Aug 30, 2025; College Station, Texas, USA; Texas A&M Aggies head coach Mike Elko pregame against the UTSA Roadrunners at Kyle Field. Mandatory Credit: Sean Thomas-Imagn Images Sean Thomas-Imagn Images

Mike Elko Compares Notre Dame Running Backs To Legendary Collegiate Duo

Originally posted on Texas A&M Aggies on SI
By Aaron Raley | Last updated Sep 9, 2025 6:00 PM ET

The No. 16 Texas A&M Aggies get their first big challenge of the 2025 college football season when they hit the road for a Top 25 match against the No. 8 Notre Dame Fighting Irish, their seventh meeting all-time.

Notre Dame took it to the Aggies late in the second half of their season opener last year, with a Jeremiyah Love touchdown run and a Mitch Jeter field goal all transpiring in the final two minutes to result in a 23-13 victory for the Irish.

Love, as well as fellow running Jadarian Price and then-quarterback Riley Leonard dashed the Aggie run defense in the season opener a year ago, combining for 198 yards against one of the nation's best rushing defenses, and Mike Elko was well aware of their presence.

Elko Compared the Irish Backs to a Pair of Well-Known Georgia Bulldogs

In his pregame press conference on Monday, the head coach spoke on the running back tandem of Love and Price, a tandem that he will be coaching against again on Saturday, and compared them to another dynamic collegiate duo from a little around a decade ago.

"I think it's as talented a duo as I've played against," Elko said to the media on Monday. "I was actually talking about this that the only thing that I can remember in the ballpark was when I was actually at Notre Dame and we played Nick Chubb and Sony Michel. That group was really talented. But these two kids are really, really good. They're athleticism for their size, the way they hit the hole, the power with which they run, they're both effective pass catchers. These two kids are really, really talented football players."

Elko's reference goes back to his 2017 season he spent as the defensive coordinator with Notre Dame, when the Irish faced off against the Georgia Bulldogs, who had a fearsome running game with the pair of back that Elko named. The Irish would fall to the Bulldogs by a score of 20-19, which saw the two backs combine for 136 yards, with Michel also finding the end zone on the ground.

Michel was drafted in the first round of the 2018 NFL draft with the 31st overall pick by the New England Patriots, with whom he would win Super Bowl LIII with his rookie year, and would later win Super Bowl LVI with the Los Angeles Rams, defeating the Cincinnati Bengals before ultimately retiring before the 2023 NFL season.

Chubb would also be selected in the 2018 draft in the second round with the 35th overall pick by the Cleveland Browns, being named to four Pro Bowls and a second-team All-Pro in 2022, before signing with the Houston Texans this past offseason.

Texas A&M's run defense saw a massive improvement against Utah State last Saturday, an improvement the A&M crowd needed to see with their own eyes before the team loaded the bus for South Bend.

The Aggies and the Irish will kick off Saturday at 6:30 P.M. from Notre Dame Stadium.

This article first appeared on Texas A&M Aggies on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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