Notre Dame Fighting Irish Invade Big House for College Football Betting Clash with Michigan Wolverines
By Jason Lucas • Sep 11th, 2009 • Category: NCAAF Notre Dame Fighting Irish (1-0/1-0 ATS) (-3) -105 |
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 Michigan Wolverines (1-0/1-0 ATS) (+3) -115 |
Ann Arbor will be the place to be this Saturday afternoon when Notre Dame and Michigan pick their annual CFB betting rivalry back up. The visiting Fighting Irish currently sit as 3-point road favorites with a game ‘total’ of 48 at JustBet Sportsbook
South Bend has been an unpleasant place for fans of the Irish for the better part of the last two seasons. That said; you’ll find their betting backers drinking a ton of the ND Kool-Aid after their beloved rolled to wins and pointspread covers in each of their L/2 games played. Saturday’s thrashing of Nevada couldn’t have gone any better for “Touchdown Jesus”. It dominated the game from the opening kick, and never once entertained the possibility of allowing the Wolf pack to sneak in through the backdoor. QB Jimmy Clausen was excellent completing 15 of 18 passes for 315 yards and 4 TDs, and ND’s ground game picked up a ton of yards with RB Armando Allen leading the way with 72 yards on 15 carries. The defense pitched a shutout while limiting the Wolfpack’s “Pistol offense” to just 154 yards through the air. It forced three turnovers, and only allowed Nevada to convert 2 of its 11 third down opportunities.
Ann Arbor got a glimpse of what’s to come Saturday afternoon as their Wolverines picked up their first scalp of the season. Frosh QB’s Tate Forcier and Denard Robinson bedazzled the crowd with their arms and legs. Forcier stole the show though as he completed 13 of 20 passes for 179 yards and 3 TDs, and rushed the pigskin 11 times for another 37 yards. WR Junior Hemingway had a huge game hauling in five passes for 103 yards and 2 TDs. The Wolverines run defense was awfully impressive allowing just 38 yards overall (1.6 YPC), and as a whole, the unit allowed the lone TD and 301 overall yards. The pass defense did get torched a bit (263 yards), but the unit forced three turnovers, had six tackles for loss, and picked up a pair of QB sacks.
Yes, the underdog is 8-2 ATS the L/10 in this series, but are we to immediately jump on Michigan’s back after just one game? I think not. Michigan will probably finish in the upper tier of the Big 10 standings this season, but the Irish will be going to a BCS Bowl; maybe the biggest of them all if they play their cards right. Michigan was impressive last week, but Notre Dame was better. They completely shut out a Nevada offense that was one of the best in the country a year ago. Irish DC Jon Tenuta is one of the brightest defensive minds in the college ranks, and will have cooked something up to slow down the overconfident Wolverines QB’s. Look for the Irish to go into the “Big House” and make amends for the 38-0 shellacking they absorbed back in ’07.
Selection: Notre Dame (-3) -105
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Jason Lucas is a first year staff writer for North Shore Sports, INC. The easiest place to find Jason is in the stands at University of Central Florida basketball and football games where he has spent many days since his childhood. Jason has attended thousands of sporting events in his life including the 2008 World Series and 2007 Daytona 500.
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