Two prolific offenses will be on display in this Fiesta Bowl as the Notre Dame Fighting Irish battle the Ohio State Buckeyes. Ohio State (11-1) and Notre Dame (10-2) enter this game having both gotten the win in four of their last five. Players will take the field Friday, Jan 1 at 1:00 p.m. ET and the game will air on ESPN.
Ohio State won easily over Michigan 42-13 in its last game. Ezekiel Elliott had a huge game on the ground in the victory, carrying 30 times for 214 yards and two TDs. Notre Dame didn’t have the same success as Ohio State, barely losing to Stanford 38-36. Will Fuller had a great game for the Fighting Irish, pulling in six passes for 136 yards and one TD. DeShone Kizer also had a big game with 234 yards and a TD through the air.
Ohio State is a six-point favorite against the Fighting Irish. According to the oddsmakers, the Over/Under (O/U) is currently 53 points.
Sitting at 11-1 Straight Up (SU) and 5-7 Against The Spread (ATS), the Buckeyes will look to improve heading into this bowl game. In the past five games, Ohio State is 4-1 SU and 3-2 ATS. A focal point of Ohio State’s offense is the running game, which ranks 12th in the country with 242 rushing yards per game. The Ohio State run defense has played at another level the past five games. It has given up 83.4 rush yards per game during that span. The Fighting Irish will need to stop Ohio State’s defense from getting to their quarterback in order to be successful in this game. The Buckeyes rank 16th in the nation in sacks with 2.8 per game. The Buckeyes are one of the best in the country at scoring in the fourth quarter, averaging 10.2 points.
In the other locker room, the Fighting Irish head into this bowl game with records of 8-4 ATS and 10-2 SU. In the previous five games, Notre Dame has a record of 4-1 SU and 2-3 ATS. Notre Dame’s defense ranks in the top half of the nation for passing yards allowed and will look to bolster its statistics this week against the 103rd-ranked passing attack of the Buckeyes, which only averages 186.9 yards through the air per game.
Predictions: SU Winner – Ohio State, ATS Winner – Ohio State, O/U – Over
Notes
Ohio State is 24-1 SU in its last 25 games.
Both teams are 8-0 SU when leading at halftime this season.
This season, Notre Dame is 3-2 SU in games where it wins the turnover battle, yet undefeated (4-0 SU) in games where it loses the turnover battle.
The Ohio State offensive passing attack is ranked only 103rd in the country, while the Notre Dame pass defense is ranked 29th. The Fighting Irish passing game is ranked just 37th, compared to the 12th-ranked pass defense of the Buckeyes.
