Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs. Texas Longhorns Predictions, Picks, Odds, and NCAA Football Week One Betting Preview – September 4, 2016

Notre Dame Fighting Irish vs. Texas Longhorns Betting Preview

Where: Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, Austin

When: Sunday, September 4, 7:30 PM ET

Line: Notre Dame Fighting Irish (-3.5) vs. Texas Longhorns (+3.5) – view all NCAA Football odds and lines

TV Broadcast: ABC

Writer’s Pick: Notre Dame

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Betting on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (-3.5)

The Fighting Irish are looking to duplicate their 2015 season opener feat this coming Sunday, as they pay Austin a visit to play Texas. Notre Dame kicked off its 2015 campaign with a merciless 38-3 beatdown of the Longhorns with the Fighting Irish amassing over 500 yards of total offense.

While Texas’ defense should be much better this season, it’s still hard to imagine the Longhorns’ stop unit immediately transforming into an elite group a season after ranking 107th in total defense even with the addition of five top prospects (all defensive tackles) over the offseason.

This should pave the way for Notre Dame’s still potent offense to carve out space and gain yards. The quarterback situation in South Bend has yet to be concluded though both Malik Zaire and DeShone Kizer are capable of running the offense just fine.

Apart from the quarterbacks, Notre Dame will also be looking for the pair of Tarean Folston and Josh Adams to impress while handling backfield chores. Adams racked up 835 rushing yards and six touchdowns in 2015 and should finish this year with better numbers with the departure of C.J. Prosise.

Notre Dame is 7-3 SU and 6-4 ATS in its last 10 games overall.

Betting on the Texas Longhorns (+3.5)

We all get the feeling that this year’s a make-or-break type for Charlie Strong. Texas is just 11-14 in the last two seasons, which doesn’t look too good for Strong. A win against a big program like Notre Dame out of the gate, however, would go a long way in terms of injecting confidence to the Longhorns.

Against Notre Dame, Strong will be counting on Texas’ backfield tandem of D’Onta Foreman and Chris Warren III, who combined for 1,151 rushing yards and nine touchdowns in 2015. A sturdier offensive line should give these two rushers gaps to navigate through against Notre Dame. It should also make life easier for freshman quarterback Shane Buechele, who’s likely going to start over Tyrone Swoopes.

As implied earlier, Texas’ defense has so much to prove but the new recruits will play with chips on their shoulders. Hopefully, that’ll motivate them to muster enough strength to handle Notre Dame’ run game. Texas’ more experienced secondary, meanwhile, is poised to make its presence felt against a Notre Dame passing attack that no longer features Will Fuller.

Texas is 3-1 ATS in its last four games as the home team.

Writer’s Prediction

Notre Dame wins and covers.

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