College Football Betting Preview and Pick: Syracuse vs. Notre Dame



Ross breaks down one of the biggest college fotball events of the year as Notre Dame takes on Syracuse at Yankee Stadium Saturday afternoon.

Betting preview and pick for Notre Dame vs. Syracuse

The #12 Syracuse Orange (8-2) will take on the #3 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (10-0) on Saturday. The opening kickoff from Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York is slated for 2:30 PM ET and it will be aired on NBC. According to the current college football betting odds at BetOnline, Notre Dame is a 10.0-point favorite. Additionally, there’s a posted total of 65.5.

These teams last met in 2016 at the Meadowlands in New Jersey and Notre Dame came away with a 50-33 win. The Fighting Irish managed to cover that contest as a 13.0-point favorite and it also went under 74.5.

Orange Fly Under the Radar
This is the highest that Syracuse has been ranked in the AP Poll since 1995. The Orange’s only 2 losses this season occurred at #2 Clemson 27-23 and 41-34 in overtime at Pittsburgh. Basically, Syracuse is just a couple of plays away from being 10-0 right now. Yet, they’ve received limited national attention with all things being considered.

Notre Dame vs Syracuse free pickThe Syracuse offense is extremely explosive. The Orange have scored 51 points or more in 4 of their 10 games. Conversely, they’ve allowed 41 points or more 3 times but still managed to win 2 of those contests. Further proving they can overcome a terrible defensive day due to their offensive prowess.

The Orange have forced 25 turnovers in 10 games which has also aided in covering up some defensive shortcomings. By comparison, Notre Dame has created just 15 turnovers over its first 10 contests.

Can Irish Handle the Pressure?
Notre Dame enters this week with a perfect 10-0 record and they’re ranked #3 in the latest College Football Playoff poll. All they need to do now is win their final two regular season games against Syracuse and USC for their first ever college football playoff berth. If they fail to win on either of those occasions, Notre Dame will be at the playoff committee’s mercy. Bearing in mind that Notre Dame has no direct conference affiliation, they’d leave themselves very vulnerable to being omitted with anything short of a 12-0 finish.

There’s no doubt in my mind that Notre Dame will be able to move the ball offensively against a suspect Syracuse defense. Starting quarterback Ian Book is set to return after missing last week’s home win over Florida State. Since Book has been inserted as a starter on 9/22 against Wake Forest, Notre Dame’s offensive production has improved by leaps and bounds. The Irish scored 24 points or less in each of their first 3 games while amassing just 365 yards of total offense per contest without Book as their starter. During Book’s 6 starts, Notre Dame averaged 38.8 points and 396.7 yards of total offense per game.

Notre Dame Fighting Irish game previewThe most notable improvement with Book under center has been with Notre Dame’s aerial attack. The Irish have averaged 301 yards passing per game in Book’s 6 starts. Conversely, during the 4 starts at quarterback by Brandon Winbush, they averaged only 189 yards per game through the air.

The biggest challenge for Notre Dame will be their defense’s quandary to slow down Syracuse’s dynamic high tempo offense. The Orange enter this week averaging 44.4 points scored per game and that’s good for 7th best in the country.

College Football Betting Angle and Pick
Any college football underdog of 3.5 to 10.0-points (Syracuse) that’s playing after Game 4 of their season, and they scored 42 points or more in their previous game, versus an opponent (Notre Dame) with a win percentage of .846 or better, and they’re coming off a win by 17 points or greater, resulted in those underdogs going 21-2 ATS (91.3%) since 2014.

Besides the previously mentioned successful college football betting angle, I believe you can make a strong case for Syracuse pulling off an upset in “The House that Ruth Built”. Nevertheless, I won’t get greedy and will take the points for my college football pick on this contest.
College Football Free Pick: Syracuse +10.0

Ross Benjamin Free Pick

Ross Benjamin is a top sports analyst and one of the sports industry's most respected handicappers. Follow him on Twitter: @RossBenjamin1 or visit his website at RBWins.com


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