Notre Dame Football: 3 Bold predictions for the Irish against Pittsburgh

Irish will cover the hefty -20.5 Pts spread

Heading into this match versus rival Pittsburgh, the Irish aren’t just 6-2 on the season but are also 6-2 against the spread.  The two outliers are the losses involving Ohio State and Louisville.

On Saturday, Our Lady will need to put in quite the performance against the Panthers as ND is currently favored by -20.5 points, according to betMGM.  This is a betting line that has increased significantly since the beginning of the week when the opening line was set at 18 points.  Thus, it’s clear that big bucks are being thrown down in favor of a runaway Irish win.

With that said, Pittsburgh’s largest losses this season were by 17 points (lost by 17 to both UNC and Va Tech).  So, an opening line of -18 points seemed apropos.  However, one has to wonder, is the increased line of -20.5 points indicative of the true strength of this Notre Dame football team as looked upon over its full body of work?  Or, does the rise to nearly three full scores have more to do with an overreaction to ND’s recent throttling of USC?

Regardless of the answer, which probably lies somewhere in the middle, the fact is that Marcus’s men have covered against every unranked opponent this season, a category that the 3-4 Panthers unequivocally fall under.

And whilst the line is large, the number is still just within three TD’s (plus extras).  Therefore, due to Notre Dame’s impressive resume coupled with fresh legs and minds, I’m predicting that Our Lady will cover the -20.5 points versus Pittsburgh.