Texas A&M Aggies Head Coach Talks Pressure of Big First Game: 'You Can't Hide'

The Texas A&M Aggies are just two days away from kicking off the season against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish .

While generally Texas A&M plays in a cupcake game during the first week of the season, top-ten Notre Dame is anything but that. The bright lights of Kyle Field will put the Aggies in a national spotlight when they kick off on Saturday night.

On top of the obvious quality opponent, ESPN's College GameDay is coming into town, choosing the matchup in College Station as the best on the slate. During his game week media availability, Mike Elko said that while there is added pressure due to the attention the game will get, the Aggies must embrace it and stay focused.

"You can't hide from the fact that GameDay is coming or that this is ABC in primetime," Elko said . "What you try to do is prepare the kids...You can spend your week thinking about and planning your touchdown dance, or you can focus on the details that lead to the touchdown."

It sounds like the Aggies are embracing the challenge of playing under a national spotlight during their first game of a new era. Then again, of course they don't have much of a choice.

Currently on most books, Texas A&M is favored by roughly a field goal despite the fact that Notre Dame is the No. 7 ranked team in the nation. We could be in for an instant classic on Saturday night in what is poised to be not just one of the biggest games of week one, but the season as a whole.