Notre Dame at Pittsburgh Line

Written by Steve Janus

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are set to go on the road to take on the Pittsburgh Panthers in week 4 of college football action. This will be the fourth straight season the two teams have squared off. Pittsburgh has won two of the last three, but the Irish were able to hold on for a 23-17 win at home last season. Notre Dame avoided and 0-3 start to the season with a 31-13 win over then No. 15 Michigan State. The Panthers looked like they were on their way to a 3-0 start with a 27-10 lead with just 12:09 left in the fourth quarter against Iowa, but allowed three late touchdowns and wound up losing the game 27-31.

Taking a look at the week 4 college football odds, oddsmakers currently have Notre Dame favored by 6.5-points over Pittsburgh with the total set at 53 points.

Notre Dame:

After a couple of tough losses to open the season against South Florida and Michigan, the Fighting Irish came out an dominated the nationally ranked Spartans last week. Notre Dame killed themselves with turnovers in a 20-23 loss at home against South Florida and then blew a 24-7 fourth quarter lead at Michigan. While some consider the Irish win over Michigan State an upset, oddsmakers had Notre Dame favored by 6-points in that game.

Starting quarterback Tommy Rees took over the job in week 2 after Dayne Crist had an awful first game against USF. Reese has completed 69.7% of his passes for 772 yards and six touchdowns, but the sophomore has made some costly mistakes with five interceptions. Turnovers will kill a football team and Rees needs to start taking better care of the football if Notre Dame wants to continue to win games.

One player that has to be excited about Rees taking over the starting job is senior wide Michael Floyd. In the opener Floyd caught six passes for 85 yards, but with Reese slinging the rock he has caught 25 passes for 313 yard and two touchdowns in the last two games. Look for another big day from Floyd against Pittsburgh, as the Panthers gave up 31 completions for 399 yards and three touchdowns last week against Iowa.

While the final score makes it seem like the Irish absolutely dominated the game against Michigan State, the Spartans finished with 358 yards of total offense compared to Notre Dames 275. Their biggest struggle has been stopping the pass. They allowed 329 yards to Kirk Cousins of Michigan State and are allowing an average of 265 yards a game this season.

Pittsburgh:

Pittsburgh was so dominant against the Hawkeyes that many fans left the game early. The Panthers had a 24-3 lead with just 3:11 left in the third quarter and looked like they were going to keep piling on the points against the Hawkeyes. Iowa would score touchdowns on each of their next three drives, while the Panthers offense stumbled in the fourth quarter.

The Panthers finished the game with 422 yards of total offense, but managed just 61 yards on their final three possessions when it matter most. Starting quarterback Tino Sunseri went 23 of 33 for 255 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Sunseri has now thrown four interceptions to just three touchdowns on the season.

The big story of this game was the Hawkeyes ability to slow down Ray Graham and the Pittsburgh rushing attack. Graham entered the game with 322 yards and six touchdowns in the first two games, but managed just 97 yards and was held without a touchdown. It will be interesting to see if Graham and the ground game can get back on track against a Notre Dame defense that is holding opponents to 89.7 ypg this season.

The Panthers also have one of the nations top run defenses. They held Iowa to just 76 yards on the ground, and are allowing just 80.0 yards a game on the season. The problem is they can’t stop the pass. They are currently 116th in the country in pass defense, allowing 336.3 yards per game.

Betting Trends:

Notre Dame is 6-2 ATS in their last 8 road games and 3-1-2 ATS in their last 6 games after allowing less than 20 points in their previous game.

Pittsburgh is 9-4 ATS in their last 13 games following a ATS loss and 4-1 ATS in their last 5 home games vs. a team with a losing road record.

Be sure to check back and see what Steve Janus has to offer in week 4 of college football.

Comments

Got something to say?