– Last Updated on December 22, 2022 3:41 pm
Free Week 3 Prediction: Yellow Jackets vs Fighting Irish
Week 3 College football betting sees the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets taking on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish Saturday September 19th at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend. Cappers Picks provides complimentary handicapping picks all NCAA football season long so stay tuned for more FREE college football predictions.
Week 3
#16 Georgia Tech (2-0) vs. #10 Notre Dame (2-0)
Date: Saturday, September 19th
Time: 12:30 PM
Venue: Notre Dame Stadium – South Bend
NCAA Football Spread: Notre Dame +3
NCAA Betting Total: 55.5
NCAA Moneyline Odds: Georgia Tech -150 Notre Dame +130
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The Notre Dame Fighting Irish have lost arguably their most important player for the remainder of the season. Quarterback Malik Zaire fractured his ankle on Saturday in their win at Virginia.
The Irish will be relying on redshirt freshman quarterback DeShone Kizer when they take the field on Saturday.
Head coach Brian Kelly knows what it is most important to winning football games with a redshirt freshman at quarterback: defense.
The Irish used defense in 2012 when they went undefeated in the regular season with redshirt freshman Everett Golson at quarterback.
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This week will be a big time challenge for the Irish defense as they face one of the toughest offenses in the country in Georgia Tech.
Georgia Tech
The Yellow Jackets will take the road for the first time this season and also face their first challenge of the season.
Georgia Tech has beaten up on Alcorn State and Tulane to open their 2015 campaign. They are well aware of the gap in competition level between those two opponents and Notre Dame.
Some players for the Yellow Jackets will be making their first road trip of their college careers. What better place to make it to than the University of Notre Dame.
The Yellow Jackets will have no time to get caught up in the tradition or experience of playing at Notre Dame. They will have to focus on playing their style of football and running the ball down their throats.
Quarterback Justin Thomas will be leading the way having accounted for 224 yards and five touchdowns in their first two games. He leads one of the best rushing attacks in the country into South Bend hoping to capitalize on an Irish defense who has struggled historically with the triple option.
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The way Georgia Tech wins football games is by playing their style of football. It has been pretty successful for them over the last few years and that will be put to test when they walk onto that field against a team with College Football Playoff hopes still in their minds despite losing their starting quarterback.
Notre Dame
Anyone who has watched Notre Dame play their first two games this year knows what Zaire brought to their football team. He has a combination of skills including a strong left arm, quick feet, and great running vision that make him difficult to contain.
The Irish will now be forced to rely on Kizer to lead them for the rest of this season. He was not afraid of pressure as he was thrown into the fire against Virginia and led the Irish to a victory.
However, he will have a full week to prepare knowing fully he will be the starting quarterback. That could have a positive or negative impact.
He will be well aware of the gameplan and will be taking all of the first-team reps as Kelly looks to find a way to break the Yellow Jacket defense. But, Kizer also has a week to think and let pressure build on him as he will be facing a highly ranked opponent in his first ever start.
The Notre Dame defense though will be the difference in this game. As mentioned before, the Irish have struggled historically against the triple option when facing Navy every year.
The Yellow Jackets are a better version of Navy’s triple option. This Notre Dame defense though has the talent to take this team far. They will have to do a better jump with their assignments this week as they struggled at times against Virginia last week.
The Irish’s struggles were mainly against the pass but any missed assignments against the triple option will be exploited and result in Yellow Jacket points.
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Kelly generally does a good job of having his quarterback prepared to execute the gameplan. Kizer’s expectations will not be to win this football game. They will be to not lose it.
NCAA Football Handicapping Trends
Notre Dame is 6-4 ATS as an underdog since the start of 2013.
Notre Dame is 9-6 ATS since the start of 2014
Georgia Tech is 5-6 ATS after a win since the start of 2014
The total has gone over four of the last five times Georgia Tech was a road favorite.
The total has gone over in six of Georgia Tech’s last seven non-conference games.
Free Week 3 NCAA Football Prediction
The Yellow Jackets will be tested for the first time this season and will be relearning from last year how to deal with adversity. The Irish faced and overcame adversity last week when Zaire went down. The Irish defense will show up and keep this one close.
7* Free NCAA Betting Pick: Notre Dame +3
If Kizer turns the football over a lot and gives the Yellow Jackets a short field, this could be a blowout. But, Kelly will have him ready to play and the Irish defense will lead the way.
Week 3 Free Score Prediction: Notre Dame 31 – Georgia Tech 28
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