Notre Dame has its toughest opponent of the season on deck as it restarts one of college football's most historic rivalries on Saturday night when the Irish face Michigan State.
Despite the Spartans being 2-0 on the season, it doesn’t appear that many analysts believe new head coach Pat Fitzgerald has much of a chance of beating Marcus Freeman and Co. The Big Ten team has its two wins over MAC programs and only beat Toledo 30-20, so there’s reason to believe that an Irish team looking to win a national title needs to put Michigan State away early.
Saturday night’s game will be the 78th time Notre Dame and Michigan State have faced off. The Irish currently hold a 47-29-1 edge in the series, and among those who believe that edge will increase to 48-29-1, ESPN gives Freeman’s squad a 96% chance of winning. But how big will the victory be?
Final Notre Dame football vs. Michigan State: odds, spread and total
Despite the Spartans being arguably the best team Notre Dame has played this season, there isn’t much expectation that this contest will be … contested by the fourth quarter. According to FanDuel, the Irish opened Saturday morning as 29.5-point favorites.
If that spread wasn’t enough to hammer home just how dominant Notre Dame is expected to be, then look at the moneyline: the Golden Domers are currently at -10,000, and Michigan State is at +2200. In other words, Fitzgerald’s team has a 0.5% chance of winning on Saturday night.
With that kind of spread and a total of 52.5, it appears oddsmakers believe not only that Notre Dame will win, but that they’ll do it while holding Michigan State out of the end zone quite often.
Final Notre Dame football vs Michigan State prediction
Notre Dame has played two games so far this year, and they’ve looked very different. The Irish struggled in the first half and then turned it on against Wisconsin. Against Rice, they dominated from the start. So what happens on Saturday morning?
Notre Dame has said all the right things about how seriously they’re taking the Spartans. It feels like their slow start against the Badgers was more about it being the first game of the year than the Irish really needing a warm-up.
CJ Carr watched Darian Mensah and Malachi Toney rip Wake Forest apart. The Irish QB would love to stay in the conversation for the Heisman while winning big and also keeping his team in the conversation for the national title.
Prediction: Notre Dame 52, Michigan State 13
“Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.”
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