Penn State (1-0) +7 ½, o/u 47 at Notre Dame (1-0), 3:30 p.m. Saturday, NBC
by Ultimatecapper.com Staff
Notre Dame’s Fighting Irish begin the Big 10 portion of their schedule when they host Joe Paterno and the Penn State Nittany Lions Saturday afternoon in South Bend.
Charlie Weis’ Golden Domers fell behind 10-0 at Georgia Tech last Saturday night in their season opener, and looked like they might go to halftime with a goose egg on the scoreboard. But the Irish offense responded with a clutch scoring drive, and the defense (which returns nine starters from last season), the major concern of this team coming into the season, shut out the Yellow Jackets in the second half. Unfortunately for ND financial backers, the Irish’s 14-10 win wasn’t enough to cover the spread as seven-point favorites. The game also easily stayed under the posted total of 50.
Penn State, 18-point favorites over the visiting Akron Zips last Saturday, led by just a 17-9 margin in the third quarter. But the Nittany Lions scored 17 unanswered points to grab a 34-9 lead. Penn State backers then saw Akron QB Luke Getsy hit David Harvey on a beautiful 27-yard scoring pass on fourth down with less than three minutes remaining to make things interesting. The Zips kicked the extra point to make the final winning margin 18, which gave early Penn State bettors a win, while others who jumped in with late action were lucky to garner a push.
Heisman favorite Brady Quinn didn’t exactly light it up for Notre Dame vs. Georgia Tech, but he did enough, hitting 23 of 38 pass attempts for 246 yards and running for that key TD just before the half on a QB draw. The Irish outrushed the Wreck 139-119, and held a 35/25 time-of-possession advantage. But Notre Dame got called for 11 penalties, something Coach Weis surely worked on this week.
QB Anthony Morelli, in his first start replacing the great Michael Robinson for the Lions, went 16 of 32 for 206 yards and three TDs last week vs. Akron. But the Penn State running game, trudging along behind a line that returns just one starter from last season, could only come up with 76 yards in the rain at Happy Valley. The Nittany Lions defense, which returns just four starters but features possibly the best linebacking corps in the nation, held the Zips to 225 total yards of offense, just 33 of those on the ground.
Penn State and Notre Dame played four common opponents last season, all Big 10 teams. Penn State fell heartbreakingly to Michigan 27-25, while the Irish went to The Big House and beat the Wolverines 17-10. The Lions beat Michigan State 31-22 (despite being outgained by over 100 yards), while the Spartans shocked Notre Dame in South Bend in OT 44-41. Penn State beat Purdue 33-15, and the Irish did the same by a 49-28 score (and it wasn’t as close as that). And finally, the Nittany Lions defeated Ohio State in a true Big 10 battle, 17-10, while the Buckeyes ran up over 600 yards of offense in beating Notre Dame 34-21 in the Fiesta Bowl.
The Irish went 4-2 straight up at home last season, 3-3 against the spread.
Penn State went 3-1 both SU and ATS on the road last year.
These two teams somehow haven’t met on the field since the 1992 season.
Notre Dame opened up as eight-point favorites for Saturday’s game, with a total of around 48 ½. The line has dropped just a bit, to around 7 ½, and the total has been bet down to as low as 46 at some
sportsbooks
.
The Ultimatecapper Pick: I hate to say it, but we don't really have an opinion here. We are in constant fade of Notre Dame as their both a public and media darling and if forced to make a play here, we'd go with JoePa and his fellas.
