The Notre Dame Fighting Irish will see action again after a bye week. In their first game back, the Fighting Irish will be hosting the USC Trojans at Notre Dame Stadium for a marquee matchup this Saturday. Check out our preview of this game below.
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Betting Preview for the USC Trojans vs Notre Dame Fighting Irish NCAA Week 8 College Football Game on October 23, 2021
Where: Notre Dame Stadium, Notre Dame
When: Saturday, October 23, 2021, 7:30 PM ET
Line: USC Trojans (+7) vs. Notre Dame Fighting Irish (-7) – view all 2021 NCAAF lines
TV Broadcast: NBC
Betting on the USC Trojans (+7)
Record: 3-3 Overall / 2-3 Conference
The Trojans still couldn’t pull off back-to-back wins. After winning against the Colorado Buffaloes, 37-14, on the road on Oct. 2, USC got upset by the Utah Utes at home, 42-26, over the weekend. The Trojans’ defense got lit up by Utah, thus putting to waste the big yardage Keldon Slovis put up in the game. Slovis passed for 401 yards and two touchdowns with an interception in 33/53 completions. Whatever Notre Dame’s game plan is involving its secondary, its defensive backs will surely have their hands full on wide receiver Drake London, who torched Utah’s pass defense for 162 receiving yards and a touchdown on 16 receptions. Last week, the Fighting Irish let three Virginia Tech Hokies receivers each record at least 11.0 yards per catch.
USC is 4-0 against the spread in their last four road games.
Betting on the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (-7)
Record: 5-1 Overall / 0-0 Conference
Notre Dame is coming off a 32-29 road win over Virginia Tech which got the Fighting Irish back in the win column. Prior to that game, the Fighting Irish lost to the then-No. 7 Cincinnati Bearcats at home, 24-13. Up next for Notre Dame is a game against a wildly inconsistent USC team. The Trojans are having a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde act this season, and the hope for Notre Dame is that USC’s bad side will show up this coming Saturday, particularly on defense. The Trojans’ total scoring and passing defense are in the bottom half in the Pac-12. Against Utah, that poor defense cost USC the game. That’s a good sign for Notre Dame, which hopes that quarterback Jack Coan will put up a better performance from beginning to end of the contest. Coan was benched in the first quarter of the Hokies game but returned in the fourth to lead the Fighting Irish to a game-winning drive.
Notre Dame, which is averaging 31.0 points per game, has seen the total hit the under in seven of its last eight games after a bye week.
Writer’s Prediction
Notre Dame wins, 32-24.
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