College Football Classic Matchup – Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs. Purdue Boilermakers

Game-day: 9/26/2009

Kick-off: 8:00 pm EST

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish will try to keep hope alive that they will make it to a BCS Bowl game this season when they travel to Indiana to take on the Purdue Boilermakers. Neither team is ranked in the NCAAF Power Rankings, but Notre Dame could end up back in the rankings should they play well against Purdue.

Purdue is a much better team than a lot of NCAA football betting fans thought they would be at the beginning of the season. Yes, they are only 1 and 2 straight-up but they are 2 and 1 ATS and have been able to put points on the board.

Here is the BetOnline online sportsbook football betting line for this game.

Notre Dame Fighting Irish -7 -110

Purdue Boilermakers +7 -110

Here are a few online wagering trends for this game.

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish is 3 and 7 ATS in their last 10 games against a Big Ten opponent.

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish is 7 and 3 ATS in their last 10 games versus Purdue.

The Purdue Boilermakers are 4 and 1 against the spread in their last 10 games overall.

The Purdue Boilermakers are 1-4-1 ATS in their last 6 games as a home underdog

This game is going to come down to one thing, Jimmy Clausen’s toe. If the turf toe that has been hampering Clausen doesn’t get in the way of him carving up Purdue’s defense, then this game should be a cake walk for the Fighting Irish.

Yes, they lost to Michigan and struggled against Michigan State, but both Michigan and Michigan State are far superior to Purdue. Purdue will play with heart and will put some points on the board, but Jimmy Clausen is just too good at running Charlie Weiss’s system to get flustered against Purdue.

The Boilermakers are rebuilding. Notre Dame is already there. The Irish should roll in this game unless Clausen is hurt.

The bet is Notre Dame to cover the -7 spread in the sportsbook.