The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are sitting with an undefeated record. They can climb into the upper reaches of the national rankings, and are now starting to think about the possibility of getting into the college football playoff (though they wouldn’t dare admit it). On Saturday they will take on the Syracuse Orange in NCAA college football betting action that is slated to kick off at 8 PM ET at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ.
Last week was extremely disappointing for the Orange, as they outgained Maryland by 220 yards, yet lost by a 34-20 margin. The Irish had last week off, after registering their third win of the year – a victory (without covering the football pointspread) against Purdue.
With 370 yard rushing last week, Syracuse likes to think it can threaten a Notre Dame defensive front that while formidable, may not be what Brian Kelly has been used to having at his disposal over the last couple of seasons. Currently Notre Dame is ranked eighth in both the Associated Press poll and the coaches’ listing.
In the NCAA college football betting lines that are placed on this game at BetAnySports, Notre Dame is the favorite at this neutral field:
NCAA football betting odds Courtesy Of BetAnySports Sportsbook
Notre Dame Fighting Irish -8.5
Syracuse Orange +8.5
Over 52 Points -110
Under 52 Points -110
You can’t win in college football without being able to master some of the fundamentals. And Notre Dame has scored relatively big in that are. In fact, Kelly’s team leads the nation in both turnover margin and red zone offense, and of course, these are two of the things coaches are always talking about when they lament how they lost ballgames.
Syracuse is not going to rushing for 370 yards again; at least that is highly unlikely. Terrel Hunt is nimble from the quarterback spot (156 yards vs. Maryland), but as NCAA football bettors have seen, he makes the kinds of mistakes that sometimes happen to a run-first QB – he had an 88-yard interception returned for a touchdown that contributed to Syracuse’s demise.
BetAnySports customers should note that Syracuse will be playing this game with an injury to its leading receiver, as Ashton Broyld has been ruled out of this game with a bad leg.
Brian Kelly says that he is looking at his offensive line with a lot of scrutiny, because he is not happy with the protection Everett Golson has gotten. Maybe that is one of the reasons Syracuse coach Scott Shafer has made noises like he is aiming to stop the ND running attack first and force Golson to beat them through the air. That might be okay with Kelly, since Golson has completed almost 65% of his passes with seven TD’s and no interceptions.
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