College Football ATS Picks - Notre Dame at Boston College Game Preview

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish suffered a tough loss to the Georgia Bulldogs last Saturday. Notre Dame and Georgia went back and forth in a close one, but ultimately the Bulldogs prevailed 20-19. The loss dropped Notre Dame out of the Top 25 and seriously hurts the Irish’s chances of making the College Football Playoff. However, if they win out, they are still likely to make it. That journey will start this week when they take on their old Catholic rivals, the Boston College Eagles.

This contest in Week 3 of the regular season will go down Saturday, September 16, 2017, at 3:30

p.m. ET at BC Alumni Stadium in Boston, Massachusetts. This game will be broadcast on ESPN.

College Football Opening Odds at BookMaker.eu

Notre Dame -13.5
Boston College +13.5
Over/Under 49.5

Odds Analysis

The Irish cruised to an easy victory over Temple in their season opener, but failed to cover as a home favorite against the Bulldogs last week. Oddsmakers were very wrong about the total in that game as the game fell well short of 58 combined points. However, Notre Dame is 1-5 ATS in its last six games against Boston College.

Boston College is 0-2 ATS so far this season after failing to cover the hook against Northern Illinois and losing by a whopping 24 points to Wake Forest last week. Both of those games went under as well despite being two of the lowest totals in their respective weeks.

Under looks fantastic in this game if you consider recent history. The under has hit in each of the last seven games between these two sides. Additionally, under is 30-10 in Boston College’s last 40-non conference games and 63-30-2 in the Eagles’ last 95 games overall.

Key Stats

Turnovers are a killer. That’s what led to Boston College getting blown out by Wake Forest last week in a game where both teams finished virtually identical in every other category.

The Eagles turned the ball over four times, three times through the air, and that led to 21 easy points for Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons had one touchdown drive start at the BC 26, one start at the BC 2, and returned an interception for a touchdown.

Boston College can’t afford to turn the ball over against Notre Dame if it wants to pull off the upset at home.

Player to Watch

Brandon Wimbush didn’t have a great performance against Georgia last week. He averaged just 5.4 yards per pass attempt and didn’t find much success with his legs either. To be fair, he was facing a Georgia defense that is one of the better units in the country, but the Irish could only muster 266 total yards against the Bulldogs defense.

Wimbush will face another tough challenge in this Eagles defense. Boston College has had a very stingy defense under Steve Addazio and this veteran secondary won’t be easy to throw on. While the Eagles aren’t as talented in the back third as the Bulldogs are, Wimbush will still be tested.

Free ATS Pick

For whatever reason, Boston College seems to always play Notre Dame tough. The Eagles know how to ugly it up against the Irish and get them to play their game.

There’s no word who will start at quarterback for BC on Saturday. Freshman Anthony Brown was the starter against Wake Forest last week, but was ineffective. Two of his three interceptions weren’t all his fault as they went off the hands of his receivers, but he still only completed 11 of 29 passes. Veteran Darius Wade replaced him and was decent in relief.

Look for this one to be a low-scoring tilt with points at a premium. Notre Dame will do enough to get the job done, but BC will cover and the game will fall short of the number.

College Football Odds: Fighting Irish 20, Eagles 17

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