Once\nthe No. 7 team in the country, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish have\nbeen teetering on the verge of disaster these last few weeks. The\nteam that nearly upset Georgia on the road has been a shadow of their\nformer selves as they nearly lost at home to a bad USC team, then got\nsmashed by No. 19 Michigan and then needed a last-minute score to get\nby Virginia Tech at home. They\u2019re again laying points this week but\nafter failing to come close to covering the last three games, should\nwe trust them here?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sure,\nNotre Dame has labored of late but have you seen Duke? They\u2019ve\nscored just 14 and 17 points in its last two games and have lost\nthree of their last four overall. This is a team that\u2019s collected\nwins against Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Middle Tennessee State and\nNorth Carolina A&T. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\noffense has really been the story for this team as they\u2019re\naveraging a whopping 43.0 points per game in their wins and just 16.0\npoints per game when they lose. When they fail, they fail hard. When\nthey compete offensively, they usually win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Given\nthat Notre Dame\u2019s defense rebounded from a bad game against\nMichigan to limit Virginia Tech\u2019s offense to 13 points (Virginia\nTech scored a defensive touchdown in that game last Saturday), it is\nreasonable to expect the Irish to clamp down on Duke\u2019s offense. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nBlue Devils actually thrive in the underdog roll as they\u2019ve covered\n11 of their last 15 in that spot. This week, they\u2019re hosting a\nNotre Dame team the once looked like a national title contender but\nhas been very ordinary the last few weeks. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nIrish barely beat USC, a team which just lost by 32 points to Oregon,\nNotre Dame got crushed by Michigan, which had been struggling up to\nthat point in time, and the Irish were then very fortunate to escape\nVirginia Tech at home by one point after trailing for much of the\nsecond half. Notre Dame was favored by more than two touchdowns yet\nneeded an 18-play, 87-yard drive with two fourth-down conversions to\nescape with a win. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Notre\nDame is playing terrible football right now. Duke has had two weeks\nto prepare for this game and is at home, so they\u2019ll have a good\nshot here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\ninability of the Duke offense to solve the Notre Dame defense is what\nwill likely keep this game under the number. It will be hard for Duke\nto move the ball consistently against the Irish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\u2019ve\nalready seen some sharp money hit this total as it opened at 53 but\nis now down to 51.5. Under looks like the way to go as the Irish pick\nup the win and cover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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