3 bold predictions for No. 12 Notre Dame versus No. 24 Navy

Navy to Cover the +12.5 Spread, but the Irish get the Win

Over the past 10 meetings, this fixture has been decided by 10 points or less five times.  With that said, the other five occasions have all been decided by 17 points or more. Thus, it’s a virtual coin flip to decide whether Saturday’s game will be tightly contested or a runaway Irish win.

Notre Dame this year has done rather well against the spread, accumulating a 5-2 record — the two losses ATS have come against MAC schools: Northern Illinois and Miami (OH).

The Irish will once again be facing a Group of 5 opponent in Navy, thus perhaps another loss against the spread is in the cards. According to BetMGM, the spread sits at +12.5 for the Middies, and as aforementioned, Navy is a ranked unbeaten squad. Therefore, we shouldn’t expect the men from Annapolis to be pushovers despite going up against a decidedly better squad, on paper, in Notre Dame. 

In turn, I predict that The Naval Academy will cover the spread.  The Midshipmen will cause problems for the Irish early via its modernized RPO offense. However, Notre Dame will rally and earn its third Top 25 win of the season.  

Watch: No. 12 Notre Dame vs No. 24 Navy | 12:00 PM ET | ABC