The nation’s 3rd ranked team, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish will stake their unbeaten record against the #13 Syracuse Orange on November 17, 2018 at a neutral venue in the Yankee Stadium.
The Irish kept their record perfect last week despite playing without quarterback Ian Book who sat out their game against Florida State with a hip injury. On the other hand, Syracuse won their fourth game in a row to set up this showdown at the Bronx.
Notre Dame played without starting quarterback Ian Book last November 10 when they faced Florida State but that did not matters as senior quarterback Brandon Wimbush, who started the Notre Dame’s first three game this year, took over and threw three touchdowns en route to a 42-13 win. Senior running back Dexter Williams also rushed for 202 yards and scored two touchdowns on 20 carries for the Irish.
Book has thrown for 1,824 yards with 15 touchdowns and only four interceptions while opening up the runway for Williams to operate on the ground. Since Book took over from Wimbush, Notre Dame went from good to very good and is now almost done with a perfect season. The Irish rank 31st in the nation in scoring at 34.5 points per game and they allow 18.7 points per outing, 15th best in college football.
With their 54-23 thrashing of Louisville last November 9th, the Syracuse Orange notched their second four game winning streak of the year. The Orange had won four game in a row when it faced (and lost to) Clemson in week 5. They picked up a second straight loss against Pittsburgh the following week but have since won four in a row again. Now Syracuse is looking for its first five game winning streak since 2001.
Dual threat senior quarterback Eric Dungey leads the Orange offense with 2,193 passing yards with 14 touchdowns and 5 interceptions. Dungey has also ran for 690 yards and 12 more touchdowns. Junior running back Moe Neal has also amassed 716 rushing yards and five touchdowns. Syracuse is the 7th highest scoring team in the nation at 44.4 points per game but they are only ranked 70th in the nation in scoring defense at 27.6 points per game allowed.
The Orange are 4-1 SU in their last 5 games played but are only 2-9 SU in their last 11 games on the road. The Fighting Irish are 5-0 SU in their last five games played and 5-0 SU in their last 5 games at home. Head to head, Notre Dame leads Syracuse 3-2 SU and the Irish have won three out of the last four meetings between these two teams.
The Irish continued to roll even without Ian Book last week. But no doubt, the offense looks entirely different and much more dynamic with the junior QB at the helm. Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly said Book is expected to start for the Irish against the Orange so that should be good news.
This should be a good game as both teams are stacked with talent. Syracuse is the last hurdle in Notre Dame’s schedule so I expect them to be ready for this one. I know this is going to be played in a neutral ground where the Orange could have more fans in the stands cheering for them. That’s going to be a big help but I don’t think that will be enough to stall the Irish from winning this game. We’re picking the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to beat the Syracuse Orange on 11/17/18.
Syracuse is 2-6-1 ATS in their last 9 games after giving up more than 200 rushing yards in their previous game. The Orange are 4-0-1 in their last five non conference games and 6-1 ATS in their last 7 games played on grass. They are also 8-2-2 ATS in their last dozen games after an ATS win, 24-24-1 ATS in their last 49 games after a straight up victory and and 7-2-1 in their last 10 games played overall.
Notre Dame is 3-0-1 in their last four games against teams with a winning record, 5-1-1 ATS in their last seven non-conference games and 5-1-1 in their last 7 games after an SU win. The Irish are also 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games played in neutral ground and are 5-1-1 ATS in their last seven games overall.
Since Book has taken over the starting quarterback job for the Irish, the average winning margin for Notre Dame has been 19.71 points (including last week’s win over Florida State where senior Brandon Wimbush started) with the 19-14 win over Pitt last October 13, 2018 as their closest game this season.
Book is expected to return against Syracuse but even if he doesn’t, Wimbush is coming off a three touchdown performance against Florida State so Notre Dame should not just win this game but score enough points to cover the spread. The Orange do have a dangerous offense that scores 44.4 points per game but the Fighting Irish also have a defensive unit that is one of the best in the nation, yielding just 18.7 points per game.Prediction: Notre Dame -9
The total has gone over in four out of the last 5 games of Syracuse and the total has also gone over in 6 out of the last 7 games of Notre Dame. However, the under is 6-2 in the last eight home games of Notre Dame.
In the previous six games (out of seven) of Notre Dame where the total has gone over, the average total score was 58.86. As for Syracuse, the over is 6-4 in their 10 games played this season and the average combined score in those games was 72 points. Prediction: Over 62
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