Navy at Notre Dame Line

Written by Steve Janus

This Saturday the Notre Dame Fighting Irish will host the Navy Midshipmen in the 87th meeting between these two Independent programs. The Fighting Irish fell 31-17 at home to USC last week, a game in which they were favored by 8.5-points. The loss moved Notre Dame to 4-3 overall, ruining any hopes of playing in a BCS bowl game. The Midshipmen lost 35-38 at home against East Carolina, giving them five straight losses since opening the season 2-0. Notre Dame won 35-17 over Navy last season, but the Midshipmen have won each of the last two played in South Bend.

Taking a look at the week 9 college football lines, oddsmakers currently have Notre Dame favored by 20.5-points over Navy with the total set at 62 points.

Navy Midshipmen:

It has been a season of disappointing losses for Navy. Their 3-point loss to East Carolina last week was their fourth loss decided by a field goal or less. Added to the misery of anther close defeat was the injury to starting quarterback Kriss Proctor, who injured his elbow on a late hit by East Carolina. Proctor is listed as doubtful for the upcoming game against Notre Dame.

Sophomore Trey Miller came in for Proctor and played about as well as you can expect. He went 5 of 12 for 126 yards and kept the Midshipmen in the game with two long touchdown passes to Brandon Turner (59 yards) and Matt Aiken (37 yards). He doesn’t seem to have the running ability that Proctor brought to the offense, but his ability to throw the ball could give Navy a chance to make this a game.

For Navy to win this game they are going to need their rushing attack to put up some big numbers. They are 3rd in the nation averaging 325.1 yards per game. Last year the rushed for 367 yards against Notre Dame, but had just 17 points to show for it. Notre Dame allowed 363 yards to Air Force a couple weeks back, who run a very similar offense, but still ended up winning the game 59-33.

Notre Dame Fighting Irish:

The Fighting Irish came into the 2011 season believing they were going to put together a 10-win season and make it back to a BCS bowl game for the first time since 2006. With 10 wins out of the question, it will be interesting to see what kind of effort this team puts out after such a disappointing loss last week. Regardless if this team makes it to a bowl game, the season will be considered a disappointment.

Once again turnovers were the downfall of this team. After going back-to-back games without a single turnover, Notre Dame turned it over three times against USC. None bigger than Dayne Crist’s fumble on 3rd and goal with the Irish trailing 10-17. USC would scoop up the lost ball and return it 80 yards for a touchdown, all but ending Notre Dame’s chances of rallying for a win.

Crist had come into the game to replace starter Tommy Rees after he injured his knee. Rees would return on the next series, but the damage had been done. Notre Dame finished the game with just 226 yards of total offense. Reese finished 23 of 37 for just 190 yards with no touchdowns and an interception. He didn’t get much help from the running game, as the Irish managed just 41 yards on the ground against a stingy USC defense.

If the Irish can regroup and come into this game against Navy focused and motivated to win, they should have no trouble racking up a lot of yards. The Midshipmen have the 94th ranked run defense (198.3 ypg) and 59th ranked pass defense (225.7 ypg).

Betting Trends:

Navy is 8-1 ATS in their last 9 games as an underdog.

Notre Dame is 5-15-1 ATS in their last 21 games as a favorite of 10.5 or greater.

Be sure to stop back and check out who Steve Janus has picked to win this week in college football.

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