One of the premier games of the official opening week of college football will feature the Notre Dame Fighting Irish traveling to College Station to take on the Texas A&M Aggies in a game that will feature a ton of individual talent.
With all that talent spread out across the field on both sides, there is a great opportunity to look towards some college football player props in this showdown on Saturday night.
Here are my favorite college football picks for Notre Dame vs. Texas A&M on Saturday, August 31.
Notre Dame vs Texas A&M props
- Le’Veon Moss anytime TD scorer (+110 BetMGM)
- Conner Weigman Under 220.5 passing yards (-115 BetMGM)
- Riley Leonard Under 201.5 passing yards (-115 BetMGM)
Picks made on 8-29.
Read full analysis of each pick.
Notre Dame vs Texas A&M player props
Prop bet #1: Le’Veon Moss anytime TD scorer
Last season, Le’Veon Moss was third in line in the running back room, but he still saw 96 carries. Amari Daniels is listed behind Moss on the depth chart now and Rueben Owens is out for the season with an injury he suffered during a scrimmage in early August. Moss will likely be the leadback to start the season.
Moss was tied for second on the team last year with five touchdowns and I expect that to go up with so many departures from last season’s offense. To help our cause here for Moss we can look at the Notre Dame defense, which is stellar against the pass. They only allowed eight touchdowns through the air in 13 games last year.
However, the Fighting Irish did allow 14 rushing touchdowns last season. Notre Dame also lost their best defensive lineman in Javontae Jean-Baptiste, who had 10.5 tackles for loss last year. This game will likely force the Texas A&M Aggies into running the football if they plan on scoring against this Irish defense. The most likely player to get that done is Moss.
Prop bet #2: Conner Weigman Under 220.5 passing yards
Conner Weigman was very efficient last year before suffering a season-ending injury in Week 4 against Auburn. He had only two interceptions and both came in the game against Miami, in which he threw 53 pass attempts. He threw for 236 yards or more in all three games he played out last season.
However, Notre Dame has one of the best ball hawks in all of college football, Xavier Watts. The grad student is coming off a season in which he had seven interceptions and four pass deflections. Outside of Watts, the Irish have two corners with plenty of experience picking off quarterbacks. Jordan Clark transferred in from Arizona State where he had three interceptions and Benjamin Morrison has nine interceptions in his two-year career with Notre Dame.
Because of this secondary, we likely will not see a huge passing volume from Weigman in this game. With that said, I am taking his Under on passing yards with an expected heavier run game plan from the Aggies.
Prop bet #3: Riley Leonard Under 201.5 passing yards
The Irish brought in a new transfer quarterback to replace Sam Hartman and that is Riley Leonard from Duke. Leonard had a great 2022 season with 2,967 yards passing and 20 touchdowns to only six interceptions. However, 2023 was not as pleasant for the quarterback.
Leonard had only two games with over 175 yards passing and only three touchdowns to three interceptions. Now granted, his season was cut short due to an injury, but he still played seven games and struggled against all four of the tough opponents he faced in Clemson, Florida State, Notre Dame, and Louisville.
Texas A&M will provide Leonard with some troubles as well, as they have brought in several transfers with a ton of experience in the secondary. Last season, the Aggies only allowed 207.4 yards per game through the air, and they could be even better this season. Leonard is more of a threat with his legs than his arm and I believe the Irish will use that weapon more than trying to force a bunch of throws.
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