The unbeaten Notre Dame Fighting Irish head to Evansville, Illinois to take on the surging Northwestern Wildcats in Week 10 of the college football season. The bookies show the Irish as a -8.5 road favorites with a total line of 53.5 points. Is Notre Dame worthy of laying more than a TD against an improving foe on the road or have the oddsmakers overvalued them? Predictem handicapper Mike Mann digs into the statistical data and gives out his pick to cover the spread.
Sportsbooks have the Patriots just shy of a TD better than the Packers. For the Patriots to trade points with the Packers this week they will need continued success from their passing game, which ranks a 13th in the NFL, same as their rushing attack. Despite rumors they did not make a big splash at the Tuesday trade deadline. They are still well stocked at the receiver/tight end option, but will need an all hands on deck. An under-performing White, Edelman, Gronkowski or Gordon would immediate cause ripples felt throughout the rest of the offense.
The emergence of Gordon has been a key reason for the Patriots offense breaking out of their early season slump, and he has emerged as a clear starter after playing 95% of the snaps on Sunday against the Bears. He is coming off his first 100 yard game. Can he help the Pats offense take another step forward on Monday Night Football? The Sportsbooks have this line set at Pats -13.5 and Mike Mann is set to give you his NFL pick!
When your 129th in the country in passing offense, there isn’t going to be much excitement among your receivers and that is certainly the case for Navy. They have just one player with over six catches on the year and not one player has more than a single touchdown so far. How does this Navy team put up points against Notre Dame?
The majority of the betting sites have the Pats favored by a field goal. The Bears are led by second year quarterback Mitch Trubisky, who has shown flashes of brilliance this season, including a six touchdown performance against Tampa Bay two weeks ago. The former Tar Heel had a strong second half against the Dolphins as well, and will need to maintain that consistency if they hope to trade points with the Patriots. Will MT be able to match Tom Brady’s output on Sunday?
Notre Dame comes into this one fresh of a monster victory at Virginia Tech which now sets the Irish up for a strong run at a BCS playoff spot. They should find themselves favored in every game the rest of the way. Is that single game inflating this 21 point spread? Mike Mann takes a look and gives his prediction.
Notre Dame heads down to Blacksburg to battle Virginia Tech in a primetime Saturday night game on ABC. This is only the second all time meeting between the teams, with the Hokies having won the only prior matchup 34-31 back in 2016 as a 2 point road dog. The spread is inside a touchdown once again for Saturday’s matchup. Mike Mann looks at the game and predicts if we will see another close game from these two teams.
With a win to bring the club to 500 and some key pieces returning for week 5, the New England Patriots suddenly feel like a team with momentum. The sportsbook’s line reflects that with a Pats -10 spread at home. Mike Mann makes his NFL week 5 pick here and breaks down injuries, match-ups and team trends.
Stanford heads to Notre Dame for a Saturday night battle in the Bend. The Irish lead the all time series 19-13, but it’s been Stanford that’s had the upper hand of late winning he last three consecutive games and going 6-2 over the last eight since Brian Kelly arrived in Indiana.
The Patriots have lost back-to-back games only nine times since Tom Brady took over as quarterback in 2001, and the fact that they were so clearly outplayed in both their previous games only adds another level of concern from an already hyper-reactionary fan and media base. See why Mike Mann believes the Pats will get it done and cover the -6.5.