FanDuel releases three early Notre Dame point spreads
Anyone looking for some way-too-early college football betting action can already find some individual point spreads. Three Notre Dame games are among the options.
FanDuel sportsbook pegs the Irish as a 17.5-point favorite against Navy in their Aug. 26 opener in Dublin. Notre Dame is an 8.5-point underdog against Ohio State in a Sept. 23 home game and a 3-point underdog in its Oct. 14 home contest versus USC. The spread against Ohio State opened at 7.5.
Early lines for the other nine Notre Dame regular-season games have not been released. FanDuel has set point spreads for 22 college football games next season.
Ohio State and USC were a combined 22-5 last season and appeared as top-10 teams in most way-too-early top 25 rankings released after the national championship. Notre Dame found itself between No. 11 and No. 15 in those same prognostications. The initial 2023 SP+ rankings have the Buckeyes No. 2 and USC No. 10. Notre Dame is ranked 15th. Navy — 3-9 in 2022 — is not in way-too-early top 25s and is 97th in the first version of SP+.
Notre Dame was a 17-point underdog at kickoff against Ohio State on the road last year, per OddShark. The Irish beat that spread in a 21-10 loss. They were 4.5-point underdogs at USC in 2022, and the Trojans covered in a 38-27 win. They were favored by 17 points in a neutral-site game against Navy, but did not cover in a 35-32 win.
All told, Notre Dame was favored in eight of 13 games last year and underdogs in four. The 13th game was a pick ‘em. The Irish were the favorite against Marshall (home), California (home), BYU (neutral), Stanford (home), UNLV (home), Navy (neutral), Boston College (home) and South Carolina (neutral). They were underdogs at Ohio State, North Carolina and USC and at home vs. Clemson. A road game at Syracuse was the pick ‘em.
Notre Dame was 7-6 against the spread in 2022. It posted a 3-5 record against the spread as favorites, with outright losses against Marshall and Stanford. It covered just one of the five spreads where it was a double-digit favorite. The Irish were 3-1 when they were an underdog, including two outright wins. They beat Syracuse in the pick ‘em game.
