Utah at Notre Dame
Written by Steve Janus - Google +
This Saturday the Utah Utes will look get back on the winning track when they go on the road to take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The Utes suffered there first loss of the season last week, falling to TCU 47-7. The Fighting Irish weren’t in action last week, and will look to snap a short two game losing streak with a big win at home. If you are thinking about betting on the game this weekend, the current odds have the Utes favored by 6-points over the Fighting Irish.
Utah (8-1, 5-1 MWC): The Utes offense was simply no match for the Horned Frogs last week, as they managed just 199 yards of total offense, with only 51 yards on the ground. Quarterback Jordan Wynn completed just 16 of 35 attempts with just one touchdown and two interceptions. Notre Dame comes in ranked 78th against both the run and the pass, so look for the Utes offense to get back on track this week.
Defensively the Utes also struggled to get the job done, as they let TCU rack up 558 yards of total offense. The Horned Frogs did most of their damage through the air, as Andy Dalton of TCU had 355 yards and three touchdowns on 21 of 26 passing. Notre Dame has lived off the pass offensively this season, throwing for 289 yards a game, so expect them to try and see if they can’t keep the Utes secondary struggles rolling. On the season Utah has allowed just 18 points a game, so while Notre Dame might have some success throwing the ball, its unlikely they put on an offensive show in this one.
Notre Dame (4-5): The Irish have been very streak this season. After losing three straight early in the year Notre Dame rolled off three straight wins, but are back to their losing ways with recent losses against Navy and Tulsa. In the only other game that the Irish have played a rank team this season, they lost 37-14 at home against Stanford.
The Irish suffered a huge blow in their last last loss to Tulsa, Notre Dame lost starting quarterback Dayne Crist to a knee injury. Backup Tommy Reese came in and played well throwing for 334 yards and four touchdowns, but also had three interceptions, and its likely the struggles will only get worse this week against a Utah defense that has really played well against the pass outside of last week.
With a defense that has struggled all season, allowing nearly 25 points a game, this game could get ugly quick if the Irish fall behind early. Look for Utah to attack the Notre Dame defense on the ground in this one. The Utes come in averaging nearly 176 yards a game, while the Irish give up nearly 165.
Looking at the Odds: I don’t think there is any question, take Utah and cash in on this play. Notre Dame’s offense is going to really struggle to move the ball with Reese running the show, and defensively I don’t think Notre Dame posses much of a threat at all to the Utes offense. My final score prediction is Utah 38, Notre Dame 20.
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