The Texas A&M Aggies finally prevailed over a top 10 opponent on the road with a 41-40 victory over Notre Dame on Saturday night at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana.

Mike Elko’s team overcame 13 penalties, a horrid third-down defense and a blocked punt returned for a touchdown for the Aggies’ first road win over an AP top 10 opponent since 2014 at Auburn and its first road win against an AP top 10 non-conference opponent since 1979 at No. 6 Penn State.

It wasn’t pretty at the beginning, prompting Elko to tear into his defense on the sideline for the sluggish start, while victimizing an innocent chair that he threw.

“I don’t know what happened to the chair, but it probably didn’t survive,” Elko said.

The Aggies won in the most unlikely of fashions, including the aforementioned mistakes as well as a Marcel Reed interception. It took a nifty pass from Reed to blocking tight end Nate Boerkircher in the front left corner of the end zone with 13 seconds left on 4th-and-goal to tie the game at 40. Randy Bond’s point after put the Aggies in front for good, to the shock and astonishment of the Irish faithful in attendance and watching on television.

“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 where everything was going to go smoothly. We had to kick this door down, and we did that tonight.”

The Aggies’ window is now wide open for a push to its first College Football Playoff appearance.

Last season, the Aggies struggled late in the season in Elko’s first year, finishing 8-5. There were questions to be answered over the fall. And one of those questions surrounded Reed’s ability to grow and develop as a passer. On Saturday, he went just 17-of-37, but averaged 21.2 yards per completion and totaled 360 yards with two touchdowns.

Wideout Mario Craver became the first Aggies receiver to eclipse the 200-yard mark since Mike Evans in 2013.

“That narrative was never right. That narrative was one of the most unfair narratives,” Elko said. “The kid was a top-10 returning QB who completed over 60% of his passes. … The story just became he can’t throw.”

Elko and the Aggies knew the Irish would enter the game with a sense of urgency and “obviously desperate to save their season.” Last season, Notre Dame overcame a home loss early in the season to Northern Illinois to reach the College Football Playoff and the national championship game. They’re now 0-2 for the second time in Marcus Freeman’s tenure after an opening week loss to Miami – and they don’t have a current ranked opponent left on their schedule.

“The future is uncertain,” Freeman said. “I don’t know what’s the playoff number. It doesn’t matter. We need to focus on getting better and getting ready for next week. At the end of the day, why aren’t we able to execute in a way that we believe we need to and should? That’s the question we’ve got to get answered.”