NCAA Football Betting – Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs. Navy Midshipmen
After a long, long drought, the Navy Midshipmen (6-3 SU, 4-4 ATS) finally beat the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (5-4 SU & ATS) last season. On Saturday they will try to make it two in a row when the two teams tangle in NCAA college football sports betting action that is set to begin at Noon ET at M&T Bank Stadium (artificial turf) in Baltimore, MD.
BetUS NCAA Football Betting Odds: NOTRE DAME -3.5
Here are some of the NCAA college football betting trends as they relate to this matchup:
* ND has covered four of its last six games
* ND has lost 15 of its last 23 games SU
* ND has played four of its last six games OVER the total
* ND has covered five of its last seven road games
* ND has lost eight of its last 11 road games SU
* ND has played nine of its last ten road games UNDER the total
* NAVY has covered four of its last six games
* NAVY has won five of its last six games SU
* NAVY has won six of its last seven home games SU
Also….
* ND has won 43 of the last 44 meetings SU
* NAVY has covered five of the last seven meetings
* Five of the last six meetings have gone OVER the total
* ND has covered five of the last six meetings as the road team
Last year’s thriller saw Navy score a highly emotional 46-44 win in overtime, but that was a game where, let’s not forget, the Irish, a team that had horrible rushing numbers all year, ran for 235 yards and chalked up 27 first downs. We say that because Navy’s defense isn’t any better than it was last year. In fact, the Midshipmen are ranked 104th nationally in passing defense, and as a stop unit they are somewhat on the opposite end of the spectrum from the Boston College team that held ND to 66 yards on the ground in last week’s 17-0 shutout.
Yes, Jimmy Clausen is a gunslinger of sorts, and he is going to make mistakes. In fact, he tossed four interceptions in last year’s debacle at Chestnut Hill. But don’t lose sight of the fact that the sophomore can make some plays too (18 TDs, seven straight games with 200 yards or more). And he’s got playmakers in Golden Tate and Michael Floyd (1444 yards between them) who will unquestionably do some business. Prior to the game at BC, the Irish had racked up 31 points a game over their previous five.
You can’t disparage Navy and its 308 rushing yards a game (5.4 yards a carry too). But they’re one-dimensional. And Notre Dame has shown some improvement on its defensive line. Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada is back at the QB position for Navy; he threw for 19 yards last time out (two weeks ago) against Temple. Let’s not lose sight of the fact that Notre Dame had beaten Navy 43 straight times before last season, and there were enough times where Navy looked like it was coming in as the better team. We’re not crazy about the way ND has played away from home (this is a neutral site game), but we like their balance and the revenge angle.
We’ll lay the points with Notre Dame, the 3.5-point favorite in the BetUS NCAA college football sports betting odds.
