Notre Dame Season Odds
SOUTH BEND, IN (TheSpread) – Notre Dame still carries a lot of what amongst the college football landscape, but will the Irish have enough talent to make some noise in the playoff landscape this season?
According to oddsmakers at GTBets, Notre Dame is currently listed with 18/1 odds to win the College Football Playoffs this upcoming season. The Fighting Irish are also listed with an over/under of 9 wins for the 2015 season.
Brian Kelly is coming into his sixth season as head coach of Notre Dame. Kelly has been somewhat steady, going 45-20 in his five seasons with the team, including three 8-5 seasons. His prime year was 2012, when he led the Irish to a 12-0 regular season and a spot in the BCS title game, where it was throttled by Alabama. Last year, the Irish once again went 8-5, going 1-5 over their last six games of the regular season. Despite that, the Irish closed things up with a nice 31-28 win over LSU in the Music City Bowl.
Notre Dame struggled defensively last season, which wasn’t the case when the team was successful in past years. The Irish allowed 29.2 points per game in 2014, which ranked 84th nationally. On offense, the Irish averaged 32.8 points per game and were 19th in the country in passing at 285.5 yards per game. While Everett Golson transferred to Florida State for his senior year, the Irish still have Malik Zaire, who played a few games at the end of the 2014 season, including the bowl win over LSU. Zaire will have a great target in William Fuller, who had over 1,000 yards with 15 touchdown catches in 2014. Also back is leading rusher Tarean Folston, who had 889 yards a year ago. Zaire has also shown the ability to run as well.
Notre Dame has the tough spot of not being in a conference, which could impact its ability to make a four-team playoff. However, if the Irish were to run the table, it would be tough to see them not in. Even a 1-loss Notre Dame team would carry a lot of weight. The Irish have home games this season with Texas, Georgia Tech, UMass, Navy, USC and Wake Forest. Road trips will be made to Virginia, Clemson, Temple, Pitt and Stanford and the Irish will face Boston College at Fenway Park on Nov. 21. The big games are at Clemson and home against USC, but early tests with Texas and Georgia Tech will tell the tale of the season. The back end of the schedule is very winnable, so if Zaire pans out early, Notre Dame could be a real force.
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