2023-2024 Notre Dame College Football odds: Fighting Irish set for lackluster campaign

Notre Dame football enters its second 12 months underneath head coach Marcus Freeman with excessive hopes. 

Certain, the Freeman period in South Bend started disastrously, because the Irish began final season with back-to-back losses towards Ohio State and Marshall.

However the Irish settled in, profitable 9 of 11 down the stretch, together with wins over ranked BYU, Syracuse, and Clemson. 

However what can we anticipate from the Irish this 12 months? 

Particularly, what number of video games will the Irish win? 

And, can the Irish overcome their win complete set by Vegas oddsmakers?

2023-24 Notre Dame Preventing Irish Odds
To win the Nationwide Championship +4000 (BetRivers)
Over/Underneath win complete: 8.5 (-110/-110, FanDuel)

Offensive coordinator Tommy Rees left for Alabama and took quarterback Taylor Buchner with him. Drew Pyne is gone, too.

Actually, good riddance. 

I like that Freeman grabbed Sam Hartman within the portal.

Hartman was electrical at Wake Forest, compiling over 12,000 passing yards and 100 touchdowns over his 5 years because the Demon Deacons beginning quarterback. 

He brings 5 years of FBS expertise and a powerful arm to South Bend, and that is likely to be precisely what the Irish want. 

Hartman is surrounded by two NFL-ready tackles (Joe Alt, Blake Fisher) and a deep, completed working again corps (Audric Estimé, Logan Diggs).

The broad receiver room is skinny, however Hartman can elevate the fellows round him. 

Eight starters return on the defensive aspect, together with the highest 4 tacklers, and the crew ought to get higher in Freeman’s second 12 months – Freeman is a defensive-minded coach, in any case. 

The linebacking unit is elite behind JD Bertrand and Jack Kiser, as is the secondary behind Benjamin Morrison and Cam Hart. 

The important thing would be the defensive position, which is way from elite.

They misplaced three veterans within the defensive trench and can want a mixture of second-tier guys and transfers to step up in that space. 

The Irish have been a top-30 crew towards the go by Anticipated Factors Added (EPA) per play allowed, however they fell to 103rd towards the frenzy.

Freeman might want to enhance the frenzy protection this 12 months, and I’m skeptical he can. 

The Irish are a fringe Nationwide Title contender, however all the pieces relies on their schedule. 

Notre Dame has coin-flip matchups towards NC State (highway), Ohio State (dwelling), Duke (highway), Louisville (highway), USC (dwelling) and Clemson (highway).

The Motion Community initiatives each a type of spreads to fall inside one rating, so they may simply win or drop each single a type of video games.

The Motion Community’s Analytics crew initiatives Notre Dame for 8.9 wins within the upcoming season, nevertheless it’s a high-variance projection with what number of shut video games there are.

If Notre Dame succeeds, it’ll be as a result of the protection is top-10 total, and Hartman improves the offense considerably. 

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If Notre Dame fails, it’ll be as a result of the protection can’t cease the run, and the Irish can’t win the shut video games. 

Finally, I’m leaning towards the latter.

The Irish have too many brutal video games on their schedule, and too many issues might go improper.

What if Hartman doesn’t acclimate to a better degree of play?

What if each opponent runs throughout Notre Dame’s weak defensive position?

What if they’ll’t maintain off Ohio State or USC at dwelling?

There’s an Underneath 8.5 Wins out there at plus-money at Caesars.

With a high-variance crew, taking the favorable juice is usually smart (and worthwhile).

The play: Underneath 8.5 wins (+115) at Caesars