Reed left last week’s game because of an injury but is good to return, Elko said.
Mario Craver and KC Concepcion are the Aggies’ top targets in the passing game. They have three receiving touchdowns apiece.
The Fighting Irish will turn to quarterback CJ Carr for a second straight start. He completed 19 of 30 passes for 221 yards, two touchdowns and one interception in his starting debut against Miami.
“I think we were very intentional about trying to protect the first-time starter early in the game, right?” Freeman said. “I was vocal about giving him easy reads, easy throws. Let’s not just tell him to bomb the ball down the field every play, because he’ll do that if we allow him to. …
“But he showed he’s ready, he’s capable. As you saw as the game went on, we were able to take some more shots. … We feel like CJ can execute the entire game plan, the entire playbook. He’s a special player.”
Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love also figures to get a bigger workload against the Aggies. He had 10 carries for 33 yards in his season opener.
