Riley Leonard, Marcus Freeman pass first test, Notre Dame provides proof of concept at Texas A&M

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — It’s easy to get lost in Kyle Field. And Riley Leonard did for a few moments on Saturday night. Gaze up into the stands, and it’s hard to tell where the crowd of 107,315 ends and the sky begins. Listen to the chants, no matter how much they may require a translator to understand, and playing at Texas A&M can feel less like a road game and more like a study abroad.

“That’s an environment that I’m sure none of us have really ever played in before,” Leonard said. “The SEC is different. Coming down here in Texas is different.”

And now Notre Dame gets to go home, owning the biggest statement win of this nascent college football season and offering proof of Marcus Freeman’s concept in the process. What the Irish accomplished in beating the Aggies 23-13 on Saturday in Mike Elko’s Aggies coaching debut was not just winning a game, it was to showing the evolution in what Freeman is building with Notre Dame football, from the roster to the staff to his own in-game approach.

Transfers were the stars at a place still getting used to college football’s new operating procedure, from Leonard to Mitch Jeter to Beaux Collins. New strength coach Loren Landow got Notre Dame’s roster in better condition than Texas A&M, taking more of an NFL approach than an antiquated college one. After missing at offensive coordinator a year ago, hitting that mark paid off via Mike Denbrock calling a game-winning, 85-yard drive.

If Notre Dame’s head coach spent two seasons learning on the job, on Saturday night, he passed the first exam in a schedule of them that should stretch into January. Freeman half-joked that he was exhausted by the end of Notre Dame’s season debut. He’ll need to recover quickly because this Irish season could be a marathon.

“We always say execution fuels emotion, and then when you have success like that, you’re emotional, and you appreciate our fans,” Freeman said. “We appreciate our fans are traveling from all over the country to support us, and it’s just a proud moment, man. Sometimes your emotions get the best of you, but hopefully, that happens after a game, not during.”

Before, during and after felt right for Notre Dame’s arguably biggest road win in 14 years, dating back to Brian Kelly’s triumph at Oklahoma during the 2012 season when the Irish reached the BCS national championship. That game’s score was tied at 13-13 in the fourth quarter, too. That game featured a go-ahead touchdown followed by a 46-yard field goal. That came during Kelly’s third season when he began to do more than put his fingerprints on the program but grab hold of it instead.

Now it’s Freeman’s turn.

To date, Notre Dame’s coach is known more as a culture-setter and recruiter than outright tactician. And the culture part still showed here because Leonard, Collins, Jeter, etc., don’t show up without that part of football. Maybe this wasn’t the first time Freeman’s sideline nous showed, but it never has come in this big of a moment. It’s one thing to get Notre Dame to play possessed football at home in blowing out Clemson or USC. It’s another to take that show on the road with an offensive line with six combined career starts and an offense with replacement parts still fitting into the scheme.

“That’s the one thing that when we talk about bringing in transfers, they have to be really good players, great players, but they have to fit the culture we have, right?” Freeman said. “That was a sign of what you saw out there is guys that are really good players that fit this place and this culture.”

At virtually every point, Freeman pulled the right levers against Texas A&M. Making sure Leonard didn’t play with too much abandon, maybe why he didn’t throw back across his body to running back Devyn Ford in the first half. The fourth-down decisions were all right, even the Leonard sneak that looked like a first down only to be re-measured and denied. Letting Jeter kick that 46-yard field goal to ice it? Check. Not planting the seed for Jeremiyah Love to go down on his winning 21-yard run? Check.

“When you have a good defense, you don’t have to put the ball in jeopardy,” Leonard said. “You don’t have to play risky. At the same time, you want to score; it’s a tough game to play. A lot of the game, I do feel like we weren’t as aggressive, and there weren’t any huge mistakes, but shoot, there were a lot of mistakes and a lot of them by me that I gotta fix.”

Ultimately, there’s a lesson there Freeman already knew before Saturday night: Defense travels.

Notre Dame may be old on defense, but it’s still young in parts. Yet, the four young linebackers outside Jack Kiser contributed. New safety Adon Shuler, who beat out Northwestern grad transfer Rod Heard II, made a first-half pick that put Notre Dame on the front foot. Christian Gray wasn’t overwhelmed by his first big moment. And that’s on top of the known quantities like Kiser, Benjamin Morrison, Howard Cross III, Xavier Watts and Rylie Mills.

The next time Notre Dame goes on the road and beyond the Sept. 14 trip to Purdue, there’s no reason to think Al Golden’s defense won’t continue to travel. The Irish have that way about themselves, reliable in a way Notre Dame can play knowing few opponents (if any) will surpass three touchdowns on this defense.

“A huge tone-setter,” Shuler said. “The hype is kind of what we want.”

Notre Dame would have plenty after a game like this under normal circumstances, never mind doing it in the 12-team College Football Playoff era. Put down a marker in the SEC, and Notre Dame has a data point to compare against other contenders LSU, Missouri and Texas by season’s end. Those three all play at Kyle Field. Notre Dame has a win there. Those other programs don’t … yet.

Essentially, Notre Dame earned a unique tiebreaker in comparison to the SEC on Saturday night. It can get a first one against the Big Ten in two weeks. There should be more to come, too, as Leonard fits further into Notre Dame’s offense.

Leonard finished with a pedestrian 18-of-30 passing for 158 yards, plus 12 carries for 63 yards. That was more than good enough on Saturday but not what Denbrock has in mind long term. It’s fine that not everything worked perfectly for Notre Dame here because what would be the fun in that for a fan base that has been waiting to push the head coach to a higher level.

“Shoot, we’re a gritty team, and we embrace that,” Leonard said. “I think we got a lot of talent this year and that complements our hard work.”

In the end, Notre Dame’s players found each other in the south end zone after this, locking arms and swaying during the alma mater. This wasn’t the Aggie War Hymn, popularized by the students violently swaying back and forth in unison. Notre Dame’s moves were more modest, soaking up a moment that this team had seen coming for weeks.

“I’m exhausted. I’m absolutely exhausted, probably more than our players, man,” Freeman said. “That was a huge victory for our program over a really, really good football team.”

Notre Dame just has one better.

(Top photo of Riley Leonard: Maria Lysaker / USA Today)