Irish Hangover System of the Week
By: Cajun Sports
This week our College Football System of the Week comes from the Michigan State – Wisconsin matchup which takes place on Saturday afternoon in Madison Wisconsin. The line for this contest has opened with Wisconsin favored by 2.5 points over the visiting Michigan State Spartans.
The Spartans are coming in off a very tough battle against the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame losing 33 to 30 in South Bend. This was their first loss in South Bend in their last seven visits having won the previous six meetings there.
With 9:33 left on the clock in the 4th quarter Michigan State QB Kirk Cousins hit Blair White for a 17-yard touchdown pass which gave the Spartans a 30 to 26 advantage. After a back and forth affair it appeared that history was once again going to repeat itself and the seat Charlie was sitting on was getting very hot to say the least.
Maybe the luck of the Irish has returned to South Bend as Notre Dame QB Jimmy Clausen hit Golden Tate with a 33-yard strike with 5:18 left on the clock and Nick Tausch added the extra point to give the Irish a 33 to 30 lead. Charlie and his troops held on for a must win over the Spartans on Saturday as his seat became a few degrees cooler when they clock finally read 0:00.
Researching teams after facing Notre Dame we found that underdogs of twelve or fewer points have really struggled in their next contest under the circumstances provided in our system. We want to “Play AGAINST” an underdog of 12 points or less off a straight up loss and against the spread win of four or more points as an underdog of less than twenty-eight points against Notre Dame. These underdogs are 0-9 SU losing by an average of 23.1 points per game and 0-9 ATS losing to the number by an average of 16.3 points per game since 1983.
In 2008 San Diego State lost at Notre Dame 21 to 13 and the following week they played at San Jose State as a 7 point road underdog and proceeded to lose 35 to 10. In 2002 Navy lost to Notre Dame on a neutral field 30 to 23 and the following week they hosted Connecticut and lost 38 to 0 as a 5-point home underdog. Navy was active in this system again in 2001 having lost at Notre Dame 34 to 16 and followed that loss up the next week with a loss to Army 26 to 17 as a 1.5 point underdog. Then in 2000 Stanford lost at Notre Dame 20 to 14 and had to travel the next week to Oregon State where they were blown out 38 to 6 as a 9-point road underdog. These are four examples of the system dating back to 2000 and as you can see teams really have a hard time getting back up following a clash with the Irish.
The Irish hangover should collect its next victim on Saturday in Madison as the Badgers roll past the Spartans who had too much “green” in South Bend last week. Our CFB System of the Week recommends a Play ON Wisconsin over Michigan State on Saturday.