2014 College Football Purdue vs. No. 11 Notre Dame Week 3 Free Pick
By Anthony Rome
SOUTH BEND, IN (The Spread) – Notre Dame has climbed to No. 11 in the polls and has been one of the better surprises of the young college football season. The Irish will host Purdue tonight at 7:30PM ET.
According to oddsmakers from online sports book Bovada.lv, the Fighting Irish are 28.5-point home favorites over Purdue while the total is currently sitting at 59.5 points for tonight's game. Notre Dame opened as 29-point favorites before the line was bet down, while the over/under opened at 55 before being bet up.
The Boilermakers fell 38-17 as a 3-point home favorite to Central Michigan last week, while the combined score barely went over the posted total of 53 points. Quarterback Danny Etling struggled while completing 17-of-32 passes for 126 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions. He did rush 10 times for 53 yards and a touchdown but Purdue was undone by turnovers and penalties.
The Fighting Irish rolled to a 31-0 victory over Michigan last week as a 4-point home favorite. The combined score fell well under the posted total of 56 points as quarterback Everett Golson completed 23-of-34 passes for 226 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions. William Fuller also caught nine passes for 89 yards and a touchdown.
NCAA FREE PICK: Take Purdue. According to latest college football trends, the Boilermakers are 4-1 against the spread in their last five games versus the Fighting Irish and 4-1 ATS in their last five road games versus Notre Dame. The road team is also 7-3 against the number in the last 10 meetings between these two teams while the underdog is 4-1 ATS in the last five meetings. Notre Dame is also just 2-7 against the spread in its last nine games following a straight up win of more than 20 points and 0-4-1 ATS in their last five games after accumulating less than 150 yards rushing in their previous contest.
2014 COLLEGE FOOTBALL WEEK 3 FREE PICK: PURDUE BOILERMAKERS +28.5