The college football season rolls along this week with a number of notable matchups across the Power 4 and Group of 6 ranks. One of the biggest games of the day comes in the form of a historic rivalry, as we’ll see the Miami Hurricanes take on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in a game that should have massive implications on the College Football Playoff picture — especially if Notre Dame loses.
Miami enters this game following a difficult victory at North Carolina in a game that could’ve went either way. On the other side, Notre Dame cruised past Navy coming out of the bye week and likely used the last two weeks to prepare for this highly-anticipated showdown. Below is my preview, prediction, and pick for Saturday’s college football game between Miami and Notre Dame.
Notre Dame is a 7-point favorite for this matchup with the total listed at 54.5 at DraftKings Sportsbook. Let’s dig into the odds and my best bet on Saturday’s matchup, and don’t miss our complete coverage of all of the Week 10 college football action at DraftKings Network.
For easy access to quick college football picks, join the CFB Committee Betting Group.
Miami vs. Notre Dame Prediction
This is a game that Notre Dame has likely had circled since spring practices, especially since Miami essentially kept the Fighting Irish out of the College Football Playoff a season ago. The mantra for the Irish all season long has been “leave no doubt” and while they came up short against BYU a few weeks ago, this is still one of the best teams in the country and one that will surely be out to exact a bit of revenge on the Hurricanes.
Even putting aside the revenge angle, this is basically a playoff game for Notre Dame given where it ended up in the committees first edition of the CFP rankings earlier this week. A loss at home will almost certainly bury a season that started with such high expectations, but I don’t think Marcus Freeman’s group will bow out just yet. After all, this is a pretty favorable matchup for the Notre Dame offense (ranked 6th in EPA per play and 4th in EPA per dropback) against a Miami defense that just got shredded in recent weeks against the likes of Florida State and North Carolina — a far cry from what the ‘Canes will face this week.
On the other side of the ball, the Notre Dame defense is stout and while defensive coordinator Chris Ash has struggled in some of these marquee games over the past two seasons, he’s getting a massive break in this spot with Malachi Toney unable to suit up for Miami. The electric wide receiver is one of the best players in the country and is easily the most important player on the Hurricanes because of his elite versatility on offense and on special teams as a punt/kick returner.
This is a massive loss for the visitors and this will likely doom their passing game, as Leonard Moore — Notre Dame’s excellent top corner — should be able to zero in on Cooper Barkate and take him out of the game plan. If Miami is unable to throw the ball with any sort of consistency, that puts a ton of pressure on the Hurricanes ground game to carry the load and I’m not sure that’s going to feasible over the course of 60 minutes.
Miami vs Notre Dame Best Bet
Miami is currently the top ranked team in the land and the Hurricanes essentially have a loss to play with given their favorable schedule down the stretch, plus they’re playing their second straight road game following a nail-biting win that kept them in the driver’s seat in the ACC. Throw in the fact that this is going to be one of the best home field environments we see all season, and it’s reasonable to project a convincing win for Notre Dame under the lights.