Saturday college football and we will see the Notre Dame Fighting Irish travel to Colorado Springs, Colorado to take on the Air Force Falcons. The game has a start time of 5:00 PM (Eastern) and will be televised on CBSSN. Current odds for the game have Notre Dame listed as 19.5 point favorites, while the total sits at 57.
Analysis: Notre Dame comes in having won two straight and four of its last five outings, thanks to a hard-fought 14-10 victory over visiting USC last Saturday. The win over the Trojans was the first for the Fighting Irish at home in more than a decade. The Irish did lose QB Tommy Rees in the game to a neck injur6y, but he did return to practice and should play in this one. Rees has passed for 1,660 yards with 15 touchdowns and six interceptions, but the passing game will suffer if senior Andrew Hendrix (1-for-10, nine yards) is forced to be the starter. Juniors George Atkinson III (363 yards) and Cam McDaniel (351 yards) are splitting the ball-carrying duties while senior receiver T.J. Jones (37 receptions, 527 yards) has caught a touchdown pass in four consecutive games. Currently ranked 25th in the country with only 123.3 ypg allowed, the Notre Dame run defense will be put to the test this weekend when the Falcons take to the field. The Irish defense isn't as good as last year, but they still have allowed just 23.3 ppg so far.
The Air Force Falcons started the year with a 25 point win over FCS foe Colgate, but since then the wheels have fallen of this team as they have lost their last 6 games, including a 27-20 loss to San Diego state on this field in their last game they played. Air Force also has a starting quarterback returning from injury. Sophomore Karson Roberts suffered a head injury during a loss to San Diego State on Oct. 10 and was cleared to return to practice early this week. Roberts has thrown three of the Falcons’ four passing touchdowns and was just starting to grasp the offense prior to his injury. Passing, though, is not a concern of this team as they are mostly a running team, which is 12th in the nation in rushing, with 286 ypg. From a defensive perspective, the Falcons are giving up 488.7 ypg and 37.6 ppg, The pass defense has been especially suspect, showing an efficiency rating of just 162.06 which is 122nd in the country.
Pick: With Tommy Rees a bit banged up I will look for the Irish to be a bit conservative here and rely on their ground game and defense to win this won, which should keep the scoring low here. Air Force's defense is bad, and their offense will have troubles moving the ball vs this tough ND front 7. Really hard to see this game hitting the 50's at all.
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