College Football Betting – Utah and Notre Dame Looking To Bounce Back

Those who follow the college football betting odds know that both the Utah Utes and Notre Dame Fighting Irish are in sensitive situations, and coming off very tough losses. On Saturday these teams will clash in an NBC-televised matchup that is set to begin at 2:30 PM ET at Notre Dame Stadium (natural turf) in South Bend, IN. Two weeks ago, Notre Dame was beaten by Conference USA invader Tulsa, while Utah suffered a devastating 47-7 defeat at the hands of TCU last week, it’s first loss of the year. In the college football betting odds, Utah is the 5.5-point favorite, with the total on the game posted at 54 points.

Utah Utes (8-1 SU, 6-2-1 ATS) at Notre Dame Fighting Irish (4-5 SU, 3-4-2 ATS)
Live at Notre Dame Stadium
South Bend, IN
Saturday, November 13 –  2:30 PM ET
TV:   NBC

College Football Betting Odds:
Utah -5.5
Notre Dame +5.5
Total  54

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Key stats for Utah — The Utes are dangerous on special teams; they lead the nation in punt returns, led by Shaky Smithson. They are ninth in the nation in scoring (41 points a game). And they have allowed 300 yards a game on the nose (13th best). Quarterback Jordan Wynn has completed 65% of his passes for 1579 yards. Utah has been particularly rough on its defensive line, allowing only three yards a carry and breaking through for almost seven tackles for a loss per game. No wonder they’ve had such a good record in college football betting.

Key stats for Notre Dame — The Irish looked like they were going to have a very potent rushing attack when the season got started, but they are ranked 100th in the nation with 113 yards per game, and that picture doesn’t get better with Armando Allen, the leading rusher, out of action. Notre Dame ranks 20th in the country in quarterback sacks, with 24 on the season. They have also allowed 165 rushing yards a contest. Quarterback Tommy Rees had 334 yards against Tulsa last week, and threw four touchdown passes, but also tossed four interceptions.

Here are some of the trends as they might impact our college football betting advice on this game:

·         Utah has won nine of its last ten games SU
·         Utah has played five of its last seven games OVER the total
·         Utah is 9-2-1 ATS in its last 12 games
·         Utah has won six of its last eight road games SU
·         Notre Dame is 1-3-2 ATS in its last six games
·         Notre Dame has lost nine of its last 13 games SU
·         Notre Dame has played four of its last six games UNDER the total
·         Notre Dame is 0-3-2 ATS in its last five home games
·         Notre Dame has played five of its last six home games UNDER the total

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Notre Dame, of course, has been decimated by injuries. They have already lost tight end Kyle Rudolph, and Armando Allen, who gave them something resembling a rushing attack, is out for the season with a hip injury. Michael Floyd is back in action, and that’s a good thing, as he found himself on the end of two TD passes last week. But now the Irish are having to make do without QB Dayne Crist, who is down for the season with a knee injury that will require surgery. Add to that the tragedy involving student Declan Sullivan, who was in a tower filming practice when the tower collapsed and he was killed. That has not only been devastating for the entire program, but has brought forward a controversy involving the liability of Notre Dame’s athletic program, since Sullivan was standing in 50 mph winds when it happened. Yes, in a way it all can affect college football betting.

Tulsa has a capable offense, but when you lose to them at home you have some problems. The same can be said about getting whipped by 18 at the hands of Navy. The bye week won’t do anything to help Notre Dame’s injury problems. However, looking at this form a college football betting standpoint, it’s the first bye they’ve had, and it does allow coach Brian Kelly to do some tweaking of the offense with new QB Tommy Rees, who stepped and three four TD’s and three INT’s two weeks ago. And I’ve got to wonder about the potentially dicey psychological situation surrounding Utah, which ripped through a number of substandard opponents but found out last week against TCU that they weren’t nearly as good as they thought. And guess what – they really aren’t. QB Jordan Wynn has not been overly effective in the last two games, and outside of return man Shaky Smithson they lack an explosive component. This is not as easy a trip as some might think, and we’re looking for Notre Dame, which has played a MUCH tougher schedule, to stay right in there until the end, so we will take the Irish and the points in the college football betting odds.

JAY’S PLAY:  NOTRE DAME +5.5 *
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)

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