NC State at Notre Dame – College Football Predictions
The Game
Yes, guy.
This is yet ANOTHER great game set for Saturday afternoon as the burgeoning JUGGERNAUT NC State Wolfpack visit Notre Dame to take on the Irish. The Domers came through with a 10,000 DIMER STEAM LOCK winner for MEGALOCKS faithful last week whipping USC by a score of 49-14. They have a really tough schedule ahead of them and it starts this week. Every game is an elimination game, yo. The Wolfpack are sitting at 6-1 and are fresh off a bye week. Keep in mind that their only loss was in week one and they had a 504-246 yard edge over the Gamecocks in that contest.
The Details
Notre Dame -7 NC State (60)
MEGALOCKS LINE – Notre Dame -8
Sagarin Ratings – Notre Dame -13
“Vegas” Implied Projected Score: Notre Dame 33.5 NC State 26.5
Massey Ratings Projected Score: Notre Dame 36 NC State 27
The Match-Up
Notre Dame offense vs NC State defense
Here we go. This is one of the most interesting match-ups of the weekend as the BULLDOZING Notre Dame rushing attack goes up against a really good run defense. The Irish have the #6 rush offense in the FBS and they are DEEP. RB Josh Adams is approaching 1,000 yards and QB Brandon Wimbush has chipped in 500 yards and 10 (!) rushing TDs. The passing game has been sputtering BUT when you can destroy peeps running the football and are typically playing with the lead the numbers will not be that impressive. Wimbush has completed just 51% of his passes but only has 2 INT in 150 attempts. The NC State pass defense is a bit sketchy so we may see the Irish take a few more chances MATRICULATING down the field in the passing game. The Wolfpack run defense has been excellent (#6 FBS) and they have a great DL. We think Notre Dame gets their yards but they will need to hit a few big plays in the passing game to win this one.
NC State offense vs Notre Dame defense
Get a load of THIS. QB Ryan Finley has 0 INT in 248 (!!) attempts. Yes, there is a lot of underneath stuff, but that is pretty amazing. Notre Dame has not faced too many good QBs BUT they did do a decent job vs USC last week. RB Nyheim Hines (648 yards) has given the offense nice balance and the Wolfpack boast 4 players with 300+ receiving yards. The Irish are going to be kept on their toes and their ultimate success may be determined by if they can hold NC State to FGs instead of TDs. It is highly unlikely that Finley will give the game away. The Irish defense is very underrated so we think NC State is going to have more problems than you might think moving the ball.
MEGA-MAZING MINUTIA
Both teams are very good in turnover margin (ND – #4 FBS; NC State – #10)……Who will make the mistakes on Saturday ?
Summary
Can Notre Dame keep rolling vs this murderous schedule ? This is going to be a stern test.
Conclusion
Lean to the under 60 for small to medium potatoes.