Boston College at Notre Dame Line

Written by Steve Janus

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish will look to add to their late season surge when they host the Boston College Eagles this Saturday. The Irish won their third consecutive game by defeating Maryland 45-21 at home, and have now won seven of their last eight after starting the season 0-2. The Eagles are just 3-7 on the year, but were able to hold on for a 14-10 win at home against North Carolina State this past weekend. It was their second win in three games after they opened up just 1-6. Notre Dame has won two straight in the series, including a 31-13 win at Boston College a season ago.

Taking a look at the week 12 college football lines, oddsmakers currently have Notre Dame favored by 24.5-points over Boston College with the total set at 47.5 points.

Boston College:

This has been a very difficult season for head coach Frank Spaziani and the Eagles players. The Boston College program hasn’t lost more than eight games since going 4-8 back in 1995. With two road games against USC and Miami left on the schedule, there’s a good chance they will finish 3-9. This team has shown some life of late with their two wins over Maryland and NC State, but those two teams are a combined 7-13 this season.

The Eagles biggest problem this season has been putting together enough offense to win games. They have the 113th worst scoring offense in the nation, averaging just 18.0 ppg. They have been held to 19 or fewer points in all but two games this season, including their 14-10 win over NC State last week.

The Eagles were pretty fortunate to come away with a win last week, as they were outgained 267 to 190 in total yards. Chase Rettig completed a season-high 69% of his attempts (9 for 13) for 118 yards and one touchdown, but the sophomore also threw an interception for the sixth consecutive game.

The ground game didn’t provide much help, managing just 72 yards on 36 attempts. Andre Williams provided most of what they were able to put together with 61 yards on 18 attempts, while Josh Bordner added a 3-yard touchdown run.

If the Eagles are going to keep this game competitive they have to find a way to put some points on the board. However, that won’t be easy against a Notre Dame defense that is 34th in the country in total yards allowed (350.6 ypg).

Notre Dame:

The Fighting Irish moved back into the AP Top 25 for the first time since opening the season No. 16 in the country. Their impressive play has them ranked No. 24 and back into at least consideration for a BCS bowl game. The big concern with Notre Dame covering such a big spread this week is the fact that they could easily be looking ahead to their game against Stanford, especially with how bad the Eagles have been this season.

In their last game against Maryland, the Notre Dame offense racked up 508 total yards on their way to 45 points. Starting quarterback Tommy Reese completed 30 of 38 for 296 yards and two touchdowns, while Jonas Gray rushed for a career-high 136 yards to go along with his two scores. Notre Dame also got 99 yards and a touchdown on the ground from Cierre Wood, as the Irish finished with212 rushing yards.

To get the offense going the Irish installed and executed a no-huddle offense. They wore down the Terrapins defensively, and I expect them to continue to use their hurry-up offense against the Eagles. Boston College figures to provide a tougher challenge for the offense this week, but I have a hard time seeing the Eagles keeping up with that kind of pace for a full four quarters.

Betting Trends:

Boston College is 7-2 ATS in their last 9 road games.

Notre Dame is 8-20-1 ATS in their last 29 games as a home favorite of 10.5 or greater.

Steve Janus is the No. 5 college football handicapper in 2011, and is ready to help you turn a profit with his week 12 college football selections.

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