Notre Dame is coming off a bye week in Week 2 for their Week 3 matchup against No. 16 Texas A&M. The Fighting Irish are hoping to look better than they did in their season opener against Miami, where they received their first loss.
To start the game against the Aggies, Notre Dame had an amazing first defensive stand, forcing Texas A&M to punt. Then Loghan Thomas comes through unblocked to block the punt and help put it in the hands of Tae Johnson, who runs it to the end zone for a touchdown.
This had the crowd in South Bend going wild as the Fighting Irish took an early lead without their offense even touching the field. Then after trading punts, the Aggies had the ball again, and this time the Notre Dame defense completely crumbled with horrible tackling, allowing Mario Carver to score an 86-yard touchdown.
Fans went from being so high from the block punt for a touchdown to so low due to really poor tackling.
Hell yeah! Blocked punt returned for a touchdown! Notre Dame takes the lead #GoIrish
— Mike McGuire (@McGuire_Mike) September 13, 2025
So happy so early, little did he know that the Irish were going to fall apart on defense soon.
Notre Dame makes a statement on defense and then Tae Johnson scores a touchdown for the Irish on a blocked punt. ☘️ pic.twitter.com/S9yL0Gj7u5
— Caleb Conrad (@CalebConrad23) September 13, 2025
A statement was made, but then lost on defense.
Notre Dame’s special teams execution is beautiful to watch
— Don 🗝️ (@tDonBomb) September 13, 2025
Signs of a very well coached team
A well-coached special teams unit, but the defense unfortunately made a big mistake later on.
What bad tackling by Notre Dame
— Joey Joe (@joeyjoe37) September 14, 2025
This is where things began to go downhill.
Oh look Notre Dame doing ND things
— Maybe: Shan (@JadoreDenae) September 14, 2025
Fans were fed up with Notre Dame failing on defense yet again, feeling like some things never changed.
Notre Dame just put on the worst display of tackling I've seen in quite a while. 🤮
— 'Tis I, HIM! (@TheGAWDofTweets) September 14, 2025
It doesn't take much to get fans to go from a big high to a big low.
Notre Dame is so soft.
— Marcus (@Marcus_NY10) September 14, 2025
This seems a big harsh, but the defense should have tackled Carver easily to at least keep him out of the end zone.
Luckily, Notre Dame was able to respond on offense with a big touchdown by Jadarian Price, who scored on a 7-yard touchdown run after an impressive drive from the Fighting Irish offense.