Notre Dame vs Northwestern 11/3/18 NCAA Football Odds, Preview and Prediction

The 8-0 Notre Dame Fighting Irish travel to Ryan Field in Evanston, Illinois to face what is one of the biggest remaining roadblocks to a perfect season in the Northwestern Wildcats.

Notre Dame beat Navy 44-22 in their last game to keep their record perfect while Northwestern has racked up four straight victories including a 31-17 win over Wisconsin in their last outing.

With the way the 2018 NCAA Football season has played out, it seems that the Notre Dame Fighting Irish are destined to make the playoffs and finish with a perfect season. But as the schedule winds down, there are a couple of tricky matchups that lie ahead for them. One is the now-ranked 19th Syracuse and the other is Northwestern, has slayed a pair of ranked teams in the last playing month. However, if the Irish can get their offense going, they are going to be hard to stop.

Quarterback Ian Book has been doing a great job for the Irish. Since taking over the starting QB role, Books has thrown for at least two touchdowns per game. In five games plus, Book has completed 76.5% of his passes for 1,481 yards with 13 touchdowns and four interceptions.

In their last game against the injury riddled Wisconsin Badgers, senior Clayton Thorson completed just 17 passes, threw for just a total of 167 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions. But still, the Wildcats managed to get a 31-17 win because while Thorson struggled, his defense picked up the slack for him. It’s this defense of the Wildcats that worries some Notre Dame backers heading to Saturday’s contest.

Northwestern has been in the middle of the pack all season long in terms of yards allowed and points allowed. But in the last two weeks, the Wildcats defense has been very good as they have allowed an average of 255.5 yards and 16 points per game. The Wildcats, who are on a four game win streak, have also caused four fumbles and two interceptions in their last three games.

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are 5-0 SU in their last 5 games, 3-0 SU on the road this season and 11-4 SU in their last 15 games against the Big 10. The Northwestern Wildcats are 11-4 SU in their last 15 games at home and 13-3 SU in their last 16 games overall.

The Fighting Irish have a legit shot at finishing the season unbeaten. They only have to finish strong and they know that. With that perfect season in mind, you bet that Notre Dame will be more ready and focused here than they have been all year long.

Both teams are 4-4 ATS in their respective 8 games played this season. Notre Dame is 2-1 ATS in their three road games this season while Northwestern is 2-3 ATS at home this season. The Fighting Irish are 6-2 ATS in their last 8 games after winning their previous game by at least 20 points and 7-2 ATS in their last 9 games after running for 200+ yards in their previous game. The Wildcats are 1-3-1 ATS in their last 5 games after a victory and are only 1-5 ATS in their last six non-conference games.

Notre Dame has a good chance of finishing the season unbeaten but against the spread, they have not been as special. The Fighting Irish are unbeaten SU in their last dozen games as favorites of at least 7 points but are 0-6 SU in their last six games when favored by at least seven points. But between the Fight Irish’s struggles against the spread and the Wildcats’ inability to take care of the football, I’m more worried about the latter.

The over is 4-1 in Notre Dame’s last five games played and the over is also 4-1 in the Fighting Irish last five road games. On the other hand, the under is 40-12-11 in the last 53 games played by the Wildcats.