Texas A&M kicks 'door down' with program-defining road win over ND - ESPN

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Texas A&M rearranged some furniture Saturday night at Notre Dame Stadium, starting with a chair coach Mike Elko tossed while lighting into the defense after a sluggish start.

«I don't know what happened to the chair, but it probably didn't survive,» Elko said.

Elko's team proved much more resilient against the type of team to which it typically wilts. Texas A&M erased five deficits to stun No. 8 Notre Dame 41-40, recording its first road win against an AP top-10 opponent since 2014 at Auburn, and its first road triumph against an AP top-10 nonleague opponent since 1979 (No. 6 Penn State).

The 16th-ranked Aggies did so in unlikely fashion, overcoming repeated mistakes — a punt blocked and returned for a touchdown, Marcel Reed's interception, shoddy third-down defense and 13 penalties. On fourth-and-goal from the Notre Dame 11-yard line, Reed threw a touchdown pass to tight end Nate Boerkircher in the front corner of the end zone with 13 seconds left. Randy Bond's PAT provided the margin of victory.

«Sometimes, it has to happen that way. Sometimes, it's going to be ugly,» Elko said. «That's the door we had to kick down. I don't think we were going to magically become a team that everything was going to go smoothly. We had to kick this door down, and we did that tonight.»

The thrown chair and broken door left Texas A&M with an open window to push for its first College Football Playoff appearance. The Aggies struggled down the stretch of Elko's first season, finishing 8-5, and entered this fall with questions, including Reed's ability to grow as a passer. Reed completed only 17 of 37 attempts Saturday but averaged 21.2 yards per completion, as Mario Craver (207 yards) became the first Texas A&M player to