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Notre Dame vs. Louisville: College Football Week 6 Odds & Picks (2023)

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Gear up for another awesome weekend of college football action with BettingPros! We’ll have you covered with all of our top picks for the week along with our projected spreads and totals to help guide your college football bets. Below are our top picks and predictions for Saturday’s game: Notre Dame vs. Louisville.

Top College Football Odds & Picks: Notre Dame vs. Louisville

Notre Dame (-6.5) at Louisville

ATL: ND -8.4

The Irish, capable of running and passing, and defending both, have very few weaknesses. They’re top-15 in offensive explosion and defensive efficiency, and top-25 in offensive efficiency and defensive explosion.

Notre Dame has put up this statistical profile despite playing two opponents inside the top-26 of my Power Rankings – including my No. 1 overall team, Ohio State (Notre Dame finished that heartbreaker with a 62% postgame win expectancy).

Louisville is 5-0. But we still know precious little about the Cardinals, because they haven’t played anyone. Louisville has enjoyed SP+’s No. 117 strength of schedule during its perfect start.

The best opponent, by far, was NC State in last week’s game. Louisville only beat the Wolfpack 13-10. NC State’s coaching staff was so disgusted afterwards that it benched its veteran QB. Louisville has played no opponent with a top-60 SP+ offense. NC State was the first opponent it had faced with a top-80 SP+ defense.

UL QB Jack Plummer has already thrown six interceptions despite the soft opening schedule. If Louisville is down in the second half and needs Plummer to throw it back into the game against Notre Dame’s top-shelf pass defense, it is asking for trouble.

Confronted with a heavyweight for the first time in 2023, we think Louisville is going to get knocked out.

The play: Notre Dame -6.5 (play to -7)

-Thor Nystrom

Best Ways to Bet College Football for Beginners

Game Total

Bettors new to the hobby can be confused by spreads, but game totals are simple. Every football game has a total posted for the combined final score between the two teams. Bettors have the option to choose the OVER or UNDER, generally at -110 odds (risk: $110; win: $100). So if the total is 42 and you take the OVER, you need 43 points to win the bet. If you put a bet down on the over to win $100 and it goes over, you get back the money you initially risked, plus $100. If it stayed under, you would have lost your $110 and that’s it. If by chance the game ended with 42 total points, it’s called a push; when a game pushes, you get the money you risked back but nothing more.

ie: California vs. Illinois, Over 42 or Under 42

tip: Over bets can be a really fun social event with your buddies. Have everyone throw in a few bucks, then take the over together. Instead of getting pumped when one side scores, everyone is pumped for ANY score, all game.

Moneyline

The moneyline is the easiest way to test your college football knowledge: who will win the game? That’s it. The moneyline doesn’t use favorites or underdogs, it’s totally straight up. That said, the risk-reward can be challenging because they’re weighted. Instead of every game being around -110, like game totals and spreads, moneylines vary depending on the matchup.

For our example, California was favored by seven points over Illinois, meaning oddsmakers think the Golden Bears are a touchdown better than the Fighting Illini. If you took Cal on the moneyline, points don’t matter, they just need to win the game. But because it’s safer to take them straight-up without points, you’ll have to risk more when you make the bet — remember, they’re seven points better than Illinois in the eyes of the oddsmakers. In this case, Cal is -280 on the moneyline, so if you want to win $100, you have to risk $280. On the flip side, moneyline bets can be valuable when taking the underdog because it’s a riskier bet — they’re seven points worse than their opponent. In this case, Illinois is the underdog — +220 on the moneyline. You’d win $220 on a $100 bet if you picked Illinois on the moneyline and they pulled off the upset.

ie: California (ML -280) vs. Illinois (ML +220)

tip: Check their history against one another. Keep an eye on the injury report and the weather.

Player Props

Player props are some of the most exhilarating bets you can place during a college football game, but they’re also easy to understand. For major conferences, you’ll have a wide array of options to choose from. Quarterbacks, running backs, receivers, and sometimes tight ends will have props to choose from. It’s simple, fun and easy to follow, and odds on player props don’t vary as much as moneylines. Generally, prop bets are in the -110 range like generic spread and total bets.

ie: How many passing yards will Brandon Peters have against California?  Over 250 or Under 250 

tip: Check how players have performed in the situation they’re going to be in. Use split stats on any reliable site to see their numbers at home, on a neutral-site, in December, etc.


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