The Notre Dame football team hasn’t played a game with a final spread closer than 17 points yet. Against a Purdue Boilermakers squad with a very bad defense, the Irish should be able to put up plenty of points. There’s a chance, in fact, that Saturday afternoon will be CJ Carr’s arrival on the Heisman candidacy stage.
With Purdue’s offense playing well so far, the Big Ten school could make the game close, at least for a while. Of course, Vegas Oddsmakers think that even if they can make it a game for a while, it won’t last.
Final Notre Dame vs. Purdue: Odds, spread and total
The Irish opened the week as 27.5-point favorites, and it doesn’t appear that any action on the game has convinced the oddsmakers that the line needs to move. As of Saturday morning, Marcus Freeman’s squad is still nearly a four-touchdown favorite.
According to DraftKings, Notre Dame remains a 27.5-point favorite heading into the 2 pm kickoff on Peacock. The line isn't the only thing that has held steady all week. The total is set at 57.5 points.
In other words, not only are the Irish expected to win, but they are expected to pitch a blowout and hold Purdue’s offense down for the first time all year. Of course, that last part is far more likely when looking at who Barry Odom’s team managed to score points against.
The Boilermakers put up 44 points against Indiana State, then lost a shootout to Wake Forest, 38-36. The Demon Deacons don’t have a defense that strikes fear in the hearts of opponents.
Last week, Purdue lost its Big Ten opener against UCLA, 52-38. The Bruins were expected to be much improved from a year ago, but their defense isn’t among the best in the country either.
Enter the Notre Dame defense that hasn’t allowed more than 13 points in any game. Those 13 points came in the season opener, and defensive coordinator Chris Ash’s unit has only gotten better and more locked in over the last two weeks.
Some of the defensive lockdowns could be dismissed as the Irish playing inferior opponents; both the Wisconsin Badgers and Michigan State Spartans are arguably more talented on both sides of the ball than Purdue.
Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
Notre Dame football vs. Purdue prediction
It’s not just that Notre Dame is the much better team; it also needs to win big as often as possible. Now that teams are starting their conference schedules, things get very real when talking about who will and won’t make the College Football Playoff.
In some ways, that means all the pressure is on the Fighting Irish while the Boilermakers come in as massive underdogs in a non-conference game that won’t determine their standing in the Big Ten at all.
Can Notre Dame live up to the hype? Can they live up to another massive point spread? The final odds seem just a little too big against a Purdue offense, led by quarterback Ryan Browne, that can score points. But the real secret weapon for the Boilermakers to cover the spread might be that the game will be a blowout early, and a defense playing plenty of reserves will allow a few late points.
Prediction: Notre Dame 56, Old Dominion 30
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