Oklahoma vs Notre Dame College Football Handicapping
The 22nd-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the 14th-ranked Oklahoma Sooners will do battle on Saturday in one of the weekend’s marquee matchups. Brian Kelly’s Irish offense has thrown the ball plenty this season, and there’s no reason to believe they’ll buck that trend in this one.
Oklahoma Sooners (3-0) at 22 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (3-1)
Date: Saturday, September 28, 2013
Time: 3:30 PM ET
Venue: Notre Dame Stadium
City: South Bend, Indiana
O/U Odds: 48.5
Spread: Oklahoma -3.5
Money Line: Oklahoma -175, Notre Dame +155
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Oklahoma’s got to be pretty happy with their passing offense at the moment as well after a breakout performance from quarterback Blake Bell.
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Bell had been tabbed as the presumed starter entering training camp, but after losing a training camp battle, the junior quarterback had to wait two games to make his first career start, and he certainly made the most of it. Bell passed for 413 yards and four touchdowns in a 51-20 win over Tulsa.
Bell’s favorite target was Sterling Shepard, who caught eight balls for 123 yards and a pair of scores. Wide receiver Jaz Reynolds added 109 yards and a score.
The Oklahoma defense entered the game having allowed only a single score, but they allowed Tulsa to score four times. Tulsa quarterback Cody Green completed 17 of 33 passes for 226 yards, and running back Trey Watts rushed for 60 yards on 14 carries, adding five receptions for 65 yards. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
Jordan James was Green’s favorite target on the day, hauling in six balls for 100 yards.
Notre Dame bounced back last weekend after a big loss to rival Michigan. Despite being limited to just 82 yards on the ground and 142 yards through the air, the Irish were able to gut out a tough win. Tommy Rees had opened the season with three consecutive 300-yard passing games, but he was just 14 of 34 for 142 yards in this one.
They can be expected to lean heavily on the passing game again. Over the last three games, Rees has averaged 39.3 pass attempts. They’ll need to do a better job of trying to establish the ground game. Last week’s season-low total was the first time that the Irish have been held under 100 yards for three consecutive games since 2008.
The Notre Dame defense held Michigan State to just 254 yards. With the win, the Irish have now won 10 straight games in South Bend.
A pair of strong defenses meet in this one. Oklahoma has probably been the better of the two units thus far, but they’ll face their toughest test yet in South Bend.
The Notre Dame offense will again lean heavily on Tommy Rees, who could have trouble against a solid Oklahoma defense, while Blake Bell will need to up his play if he hopes for a duplicate performance against a much tougher Irish defense.
The Sooners are 8-3 ATS in their last 11 games against non-conference opponents.
The play: Oklahoma -3.5
