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Notre Dame vs. Purdue: Week 5 NCAA Lines & Spread Prediction

Point spread, ATS odds, and moneyline betting and preview article for the 2011 CFB Week 5 clash between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs. Purdue Boilermakers…

Saturday CFB Betting – Fighting Irish vs Boilermakers

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are trying to decide what kind of team they want to be in 2011. Notre Dame has shown that it can move the ball extremely well, racking up more than 500 yards against South Florida and Michigan, but the Irish have also committed 14 turnovers in 16 quarters of action this season.

Venue/Stadium: Ross-Ade Stadium
Time/Date: 8 p.m. Eastern, October 1
College Football Odds from TheGreek
Moneyline: Notre Dame -450
Spread (ATS): Notre Dame -11.5
Over/Under: 47.5

The opening-day starting quarterback, Dayne Crist, got benched in favor of backup Tommy Rees, but Rees has not excelled since being named the number one signal caller by head coach Brian Kelly.

Rees was absolutely awful this past Saturday against Pittsburgh, a team which entered the contest ranked next to last in the Football Bowl Subdivision (119th out of 120 teams) in pass defense. Sometimes, he locked onto certain receivers; on other occasions, he made wild throws. Consistently, Rees failed to exhibit the skill and craftsmanship of a top-tier quarterback. Notre Dame scored just 15 points against Pittsburgh and got away with a win only because the Panthers’ offense was even worse.

There’s no reason to think that Notre Dame will begin to play first-rate football anytime soon. This team’s offense is a mess, and its confidence is clearly shaken. That’s no way to move into October – not for a team that had such high expectations coming into this season. Notre Dame’s struggles mean that Purdue could definitely keep this game close and steal it in the fourth quarter. [soliloquy id=”82219″]

However, with all of that having been said, Purdue is simply a bad team, a tonic for most – if not all – of Notre Dame’s ailments. The Boilermakers lost to Rice earlier this season, marking the first time Rice had beaten a BCS conference opponent in 10 years and the first time Rice had beaten a Big Ten team in 14 years.

Purdue is just not equipped with very much of anything. The Boilermakers don’t own the heft on the front lines that is needed to win slugfests. They don’t have the speed or weaponry on the edges to win track meets, which was something they were able to do at times under former coach Joe Tiller. This is just not an even matchup. Notre Dame has been mediocre at best to this point in the season, but the Irish should get healthy against a Purdue team that can’t pose a threat at any spot on the field.

Michael Floyd and the rest of Notre Dame’s receiving corps should run wild against the Boilers’ back seven. That’s just one of many unfair fights which will unfold in this contest.

College Football Betting Pick: Notre Dame

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By Dave Golokhov AKA Vegas Dave

Dave Golokhov has written for Playboy.com, BETUS Sportsbook, Sportsfanmagazine.com, FOX, Askmen.com, Sports-central, and the FOXSports.com Funhouse.