South Florida Bulls at No. 10 Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Saturday, 9/3/11, 3:30 PM EST, TV: NBC
Opening Point Spread: Notre Dame -10.5
Current Betting Line: Notre Dame -10
Opening Total: 45
Current Total: 47
Odds Courtesy of Bookmaker
South Florida will likely enter as double-digit underdogs in Saturday’s contest at Notre Dame Stadium and many of the players are exciting to play against one of the more storied programs in all of college football. “It’s giving me chills in my stomach just thinking about it,” said Bulls linebacker Sam Barrington. It’s the program’s first-ever trip to South Bend and the team is coming off an 8-5 record under second-year head coach Skip Holtz. He knows his way around this field of course, as he’s the son of legendary coach and current ESPN analyst Lou Holtz. South Florida is 6-5 ATS on the road the last two seasons.
The Bulls football program is still relatively new at the Division I level, but that hasn’t stopped it from posting five straight eight–win seasons, being a member of just 15 schools nationally to accomplish the feat. South Florida has posted seasons of .500 or better in 12 of its 14 years at the game’s highest level collegiately. Opening up with a straight-up underdog victory wouldn’t be that surprising due to the school’s 10-4 mark in season openers. Quarterback B.J. Daniels comes back for his junior season and has thrown for 3,754 yards and 25 touchdowns.
Notre Dame is expected to play in front of its 220th straight sellout and will be entering as the No. 16 team in the country according to the AP Poll. The Fighting Irish finished the first year under head coach Brian Kelly with a flourish, including wins over USC and Miami. Much of the offseason has been spent determining who will be the starting quarterback for the season opener and Dayne Crist has won out. “He is a much better football player than last year,” commented Kelly. “He’s tougher mentally.” Notre Dame is 3-11 ATS as a favorite and 3-8 ATS at home the last two seasons.
The Fighting Irish have won nine of their last 10 season openers inside Saturday’s venue and the defense is getting plenty of preseason accolades. Six players have started at least 20 games and the unit held its last four opponents in 2010 to just 233.3 yards per game. Turnovers are likely to determine the winner in this contest, as Kelly’s teams have posted a 30-1 record when his team wins the turnover battle. Notre Dame owns a 56-11-1 mark in playing teams that make their first appearance inside its stadium.
Bettors will likely back the Irish due to their 4-0 ATS mark heading into this contest, while the Bulls are 1-3 ATS in September contests.
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