Notre Dame coach: Defeating Texas A&M a 'huge victory for our program'
Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman praised his team following its win over Texas A&M on Saturday.
"That was a huge victory for our program over a really, really good football team," Freeman said, per Dave Wilson of ESPN. "That is an impressive football team.
He added: "(Our) defense played lights out, (forced) turnovers."
The Aggies entered the contest as the favorites in front of their home crowd, but Notre Dame held them to only 13 points on 246 yards of offense. Texas A&M quarterback Conner Weigman struggled, throwing two interceptions with only 12 completions for 100 yards.
Duke transfer Riley Leonard made his first career start for the Fighting Irish, racking up 221 total yards with 18 completions and zero turnovers. The 21-year-old helped Notre Dame secure its first road win against an SEC opponent ranked in the AP Poll since 2004.
"That's an environment that I'm sure none of us have really ever played in before. The SEC is different. Coming down here in Texas is different," Leonard said.
He added: "If we can go into this environment and beat a team like that, that's coached as well as they are, I feel like that gives us all the confidence in the world to go into any environment in the country."
Freeman is now 20-8 as the Fighting Irish's head coach. Notre Dame will face Northern Illinois on Sept. 7.