COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Jeremiyah Love broke a tie with a 21-yard touchdown run with 1:54 left and No. 7 Notre Dame beat No. 20 Texas A&M 23-13 on Saturday night in the opener for both teams.

Love burst through the line and shed two would-be tacklers before waltzing into the end zone to give the Fighting Irish the lead.

The Aggies had a chance to tie it, but Christian Gray jumped the route to knock down Conner Weigman’s pass on fourth down to give Notre Dame the ball back.

The Fighting Irish added Mitch Jeter’s 46-yard field goal with 30 seconds left.

Riley Leonard had a strong performance in his Notre Dame debut after transferring from Duke. He threw for 158 yards and added 63 yards rushing.

Key takeaway

Notre Dame: The defense — especially the secondary — was as good as advertised. Xavier Watts, whose seven interceptions tied for most in the nation last year, got another one against the Aggies and Adon Shuler added a second one. Notre Dame held Texas A&M to 246 yards.

Texas A&M: Weigman will have to get better before SEC play begins after the A&M offense struggled to move the ball for most of the night against Notre Dame’s staunch defense. Their only touchdown came on a 1-yard run by Le’Veon Moss with about 12 minutes left. Weigman managed just 100 yards passing with the two turnovers in his return after missing most of last season with a foot injury.

Up next

Notre Dame: Hosts Northern Illinois on Saturday.

Texas A&M: Hosts McNeese State on Saturday.

Notre Dame	3	3	7	10	=	23
Texas A&M	3	3	0	7	=	13

First Quarter

TXAM—FG Bond 34, 11:07.

ND—FG Jeter 46, 6:39.

Second Quarter

TXAM—FG Bond 49, 14:14.

ND—FG Jeter 26, 8:32.

Third Quarter

ND—Price 47 run (Jeter kick), 6:50.

Fourth Quarter

TXAM—Moss 1 run (Bond kick), 11:49.

ND—Love 21 run (Jeter kick), 1:54.

ND—FG Jeter 46, :30.

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	ND	TXAM
First downs	17	17
Total Net Yards	356	246
Rushes-yards	34-198	38-146
Passing	158	100
Punt Returns	0-0	2-18
Kickoff Returns	1-19	2-41
Interceptions Ret.	2-12	0-0
Comp-Att-Int	18-30-0	12-30-2
Sacked-Yards Lost	0-0	1-11
Punts	5-42.8	4-54.0
Fumbles-Lost	1-0	0-0
Penalties-Yards	11-99	6-55
Time of Possession	31:35	28:25

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INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING—Notre Dame, Love 14-91, Leonard 12-63, Price 8-44. Texas A&M, Moss 20-70, Weigman 7-26, Smith 4-24, Daniels 5-20, Walker 1-6, Bussey 1-0.

PASSING—Notre Dame, Leonard 18-30-0-158. Texas A&M, Weigman 12-30-2-100.

RECEIVING—Notre Dame, Collins 5-62, Greathouse 3-26, Flanagan 2-25, Faison 2-12, Harrison 2-4, J.Thomas 1-14, Mitchell 1-12, Love 1-3, Ford 1-0. Texas A&M, Walker 6-31, Allen 2-28, Moss 2-13, T.Watson 1-18, N.Thomas 1-10.

MISSED FIELD GOALS—None.