The Notre Dame Fighting Irish is coming off its second loss of the season after dropping a 41-8 blowout loss to the Miami Hurricanes last week. While the lopsided defeat was a major blow to their playoff hopes, the Fighting Irish still have a lot left to play for with the chance to reach 10 wins if they win out. Notre Dame has a much more favorable matchup this week as they get set to host the Navy Midshipmen on Saturday afternoon. The key for the Fighting Irish will be to avoid any letdown. The loss to Georgia was acceptable in terms of their College Football Playoff hopes. The loss to Miami very likely eliminated them.
Are they going to be deflated after such an ugly effort? If so, a tricky Navy team could extend their discontent for a second straight week. If the Fighting Irish are focused, they should win handily. They are a 17-point favorite, so it’s clear that oddsmakers think should win this game.
Details
Odds: Notre Dame -17
Date & Time: Saturday November 18th, 2017 – 3:30 PM ET
Location: Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, Indiana
Broadcast: NBC
Reasons To Bet On The Navy Midshipmen
The Fighting Irish aren’t about to overlook Navy heading in to this matchup. Notre Dame once strung together 43 straight wins over the Midshipmen. However, Navy won the last meeting between these teams a year ago and they are have enough talent to at least give them a challenge this time around. The Midshipmen finally snapped a three-game slide with a 43-40 win over SMU last week and should be motivated for this rivalry game. Malcolm Perry led the way in last week’s win over the Mustangs with 282 rushing yards and four touchdowns while his only pass attempt fell incomplete. Navy isn’t about to take a different approach when it comes to challenging Notre Dame this week. The Midshipmen will run the football over and over with the hope that they can build off of last week’s victory.
Reasons To Bet On The Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Notre Dame had no answer for the Miami offense in last week’s blowout loss but should be able to bounce back with a better effort this week. Head coach Brian Kelly admitted after the game that even though he felt his team was prepared they simply didn’t expect what the Hurricanes offense brought to the table. Their defensive approach should be much simpler this week considering they know exactly what Navy will attempt to do on offense. Meanwhile, the Notre Dame offense needs to be much more effective while finding ways to protect the football. Junior quarterback Brandon Wimbush was held to 10-of-21 for 119 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions last week and simply can’t afford to turn the football over this week. Wimbush had thrown for over 1,300 yards with 11 touchdowns compared to two interceptions before last week’s loss so he should bounce back with a much better outing this week.
Outlook
The Fighting Irish actually opened up as an 18.5 point favorite but the line has come down since then. Much of the action has been on Navy, pushing it down to the key number of 17. The total opened up at 61.5 but has dipped down to 59 as bettors seem to like the under.
The Midshipmen might not be good enough to hand Notre Dame a second loss in a row but they should at the very least be able to avoid a complete embarrassment against one of their oldest rivals. Navy actually beat the Fighting Irish a year ago and there is no doubt they will be motivated to get up for a big performance this week. Meanwhile, the Fighting Irish still have an opportunity to reach 10 wins if they can pull out back-to-back wins over Navy and Stanford over the next couple of weeks. Notre Dame will bounce back with a win but it might very well be a closer game than expected this Saturday afternoon.
Pick: Navy +17
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