Classic College Rivalry – #18 Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs. Michigan Wolverines

Game-day: 9/12/2009

Kick-off: 3:30 pm EST

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish fresh off of their terrific victory over the Nevada Wolf Pack head to Ann Arbor to take on the Michigan Wolverines. The NCAA football lines on this game might surprise some gamblers as Notre Dame figured to be a much bigger favorite than what they currently are.

A lot of that has to do with the fact that Michigan, with all of its issues, looked very good when handling the Western Michigan Broncos 31 to 7.

Here are the NCAA football lines in the BetOnline online sportsbook for this game.

Notre Dame -3 -110
Michigan Wolverines +3 -110

Here are a few online wagering trends for this game.

• The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are 6 and 0 in their last 6 games as the favorite on the road.
• The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are 7 and 3 in the last 8 meetings between these two teams.
• The Michigan Wolverines are 1 and 4 ATS in their last 5 non-conference games.
• The Home Team is 5 and 2 in the last 7 meetings between these two teams.

The sportsbook hasn’t released any NCAA football lines on the BetOnline Total just yet because both Notre Dame and Michigan put up a lot of points in their first games of the season.

That’s actually going to be the key in this game as well. Both offenses are superbly coached with the Wolverines very fast and the Irish very experienced. With both teams playing so well on offense, the winner in regards to the NCAA football lines in this game is going to be the team that can keep their offense on the field and use their defense to slow down the opposing team’s offense.

This should be a close game and the NCAA football lines represent that closeness. In a game this tight, I have to go with the team that has superior quarterback play. That would be Notre Dame and Jimmy Clausen. Michigan will put up a fight but at the end, the experienced quarterback will win.

The bet is on Notre Dame to cover the 3 point spread against Michigan.